THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2013

Richie Ramsay

RICHIE RAMSAY: I played nice off the tee. Just short game. Putted it okay. And the problem was, I was putting them up to four feet, and I was hitting them like 20 feet by. So it's just the short game. The short game and a little bit more mental discipline really. But I had some really good shots out there. I played good for like -- even 14, I had a great shot in there and it just kicked left, and it slopes left to right to get up and down. It's very scorable. You've got to keep on the short stuff. Because some of the holes are playing exceptionally long -- I mean, exceptionally short, like the second hole, 6-iron, 9-iron. And then holes on the backside, I had 6-iron off 12 and then it went 230 yards, downwind. The next hole is 480, and you've got to hit a 5-iron off the tee, because it's going 250 yards to leave yourself a 6-iron in. There's not many courses you hit 5-iron, 6-iron. You just need to be clear in your game plan and picture it. There's one guy here that's best at doing that. He's the best in the world and that's one of the reasons why he is.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHIE RAMSAY: No, preparation was really good. I knew where I had to hit it, it's very difficult to legislate for, like, the weather over the last five days, because every day they haven't really put too much water on it. It's got harder. I played fine, it's just, like, I could go out there and play next week and I could have the exact same shots and I'll just hit it to five feet. But in The Open I hit it to four feet and three-putt. It has nothing to do with the golf course. And nothing to do with my swing. It's to do with myself. I need to be more dialed in where I want to hit it. Coming out here I played a practice round and I shot 4- or 5-under. Bear in mind if it wasn't The Open, it wouldn't be nearly as hard. But I've lost every shot near the flag, and that's why I've got to just stand up and hit it. It sounds easy, but it's a lot harder to do when you're out there.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RICHIE RAMSAY: It's not so much The Open, I just I focus too much on the other things, like missing shots, giving away shots and playing too safe. Playing too careful, just playing too careful golf. I mean, I don't have that when I play a practice round. But I've tried to get it -- it's just a problem. It's just playing more golf. But I've been injured since the middle of May, I can't go out and play a lot of golf, because my hip will start to hurt. I know what I need to do, but I can't do it, because I won't be able to play at all. So it's tough. I just have to sit down and work out where I want to be. Work out what my problems are, create a plan and work hard on it. I couldn't do more this morning. My alarm went off at a quarter to five. I was on the physio bike in the van at half-five in the morning. Get breakfast, warm up and go. I'm doing all the right things, it's just hitting your head against a brick wall. It's tough because at the end of the day if you don't play well, you've only got one time, it's not like you perform poorly at your jobs, you've always got next year. Out here you don't. It's not like that, if you screw up, then you won't have next year's. Even saying that, I shouldn't even be saying that, I should be thinking about shooting 65. Just typical Scottish mindset, it's negative rubbish. Surround yourself with negative people, you're going to get negative comments. That's probably the gist of it.