QUICKEN LOANS NATIONAL

June 26, 2014

Greg Chalmers

Q. You took 25 putts on a very difficult golf course out here?
GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, you've got to do that to shoot a low score. I put a new 915 Titleist driver in this week. We just tested this week. I think I hit every fairway on my first nine holes, and I think I barely missed two on the other nine and I missed one by a couple of feet. So I really drove the ball probably the best I've driven it all year. That was kind of exciting and that kind of setup the rest of the round, finishing with three straight birdies is always nice.

Q. You hit ten of 14 fairways officially out here.
GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, I don't mind that, as long as the other four aren't out-of-bounds, that's good. It'S the ones that I miss that matter and definitely the spray has come in on this driver for me at the moment. If I can stay out of trouble or just hit in the first cut of rough, that's okay.

Q. Looks like the rough is juste?
GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, it's nasty. I drove it in the rough twice on my 12th and 13th holes it, 3 and 4. I had real trouble. I had to lay it up and luckily I got them up-and-down.

Q. Did you have good numbers coming in, 7,8 and 9?
GREG CHALMERS: Perfect numbers. Yeah, did I all my wedge testing the other day. I changed all my wedges and changed the lofts on my wedges and I had perfect numbers for the clubs there.

Q. How much adjustments and new equipment do you have this week?
GREG CHALMERS: Well, when things are not going right, you start trying different things. I had a big gap in my wedges and yardages and I wanted to try and address that, so I put a 58 in instead of a 620 and dialed a few other things down and changed shafts in my irons about a month ago. I played nicely today. I did a lot of things right and I'm pleased. I'm very pleased.

Q. As I mentioned at the start of the interview, you're such a good putter and you're fifth overall in strokes gained putting this week and right now you're?
GREG CHALMERS: It's a strength to my game but it's part of the game that you need to do well if you want to be successful. If you look at who wins tournaments each week, they do a lot more than that. I'm a great story for that because I led strokes gained last year but finished about is 122nd on the FedExCup. It's not everything and I have to work hard on the other parts of my game. If I have a day like today where I strike the ball well, I can shoot a low number.

Q. 25 putts, and that's not a surprise, considered one of the better putters on the PGA TOUR. Was today the result of work that you did on the range?
GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, a little bit. I put a new driver in this week. I put the Titleist 915, the new one they came out with. I drove it longer and straighter. I don't drive it long but it was longer for me. I think I hit ten of 14 fairways, but the ones I missed were not that far away, and I drove it down a road on the first nine holes, which was great. Overall, I'm really pleased. That gave me a lot of confidence and I fed off that and finished off with three straight birdies.

Q. Is there a danger of missing the fairway?
GREG CHALMERS: You can make bogey anywhere, because even when you get on a hole, even like 1, you don't drive it in the fairway, it's a birdie hole, but if you don't drive it in the fairway, your second shot is going to go in the front bunker or back of the green, unless you're one of the strong guys hitting 60-yarders in. It really is key and it sets up the rest of the hole. If you can't drive it in the fairway, you're in big trouble.

Q. Now you have to wait until Friday afternoon. When you play so well, is it tough to wait?
GREG CHALMERS: Not really. I'm 40 years old. I've got my family and kids in town. I have plenty of things to do. By the time I get here tomorrow, I'll probably be well behind. These guys seem to do pretty well in the morning. I've had a great day today and we'll get up tomorrow and go and take it again.

Q. Talk about how comfortable you were out there. Seemed like a lot of people struggling and you didn't?
GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, look, I got off to a great start. I birdied 10 which is a difficult par 3 and I hit a beautiful 5-iron in to 15 feet and made it. Then when you back it up with a par on 11, which is probably one of the hardest holes on the TOUR we have, you're on your way to a good start. On the back nine holes, I think I hit every fairway. I have this new driver in play that's going really well, the Titleist 915. It's the best I've driven it this year and when I struggled through the middle stretch on my back nine, which was the front nine on 2,3,4, I got up-and-down, three out of the four times. So that really held me in good stead to finish strong.

Q. Your putting was outstanding today, too. A lot of people struggled and you seemed to be cool, calm and collected in that area?
GREG CHALMERS: It's a strength of mine. I work on it pretty hard and statistically speaking, I always seem to be up there in most of the putting stats. So when I'm stroking it well, I think I can do well and I really get very confident. Today I felt pretty comfortable. I made some nice putts and odds are that people say, well, you putted great; I walk off, I putted okay. It wasn't a crazy good day. I expect to make a lot of putts when I'm putting well. I would like to keep that up, though, because guys that putt well tend to do okay.

Q. Your thoughts so far today?
GREG CHALMERS: I played great today. I'd been saying earlier I put the new Titleist 915 in and it's the best I've driven it. Came out with it this week for us. I drove it down a road on the front nine, my back nine and didn't miss a fairway. I haven't done that in a long time, and it goes further for me anyway. I'm not a long hitter but goes further for me which gives me a lot of confidence. I had a tough stretch in the middle on 2,3,4. Managed to get up-and-down two out of the three of those. That was big for momentum and then hit two great wedges in on 8 and 9, pretty. Kicked them in from a foot and a half on both of them, and a 6-iron on 7 that I hit about five feet above the hole.

Q. I know it's Thursday; what do you take away from the round, it's early in the tournament.
GREG CHALMERS: It's probably not too early to get ahead. It is too early to get ahead. There's a long way to go. I had a really nice day today and I'm proud of that, and that's great. How that transpires into the rest of the week is what matters by the time I get on the tee at 1:48 tomorrow, there's a chance I'll be three or four behind somebody. It's nice but it doesn't mean a whole lot today at the moment.

Q. You're obviously on the course and you see other scores and you see guys who can hit the ball pretty well, 2-, 3-, 4-over, at what point do you start thinking about what the guys have done versus what you have done?
GREG CHALMERS: I didn't think it was easy at all. I played really well and I think if anybody who plays really well, they can shoot a low score. You just have to be coming out of the fairway and I did that the majority of the time today. I'm not really perturbed about -- I think there's a low score out there and there's a 5- or 6-under, if you drive the ball well. But no, I don't really look at, hey, these guys are struggling or makes it any sweeter for me.

Q. Historically have you played well here?
GREG CHALMERS: Not as well as I would have liked. I've had one Top-20. I would love it if it didn't rain. It was a little softer this morning after the rain tonight. I'd love if it didn't rain and we get a little firmness to the greens and fairways and I can get an extra 20 yards out, that would be good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports