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VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2016

Graham DeLaet

Palm Harbor, Florida

Q. One of the rounds of the without question. Graham DeLaet, 66. How did you like that today?
GRAHAM DELAET: Kind of one of those days I got off to a great start and made a bunch of pars in a row which on a lot of golf courses out here feels like you're losing ground. Pars are also good on this golf course. Nice to finish the birdie on the last, especially the tough hole. The wind switched. It was tough to pull a club the last couple of holes.

Q. Let's take a look at that as we show the birdie at 18. Cap a marvelous day.
GRAHAM DELAET: 160 yards. I actually hit a 6-iron there, obviously covered from 160, a 6-iron, that's normally an 8 or 9. It was hard to actually pull that club but it was the right one.

Q. We've seen you on the leaderboard on the Tour. Do you feel the win is getting close?
GRAHAM DELAET: I feel this is a golf course I can do it on. You can't fake it around this place. You have to be hitting it solid. It's all about rolling in a few putts. It's a little bit hard to make anything outside much of 10, 15 feet because the greens are slower than what we're used to. Going to the weekend trying to get the ball to the hole. I finally did that on 15, which made a long one.

Q. That lucky birdie is not going anywhere soon.
GRAHAM DELAET: No.

Q. Definitely not over the weekend.
GRAHAM DELAET: Exactly.

Q. Graham, every single time I interview you I ask the same thing. I know you had issues recently with withdrawals.
How is the body going right now?

GRAHAM DELAET: Right now I'm feeling pretty good. We're still kind of early in the year so the big stretch of playing week-in, week-out hasn't quite hit yet and it's holding up pretty good right now.

Q. This golf course is a ball striker's course. You've been one of the better ball strikers on Tour. You got to be licking your chops coming here. Let me putt a little bit.
GRAHAM DELAET: Exactly. I feel like this is a good golf course for me for sure. You can't make it around this place, you have to be hitting it solid. Coming into the greens you got to hit it kind of in the right spot, not quite as much this year because they're not as fast as they normally are.

I fell like this is a good golf course for me to get my first win.

Q. How about the situation this afternoon, got a little tricky, the wind kind of shifted pretty big late in the day.
GRAHAM DELAET: It was bizarre. We were on 16 and I hit my tee shot and was surprised how far it went. We got to my second shot and we really had no idea. Gary Woodland was in front of us. They took awhile to hit their shot. They were under the same circumstances. We didn't know where it was.

I just kind of played a safe shot there and safe shot on 17 and on 18 I had 160 yards. That hole has been playing downwind everyday. I hit a 6-iron in there off a pretty significant up-slope. Nice way to finish the day.

Q. Nice shot on 18. I got to ask you about the facial hair. I grew mine out pretty good. Two inches long. It tickled when the wind is blowing.
GRAHAM DELAET: With my caddy, I threw up grass yesterday, "Bud, you don't need to throw up any grass, you can kind of check out what's blowing through the beard."

We're just kind of having fun with it right now. But, you know, hopefully I can get the first win and we'll see what happens if I win here this weekend.

Q. It's a little early for the playoff beard. Keep it going, my buddy. You're playing great.
GRAHAM DELAET: Thank you.

Q. Graham, a 5-under par round for you today. How impressed are you by the kind of performance you had today?
GRAHAM DELAET: It was tough playing, that's for sure. I got off to a great start. I hit a 5-iron into 1 and birdied 2. From there on I kind of strung together 7, 8 pars in a row which is pretty good out here. It's hard to make pars.

Couple of them are scrambles and couple I kind of felt like I should have maybe had a better chances at birdie. I finished strong, birdied three of the last five, I think it was.

Q. Lot of guys out here describing playing this golf course as a grind. For somebody at 5-under par or 4-under par, I should say, do you feel almost like you're ahead of game just not having the lead but you don't feel like you're out of contention when you make a bogey?
GRAHAM DELAET: Exactly. That's kind of one of the things I've been working on the last few weeks. I've been playing well this year and not really getting much out of it. It's been frustrating. This week coming in I wanted to make sure I didn't let bogies get to me and kind of keep plugging away.

This is a good golf course to be patient on and test that. So far, so good.

Q. Looking ahead to the weekend, you have to be pleased being in contention again. What do you feel it's going to take get over the hump?
GRAHAM DELAET: Rolling in a couple putts. I need to keep hitting it the way I've been doing it, just like today. As long as I can keep my composure and hole a few putts I feel like I'll be in good frame of mind.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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