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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AMFebruary 12, 2015Justin HicksPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Justin Hicks, thanks for joining us for a few minutes after your successful 8‑under 64 in round one, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro‑Am, making your fourth start in the event here this week. Obviously a nice way to finish your round today with the eagle and six birdies prior to that. So just with that, a couple comments on the round. JUSTIN HICKS: Well, after playing last year, it's almost like you would have to think to yourself do I really want to go subject myself to that kind of weather again. But this year was‑‑ that was pretty much a dream out there today. The winds are blowing I think five, six miles an hour, sunny, 80. We were sweating before we even came off the range. To do that here‑‑ I've been fortunate enough to play a couple of the pro‑ams they do here in the fall, I think Callaway was running it for awhile. And like you said, I've played three times here now prior to this week, and really hadn't seen too much of this kind of weather here. So it was amazing to have weather like that and the course is in great shape and I found a way to hit some fairways and make a few putts. THE MODERATOR: Yes, you did. We'll open it up for questions. Just run us through birdies and give us some clubs and yards as best you recall. JUSTIN HICKS: No. 2 is kind of like a long par‑4 for most of the guys out here on TOUR, I believe. So I hit driver, 4‑iron just short of the green and it rolled into the bunker. Splashed it out to 10 feet and made a 12‑footer or whatever downhill from behind the hole. So that was nice, positive thing. The putter has been a little tough so far this year. I've switched a few things up, did some work at home last week with everybody and am starting to see the ball roll a bit nicer. I think we saw some of that today. So, number 5? Is that the par‑5? Trying to remember here. What's five? The par‑3? Yeah. I hit a 6‑iron in there. I think it was about 190 yards today. Came up just shy of the hole and got a good read and once again, got a great roll on it and it went right in. 6, hit the green in two with a 5‑wood. I had an up and over putt with three and a half foot of break on it for eagle. I had some good visions there. I thought maybe I could get the day really started with an eagle there, but rolled it up to tap in distance, which is always nice. Hit it close on 7, or not ‑‑ clos'ish on 7, but I tried to just kind of stay patient in there and got to 10 and hit a good shot in there with a 9‑iron out of the first cut. I think I made about a whatever, 14‑footer downhill right‑to‑left putt. 14, that's the par‑5 there, right? Yeah. Hit a really good shot there with that pin up top. Ball almost flew in the hole. I had about 10 feet there. It was pretty straight putt. Nothing really much to it. 16 had 8‑iron left into the green and played it out right of the pin and rolled a kind of left towards the hole left myself with another 14‑footer. I actually had a little bit too much speed probably rolling with that putt. Had it not gone in. But when they go in, I guess it doesn't really matter. Then 17 actually hit a really good shot. Flagged it there. Came up short of the pin. Thought I was going to make the putt quite honestly, it broke off the last second and I really had it in my behind that I was going to birdie out for some reason. So I guess when I made the eagle it all balanced out. Q. Last week when you worked on your putting, who did you work with and what did you change? JUSTIN HICKS: I've had a couple different putters this year that I've used. I found one a couple weeks back when I played at Phoenix. It seemed to just seemed to get the ball rolling better, I didn't hear it as much bouncing after I would stroke a putt from distance, which is always a good thing when the ball rolls really nicely off it. But I have a sports psychologist that I use, Doctor Rotella, I think a few people have heard of him he works with a can couple good players out here. I had a chance to meet with him he spends his winters down there this South Florida where I live and we had a nice little session where we did some work on some short game stuff and putting and he tried to tell me that I'm a good player again and I tried to come out here and prove that. Q. More a confidence thing then? JUSTIN HICKS: It was a little bit confidence and a little bit of trying to just make sure that we're starting the ball where we need to be starting the ball at. So, but, yeah, I mean a lot of it, a lot of the things that he does is confidence related, for sure. Q. I'm from Charlottesville, where Doctor Rotella is a big name in our neighborhood. JUSTIN HICKS: Yes, he is. Q. Now this year it seems like this year more than ever a lot of conversation is about injuries and that type of thing. Do you have any health problems at all who how is your back? JUSTIN HICKS: That's a very funny question. Periodically I'll see a chiropractor at home just to kind of I don't know, loosen me up a little bit. When we're on road as much as we are traveling, playing as much golf as we are, I feel I get a little tight and when I go see them they tend to loosen me up. Saw him on Friday and he did a minor adjustment to me. I get on the plane on Sunday to fly out here from Florida and I'm like, wow, it's starting to get a little tight and feeling some pain in my back. So, I showed up here on Monday and they recommended a local chiropractor to me which I went to see. And he did some work on me. He also did some ultrasound treatments to try to help relief some of the pain and stuff like that. Showed up Tuesday, finally the guys get here with the trucks and the TOUR chiro Tom was telling me that my glutes weren't activating. And I almost fell off the chair. I was like, you got to be kidding me. Q. It's spreading across the nation. JUSTIN HICKS: Well I never, I never quite used that term myself to describe an injury. I never really even heard that term. So, prior to I guess well last week for that matter. So to have him tell me that I was just thinking you're kidding, right? So, yeah, so he's been working on me all week since then. I saw him morning and afternoon on Tuesday, morning and afternoon on Wednesday and I went in there this morning a felt pretty good, saw him he kind of waved at me like are you going to come over and I go I got to go play and left. So I felt a lot better. But, yeah, I guess it's something that for us it's easy to get our backs or hips out of alignment. With as much stress that we put on our bodies playing, I think if we were doing a lot of other different jobs, it might not be as bad. But we play a lot of golf, there's a lot of bending involved, there's a lot of strength involved, ground causes a lot of stress, we hit it, we're making divots, then when we travel you're spending large amounts of times either in cars or hours in cars and typically planes. I think it has a way of taking its toll on us. So I'm not 20 years old anymore either, I think I'm about a year and a half older than Tiger and it's something that certainly I've noticed in the last five to seven years with all these younger guys coming out that carry the ball 350 in the air that it seems like there's a lot more injuries now than ever. It seemed like guys before it wasn't as common. I think that with the speed that people are bringing to the game there seems to be more injuries going on too. THE MODERATOR: Well, Justin, we appreciate your time. Great round today. JUSTIN HICKS:  All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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