Open Championship 2013 blog: Quotes of the day

In this Open Championship 2013 blog, we look at some interesting and unusual things said in Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy's press conferences today at Muirfield.

Rory McIlroy

Open Championship 2013 blog

Justin Rose talking about getting the yardages right on a fast-running course... perhaps he hasn't quite worked it out yet:

"There's a lot of guesstimation, I guess."

Rose gives some more sage advice on how to cope with the vagaries of links golf:

"I think you can be a lot more precise, possibly, if that makes any sense. I was all over the place."

Justin disappoints a hopeful questioner:

Q - "Could you give us some examples of unexpected or exciting things that have happened to you as being a Major golf championship winner?"

Justin - "Not really." A slightly off-piste question to the new U.S. Open champion:

Q - "What do you think about the job the engraver does with the Claret Jug... ?"

Justin - "I'm hoping to get a two-for-one deal." Rose is stumped before seeing the light:

Q - "What do you think the winning score might be?"

Justin - "I really don't know.... 8-under." A question to Rory McIlroy about Nick Faldo's critical comments earlier in the week:

"If you win on Sunday, will you thank Nick Faldo from the "heart of your bottom?'"

A questioner enters a surreal world where he tries to disrupt Rory McIlroy's sense of self:

"Because, I guess, you know better than anybody apart from yourself."

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?