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WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 2015

Erik Compton

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Erik Compton into the Interview Room here during the 1st Round of the Wyndham Championship, 8-under par 62 today.
What happened on those two pars on your closing 9 holes there, is that the best you could do?
ERIK COMPTON: It was a good day today. I enjoyed playing. I had a couple weeks off so kind of an unexpected round. Put in a new set of irons, the 716s, Titleist irons this week and I'm not one to really ever switch equipment. I've been using the same equipment for a long time.
You know, anytime you take a break and you introduce a new set you could -- it's not going to feel as strange so I had a decent Pro-Am yesterday, you know, really enjoyed playing with the playing partners and, you know, knocked a little bit of rust off and, you know, it was really just a great ball-striking day with a lot of tap-ins and, you know, the golf course with ball in hand yielded some low scores so, you know, just got to play aggressive and put your foot down and, you know, going to take a low number this week.
JOHN BUSH: What does it feel like when you get on a roll like you had there with the 28 on your final 9?
ERIK COMPTON: Obviously it's awesome, you know, to -- anytime you can break 30 in 9 holes you're obviously doing something really cool. It was a different way of doing it. Sometimes you get lucky and make a long putt or whatnot. Mine was more of unusual for me.
I felt like, you know, to be a hundred percent in fairways and hundred percent in greens in regulation and the birdies that I made were all within I think I made one putt that was like 9 feet and the rest of them were inside of three feet.
So, you know, when you don't have to grind over putts, that's nice.
JOHN BUSH: Questions.

Q. You say you don't like to change equipment but what prompted you to do it?
ERIK COMPTON: Well, you know, this year I felt like some of the things that I wanted -- it's been a very wet year for us and the golf courses I think the way that I attacked the ground and the way I swing I play most of the time pretty well on firm and fast, kind of like the U.S. Open or the Canadian Open and the new irons have a little bit more bounce.
I knew that's something that I needed and would help me. With the conditions being soft like they were today, I felt like I didn't catch any balls that were heavy so, you know, really happy with the new equipment and looking forward to The Playoffs and then see how far I can go.

Q. When it's soft out here, you guys get lift, clean and place are you guys like, when you're on the range beforehand, we're going to kill this thing?
ERIK COMPTON: Well, you know, not always. I mean this golf course is not easy to make birdies if you hit it 10, 15, 20 feet because you have a lot of speed breaking putts.
But you know, you're going to have some birdie opportunities where you're going to hit them really, really close if you're playing well. You don't -- I don't expect to go out and shoot 62 no matter how easy a golf course is. It's still hard to make birdies.
And some days you go out and play excellent and you only make one birdie. So, you know, when you get hot like I did for 9 holes you have to enjoy it, you have to take advantage of it and, you know, because they don't always come often.

Q. I was just going to ask, 59 has always been the magic figure on the PGA TOUR. Is this the kind of course, especially when it's short and it's wet and the greens are perfect, that you could see a guy make a run at 58 out here with par 70?
ERIK COMPTON: Well, I mean you got to be playing awfully well. Anytime -- it's not often people break 60. I wasn't close today. I didn't start off exactly on fire. No, I don't think so.
I think the golf course is still protected by elevation changes and also the green speed. You know, today was -- the tees were a little bit up protecting some of the back tees for the weekend so if it's not shot today I don't see it being shot during the week.

Q. Erik, you mentioned your Pro-Am round and the group you played with. What was so special about that yesterday?
ERIK COMPTON: Nice to play -- we only had four and the way the format was we took the best drive and everybody was having fun with the Pro-Am. You know, sometimes we didn't have that format and, you know, I felt like I was probably a little bit more loose, really deciding to come here and play at the last minute.
I was in London for a week with my wife on vacation and up until Monday I hadn't touched a club in two weeks so, you know, this year has been especially hard for me. I've had a lot of things going on.
When I played well I played pretty well but I've had some strings of not playing well and, you know, I had to play a lot of golf at the end of the season here in order to secure my card. Now that I'm secured and I've had two weeks off it's nice to just play golf and feel fresh.
Not all of us have that luxury. I haven't won a tournament so I have to play a lot in order to get in the Top 125 and the way the season and the schedule is set-up we have so many young players that are playing well, anybody can win. So you got to play a lot of golf.

Q. I was going to say, Tiger Woods being here has created a lot of buzz certainly on the golf course.
Do the players feel that, too, or just another player in the field? You're going about your own business but can you sense something extra with him?
ERIK COMPTON: It's funny you say that. When I was at the Quicken Loans National I spoke with Tiger a little bit and he's always been very friendly with me and my question was, "Why don't you play a few events that you haven't normally played?"
He had his own private answer for that. He has his way of training and his way of preparing and I think -- I joked, "Hey, look if you play Wyndham I'll play Wyndham" (laughter).
So I signed up only because I was concerned about the cut line for the Top 125, and, you know, knowing that I wanted to take a full rest and I was on the couch and then I saw that Tiger had committed I was laughing that the chances that he was going to play and that I would play at the same time, I'm a nobody but, you know, to see him play well -- and everybody would love to see him playing in The Playoffs and it's good to see him play well today.

Q. I was going to say, you shoot 62 today but did you notice all of a sudden at some point on the course Woods on the leaderboard, anything like that?
ERIK COMPTON: You could hear the crowds. He was a couple groups ahead of us. You could hear that he has a special cheer or roar and, you know, it's nice to hear that. You don't know whether they're for par or birdie but, you know, he definitely made a little bit of noise and good for him.

Q. This may be a stupid question but on a really hot, humid day like today, do you have to do anything different?
ERIK COMPTON: Last night I had a drug test so I drank two vodka tonics to get my kidneys working. I was here to 9:00. Maybe I should do that again. I don't drink alcohol. Sometimes it helps me to get my kidneys going.
But, you know, that's not ideal for hydrating yourself. But sometimes I have to do what I have to do with my situation. I'm in good shape. You know, I play in Miami and it's hot and, you know, the first few holes today was like breathing out of a straw but I'm sure that's how most people felt and as the round develops your body gets used to it so it's just -- it's about preparing the night before and I have to do a good job of that tonight with a late round tomorrow.
JOHN BUSH: Okay. Thank you Erik.

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