THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 2013

Fred Couples

Q. You had it going 3-under and had an awful bounce on 14?
FRED COUPLES: You know, I didn't play very well. I hit it all over the place. I putted great. I don't feel all that good but I mean, I hit some good irons and I was; I was 3-under par. I'm not downplaying that. But I shanked a shot on 6 right of the green. I got up there, I didn't have to go over any bunkers and I made a 50-foot putt off the ground. On 16, shanked some iron way over there and there were two pot bunkers, and I putted three or four feet and made it. And oddly enough one of the best shots I hit was on 14. I hit from 218 yards, I hit an 8-iron from the first cut and it's just hard to judge.

Q. (Inaudible.)
FRED COUPLES: At least, yeah. But that's the hardest shot on the course, to get on the green. Maybe that and the 15th. But on the 15th you're hitting much shorter shot. I played with Matthew. He was awesome. Played great, but the course is, you know, I don't know if it's doable to a point, but I think it's playable. Now they're saying the wind is supposed to blow a little more, which will not be much fun. Well, it's like if you're behind, you want to make a birdie and you can't.

Q. Are there any tricky pin locations?
FRED COUPLES: Well, they're all tricky. It depends on -- like the first hole. It's way back on the right. If you hit a good iron you can hit any shot in there close. The second hole is very easy. The third hole is front right, which is kind of hard, but you're hitting into the wind. But anyway, they're not -- nothing out there that you're going to go, oh, my God. But the 4th hole the pin is way back left, you just have to hit it in the middle of the green and go on, if you can. That's probably a 3- or 4-iron. It's a very hard hole. There's a couple of ones that are hard to believe, they're right in the middle of the green, too. It's just hard to make a birdie. I made bombs off the green and on the 9th hole I hit in 2. And then I hit a good iron on 13. I made about a 20-footer. And I birdied No. 7. I hit a 5. But that pin is in the middle of the green. And that hole is brutal. 16 is an unbelievable pin. I will say that. That one, if you're leading and make a 3 there, you're in good shape. There will be very few 2's on that hole.

Q. (Inaudible.)
FRED COUPLES: Yeah, well, I was telling the guy out there, you've got a top notch caddie in Duncan to lead him around. A lot of times I play with guys at Augusta and they have brothers caddying for them or their dads, and I think that's a mental mistake, not to critique every 18-year-old that plays as an amateur. He's very good. He doesn't miss many shots, hit it straight. As he gets bigger, he'll hit it a little further, but he hits it plenty far. But he's not like one of these crazy bombers that you see. He's good. At 18 you should putt well. He's a good putter.

Q. (Inaudible.)
FRED COUPLES: Yeah, he was very relaxed. Kept telling him, "good shot." And then at the end, won the medal, and that's a huge -- I think he's winning easily, someone told me. But we never talked about that obviously. But he made a nice par on 18 and tried to tell him as much as I could around the greens, but you pretty much run in twosomes, after you hit you're running your ball and you're trying to figure out how far to hit a 7-iron from 230 and where to bounce it. You're not chitchatting too much, it's a little bit scary. But like I said he played really, really well. On the 14th hole he doubled, kind of sloppy there. But you're going to make doubles out there. And he did well.