Open Championship: Saturday quotes

See what a selection of players made of their third rounds in the 143rd Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club

See what a selection of players made of their third rounds in the 143rd Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club

Rory McIlroy:

- "I was in here last night talking about I'm comfortable in this position. I'm comfortable sort of leading the tournament. This is the third night in a row that I'll sleep on the lead. So I'm comfortable. It helps that I've been in this position before and I've been able to convert and I've been able to get the job done. Comfortable with the position that I'm in, but just really comfortable with my golf game. Comfortable with how I'm hitting it.

- "I just need to go out there tomorrow and play one more solid round and hopefully that's enough."

- "I think it's [two-tee start] the second best decision the R&A made this year. The first being bringing The Open back to Portrush."

- "I never thought that I'd be able to be in this position. I didn't think that I'd even have the chance at 25 to go for three legs of the Grand Slam. So I'm going to try to put all of that out of my head. It would be way too much to think about and way too much to sort of ponder. First things first. Just play a good solid round of golf tomorrow. And if that means that I'm going to Augusta next year with a bit of hype, then so be it."

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Rickie Fowler:

- "I'm definitely satisfied with the game. I got off to a great start today through 12 holes. I was playing very solidly, and looking to draw on that tomorrow."

- "I'm working, I believe, with the best coach there is in golf [Butch Harmon]. And to see the preparation that we've done, the amount of work we've put in to prepare -- to be in positions at majors this year, and to see it actually pay off. It just keeps building confidence for myself. So this year, with how comfortable I felt in the majors, it's not even close to the past few years. It's kind of hard to explain. It doesn't feel like a big stage. It feels like I'm supposed to be here."

Sergio Garcia:

- "If Rory plays the way he's been playing -- you know, it's difficult to see anybody catching him when he's playing like that. But the only thing I can do is play well, try to put a little pressure on him and see how he reacts to that."

- "I've always said at the end of the day we're all doing our best. And if somebody is better than you, you can't ask yourself for anything else. The only thing I would have loved to is hit a couple of better shots coming in on 17 and 18. That was what disappointed me a little bit more than seeing Rory making eagles and birdies. You can't control that. And if you're disappointed at somebody making birdies and eagles, then you're not a good sportsman."

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Tiger Woods:

- "I dade a lot of mistakes. I've made two doubles and two triples. But on top of that I missed a lot of shots for opportunities for birdies, and consequently I'm 3-over par."

- "I'm starting to get the flow of the round, the flow of playing again. But still I've just made too many mistakes. You can't run up high scores like that and expect to contend, especially when the conditions are this benign."

Phil Mickelson:

- "We had beautiful scoring conditions. First group off and, you know, if we could have shot 7, 8, 9-under par, it probably was out there. It was as easy as I've seen the course play."

- "Rickie's hitting the ball longer than I've ever seen him hit it. And he's hitting more iron shots to gimme length ever every time I play with him."

Darren Clarke:

- "I enjoy it. It's the biggest and best tournament in the world. I enjoy playing links golf and The Open Championship is one that I always look forward to playing from the start of the year."

- "It's easy to say now that it was the wrong decision looking at the weather that we've had thus far. But if they have a couple of bolts of lightning in the next couple of hours, it's going to mess everybody's day up, isn't it?"

- "Hoylake hasn't really bared its teeth thus far. But if it blows tomorrow, it could be a different story, because there are tough holes out there if the wind blows the way it should do."

Justin Rose: 

- "It was the easiest conditions I've had all week. It was a day where I played really well and got nothing out of it."

- "In any golf tournament if you go out early in the morning, you have an opportunity to make up a lot of grounds on the leaders. That's why finishing off golf tournaments is very hard, because typically you get the worst end of the golf course, too, as well as all the pressure."

- "There's a lot of surprise that no one could get their tee time until 10:30 last night, too. That's very tough when you're trying to prepare for the tournament."

Edoardo Molinari:

- "I think I am a little bit too far back, to be honest. But, you know, I'm just happy to be where I'm in the position I am. And I'm hitting the ball nicely, I'm putting nicely. Just going out tomorrow and enjoying myself, because a year ago I wasn't even sure if I could keep on playing golf. And now I'm 4th, 5th in The Open Championship. That's good enough for me."