British Open 2011 Press Conference: The Most Intriguing Quotes

No one was a quote machine at the Open Championship press conferences, but we found out what it's like to be an Open or US Open champ, what was needed to pay Royal St. George's successfully, the state of American golf, who's been sightseeing and there was even a little humor.

Ben Curtis was the last man to win the Open Championship at Royal St. George's.

"I was here a month ago, and I shook probably more hands then than I did the first time I was here," he said.

The victory did not really sink in until he returned home.

I remember it was almost dark when I left here. We didn't even go back to the place we were staying. I don't even know what happened to our luggage or anything" he said. "The flight was from Gatwick to Cleveland and we came down the escalator in the baggage claim and there was thousands of people down there. That's when it really hit in that this was a lot bigger deal than I thought it was."

Like one or two other major championship winners, he had almost a premonition. Hale Irwin, for example, had a dream about winning the 1990 US Open before he won it.

Curtis' was Saturday evening, before the final round in 2003. He and his wife Candance Curtis were lying in the bed in the small apartment they had rented for the week.

"She goes, 'How do you feel about tomorrow?' And I just kind of looked at her and said, 'I'm going to win.' She never talked to me until after the round on Sunday."

He said that this time around, it is not a small apartment. "We went from the outhouse to the mansion," he quipped.

Louis Oosthuizen admits he has not used the red dot on his glove as much as he did during the Open Championship in 2010 at St. Andrews. He's been playing in the US this season.

"You get a bit spoiled on the PGA TOUR traveling-wise," he explained. "For me, with a South African passport, I need visas all over the place, and it's always passport control and all those different things you've got to go through week to week. So I think especially traveling with my family all the time, it is a lot easier over there."

One of his highlights in the US so far was last week, seeing the John Deere factory. He comes from a farming family.

"It was a big dream of mine going there to the harvest work factory in Moline," he said. "I was there on Tuesday morning and went through the whole combine factory, which was amazing."

His best memory of having the Claret Jug for a year was taking it home to South Africa.

"I think probably the most special thing was to take it to the club that I grew up, the nine-hole sand-and-oil greens, Albertinia Golf Club, took it there, showed it to the members, showed it to my friends, family," he recalled. "That was the most special thing to me, having the Claret Jug there at a golf club that's probably got 42, 43 members which are basically field farmers and a few guys that's in town, and that's where I grew up."

Even Rory McIlroy was amazed at just how much attention a major champion gets.

"I didn't realize how much of a fuss it would create or how much of a buzz," he said. " It's been nice. I can't really—I thought it was great for me to win the U.S. Open, win my first major, and the support that I've had from people back home, from everyone from all over the world, has been pretty overwhelming. It's a very nice feeling to have that support walking onto the golf course."

Royal St. George's is getting better reviews from the players this time around because the weather has not allowed a great deal of thick rough to grow. However, that doesn't mean the course will be easy.

According to Rory McIlroy, it provides several challenges.

"With this wind, you're going to have to keep the ball low. But sometimes it's hard to run the ball into these greens because they're so undulating and they can go so many different ways," he said

"You're going to really need a very strong ball flight, especially if the wind still picks up the way it is," he added. "Especially with the rough not being up, I think this golf course is going to be all about the second shot and making sure that you get the ball in the right position on the green because the greens are so slopey that you're going to have 25, 30-footers all day if you do hit the greens.

Ben Curtis has his own set of cautions.

"You've got to stay out of those bunkers," he advised. "Back home, some courses you can hit it in every bunker on the course, and you'll be all right. But over here almost every one you go in is not a good place to be."

Martin Kaymer agreed. "You just need to avoid the bunkers. That's always a penalty if you're in the bunker. You just need to chip it out and go from there," he said. "The key shots this week are going to be those six- to 10-footers for par that you have to save. You will miss greens and you will have some long putts with a lot of slopes between you and the hole, and it's very tough to hit them to a foot or to two feet, so that's why I think there will be plenty of putts between six and 10 feet that you have to save for par. I think it's a lot about the short game here. So Luke Donald has a good chance. "

Luke Donald mentioned the uncertainty of links play.

"You don't really know what you're going to get," he said. "Yesterday was sunny and not too windy; today was a little chillier and pretty stiff breeze. That's the nature of links."

He compared the course to other venues.

"This one, some of the greens are a little bit more severe than other Open Championships I've played," he said. "I feel like some of the hardest holes have some of the hardest greens, and I feel like some of the easier holes have some of the flatter greens, which is a little counter intuitive and sort of a different way of doing it."

Defending champ Louis Oosthuizen has a changeup from his victory year at St. Andrews. " I won't have my 5-wood in the bag," he said. "I'm expecting the wind to blow, so I've got like a little hybrid in, and then the rest is pretty much the same."

Several golfers were questioned on the state of US golf since the last five major championship winners have been from abroad.

Phil Mickelson said, he was not worried about American golf.

"I'm more happy to see how strong international golf is. We've got players from all over the world winning the biggest events, and I think that this only helps promote and grow the game of golf on an international level," he said. "I'm not worried as though we don't have good young players coming up to represent America because I think we do."

Former No. 1, Lee Westwood added, "I think it's cyclical. We went through a period where there weren't many European players winning major championships or from the rest of the world, and a lot of American golfers were winning majors. I think it's just one of those things."

Rory McIlroy agreed. "In the mid '90s or even late '90s and 2000s it seemed like Tiger was winning, and it seemed like every major was being won by an American player," he said. "And now the Europeans have just sort of stepped up a little bit and have just started to play better. There's a lot of great American golfers that are still here and that are coming through, the likes of Rickie, Dustin, Bubba. There's a lot of good players."

Humorous Moments

Lee Westwood on his chances for victory: "Hopefully it's a mathematical progression, third, second, obviously I'm hoping for a first."

Rory McIlroy on what it will take to win: "Solid golf is good enough for me, as long as it's better than everyone else's solid golf."

Charl Schwartzel on his first British Open, which was at Royal St. George's: "I remember I think I led The Open after three holes and got such a fright when I saw my name on the leaderboard that that was all I can actually remember."

Phil Mickelson on Luke Donald: "I haven't played with him much lately. If you've noticed, he's typically in the last groups lately, and I haven't seen him. I've seen him in the car park occasionally."

On Sightseeing

Nick Watney: "We saw the Palace, and my wife really wanted to go to Westminster Abbey. She's a big fan of Will and Kate, so we saw that. That place was really neat, all the history in there. She also wanted to go to Harrod's, so we did that, as well. Ian Poulter kind of gave us a few things to look at and some sights to see, some restaurants to go to. "

Phil Mickelson on his family's travel plans: "Amy and the kids went to Paris today. My kids have never been there, and they're going to head into the city and see some of the sights, some of the things that the kids have studied in school the last couple of years, and they'll spend most of the time at the Louvre. They'll spend some time at the Eiffel Tower. That's kind of a big tourist thing for Americans. We see and read about a lot."

Kathy Bissell is a Featured Columnist and Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour, European Tour or PGA of America