Victor Perez (69, -3): “The strategy should not change”
“A day in -3, without bogey, we imagine you quite satisfied with this first lap…
It’s never obvious a first round of a tournament with a course a little different from previous years. I knew he was going to really separate the field of players because with the rough and fairly firm greens, as soon as we are a little in the rough, we miss greens and we will quickly make two, three, four, five bogeys… But if you’re on the fairway, with these flag positions, there’s still enough to score. Seeing Tyrrell (Hatton) at -8 after 17 holes (-7 in the end), it’s not surprising so I’m very happy with this first day.
What part of the game did you particularly like?
The irons game was very good. I didn’t miss a lot of greens, so we spent the day fairly quiet. I didn’t take many fairways but by hitting shots from the rough I took greens, which is not necessarily easy because you can quickly get a flyer (shot that overshoots the target) or not depending on the lees (where the ball lies). It is necessary to have a little success on the reading of the lie. We can read it as well as we want but from time to time it does not react well. I managed to hit good areas from places where I was struggling. The putting from distance was very good, I didn’t have to struggle too much with 2 or 3 meter putts for par. So the day went pretty well.
How do you deal with the heat physically on a day like this?
It’s hard to eat on a day like this. It’s so hot, you have to drink, the electrolyte is on the block. In addition, we leave at a somewhat odd hour, which we don’t necessarily like. 11 o’clock, we have breakfast but we don’t have time to eat at noon. So I hope tomorrow (Friday) will be the afternoon to have time for lunch. It is very hot and there is not much wind. We hydrate but we still draw on the machine for the first day.
After starting in -3, what will be the strategy for the future?
It will depend on the weather. Today they announced a little more wind than that, which made the course a little more affordable. I don’t necessarily think I’ll change my strategy. It’s one of the courses I’ve played the most since I’ve been on the Tour, I’ve played this tournament four times so that’s twelve rounds of competition. So we begin to have an idea of what we can and cannot do. For me it is an advantage. The strategy, I have it a little more in mind than at the beginning without having to think too much, which is always interesting. Not having to spend half an hour in the morning on the notebook (of route) thinking based on flag positions. We have already seen it enough times to be able to play with quite a bit of fluidity.
You had shot 67 on the first day in 2020 and finished 6th in the tournament: is this kind of round ideal from the start?
It is known from the stats that the first round is very important. This launches you into the tournament, especially on a course that is not necessarily easy. As soon as we are above par and we see direct -9, -10, we are far away and we no longer have the same approach. After playing a very solid game, you don’t need to attack moves more often than necessary. The first round is always important even if there are 72 holes. When you are on a good roll, without necessarily making -8 but with a solid card, you feel that the strategy is in place and you can let yourself be played for the rest of the week.
What will be the program for the end of the day?
It will be recuperation, trying to eat, cooling down if we find a cold bath or something to calm the body because we are 25% from the tournament and the week is still very long. »
Romain Langasque could have scored better if his putting had matched his driving. (P. Lahalle/The Team)
Romain Langasque (71, -1): “My best part of the year”
Launched in the second part early in the morning, the French returned a first card under par (-1) which fully satisfies him, even more for the way than for the score.
Romain Langasque : “I drove very well from A to Z, took a lot of greens and made few mistakes. I felt really good all along the course. Quite honestly it’s my best part of the year. And the big plus point was the driving. Playing under par is always positive, but I also remember the form, with a lot of opportunities that didn’t necessarily fall even if I wasn’t that close (to the flags). I am very happy. Here the chipping is really hard around the greens so I think -1 is a very good score and I’m very happy with my turn; I took my chance from the start.
I immediately got into the game well. I started at 5m at 1, 3m for birdie at 2 and 3, on the green at 4 and at 1m for birdie at 5. I felt that the bottom line was there, but as I said I was feel good since last week so I felt like my game was in place. There were quite a few flags at the bottom of the greens, close to the edges, which made the course a bit longer. So it was harder to go near the flags but I think any score under par will be a good score. Afterwards, it will take a few more birdies over the next few days to hope for the top of the leaderboard.
Given the roughs, they may want the tournament not to be won in -20 this year. It’s in the spirit, they’ll be pinning the flags all week. Surprised ? No, we are at the final of the Race to Dubai, there are the best in the world so we need a course to match.
There I’m going to eat and do some putting because I struggled a bit with the speed (of the greens). Then I’ll go home to rest because it’s very hot and there are still three laps. I talked about it with Makis (Chamalidis, his mental trainer), the goal is to be present at all times, to eat well throughout the course and to do my routines as best as possible. This course can be demanding if you start hitting the ball less well. I am ready, I am aware of it.
I prefer to start late, it will be a good sign but I think today it was more of an advantage to start early. The greens are a little softer and that plays too. Afterwards, if I can play at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday…”
Antoine Rozner has not always been rewarded with his good shots. (S. Boué/The Team)
Antoine Rozner (72, par): “Could do better”
After a nice go to -2, the Parisian lost the thread a little, to finish in par with a taste of unfinished business despite a few “very good golf shots”.
Antoine Rozner: “I made a pretty solid start in content, now I’m a little disappointed with the result, because it deserved a little better. It didn’t pay off, especially on the way back where I chained a lot of very good golf shots. I would have hoped for a little better, now it’s four laps, it’s quite long so I hope to be able to grab a few places by Sunday. It was really not bad in terms of sensations, I found something two days ago that speaks to me quite a bit.
I may not have taken many fairways, that’s probably where it was played today. Because we know that with these super thick roughs we can get into trouble. If I can manage to take a little more fairways, I think I can be more aggressive on the second shots and try to slip in a little more birdies. It didn’t take a lot of breath, but it’s still a pretty challenging course, it’s very hard to make birdies, you have to manage to get close. It’s not an easy course but we see that there are quite low scores so we can do better. Even if I had a few hard moments, I didn’t lose focus too much, you have to stay serious and diligent.
There is a good score to get, you have to play four solid days, that’s the most important thing. I had a decent day even if I would have hoped for better, so the contract was pretty full overall. »
