FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, July 16th, 2022

NBC SPORTS‘ MOST-WATCHED OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP EARLY ROUNDS ON RECORD – NOTES & QUOTES FROM THIRD ROUND AT ST. ANDREWS

“Rory McIlroy is primed to get over the line and win this Open Championship tomorrow.” – Paul McGinley on Live From The Open on GOLF Channel and Peacock

“A crazy shot. There’s no way you train to perfect that shot. He’s risked his whole championship on that shot and I don’t understand it.” – Paul Azinger on Cameron Smith’s second shot on the 13th hole on NBC and Peacock

Early Round Viewership on USA Network Up 20% vs. 2021, Up 22% vs. 2019

Final-Round Coverage – 4 a.m. ET on USA Network, 7 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock

STAMFORD, Conn. – July 16, 2022 – NBC Sports presented exclusive third-round coverage of the 150th Open Championship from The Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland across NBC, USA Network and Peacock, capped by Live From The Open on GOLF Channel and Peacock.

Rory McIlroy (-16) and Viktor Hovland (-16) both shot 66 today and are four strokes ahead of Cameron Smith (-12) and Cameron Young (-12).

Exclusive final-round coverage begins tomorrow at 4 a.m. ET on USA Network and continues at 7 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

NBC Sports is off to its most-watched Open Championship through two rounds, with Thursday and Friday’s viewership on USA Network up 20% vs. 2021 and up 22% vs. 2019.

 

150th Open Championship – Second Round Leaderboard

Player Total
Rory McIlroy -16
Viktor Hovland -16
Cameron Smith -12
Cameron Young -12
Scottie Scheffler -11
Si Woo Kim -11


Final Round Coverage Schedule

Date USA Network NBC/Peacock
Sunday, July 17 4-7 a.m. 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.

 

ON RORY MCILROY (Co-Leader, 16-under)

McIlroy to Kathryn Tappen on today’s round and what it will take to raise the Claret Jug: “It’s nice that I get to play with Viktor again. We played well (today) and it’s a comfortable pairing for both of us…I’ve been knocking on the door for awhile now and this is the best chance I’ve had in a long time. I just need to stay in my own little world for one more day.”

Paul McGinley on Live From The Open: “Rory McIlroy is primed to get over the line and win this Open Championship tomorrow. There’s a lot of things working in his favor, but also the work that he’s done in the last two to three months has built towards something big happening and it could well be an Open Championship…he’s moved out of the peloton now…it’s just him and Hovland now, it doesn’t mean those guys can’t catch them, but they really have to go.”

Brandel Chamblee on Live From The Open: “It has been nothing short of a magical week thus far for Rory McIlroy…as we talk about luck and magic, here it was again today on the 10th hole. Magical moments…just one, two of those, but he’s had a little bit of that every single day on top of how well he’s been hitting it…there are lots of parallels. Call them luck, call them magic, but both McIlroy and Hovland have had magical weeks.”

Paul Azinger on his bunker shot for eagle on the 10th hole: “He was careful not to get too ‘up’…I think he was pretty subdued really with that fist pump, he didn’t let it all come out…it’s almost like he consciously pulled it back before he got out of that bunker…I can assure you he hit a lot of shots out of that bunker this week in preparation.”

Notah Begay III on the eagle on 10: “The gallery to the left of the 11th hole and all of those grandstands went absolutely nuts. Rory composed himself, walked over and watch the tee shot of Scheffler to see if he could figure out something from the wind direction, so he’s staying in the moment.”

Justin Leonard on McIlroy handling the vocal support from the crowd: “For a lot of players, and even for Rory some time ago, this might add pressure…but he’s certainly encouraged and maybe even wanting to take on this challenge of winning the Open even more because of that support.”

ON VIKTOR HOVLAND (16-under, Co-Leader)

Hovland to Tappen following his round: “It kind of felt like match play. I didn’t try to think of it that way…I’m going against one of the best players in the world and I’m certainly not going to hold back because he’s certainly not.”

Azinger: “He kind of just had to follow Rory around. He said he didn’t react to Rory, but he did a few times on the tee…Rory had the honor and he followed him with the driver.”

McGinley on Live From The Open: “With his inexperience, and the crowd cheering for McIlroy, tomorrow is going to be a tough day for him…as great a player as he is. The crowd are going to be very much in McIlroy’s favor tomorrow.”

Chamblee on Live From The Open: “The greens here are so big, and the surrounds are cut so tight, that you can go through this entire week and not have to chip. If he misses a green tomorrow where he is short-sided and he has to go over a bunker, then we’re leaning in…because he is so devastatingly bad at chipping, He’s the worst chipper, by far, on the PGA TOUR. You go back to 2004 and you can only find three players who have ever chipped worse at any part of their career than what Viktor Hovland is doing right now…he’s a sublime ball-striker…the question is, will he have to pitch tomorrow?”

ON CAMERON SMITH (12-under, T-2nd)

John Wood prior to his second shot on the 13th hole with the ball well above his feet standing in the bunker: “This is a huge gamble. In his rehearsals, he walked up the hill and tried to see what his line was and looked like he was going to stand behind it and try to play a huge, massive cut…but (standing in the bunker) looks even tougher if he tries this.”

Gary Koch: “If the heel grabs first, this ball could go low, left, and there’s nothing but gorse bushes over there.”

Azinger: “You don’t practice this. He’s risking his whole championship on a shot he never practices.”

Wood following the shot into the gorse bushes: “I just didn’t understand anything about that shot.”

Koch: “That’s just a course management mistake.”

Azinger: “A crazy shot. There’s no way you train to perfect that shot. He’s risked his whole championship on that shot and I don’t understand it.”

Koch: “You just punch the ball out sideways, you have a wedge left to the green, and the worst you walk away with is five.”

Azinger: “That’s a time where his caddie could have stepped in there and said, ‘Hey, let’s just hold on a minute. You’re in good shape, let’s not wreck our championship here.’”

Azinger on his eagle putt on the 14th hole: “He just does not have the same touch has he did the first two days, there’s no doubt about it…it just wasn’t his day on the greens.”

ON CAMERON YOUNG (12-under, T-2nd)

Azinger on the 14th hole: “He has looked good today. For somebody who has never really been in this position before, he has really held it together nicely.”

David Feherty following Young’s four-putt on the 16th hole: “What a blunder.”

Wood: “Such a shame what happened on 16. He did nothing like that all day long, just in total control of his game, and that four-putt cost him two shots…he’s going to be kicking himself.”

ON DUSTIN JOHNSON (10-under, 7th)

Dan Hicks on his putt into the pot bunker on the 14th hole: “That is disastrous.”

Azinger: “The putter has betrayed him today, and it’s really let him down all season. Hitting it great but just a couple of putts away from being where he wants to be, and that one was a disaster.”

–NBC SPORTS–