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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 9, 2015

Chris Kirk

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

CHRIS REIMER: Chris Kirk, 10-under par heading into the final round here at THE PLAYERS. First talk about today and then maybe what you're looking forward to tomorrow in the final round.

CHRIS KIRK: Sure. Yeah, I was really happy with the way I played today. Said after my round yesterday that I was going to have to drive the ball better to stay in contention, and I did. I definitely hit my driver a lot better than I have the last couple days, and then the rest of my game was still pretty sharp. But yeah, looking forward to a chance to win tomorrow. I wish they came more often. It's such a great feeling to be in contention on Sunday, and thankfully I've had a few so far, and hope to have a lot more.

Q. Was it something you fixed either maybe late afternoon or this morning with the driving to drive it better today or did you wake up and you were driving it better?
CHRIS KIRK: I went and hit a few -- I was going to hit some balls yesterday after the round and it started raining. Today I just figured -- I came out a little bit early and went and hit balls for probably 20 minutes probably before I came back in and ate lunch and then went through my normal routine. Yeah, a little bit of something. Really just kind of a little sequencing thing more than anything. My chest and the club were just getting out of sequence a little bit, so just trying to sort of keep it in front of me. Nothing too complex.

Q. Any drills in the hotel room since it was raining or anything like that?
CHRIS KIRK: No. I have a one-year-old and a three-year-old, so I don't really have time to think about golf very much when I get back home.

Q. When you look at the bunched leaderboard and you realize the volatility that's been going on the last two or three days, does that kind of change your game plan at all tomorrow, the way you would play the golf course?
CHRIS KIRK: No, not really. I'd probably play this course with a relatively conservative game plan. It's just kind of the way it always is here. The course changes so much from morning to afternoon, especially on a hot day like today. Before I even teed off, there were guys finishing shooting 6-under and stuff like that and getting up close to the lead, and so it definitely lends itself to that. I remember making a ridiculous up-and-down, a 10-footer to make the cut on the number last year and finished 15th or so, something like that. You can really do that here. You can really make up a lot of strokes because everything does get so bunched. I would bet that if you took the first half of the field today and the second half of the field today, the scoring average would be a couple strokes different as the course firms up and those greens get a little bit crispy. And with the bigger crowds and the more pressure playing towards those last groups, it's not easy to go shoot 6- or 7-under out there. That's why it gets so bunched, and I know it'll be that way again tomorrow, so I'll just go do my thing and try to shoot as low as I can.

Q. Looking at your record, you have to go back to Pebble Beach since your last round in the 60s, and a couple of missed cuts in there. Can you talk about your season as a whole, and has something been missing that maybe you found this week?
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, you know, it's been a little bit of a disappointing season for me, but I really have enjoyed playing the last month or so and have just kind of gotten back to working on the game. I kind of got to a point where I was just like, okay, I'm just going to -- after the year I had last year, it was pretty easy to get caught up in the results and what you're doing and how you're playing in tournaments. You know, just a month or so ago, I had a really good round, or a really good tournament at Valero. I was just kind of like, okay, let's just enjoy working on trying to get better, and who cares how you play. But definitely started putting a lot better there at Valero and have sort of slowly built from there I feel like, and to be honest with you, I played really well last week, too. I lost in 22 holes to Paul Casey, who played really well, and then won my next two matches against Francesco Molinari and Adam Scott, two great players. Even though I went home before the weekend, I felt like I really took some momentum from that, too.

Q. How much of it is fun out there, and how much of it does this course stress you out?
CHRIS KIRK: This is a very stressful golf course. You know, I definitely enjoy it, but it's -- you're enjoying the work. It definitely can feel like work a little bit out there at times, just because there's so much penalty for misses on this golf course, and you know, with it playing difficult like it is right now, yeah, it takes a lot out of you for sure to play a good round. But like I said, I really am enjoying the work right now and enjoying doing it.

Q. Because of the bunched-up leaderboard, how important will it be to get off to a fast start tomorrow do you think?
CHRIS KIRK: It doesn't really matter, no, I don't think. I mean, even if -- it doesn't matter what place you're in after six holes. You've got -- that's the one advantage you have teeing off late is that you've got the whole golf course to play. Everybody that -- there are going to be some guys that go out there and post some low numbers early, but once I get out on the golf course, they can't catch me anymore. It's all up to me and the handful of guys that are within two or three shots of what we do.

Q. What's the most important thing you have to do tomorrow besides make your tee time?
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, make my tee time would be good, and make a lot more birdies than bogeys would be good, hit it in the fairway and not the rough, hit it on the green, don't miss the green, then try to putt the ball in the hole and don't miss. All those things are very important.

Q. (No microphone.)
CHRIS KIRK: I mean, just to try to enjoy it and be patient with myself like I was today. I mean, I had a chance to sort of lose it a little bit today, and I hit a really great wedge shot into that back pin on 12 to about five or six feet and missed it, and then bogeyed 13 and 14, so obviously that was a pretty rough little stretch there, but, you know, didn't let it bother me, and thankfully was able to birdie the next three to pull out a great round.

Q. What did you do on 13? What club did you hit and what happened on the shot?
CHRIS KIRK: I hit a 6-iron, and I kind of got -- I pushed it a little bit and kind of got a little bit of a gust of wind in off the left and missed it kind of short, actually clipped off of a tree over there right of the green, and just came down short of the green. It's a tough little shot out of it, not a great lie in the rough, had to get it to barely make it over that slope, and didn't quite make it over.

Q. You said it doesn't matter what you do the first six holes. When do you start glancing? When does it matter?
CHRIS KIRK: I don't really plan on looking at the leaderboard a whole lot at all tomorrow. I mean, I didn't really today, and I haven't at all this week. I mean, obviously it matters what I make on every hole because you have to add them all up at the end, but I mean, this is a golf course that -- I mean, it's not like you can ever get comfortable anyways, so what's the point. If you've got a six-shot lead at the turn, you're not going to be comfortable playing that back nine just because of the way the golf course is. I think it kind of lends itself to that style of play. You just put your head down and go get it.

Q. Kevin Na just doubled 18, so that puts you alone on top. Do you remember the last time you had the third-round lead?
CHRIS KIRK: No. I have before, though, but I don't remember when. Probably McGladrey, I guess, I think, because I wasn't leading -- my last win was Boston, but I wasn't in the last group there. I think it would have been the McGladrey, or maybe -- no, it was actually at the Sony. It was at Sony. I do remember now, because I had a one-shot lead going into Sunday and shot 66, and that damn Jimmy Walker just went nuts on me and beat me.

CHRIS REIMER: All right, Chris, good luck tomorrow.
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