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PGA CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 7, 2014Ryan PalmerLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY KELLY ELBIN: With his lowest round in a major championship, Ryan Palmer joins us after shooting 65 in the opening round of the 96th PGA Championship. He is tied for the lead with Kevin Chappell and Lee Westwood. Ryan, great playing. Good start. First two holes with birdies and then terrific round all together. Thoughts on the day, please. RYAN PALMER: Yeah, it was awesome. It was great to come out on a Thursday and get a low round in there and take a little pressure off going into tomorrow. But you know, great opening nine obviously got me going and great birdie on 14, and then of course birdie on 17 and 18. Like I was telling everybody else, I felt like the greens were receptive on the back nine. Then went to the front and they firmed up all of a sudden. So it was kind of two different nines I felt. But my short game saved me obviously on the back, on my front nine. Made a great up‑and‑down I guess on 2, and then a great chip‑in on 5 kind of kept my round going. And coming into 7, hit a great bunker shot and 6‑footer for birdie. A little disappointed on 8 with the horseshoe I hit, but excited to be sitting here for the first time. So hope to keep going. KELLY ELBIN: A 31 on the back nine; could you go through the birdies in terms of what you hit in and the length of putts, starting on 10, please. RYAN PALMER: Yeah, I had about 123 to the hole I believe and hit a 54‑degree wedge to about six, seven feet. Then 11, I hit a‑‑ here is the reception, I hit a 6‑iron to two feet and stopped where it landed, which was nice. 14, I hit a 5‑iron to about 20 feet. 17, I hit a gap wedge from the bunker to about 15 feet. Then 2‑putted 18 after hitting 6‑iron into the green. Then a great chip‑in on 5 and then I was able to hit a great bunker shot to about six feet on 7. Q. As your round went along, the crowd got a little bigger, and a lot of photographers, and for a few minutes, you were the sole leader of the tournament. How conscious are you of that and were you thinking of that standing on 8? RYAN PALMER: No, I knew. Obviously could tell a few more people showed up and then of course pictures start taking pictures of you where you're walking. When you get to where people are taking pictures of you walking, then you know you're playing good, because you know they are not waxing my clothes or my walk. But the one thing I thought about on 8 and 9 was to birdie and shoot 62. I don't believe the 7‑iron went that far, but I knew where I stood. I'll admit, I watch leaderboards. It was a good feeling. I wanted to get to 8 so bad and it kept driving me. So we'll take six going into tomorrow. Q. Did that screw you up, thinking about the illustrious 62? RYAN PALMER: No, not really. Because I flagged it on 6 and just ran through a little bit more. Then of course after birdieing 7‑‑ my divot was a foot behind the hole on 8 and I couldn't believe it went that far. But I was going at it, and that's what James told me. He goes, "Well, you went for it" which is cool. We'll go out tomorrow and keep going for it. Q. And just to be clear, you're not upset about the 65, right? RYAN PALMER: No, not at all. Not at all. No, I mean‑‑ of course I wanted to be 7 (laughes) but it will be nice going to the house relaxing knowing I shot 6‑under the first day and come out tomorrow and continue the good play. KELLY ELBIN: For the record, this is the first time Ryan has held the lead, either out right or shared the lead after any round in a major championship. Q. If you were holding the trophy on Sunday afternoon, would you talk it down to another Mr.Palmer let him get his hand on it, the one that eluded him? RYAN PALMER: Well, ask me that on Sunday night if we are still here. But I don't know if I could pull that off or not. That would be hard to do. Maybe (smiling). I knew this is the one he didn't win. I guess if this Palmer won it, that would be cool. Q. I may be misheard something here, and if we did, we'll just drop everything, but did you say on 11 your ball pitched like a foot from the hole? RYAN PALMER: Yeah, I hit 6‑iron at the middle of the green where you should have been and it kind of‑‑ it turned a little bit more, and ended up right at the stick. It hit two feet short of the hole and stopped, right there. Q. How did that happen? RYAN PALMER: That's how soft the greens were on the back nine. It was the strangest