The third round of the 2023 Senior Open Presented by Rolex at Royal Porthcawl will go down as one of the toughest in recent memory.
For the first time on the Legends Tour since the Senior Open in 2005, when Tom Watson triumphed at Royal Aberdeen, no player shot an under-par round.
Padraig Harrington and Phillip Archer were among seven players to record a best-of-the-day level par 71 that left them in a four-strong group a shot off leader Alex Cejka at the 36th edition of Europe’s only Senior Major Championship.
Here, we see what the players had to say about tackling the elements and the course on a brutal day in Wales with more inclement weather forecasted for the final round on Sunday.
Alex Cejka
"In the wind and everything, you want to do a certain shot but you just can't pull it off.
"If you're in a really, really bad lie, it's tough to make up and down. It was a little bit frustrating. The weather, everybody had to deal with it. It was a little tough.
"Couple good bounces if you're lucky, avoid the bunkers, it's doable. But it's been a tough day."
Padraig Harrington
Speaking in a mid-round interview, Harrington said: “This would be the ideal day for playing golf with your mates at home. You would be out there having a laugh, no scorecard in your hand.
“You’d be laughing at their drama, your drama.
“That is not quite as easy when you have a card in your hand and you are trying.
“But you have got to know that I would do this for fun. That is the way you have got to try and take it.
“It is tough, you are going to get some awful breaks… in many ways on a tough day it feels like a dagger in the back.”
Vijay Singh
"The conditions are hard. We don't normally play wind like this, especially me.
"I haven't played in conditions like this for a long, long time.
"But you have to control your ball. It wasn't easy. Putting was really difficult."
Steven Alker
"Today we played in this wind, so hopefully it's the same direction [in the final round]. But expect anything.
"Of course if it rains, it will play longer but I think this wind will prepare us for tomorrow."
Phillip Archer
"I enjoyed it to be honest. Took on the challenge a little bit.
"I have got my best mate and my coach on the bag and we embraced it.
"On the range I was just concentrating on a lot of shots, taking the spin out of everything, chipping shots and stuff like that.
"We just took every shot as a challenge, really, and we knew we could hit some perfect shots today and still drop shots, which we did."
Greig Hutcheon
"The course was really brutal today. Very difficult.
"You're concentrating so hard on standing up and keeping your balance. There was so much going on.
"The other thing that was really difficult on a lot of tee shots is grass blowing across the ball mid swing.
"Your trouser legs are flapping and it's just a battle."
