Q. Sum it up.
It was a very off-day. A little bit of rust with wedges combined with some poor decision making and it just came out of nowhere. Normally when I'm running that good, it doesn't turn like that. So it was really a very unique round for this year.
Q. So what do you do from here?
Do what I've done best, bounce back. I come back tomorrow strong. I'm not a big fan of the course. It doesn't fit me very well particularly, but I've also won on courses that I didn't think fit me very well.
So I know I can still shoot a low round if I hit the shots that I need to hit that I'm trying to hit. Just hopefully see a few more putts go in.
Q. Was there a moment early in the round where you just kind of felt like it was off today?
No, I played the front nine in 2-under, and really should have been four or five. I am playing good. I hit my first 11 fairways today and that's really hard to do out here.
Typically when I hit the fairways, I'm not over par. And that's what was weird about the round. I find a way from the fairway to at least find the green, worst case, and I made a couple mistakes I don't make. Typically when I don't feel that I'm scoring as well as I'm playing is when mistakes come around and that's what happened today.
So I'm walking to No. 1, hit a great drive there, coming off of what I thought should have gone in on 18; I really should have been 4-under at the time, and I just tried and get a little too aggressive. I don't let the chances come to me sometimes. In majors I do a good job of being patient. Other tournaments, I don't. I didn't today. I.
Tried to do too much on 1 and 2 -- really on 1. 2 was just bad. But 1 set me back. I had 105 yards. It's a shot I normally have a putt from inside 15 feet on and I put it in an almost impossible spot, and I bounced back on the tee shot on 2. Just didn't hit a great wedge. I should have just waited and let Bubba putt in on the tap-in. I was borderline stepping on his line, not that he wouldn't have been on mine. It was just a tough scenario and I just didn't get into a good stance. My putter just decelled. From there, it was just, let's get it into the house.
Q. Because you've been playing so well, is it --
Won't set me back much. I'm just very frustrated immediately after the round. Just, yeah, I would argue that this was -- after the tee shots, this is the worst round I've played in years, for hitting that many fairways. I'll just take it at that, that it's just a fluke. I made some birdies in the Pro-Am today. I still made plenty -- like I made three today. Typically make more than that, so I know they will be there tomorrow. I just need to limit the mistakes.
Q. Why doesn't the course suit your eye?
I'm not a big fan of poa annua greens in general. I don't seem to putt as well on them. Doesn't mean you can't. And then for me, personally, I struggle with wedges when you have to fly it at least to the hole.
I like harder, firmer golf courses, and out here with the pins on four-degree slopes on shelves, I'm just not very good at being able to fly it just past and trust that it's going to spin back, just because we don't see it very often. We normally see -- I normally have poor wedge play on golf courses similar to this. That's what happened today. Just poor.
Didn't take advantage of opportunities when I could have. I mean, even the first hole today, I had a good number. I flew it about ten yards past where I thought it would fly, and luckily it actually used the slope to its advantage there. I just have a tough time flying it all the way back to holes and trusting that, because I want to be below the hole and there's just no way to do that on some of these.
Q. What's a tougher pin for you, front or back?
Typically a back pin for me -- when the greens are soft and slopey and fast, I always want to be below the hole. Typically, you would think the back pin would be better for that because you could leave it on the middle of the green, and I was fine with that, until you start getting a little too aggressive and impatient. That's when I make those mistakes. Just uncalled for at the end.
Just lost a little bit of focus, and again, I'm just going to take it as -- all in all, I'm just going to take today as a fluke round. I still believe I'm playing well. It just happened to be an off-day on a day where it counted.