thing. You could spin back with a lob‑wedge easy, and then you get on the front nine and balls are bouncing like crazy. It was pretty wild seeing two different nines react like that on the greens. I hit it that good, Doug, come on (laughing). Q. Your caddie was saying that you almost didn't play the British Open, back problems; can you walk us through that, and maybe a little bit about yesterday's photo bomb that got a lot of mileage? RYAN PALMER: It was weird over at The Open. I woke up Sunday morning at the Scottish with a little lower left si issue which I always get, but I can always get some work done and clear it up. It got worse and worse through the week and by Wednesday, I couldn't even load up on my backswing and then go through a shot. So I got some work done and saw a guy and he got to realize my inner obliques were shut down. My back was fine, just some muscles around my side and lower back left area were shut down. He got into it and released it and by Thursday morning, I was full swing. Unfortunately that was a little mishap, but I was able to play all week and by Sunday I was 100 percent. As far as the photo bomb, we were coming off 8 green, and of course, you knew who was on 1 green, because it was a 100,000 people on one hole. I'm walking down that bridge, and in front of me are a dozen cameras just going at it, and so I just gave them a little, hey, how you doing. I think Tiger photo bombed me, personally, but you know, it was‑‑ all my friends started texting me last night. I'm like, it's just Wednesday night, and of course it was the picture everybody was talking about. That was pretty funny. Q. Not to bring up a painful subject, but what is it about the toll that this game takes on the body; think what it's done to Tiger, and Dufner had to withdraw today, Kuchar withdrew; is that something you think about when you get involved in this? RYAN PALMER: Yeah, I do. I know Dufner's fighting some bulging discs in his neck, and I heard Kuchar was spasms. I work with Dr.Troy Van Biezen who has put me through a good workout program, and the work he does for me, from tissue work to making sure everything is working, has kept me going. Fortunately I've been able to play this long for the last 11, 12 years and haven't had any major problems. Never had to withdraw for an injury, which is nice. You know, it's one swing away from something happening. You just never know when it's going to happen. Fortunately it hasn't happened. This game, you go 25 weeks a year, ten straight years, and then you throw in the amount of time you practice without playing the tournaments; your body, the explosion your body has on the golf swing, it takes a toll. Fortunately I've been able to stay healthy. Q.  This is a Nicklaus course that sets up for high fades, and you draw the ball most of the time. So how do you deal with that? Do most of the holes fit your eye? Are you comfortable with the sight lines? RYAN PALMER: Yeah, I can't look at one hole and think, this hole doesn't set up good for me. For instance, 18 is a hole‑‑ a nice hole to fade it on. Well, I realize I can get in hang left of the bunker and still get there in two, so doesn't affect me as much. I don't fade the ball unless I have to, that's for sure. I just try to hit it straighter. But it does look good to my eye. I've picked a lot of spots and I've got the mental notes what I'm going to do each hole and I don't think about anything else when I get to that hole. Just I've got a cart path in the distance, I want to hit it and that's all I think about. Hopefully we can keep it going. KELLY ELBIN: You've been runner‑up twice; you've had three top 5s. How do you assess your year in general? RYAN PALMER: It's been great. No, it's been a good year, very consistent. I'm very pleased. Only missed three cuts dating back to last fall. You know, to lose in a playoff at the Honda and of course finish second at the Humana. But after Colonial where I finished fifth, it's been a little frustrating not getting the results I've wanted. I've been playing well but just haven't been scoring as well as I've wanted to. I go into each week knowing I'm going to make the cut, which is nice, or I feel I'm going to. It's nice to play great this late in the year, especially going into the Playoffs in the next few weeks, so hopefully we can finish this one off. KELLY ELBIN: Ryan Palmer in with 65, tied for the lead at the PGA Championship. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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