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RBC HERITAGEApril 17, 2015Troy MerrittHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Troy Merritt into the interview room at 12‑under par here at the RBC Heritage. His 61 today tied the tournament record held by David Frost in 1994, and his 130 total through two rounds is one shy of the tournament record held by Jack Nicklaus in 1975 and Phil Mickelson in 2002. Troy, that was quite a round out there. TROY MERRITT: We started out nicely. I hit my driver a little bit squirrelly again today, same as yesterday. You know it's nice on this golf course, you can get away with 2‑irons and 3‑woods off the tee. I was able to hit the ball well today and the tempo was good with the irons, which sometimes was missing. I was able to get some good shots in and roll some putts. It's always fun when things are firing on all cylinders. Q. Did you know what you were doing out there? Was it coming together for you and was any of this expected coming into the week? TROY MERRITT: You know, I knew what I was doing getting the ball out of the hole. That's about all I knew what to do. No, everything kind of slowed down. Felt really good. We got good numbers, had a lot of good, full swings, which we haven't had the last few weeks. It's a little bit easier to get the ball where you want it to go when you hit the ball with a full swing, full shot. I haven't been playing poorly. But every time the tempo goes away, it's hard to find it for me on the course. And I resort to scrambling, and posting even 1‑ or 2‑under. So it was nice to have the tempo throughout the day and hit some good iron shots and make some putts. Q. We're only halfway through the tournament, but hearing your score is the lowest 36‑hole score other than Jack Nicklaus or Phil Mickelson. It's cool to hear your name in any conversation with those two names. TROY MERRITT: It is pretty cool, but I'll go ahead and say it was the lowest through 36 holes, Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson at 129. They won't mention that I shot 130, which is fine. It's pretty cool. I didn't know that the course record was 61 or the low through 36 was 129. Had I known that, I might have started to hit some shanks or trying to hole some shots. It was just a lot of fun out there. It was a good time. We enjoyed it. It was fun to play in front of the fans. They enjoyed watching birdies being made. It's always good when your hard work, I guess, is appreciated. Q. How much was this a matter of you seeing a lot of low scores, and saying, why not me? TROY MERRITT: That's a good question. Anytime that you match shot for shot with the Masters champ, with the way he's playing, it's a pretty good feeling. It was nice to see some good scores. It was nice to see that the wind was down a little bit. We didn't have to battle that again today. But it was good out there, see what you can do, move up the leaderboard a little bit. 61 was not in my head. It's the first time I've worn this shirt. My wife said I have to shoot at least 6‑under. I don't know if I get to wear it again (laughter). But we had fun out there. Q. Your longest birdie putt was like 18 feet. How dialed in were you? TROY MERRITT: That kind of goes with my season. I think the longest putt I've made all year is 33 feet. I haven't made any bombs this year. But that's more to do with not hitting many greens and kind of short birdie par putts. It was nice to have the short birdie putts instead of the par putts. I've leaned on my putter all year. Inside of ten feet I felt really good all year. The stats have been real solid. I just haven't been able to get it there for birdie. So today I took advantage of good ball‑striking with the irons. Q. You're leading by four right now. You haven't won on Tour, but you won on the Web.com Tour in Mexico. Is there anything from that, winning there, that you can draw from this weekend? TROY MERRITT: You know, my fashion these days is so much better than it was back in 2009 when I won down in Mexico. But I won a lot as an amateur. Obviously we are playing against the best in the world now. I think some of the guys that are right behind me are past champions, very good players in their own right, obviously. So for me it was almost just coming down the stretch trying to get one more, try to get one more, try to get one more, and just see what happens, see if we can accomplish that. Tomorrow, we still have 36 holes; it's half the tournament. We have proven winners behind us. It's go out, take one shot at a time, enjoy the day, smile at the fans, and try to get the ball in the hole. Q. You mentioned the fans. You didn't have to deal with quite the large galleries that Matt and Jordan did today, but I noticed in 18 the gallery gave you a standing ovation. How did that feel? Was it easier not to deal with the five‑deep crowds as you were pursuing it? TROY MERRITT: Yeah, usually when I see the crowds I was in them, and I was in them today (laughter). But it's a lot of fun playing in front of people, you know. I was a little bit nervous when I first started as a professional, but I'm going on seven years now. You have fun with them. They're always very kind, very generous. They like to see good golf. And it gives you that extra motivation to hit good shots and to perform well for them. Q. Building on that, chances are you're playing with the defending champ here, which always draws large crowds. Your thoughts on that? TROY MERRITT: The only thing I have going for me that Matt doesn't, is my hairline hasn't receded as much as his has (laughter). I've played a lot of golf with Kooch. I really enjoy his company. He's a grinder. He doesn't want to lose. Hopefully that will help me rein in my focus and worry about just doing the best that I can. Q. If you're in the same position Sunday morning, would you consider wearing that shirt, knowing the jacket that you might have to put over it Sunday afternoon? TROY MERRITT: Let me see, what pants am I going to wear? No, it's not going to match (laughter). My caddie told me to wear it tomorrow, and I have yellow pants tomorrow, so it's not going to be available tomorrow. Nonetheless, we were just having fun. That's kind of what the outfits are. Sligo puts out some colorful outfits. The people, for the most part, love the outfits. It's fun to put them on. It makes you loose on the first hole, and we'll just do that again tomorrow. Q. You did mention kind of not knowing where you were as far as numbers and records as the round went along. By that final approach on 18 you knew you needed the birdie to tie the course mark? TROY MERRITT: The first time I knew it was when the gentleman mentioned it after I made the putt. Frostie set it in '94. I was almost nine years old; I was probably not watching the tournament. Nonetheless it's a pretty good feeling to hold a share of that record on a course that has so much history. It's something that I'll always remember. JOHN BUSH: Troy Merritt, thank you, sir. TROY MERRITT: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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