Testy Troon’s conditions don’t faze Dane’s hopes

TROON, SCOTLAND Someone asked 41-year-old Soren Kjeldsen, after his Friday 68 vaulted him near the top of the leaderboard, what his best and worst experiences had been in his seven (now eight) Open Championship appearances.

“Well, I’ll start with the worst: It was at Birkdale. It came down so hard all day (Thursday) and it was so windy. I’ll never forget walking off the 18th green. There was one guy from Danish media. You could see that he was all dry. He had just had a nice cup of coffee I could smell on his breath, and I had shot 11-over and thought I didn’t do too bad. His first question was like, ‘What happened out there?’ That was probably a low point.”

“And what did you say to the journalist?”

“I think generally I’m quite polite. I think I said, ‘Maybe you should try and walk outside the tent,’ ” said Kjeldsen, drawing much nervous laughter from the reporters in the room. Danish Delight: Kjeldsen, who’s from the port city of Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, was enjoying his media session.

On Friday’s weather: “I always think about the Open like this: That you want to get all sorts of conditions. You want different wind directions. You want sun, you want rain. We need all four seasons in a good Open, I think ... These conditions is what I grew up in. You don’t stay inside, because you would miss too many days.”

On competing with bigger, stronger players: “I think probably some people feel that I’ve overachieved, at 5-7. But I’m married to Charlotte; I think I’ve overachieved there as well (laughter). I think you can’t get caught up in all that. We all have limitations. Doesn’t matter if I’m playing guys 6-4 that hit it 350. They’re not going to touch my little Srixon ball. And that ball and me, it’s between the two of us.”