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CAREERBUILDER CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATION

January 22, 2016

Jamie Lovemark

La Quinta, California

Q. Jamie Lovemark's birthday is tomorrow. But he got a birthday gift today. How about six birdies, a hole-out eagle on the 10th hole, the first hole today, of the Tournament Course. Just how much fun was it out there for you?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: It was fun. It was actually my 10th hole, so yeah it was great. I bogeyed the 9th and went around and -- actually the 18th -- and went around and made that shot from 105 yards, so it was a nice little present.

Q. You're going to be 28 tomorrow and in your young career you've battled a lot of injuries. But you're pain-free now. How much has that invoked optimism in your game?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: It's huge. Everyone goes through injuries, unfortunately it's part of the sport we play and any game for that matter. But I feel great. I'm progressing every year, and need to keep doing the same thing.

Q. 65, 65, on the easier courses. Tomorrow you hit the Stadium Course. What are the challenges there on the course that you have to face?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: Yeah, a lot of mental stuff. Water is, obviously, it's there. It's not terribly in play, unless you make it in play. It's a tough course, the par-3s are long, par-5s are more demanding, I'm sure the scoring average is probably two or three shots harder, so it will be a good test.

Q. 7-under, you get it into 14-under going into Saturday. Thoughts on the round today?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: It went well. I holed out my 10th hole, that was nice. Nice eagle. Overall, it's pretty solid. Got a little tired coming down the stretch. There's some long rounds out here. And it's good fun playing, played with Robby Gould today and that was a good time. So I picked his brain about some football stuff that I knew about. So it was pretty cool.

Q. Robby Gould, the Chicago Bear's kicker, is he any good?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: Yeah, he's really good. He hasn't played for four months, but he's super athletic and he's got a good thing.

Q. It's your birthday tomorrow, what a present, getting to play the Pete Dye Stadium Course.
JAMIE LOVEMARK: Yeah, thanks a lot, Pete. So, it will be a good test. It's a great course, very fair, very tough. Obviously, the conditions are perfect for scoring, so we're getting it as easy as we can and hopefully take advantage of nice weather.

Q. Talk about what's going right. What's been the difference so far in this kind of wrap around TOUR season? Because it's been pretty good for you?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: I don't know. Played good in the playoffs last year. Played well on the WEB.COM TOUR. Played well at the U.S. Open. So just a continuation of good play. Hard to put your finger on it. I feel like I should be playing this well consistently as I am, so just keep doing the same thing.

Q. How about mental approach? Have you been able to stay pretty patient with your self?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: I think so. It's tough. Having a good college career and then kind of having a good start on the Nationwide Tour, and then kind of struggling out here for awhile, there's a lot of ups and downs, and that's the way a career goes. Thankfully, I'm decently young, I feel pretty old, but I got plenty of time to get playing well.

Q. So from a health standpoint, how long have you now been well as close to a hundred percent as you can be? How long has it been?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: It's been a good while. Probably a couple years. I had a great surgeon, back surgery went super well. There's always constant rehab and constant maintenance. But everyone's hurt, it's just a long season, so you always kind of try to maintain things.

Q. Did you have Q-School out here a couple times?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: No. Actually I never played the Nicklaus Course until today. Luckily, it was pretty straightforward, so I had a good time.

Q. Didn't play it at all?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: No.

Q. Why not practice at least?
JAMIE LOVEMARK: Came back from Hawaii on that red eye. I figured rest was more important than seeing the course. I heard that it's pretty generous off the tee and wasn't too crazy. So, I just played a handful of holes on Stadium Course, skipped La Quinta, skipped this one, and just kind of rested. And that's more important. It's a long year.

Q. What's your impression of Stadium now? All the talk about back way back when was how hard it was.
JAMIE LOVEMARK: It can still be very hard. The tees are generous, definitely the first three days, they have moved a bunch up and then there's no rough. So this course, that course would be extremely hard with the different weather conditions, too, but right now it's as easy as it can play.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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