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FARMERS INSURANCE OPENFebruary 8, 2015Harris EnglishSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA Q. You slept on the 54 hole lead for the first time. First time in a playoff. What do you take from this experience today? HARRIS ENGLISH: Definitely a lot of positives. I felt like I was under the gun a lot the past two days and I felt like my game stood up. This is a very hard golf course and being under the microscope out here is really tough. I didn't drive the ball look I wanted to this weekend and you got to drive it straight out here. You got to hit fairways and I think I hit three or four fairways there and it was tough to stay in the game like that. But I held it together and made some good putts there here and there. So I can take a lot of positives from it. Q. How do you feel like your swing held up under pressure today? HARRIS ENGLISH: It was good. My driver got a little loose today. I hit some balls in the right rough a lot, but other than that I felt like I played well. Hit some good bunker shots when I needed to, hit some great putts, right on line where I wanted to. So I feel good about this week, looking forward to getting back at it at Riviera. Q. It was a battle out there all day, you made those birdies, started that back nine, and then you had to come back into the breeze. I know you were a little disappointed, but man, that was a great run that you made to get into this point right here going into the playoff. HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I knew it was a battle out there. This golf course, this kind of weather, it got breezy out there the front nine. I told myself on the back nine, this is where you got to make a move. Obviously chipping in on 10 sparked some momentum and got me rolling and then I birdie died 11 and 13. So I feel like all in all I played really good this week. I can take a lot out of it. Didn't drive it very straight today, only I think hit three or four fairway, and it's hard to play Torrey Pines when you don't hit it really straight. But I'm taking a lot from this week. I'll have an off week this next week and I can work on some stuff and try to get right back in the saddle in L.A. Q. It says a lot about your fortitude not driving it at Torrey Pines south is not really good and a very good chemistry to kind of get it done? HARRIS ENGLISH: When I play here next year I want to be hitting the driver a little better. But it was good. I've been working on my putting and short game a lot and it showed today. Especially holing some key par putts which is what you got to do out here. That makes me feel good and tells me that the stuff I'm working on is paying off. Q. Walk us through your birdie to force, to get into the playoff. HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I thought I hit a really good drive off the tee kind of down the right center. Kicking into the first cut which wasn't too bad. It was a good 5-wood number for me. I carry my 5-wood 250, 255 and it was 234 into the breeze, so I knew I could go ahead and hit it pretty hard. I hit a great shot, landed a hair left of the green and went in the bunker which left me a really easy bunker shot. So I was trying to hole it the best I could but I left myself with a good birdie opportunity and it was good to make it and get in the playoff and give myself a chance. Q. You almost holed a bunker shot there near the end. What went through your mind when that thing popped out? HARRIS ENGLISH: I knew I had to hit a really good bunker shot there. Had to hit it high and put a lot of spin on it. Flew it a little further than I wanted to, but I could tell it was going to be really close to the hole and I saw Smitty's reaction that it was really close and heard the crowd roar. I guess it landed in the hole and popped out, but I'm just pretty lucky it stopped where it did and didn't come off the green or whatever. But, yeah, that was close, but it was a solid par. Q. Thoughts and feelings standing on the 18th tee hole you just birdied what went through your mind there? HARRIS ENGLISH: Just trying to hit a good drive. Try to hit the ball in the fairway, which I didn't do a whole lot of today. But, yeah, you're thinking birdie the whole way. Obviously everybody in the group is a long hitter, and really whoever hits the fairway is going to have a go at the green. So I was just trying to put the ball in the fairway and then try to play the hole very similar to how I finished the 18th. But it didn't work out, I hit it in the rough and then my 7-iron came out a little hotter than I wanted to out of the rough and left me with an awkward lie back there. But I had that putt tracking pretty good and just came up a bit short. Q. Can you talk about, I don't know if you watched the leaderboards at all but sort of the ebb and flow of the round. There were so many guys, seven guys head the lead through the day? HARRIS ENGLISH: I started watching at 12 or 13. I looked at it a little bit. I knew coming down the stretch when you hit those holes, 14 and 15, that are into the wind off the left, I mean, par's a very good score on those holes and coming down the stretch I needed to bear down and try to make pars on those holes and I knew 10-under was going to be a really good number from about number 11 or 12 on. So that was what I was gunning for. I got to 10-under for a little bit and then bogeyed 14 and 15. But that's what this good golf course, this U.S. Open tough golf course, that's what it shows out here. There's a lot of good players and it's hard to run away with the lead out here, because it is such a good golf course and so hard to make birdies. Q. Especially today, there were so many over par scores the course really kind of had its grit today? HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, especially that front nine. That fog blew in and got really windy and cold and it was tough. That number 4 today was playing really near a par-5. But it's just a heck of a golf course. They did a great job setting it up. The rough was up, the greens were perfect, they had some really good pins out there. So, we got a U.S. Open tournament out here. Q. We had a bad angle on 18 in regulation, you were playing with J.B. Were you surprised he laid up or did his lie sort of dictate that? HARRIS ENGLISH: The lie kind of dictated that. He had a downhill light and he felt like he could lay up to give himself a number and try to shoot it at that flag. I felt like he hit a really good wedge shot in there and it didn't spin back. But he gave himself a chance. That's a tough position to be in. Maybe the number wasn't good for him, maybe the lie wasn't ideal, but that's tough. Q. You ever been in a four way before? HARRIS ENGLISH: I haven't. It's been a long time. I definitely watched some on TV before. But it's fun. I'm glad I gave myself a chance and to know what it feels like to be in a playoff and I'm just getting those butterflies going, that's a good feeling. Q. What was the rationale on your second shot there during the playoff? What were you trying to do? HARRIS ENGLISH: I was just trying to lay up to my number. I was trying to get 80 yards from the hole to where it leaves me a good shot to try to hole out that wedge shot. Q. Did going for it ever enter your mind? HARRIS ENGLISH: No, the lie was a little sketchy. Wasn't sitting very good in the rough and I would have to carve a 3-wood around, which a lot can go wrong with that. I was trying to give myself to make birdie as easy as possible. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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