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WGC CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 5, 2015J.B. HolmesMIAMI, FLORIDA ALEX URBAN: We'd like to welcome J.B. Holmes to the interview room. 10‑under ties the tournament scoring record. It was a tough scoring day out there. The average score for the field was over par. What golf course were you playing? J.B. HOLMES: Apparently the same one I guess. Hit a lot of good shots today, and pretty much on every hole I put the ball below the hole where I had a chance to make a putt. Even out here, it's tough to make some putts, and if you can get below the hole, you have a better chance. Even if it's 25 feet, you have a better chance of making that than a 10‑ or 15‑footer downhill. Was able to hit the shots where I envisioned and hit good shots, and today the putter was on. Made a lot of putts. Put that combination together, you do everything pretty good, youÂ’re going to shoot a good score. Q. Did you put it below the hole on 12?. J.B. HOLMES: Actually it was like right pin high but it like eight inches, I could handle most of those. Those downhill arenÂ’t bad. Q. You haven't been here since 2010; is that right? J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, it's been a while. Q. So this is the first time you've seen‑‑ J.B. HOLMES: First time‑‑ I've played nine Tuesday and nine yesterday, so my second time around. Q. What did you think? J.B. HOLMES: I like it. I think it's way better before this, I didn't care for it at all. One of my least favorite tracks on TOUR. It was just too easy, I felt like, for a World Golf Championship. 22‑under winning really shouldn't happen. It's a very difficult golf course. I played great today but it is a very difficult golf course, and today a lot of tees were up. They could definitely put the tees back and make it play a lot harder, and it's already playing hard. The best players in the world are here, and the average is over par today, already tells you how hard the golf course is, and they had a lot of tees up. Q. Could you talk the eagle on the front nine? J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, as good a start as I can ask for. Birdied the first two holes. Hit a great drive right down the middle. Me and my caddie were just saying, it's really tough to get something to stop on this green. So we were really trying to maybe hit it in that front bunker, and he had the coverright on, it was 216. I said, well, I feel like, if I start right at the bunker and hit it good, it might cover. If it does it could be pretty good. Shouldn't go over. Hit it great, hit it right on the line, landed up there where we thought it would and bounced up there close. Q. What did you hit? J.B. HOLMES: 6‑iron. Q. And then on No. 1? J.B. HOLMES: No. 1, I hit a bad shot. I blocked it out to the right. And fortunate enough to hit it‑‑ unlike shooting and stuff, you know, you miss big out here on TOUR, a lot of times you can have a better shot than if you miss small. Hit way to the right and was fortunate to have an opening, and hit a good shot just short of the green there and hit a great chip. I thought it was in, but hit the lip. So birdie is always nice. Q. What is the delay while you were waiting on 18 fairway? J.B. HOLMES: There was all kind of manmade obstructions there that I could have got relief from. I couldn't see the flag so I wanted to see where I could get a chance to drop it if I would be able to see the flag from that point. And it just took 20, 25 minutes for them to get over there, and so it just took forever. I figured I was going to hit it from that spot but figured it was worth asking to see where I would be, because it really wasn't that bad of an angle. But I couldn't see anything. I just had to walk up and kind of mark it as much as I could. That was it. It just took them a long time to get there and everything kind of played out like I thought it would. But it's worth asking. Q. I was going to ask about 18, it caught a lot of people today. Can you talk about how you played 18 and your approach to it? J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, well, just got to hit a great drive. If you don't, you're pretty much making bogey. So did the first part, I hit a great drive and 7‑iron into it and was trying to keep just a little bit right of the hole and pushed it a little bit. There wasn't a lot of room there and didn't look as good over there as I thought. It was on a bunker and kind of a downslope and hit a great bunker shot to about a foot and a half and made it. You've just got to hit in the fairway. Luckily I hit a good one and I was up there and I was closer than most people. Even if I hit a good drive, I'm passed most of the people out here. Punched 7‑iron into it where some of the shorter players were hitting 4‑iron into it. That's noticeably easier to hit a 7‑iron than a 4‑iron. Q. Kind of a fun thing the other day, you beat Ryan Tannehill in a football throwing contest. You get a big kick out of that? Kind of a stretch to say it does something for your confidence but what was that for you? J.B. HOLMES: That was a lot of fun. I had a good time. One of those things where I happened to beat him. I beat him one out of ten times and that happens to be the first time. I doubt he makes too many throws standing still with nobody on him and the player not moving. So I had an advantage because both of us don't throw thatany ‑‑ it's fun. His looked a lot prettier even though he missed the target a few times. But it was, you know, like I say, it was fun. It's not that big of a deal. I mean, if you do it a hundred times, he kills me most of the time. It was just one of those things. But it was a lot of fun. Adidas had a nice event out there and we had a good time. Q. Dolphins haven't offered you a contract? J.B. HOLMES: No, I don't think they would want me. I would break after one tackle probably. I get injured enough playing golf (laughter). Q. What was it like for you emotionally to win again last year after all you've been through? J.B. HOLMES: It was awesome to be able to come back. I had a lot of unfortunate things that happened and was able to fight through them and work really hard to get back out here, and then be able to come back out and be successful was the goal all along. But it definitely made me feel good and it was what I was working for, so it was awesome. I knew I could get out there and do it, and it was just nice for it to happen. Q. From the time you signed your card and made your way here, did you pass many players and did they say anything to you? J.B. HOLMES: Passed a couple. They said good round. I mean, they said a good round. A bunch of people have been saying, what course was I playing. None of them's told me that yet, but it's just‑‑ it was a great day. Had a lot of fun and didn't have too many stressful putts. If I didn't make it, it was in there pretty close, so I didn't have a whole bunch of 4‑ or 5‑footers. My speed with my putting was great today. Just a great day. Q. Is that putt on 9 your longest par putt? J.B. HOLMES: Probably by about five feet. I pretty much had tap‑ins all day. That was by far the closest thing I got to make I a bogey today, so it was great. It was just one of those days, and stress‑free and making putts and like I said, it was just a blast. Q. 10‑under today. Can we expect 11‑under tomorrow? J.B. HOLMES: No, I thought 10‑under was out there but I just don't think 11 is (laughter). No, it's too difficult. It's just a tough golf course, so if I go out and shoot even or 1‑under tomorrow, that would be a good round. It's tough. It's hard to back these days up. So I'll just try to go out there with no expectations tomorrow and play. Expectations usually kill, so if I think I'm going to go out and shoot ten tomorrow; could happen, but the percentages are extremely low. So just go out there and try to do what I did today, try to have a good time and if it bounces my way, it does. ALEX URBAN: Thank you, J.B. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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