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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2016

Billy Horschel

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. That's pretty good for this round. Are you surprised at the change in conditions not just day to day but morning to afternoon?
BILLY HORSCHEL: Oh, yes. You know, the wind wasn't blowing too bad. Obviously the announcers are probably going to say that the wind is playing an issue, but it's not that bad. We came back first thing this morning, there was still moisture in the greens and the greens weren't this quick. They still were very receptive. You hit a good shot, it's going to check.

But man, felt like I was putting on dance floors out there. We all did. Some of the putts I saw between Kevin and I and Bill, I've never seen putts that quick before. Augusta is probably the quickest greens we play all year, and I'm sorry, Sawgrass made those greens look like 8s on the stimpmeter.

Q. What was your first wake-up call?
BILLY HORSCHEL: First putt I hit was on No. 5, I saw Chappy hit a 40-footer and he ran it by about 20 feet. I saw Bill from behind the green, and I knew it was a quick putt, run it by about 10 feet, and I've got this 12-footer for birdie, really good, realistic chance, and I'm like, just touch it, and I touched it, and I thought it had a chance to make it, and about halfway to the hole, it picked up speed and it hit about mach 9, and it ended up by Bill's marker. It looked foolish. It looked like I wasn't paying attention, but I'm telling you, I really just touched this putt. So I made a good come-backer there.

There was a couple pin placements that were a little iffy I would say, and I think 6 is one of them. I'd be shocked to see how many people three-putted that green. I hit a really good shot in there about 20 feet just left, just past pin high left, and I just saw Bill hit his putt past the hole, and I'm literally trying to leave this putt two, three feet short, and I hit a good a putt and I thought I may have made it, but at worst it would be a foot by, and I could see the label on it, and it just slowly rolled over and it looked like it was going to be a foot by at worst, and it wound up eight, nine feet by, and I'm just like, you can't do anything about it because, I mean, it just is what it is. Is it the greens? Is it the pin placement there? Maybe a little bit of both. But like I said, I mean, we've been asking for the greens to get quicker, and the greens to get firmer, and they got to that point. I don't expect anything different tomorrow. I think maybe a little bit firmer and just as fast.

And you know what, there's a difference between putting on these and the bent greens, fast bent greens. The grain is out of them. There's no more grain in the greens, and once you get a downgrain putt, the greens speeds are 13, 14. The downgrain putts are going to be 16, 17. I mean, I hit a putt at 17 that I just touched, and I knew there was no chance of stopping by the hole, went nine feet by.

Like I said, everyone played it. It was a fair test of golf today, and I just had -- you know, an issue on No. 8 where I sort of got my panties in a little wad and decided to four-jack it a little bit. Other than that, I played really good golf. I played really solid golf today.

Q. What did they do to get them that way? How did it change so fast?
BILLY HORSCHEL: I'm not the superintendent. I have no clue. I'm not the guy who's controlling it. You know, it's funny how green these greens were on Thursday when we played and how brown they look now. So I'm guessing they stopped watering them a little bit. But like I said, a lot of us were shocked that they weren't firmer and faster, but they weren't that slow on Thursday or Friday, but man, today was just a different level. They really took it up another notch. You know, like I said, it's a fair test.

You guys know me, I'd give you a good quote if I had a good quote and say something bad and look like -- make myself look like a fool in front of the world and get bashed again on Twitter, but like I said, it was a fair test of golf today.

I mean, Chappy was having a hell of a round of golf. I walk off No. 11 tee, and he's 5-under par, and I'm thinking, damn, if he finishes 5, 6, I mean, he played the best round of golf all week. That's not saying anything bad about J-Day's and Colt's score and those other guys, but Chappell to be 5-under par through 11, and he had a chance of finishing strong, but unfortunately what happened on 18. But he played a really special round of golf. It was special to watch what he did.

Q. Were you thinking he might fall into the water trying to hit that shot?
BILLY HORSCHEL: I knew he was close to the water, and then after he hit his shot we were looking at the video board, and I was telling my caddie Mike, I was like, oh, my gosh, look how close he is. It looked like a little sliver of shoe was still on the bank. Yeah, I mean, it got unlucky, just pitched out and it ran a little bit too far so he got unlucky there, but he played a hell of a round of golf. It was pretty special to watch. Me and Bill kept saying, it was pretty impressive.

Q. On a day like this, what is the relative difficulty of 17?
BILLY HORSCHEL: You know what, the wind is blowing a little bit but it's not that difficult, but the issue is that you can hit a decent shot in there. I hit a decent shot just past the hole and it flew a little bit further, but if you're on that top level you have a nine-foot comeback. It doesn't matter what you do. Unless you smoke it, you're going in the water. You're either going to have nine feet or you're in the water. Those are the only two options. I know I saw someone made a 44-footer; I'm sure that ball was traveling mach 3 and hit the back of the cup and bounced in.

But you know, that's a tough hole because you just want to put it on the green and take a two-putt, but the way, how fast the greens are, you just can't get it anywhere near the hole. You've got to make an eight- to ten-footer coming back for par.

Q. You've played this golf course a lot. Have you ever had to putt so defensively?
BILLY HORSCHEL: Let me say, these greens are never like this when I play it throughout the year, which is very rare that I ever play it throughout the year. But these are, in my -- what's this, the fourth year here, I've never seen them this quick, and I'm not sure I've ever seen any green on the PGA TOUR this quick. They just don't have any grass on them, or they have grass but there's just no friction to stop the ball. There's several putts I hit, I hit a putt at 16 from 25 feet for eagle, maybe 30 feet, and I thought about right after I hit it, I was like, oh, I left it four feet short, and it went five feet by. The ball just keeps going.

I had a four-footer for birdie on No. 15 and Bill had a little issue there, and I'm like, man, I just want to touch this, and I touched it, and the ball hit the back of the cup. I mean, I didn't even hit it that hard, and it just glided across the greens into the hole. Let me say, they're really, really quick greens. It's testing everybody.

Everyone played on it, but I think that's why you see the scores -- the scores are high today because of the greens, not because of the wind, not because of anything else in my opinion. I think it's the sole fact of how fast the greens are. They're not overly firm but just for the sole fact of how fast they are. I'd be interested to see what the stats are on how many three- and four-putts we had today. And I'm going to say -- I'm going out on the limb here, but we could break a record for all-time number of three-putts on a weekend.

Q. I think you have. It's 11 percent.
BILLY HORSCHEL: And there's still a whole bunch of guys left because I was the fourth group off, so yeah, it shows you what we were dealing with today. Like I said, a fair test of golf. I just -- it happens.

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