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HUMANA CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONJanuary 24, 2015Michael PutnamLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA Q. First hole started kind of like you played the first two rounds. Did you think you had another 63, 64 in you after birdieing that first hole? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, not really. I knew it was going to be tough conditions today. The first hole was straight down wind. So it was probably the easiest hole on the golf course. But it's always nice to start off with birdie. With the wind today, to get it under par early was huge for me, because it can go sideways pretty kick with how windy it was. Q. Number 4 a little frustrating. Had a pretty good look for birdie there and let it get away? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yes, I missed a 3‑footer. Only 3‑footer I missed all week. Luckily I let it go and I made a lot of 3‑, 4‑, 5‑footers the rest of the day. Q. Now, you may not have been checking the leaderboard, but you're right at the top, near the top all day long. Was it getting in your head at all? Were you feeling at all anxious or anything different than you normally would? MICHAEL PUTNAM: I knew I was near the top of the lead, but I know I'm playing well and putting well and so I want to be top, near the top of the lead. I wish I was leading by five. But, yeah, it looks like a log jam when I look back at the leaderboard now. Q. You're near the top if not on it the top. What do you think you're going to have to do tomorrow? MICHAEL PUTNAM: It's going to be a great day. Obviously you got to shoot low because somebody in that group of 17, 18 under is going to shoot 7 or 8‑under. You got to keep firing at flags and make putts. Q. You have to have a lot of confidence after coming off 18, showed some poise there laying up when you might have tried a little glory shot there into the green? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, I didn't want to lay up, but caddie, Joel, talked me out of it, he gave me a good yardage ago to the middle of the fairway which put me in a good wedge distance and made a nice putt. It's great to finish off a round like that, for sure. Q. Fun watching you play today, I walked with you guys probably the last 10 or maybe even 12 holes, that back nine, it was a scramble. And it ended in the ultimate scramble, but a lot of nice up‑and‑downs, a lot of good short putting, kind of take me through the back nine and how you were keeping it together? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, this course probably, I mean I would says it the hardest course with wind. Just because it's a lot tighter than the other two courses. So it was like a scramble type of day. Yeah, I was scrambling my butt off making a lot of four and five footers for par. Not hitting many greens or as many greens as I want to. But it turned out all right. Q. This tournament and I guess even, I don't know exactly what the scoreboard looks like right now, but you're like in a four‑way tie for first, somewhere around there. Have you ever gone into a final Sunday tied for the lead in a PGA TOUR event? MICHAEL PUTNAM: I haven't. I've gone into Saturday tied for the lead, but not Sunday. So this is new territory for me, but I'm looking forward to embracing it and playing really good tomorrow. Q. Aside from some of the obvious stuff going into a final day you got to putt well, things like that, what do you really need to do inside yourself to have your best day, to go and have a great day tomorrow? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Hopefully just keep my nerves calm. Stay even keel out there. Not get too jumpy and make good decisions like I did on 18. I could get talked into making a bad decision there, pretty easy, with, you know, a chance to win the golf tournament. So, just knowing that I'm playing well and trusting it. Q. Your caddie talked you into a better decision? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, ultimately, I made par, so, yeah, it must have been pretty good. It at least took double out of play. Q. I heard a few interviews talking about the Super Bowl, I know you're a big Seahawks guy, would tomorrow be, to grab your first PGA TOUR win, would that be Super Bowl Sunday for you a week early? MICHAEL PUTNAM: For sure. Ideally, it would be to win in Phoenix, but winning anywhere I'll take it. But, yeah, I'm excited, obviously huge Seahawk fan for the Super Bowl, I got tickets to go, so I'll be there next Sunday. Q. Okay. And as far as tomorrow, will that be your Super Bowl Sunday perhaps? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Yeah, I mean, hopefully. There's definitely a trophy to be had tomorrow and hopefully I'm raising it. Q. Being that there's so many players are capable of going low tomorrow, does that adjust your strategy, do you go for broke or do you feel out what the other guys are doing? MICHAEL PUTNAM: There's so many par‑5s out there that you can reach that you don't really have to go for broke to shoot low. There's a couple shots that you can get aggressive on, but those are towards the end of the round, fortunately and we'll see how it's going until then and then I'll make a decision when it comes time, for sure. Q. Do you play more aggressive? MICHAEL PUTNAM: Everyone's playing aggressive because the rough is so short. You can miss greens and make up‑and‑down pretty easy. So, yeah, you got to play aggressive and hit at every pin pretty much. Q. Can you describe the course conditions out here today, whether wind was a factor at all? MICHAEL PUTNAM: The course conditions were perfect, but, yeah, it was a good 10 to 20 mile an hour wind a lot of times today, which made this course I think one of the, probably the toughest of the three, just because it's a lot tighter. So there were a lot of holes with cross wind where it was kind of tough to judge and figure out the distance, fortunately, I did it okay today, it wasn't my best round but it was a good solid round. Q. Were you say you're happy with what you got out of the round? MICHAEL PUTNAM: For sure. I made a lot of four and five footers I could have missed and shot even par real easy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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