Open 2008 contender quotes

The 2008 Open is less than 17 hours away, and ahead of the start of the competition, we bring you a selection of views from some of the leading contenders for this year's championship.

Practice round

Contender Quotes.

Trevor Immelman

"In my opinion this is the toughest course I have played on the Open rota. It's very demanding off the tee, and a lot of the reason is that a lot of tee shots are partially blind - you can only see a sliver of fairway."

"And then, there's not a lot of intermediate rough - you go from fairways right into the thick stuff. Also a lot of holes dog-leg into cross-winds, so you have to pay special attention to that. Every single hole has a challenging shot."

"This is going to be a great test this week, especially with some of the (bad) weather which is forecast. The guy who wins this tournament on Sunday is going to be very deserving of it."

Ernie Els

"The course itself is not too long but the wind is going to be a big factor this week. I think it's a wonderful golf course - a very fair course. The rough is up, so you're going to have to hit problem shots and you're going to have to play really well to break par."

Graeme McDowell

"I couldn't have hoped for better preparation. There's no substitute for winning, and the confidence - and obviously momentum - coming into a week like this is hugely important."

"My game has been good for quite a while now, and it's always nice to get some rewards - to get across the line, which is always very important for confidence generally. So I'm happy with the way things are going, obviously."

Sergio Garcia

"At the end of the day I know that I've got to be favourite myself, in me. It doesn't matter what anybody else says. I have to go out there and do what I know how to do, believe in my ability to do it and then give myself a chance at winning."

Geoff Ogilvy

"I really enjoy links golf and this is a rich area for good courses, probably the best in England. I've played six or seven of them and there's probably 25 that are great courses. You don't get many spots in the world where you have so many good courses right next to each other.

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