British Open: Who is saying what / Photo: ANDY BUCHANAN - AFP
British Open: Who is saying what
World number 272 Daniel Brown leads on six under par as star names struggled in the wind and rain of Royal Troon on day one of the 152nd British Open.
AFP Sport picks out some of the best soundbites:
"I'd give anything to give myself a chance to win this tournament again, and that's why I'm here this week. This is obviously a great start to do that."
-- Shane Lowry, who won his only major at the British Open in 2019, trails one shot behind Brown.
"I get to go relax and enjoy watching others play in this rain. I'm going to go figure it out."
-- Bryson DeChambeau was happy to watch others suffer after his five over par opening round.
"I don't know. I'm just doing, I would say, everything better."
- Third-placed Justin Thomas, two behind Lowry, on the transformation in his form since 12 months ago when he posted an opening round of 11 over at Hoylake.
"I've been around long enough to know that I can (win). I know how I'm feeling in the moment and I've been pretty good in my career at sort of winning the special ones."
-- Former Olympic and US Open champion Justin Rose is confident he can spring a surprise at 43 after a two-under round of 69.
"I think we're all a little timid with our putting. The greens are so much slower than we're used to, and it's a major. You don't want to start racing putts by, but it's hard to even get it to the hole."
-- Adam Scott on the lack of low scoring after his one-under par round.
"There's a few holes that are just obviously playing really long. Unfortunately, that's where it's going at the moment, where they just seem to try to make it longer to make it harder, which I think doesn't make it the most enjoyable test."
-- Tyrrell Hatton had his own theory for the lack of birdies with the sixth the longest hole in British Open history at 623 yards.
"It's not can he win it today, can he win it Friday, can he win it Saturday. But you can play yourself out of it. I thought a one over par score today was a good round of golf, and we're still in it."
-- Home favourite Bob McIntyre is still in the running to become the first Scottish winner since Paul Lawrie in 1999.
"I'm physically feeling a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year. At the end of last year, it was tough, and I haven't played a whole lot."
-- Tiger Woods insisted he is still on the road to recovery despite posting another dispiriting round of 79.
D.Richter--MP
