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FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSICJune 11, 2015Ryan PalmerMEMPHIS, TENNESSEE Q. Congratulations. RYAN PALMER: Thanks. Q. Six birdies, no bogies, seven pars on the way in. Just kind of the perfect day. RYAN PALMER: Through 11 holes it felt right. It was great in the back-9, obviously our front-9. But the last seven holes got a little loose, some shots I hit. I was able to buckle down and get up and down on a few spots that was ground saving, and I made some good putts and up and down on 8, 9 was good to keep a low round going. The work I put in before the round this morning paid off today. Q. Did you look at the leaderboard and see your name on there through 18 holes? While you can't win it on the first day, obviously you want to be able to be in contention when you put your head on the pillow tonight with a share of the first round. RYAN PALMER: You can't win on Thursday, but you can sure lose it or put yourself behind the eightball. You know, good rounds is good, knowing I'm getting up early the next morning to play again. I love this golf course. I've always loved coming here. Something about these greens that gets me going. I've had success on this golf course, and, you know, it's great to get another low round in. Q. Did you have any idea where you were on the leaderboard or did you even look? RYAN PALMER: I looked at it too much, probably. So, I knew where I stood. I knew a birdie coming in -- of course, I was thinking trying to shoot 7, 8, 9 coming in, which is never the best thing to do. But it's nice to come in and obviously tied for the lead right now. Get up in the morning and try to get in the lead and extend it. Q. How do you approach tomorrow with the share of the early lead? RYAN PALMER: Same thing. Go have dinner and go home, see the kids, hang out with them, and, of course, going to be a 5:00 wake-up call. So we'll go through the same routine, the workouts I do, see Dr. Vanzine (phonetic) upstairs and get ready to go at it again. Q. Ryan, what's the new approach for you to get to the greens early? RYAN PALMER: I've done it before. I really wanted to today. I've been trying to get comfortable with the putter. I finally found the position I had last year from the British Open through The Playoffs when I putted some of my best I felt. And I get on the putting green this morning and found it, the ball position, the width of my stance, where my shoulders and feet were, and it paid off today. Q. Is this something you need to do again or have you found it? RYAN PALMER: No, I think I found it. I really feel like I found that comfort spot, I think. I'll check it in the morning obviously before I play. This morning was huge and getting that comfort where I have my set-up, understanding I found it again. Q. What about the early birdie I guess in the round on your 2nd hole? RYAN PALMER: It was huge for me, especially from a putting standpoint, because it was a nice 6-footer, little left to right. I've been fighting obviously to make a lot of putts lately. To make that early was a good confidence booster for sure, knowing my putt is good and I feel good and hit some golf shots and give myself more chances. Q. Scoring conditions out there a little tougher this afternoon. Not a lot of people moving up the board this afternoon. RYAN PALMER: It could have been. The wind was on and off, little swirls, but they came out and watered the greens to keep them from burning up, I think. On the first hole, I told my caddie they felt so much softer from yesterday. They try to get them for the weekend. You could actually attack some of the pin placements with some irons and hold the ball on the greens and the greens are perfect. Get the ball close, you're going to make a lot of putts. Q. With as many low rounds as there were this morning and get started on the back, what kind of excitement does that give you for getting out there early in the morning? RYAN PALMER: This golf course always, I think, yields lower rounds early in the week because you start with softer greens.  As the week progresses, the scores get a little higher because the greens will firm up and faster, I think. I didn't pay attention to who went off the back and who didn't this morning so -- there's some good rounds out there and 2, 3-under par on this golf course is good, and fortunately I was able to shoot 6. Q. You say this is a place you enjoy. RYAN PALMER: I've always loved coming here. Rendezvous is one of my favorite places to eat, obviously. I really enjoy this golf course. The greens -- there's something about the golf course that I'm always comfortable on. When I've struggled putting coming into this week, I seem to find it. It's strange, so that's a good time to also come to Memphis. Q. No blemishes on the card, Ryan. Looked like a fun one out there. What was working for you today? RYAN PALMER: You know, little bit of everything. Definitely putted well and the good work I put in this morning around 10:15, I spent about a half hour really working on the speed of the greens. Finally found my comfort over the putter, the ball position I liked from last year from the British Open through The Playoffs. I found it again, which is nice. I drove it well. Hit my irons really solid, I felt, and then my short game saved me on our back-9, front side. I had to get them down a few times. So it's nice when you make some tough pars to save a round going like that. Q. Seemed like you were dropping a lot of 6, 8-foot par putts to keep the momentum going. At what point during the round did you know you could push it to where you ended up at 6-under? RYAN PALMER: I made a really big birdie on 2 our 11th hole. I hit in the right trees, had to go up and over with a cut. I managed to hit it about 20 feet and made it. After that this could be a really special round. I hit some loose shots coming in and the putter saved me. Thursday afternoon round of 64 and knowing I'm getting up early to go out again. Q. Come by in the session for the later starters today. Ryan Palmer, 64 today. Great round for you today. How did you find the conditions out there? RYAN PALMER: It was good. Obviously was hot, but the winds weren't so bad. The greens are still soft, obviously. They put some water on them last night. I think it was pretty good. I feel with the softness, you still attack it pretty good, and the way I drove it and my irons were good today and then I made some good putts. I guess if you're driving well and hitting your irons good, you can shoot a low one. I need to take advantage of that. Q. Look at some of the putts. This one at 18, the putter was working well? RYAN PALMER: I came out early today, about 10:15, teeing off at 12:50. I spent a half hour on the green with the putter I use to train with. I wanted to work on my putting a little bit. I finally found my comfort where I was last year starting with the British Open until The Playoffs. I finally found that. It paid off today, the work I put in. Q. This was the other hole? RYAN PALMER: This where I was in the trees and come over the top of the trees and stuff it in the left side. Kind of a bonus birdie for me. The last seven holes were kind of -- they were good and bad. Some swings I didn't like, but I was able to get up and down and went running. Q. Good round today. RYAN PALMER: It was a warm one, again, obviously. It was good. The biggest thing was I came out this morning about 10:15 and spent about a half hour on the green using a putter I train with sometimes that doesn't have a grip on it. And then I spent time with mine just trying to get comfortable. And I finally found the comfort I was in last year from the British Open through The Playoffs. I hit it well today and drove it well, like I wanted to. I was able to hit some good iron shots and make some good putts. Also had some good saves finishing the round. Q. You speak of scoring 24 putts. You're really feeling it on the greens. RYAN PALMER: Yeah. I'm missing greens coming in, which was a little loose I felt. I was able to 5-wood some of them and had a good chip on 9 to save par when I need to and have a round like that going in is a great feeling. Q. You referenced the 5-wood. I thought that was an interesting selection. You're chipping into the grain a bunch around the TPC Southwind. How difficult is it with the speed of the greens and the grain of the fairway grass? RYAN PALMER: The fairway grass on the greens is kind of tight. Randy Smith and I worked on it around No. 9, you could do a lot of putting around them. Still in the grain but gets on top and rolls nicely. You just get on the green, it will roll out a lot. I was able to do that nicely. I did it on 17, you know, and of course the one I did on 9. I was able to get on the green. I knew it rolled nice to the hole. I do it a lot. I putt from off the green, use my 5-wood a lot. Experience has paid off when I needed to go to it. Q. That's a great round. Good luck tomorrow, man. RYAN PALMER: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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