The China Mail - British Open round 1: Who said what

"At times I feel like maybe I should be a little less honest. Maybe I shouldn't have said the stuff I said yesterday because now I'm going to get asked about it more."

-- Scottie Scheffler on his pre-tournament comments that playing professional golf isn't a "fulfilling life".

"It's a tough test. You need to hit every shot perfect. A bit of luck of the Irish out there too wouldn't hurt."

-- Cameron Smith after a 72.

"I feel the support of an entire country out there, which is a wonderful position to be in, but at the same time, you don't want to let them down. So there's that little bit of added pressure."

-- Home favourite Rory McIlroy after his battling one-under 70.

"I've been down here practising a lot, hitting putts, doing everything. Coming in here shooting four-over, maybe I should have spent more time in the Harbour Bar than out here."

-- Home favourite Darren Clarke.

"Not only getting to three majors, being the second Spanish player after Seve to win an Open and being the only one to win three different majors, that would be... very, very special, on top of everything that already is."

-- Jon Rahm on what it would mean to win a British Open title.

"I grabbed his putter off him a few times and had a little feel of it. That's the OG; that's the one from the Masters. There was a couple cool things."

-- Debutant Ryan Peake on playing with Phil Mickelson.

"This is the best I've seen him hit it in the last few years. Hopefully he stays up there, the old boy."

-- Cameron Smith on Lee Westwood's strong start.

"Usually when I'm watching a movie on an airplane. Does everybody not well up on airplanes? I think airplanes do that to me. Could be a comedy or something like that. It doesn't have to be that serious."

-- Padraig Harrington on the last time he felt as emotional as he did after hitting the tournament's first shot.

"It's my responsibility in Thailand, so I think it's a new experience being a monk. They help like more concentrate on the golf course or outside the golf course. It's made me (have) a lot of focus. Forget everything outside, just live in the present. So I really enjoy being a monk."

-- Thailand's Sadom Kaewkanjana, who shot an opening 68, on being an ordained Buddhist monk.

"We're not used to have long rounds like this. It feels like a marathon. No, it was fine. Obviously the weather was nice, so in that way it was cool. It was fine."

-- Joaquin Niemann on the slow pace of play.

"I knew I can't really beat Bryson DeChambeau in a long drive contest, but I thought it was going to be close. I thought I was going to lose by 10, 15 yards. It was close really, but it was loads of fun."

-- Estonian amateur Richard Teder on a long-driving contest against Bryson DeChambeau on the driving range.

"It's super cool. I hope it's going to inspire everyone in Czech to play golf, try even harder to so we can get more players here."

-- Filip Jakubcik, the first Czech player to qualify for the British Open, after a first-round 75.

Z.Huang--ThChM