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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 24, 2015

Bubba Watson

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

Q. Bubba, how much fun is it to go 5-under on your last four holes?
BUBBA WATSON: It's good, you know, especially when you're 1-over, you've got to do something. So I birdied a good up and down on whatever hole that was, 13, I think it is, the par-5. That's what made the round. That momentum getting up and down, a difficult up and down. Then hitting a crazy bunker shot on the next hole. So those two holes in a row really pushed me forward. Then hitting, I'm not going to say because I don't want them to change the holes, but pitching wedge and lob wedge into par-5s is pretty easy.

Q. You made the turn at even par; to what do you attribute that stretch of birdies and eagles on the back nine?
BUBBA WATSON: Front nine I just had wrong numbers, or just missed the fairways, just missed shots. Then after getting up and down on 13 it pushed me forward. I said, okay, we've still got a chance. We've got two par-5s coming downwind, let's try to birdie them and hang in there. So hit a good tee shot. Had a wedge into 16. Then hit a great tee shot, even though it was in the rough I had a lob wedge. I only had 105 to the front, 110 hole, so it was easy to try to make a birdie there, and somehow it fell in for an eagle.

Q. How similar or different was the golf course playing today?
BUBBA WATSON: It was playing similar. Yesterday when we finished, the wind picked up and it died down it looked like on TV. That's what I'm going with. So for us it was tricky because it was gusting. I thought I hit a great shot on 11 off the tee. I hit a 4-iron trying to hit the fairway, so I could spin one in there. But the wind didn't push it at all. We guessed wrong on the wind, and it cost me. Made a quick bogey there.

Q. You put yourself in great position heading into the weekend. What do you look forward to most heading into this weekend?
BUBBA WATSON: I'm hoping for less winds. These leaders have no wind. So I'm looking forward to the challenge. That's what we want to do. Want to have the weekend so we can challenge for the lead. Keep playing like I'm playing or play the back nine all the time and I'll be pretty good.

Q. Two eagles on the par-5, 6-under on the last six holes. What a start at 13, that was a great up and down birdie for you there at the par-5.
BUBBA WATSON: It was crazy. We had 206 front, so we're looking at the front number. I wanted to hit 5 just because of what we did the hole before. But we hit 4 to play smarter. I knew right when I hit it it was too far. I knew where it was going. It was going to be a difficult up-and-down to get the pin location. So to get that up-and-down, that's what pushed me. Hit a great tee shot on the next hole. Hit it in the bunker. Didn't expect to hit it that far. Got an amazing par there. So those two holes back-to-back really pushed me forward to have the confidence that I could finish strong.

Q. 15, the par-3 is a short par-3. But you hit a great shot. If you're not on that back right tier, that's a tough putt?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, this morning I watched a couple people three-putt with the early coverage that they had. So I knew it was going to be difficult. So I wanted to hit a good shot in there. Hitting a wedge in there made it a little easier to control, so the same as the next hole. I hit wedge 170 downwind on the par-5. Then on the last hole I had 110, so I hit lob wedge in there. So it's a nice way to play par-5s.

Q. Did Jim's first putt at 18 help you out at all?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, for sure. I saw how fast it was, but I didn't believe it was that fast. It's a lot of foot traffic, lot of wind and a lot of sun. So it's baked out right there. I didn't expect it to be that fast. So I got lucky being able to see his. It kind of hopped my way a little bit. Went to the right a little bit, about halfway to the hole, so it stayed up and in.

Q. Thoughts going into the weekend?
BUBBA WATSON: This is what we try to do. We try to have a chance on the weekends. I've got one more day to get that chance on Sunday. I played the back nine nicely. My driver's working out nice. Today on the front nine just a couple tee shots here and there that would have changed momentum.

Q. You hit the back side with a couple of eagles. What was more important for you?
BUBBA WATSON: The up-and-downs. So if you look at 13, we guessed that my 4-iron was a perfect club, but I knew when I hit it it wasn't drawing. So it flew farther than we were expecting. We thought the wind was pretty good. Then to have that chip shot to keep it on the green and to make the putt was very big for momentum, very big for the day. I don't know about you, but attitude changes when you miss putts or make putts. So for me, it I changed. I hit a perfect tee shot, I thought, on 14. Went, somehow went 325 into that breeze. Hitting as low as I hit it, I wasn't expecting that. So in that bunker, very difficult bunker shot. Got it over the trees somehow, and then you get that up and down after another tough lie off the green. So those two up-and-downs were very big, and obviously pushed me forward. Then having a wedge on the next hole and a wedge into the par-5, then a lob wedge into the last par-5 makes it a little bit easier to score.

Q. Is it tough to judge the wind down in the valley holes?
BUBBA WATSON: It is for me. I don't know about anybody else. But we hit a great shot -- we hit two good shots on 12. 11 today hit 4-iron trying to hit the fairway so that I could spin one into that front location, but the wind tricked us. I thought I hit a great shot. I told him I was going to hit it right at that tree. Let the wind drift it like their tee balls did, and it didn't. It looked like it switched back to us the way it flew in the air. I knew I was hitting good shots, so I had to keep fighting. And those two up-and-downs, like I said pushed me forward.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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