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AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 18, 2016

Ryan Palmer

Irving, Texas

MARK WILLIAMS: Ryan, thanks for coming in, Ryan Palmer in the Interview Room at the AT&T Byron Nelson. We appreciate your time.

You had a T-4 at the Valero Texas Open just a few weeks ago and you've had a really consistent year this year. I noticed looking at your record at the AT&T Byron Nelson, the first 6 or 7 years you kind of looked like you hadn't really worked out the puzzle for this golf course and then all of a sudden you finish 2nd and then the gates opened up and you've played really well here since.

Is there a reason for that, Ryan?

RYAN PALMER: I don't know. I guess it started with that one year when James pulled the clubs every shot in '11. Ever since then I've become more and more comfortable on this golf course, knowing where to hit the tee shots and visualizing what I need to do, plus getting more comfortable playing at home.

Took some time to get used to that and with my family and friends being around, so I'm always looking forward to these two weeks starting with the AT&T Byron Nelson and, you know, last few weeks have been good. The year has been solid, just hasn't -- I've been kind of in a slump.

I feel like having the one round to get me over the hump. I'm making cuts, obviously, just not getting the one round, finish Top 20s, Top 10s.

San Antonio was huge for me and playing well at the Valero. So, last week was good. Didn't play my best but still having a solid week. With these two weeks here, I figure my game is coming into form.

MARK WILLIAMS: If we have questions for Ryan, just raise your hand and we'll get you a microphone.

Q. Ryan, what are the different things you have to balance, you know, work and play during these two weeks?
RYAN PALMER: You know, I don't want to use the word selfish but I've kind of become that way with some friends around the area. I finish my round and go home.

It's no different than if my wife and kids were traveling to a hotel and they're with me on the road. So, I still go back and do the same things I would do if I was in a hotel but we get to stay at home and eat and I can enjoy the house.

The main thing is come here, do my work and go home and relax. It's not in a hotel room. That's the nice thing about it. You have dinner at the end of the weekend leading up to Dean & DeLuca with some friends. But throughout this week it will be pretty much just come here, do my work and go home.

Q. Will you have James pull the clubs again and if so, why was that beneficial? Why do you think that helped you?
RYAN PALMER: The one year it helped because we hadn't had any success. He and Randy Smith thought this was a brilliant idea for some reason (laughter). I went along with it because it wasn't working the way we were doing it before but it worked that week.

It loosened me up on this golf course, freed me up to where just hit -- execute it instead of overthinking, I guess, and we did it for a couple years.

Last year we came back here and he said, "I think you're good now, you know how to play this golf course and let's go back to what we always do" and so it still worked that way. It's helped me become more comfortable on this golf course, seeing the lines and visualizing the golf shots that are needed out here.

Q. Ryan, as Mark alluded, to since you've been in contention here you played really well on the first two rounds and then it seems like it's faded a bit on the weekend to a certain degree.
Any reason, anything you can maybe pinpoint to that?

RYAN PALMER: I don't know. I mean I don't want to say I'm nervous or uptight but it just hasn't worked out, I guess. It's a good question.

But, it's nice getting in that position because I get there more often and the more often I get there when you have the good weekends and you finish like I did at Valero, I can look back on that and if I get back in contention this weekend, I was there this year so that will help prepare me for the weekend.

And I've been talking to Neale Smith a lot more about my head game which was kind of squashy (sic) for awhile, but I think we got it intact finally, talking to him and working through those things. When we get back into position here, we'll have a better result.

"Squashy"; is that a word?

Q. No, it's not a word.
RYAN PALMER: Thanks, Rex. My brain was squashed. There you go.

Q. Coming off a week like last week specifically on Saturday when the greens were what they were, is it a hard adjustment coming to another tournament, whether it's here or anywhere elsewhere you're not going to have that extreme situation?
RYAN PALMER: I played Colonial yesterday and I think the closest I got was two feet short of the hole. No, that was one of those days. You kind of just forget about that. It was unfortunate the way it happened for the Tour and for Sawgrass.

Then they were going to let the greens get a little tougher. Got away from them, unfortunately. They came back nicely on Sunday.

But this week it's now, it's learning new greens and that's what you have to do each week on Tour is you play one golf course and it will be totally different the next week. We'll have softer greens obviously this week because of the rain we're having and the greens won't be quite as fast, obviously, but we'll spend today really adjusting and getting comfortable with these -- with this week and the next week we'll have to adjust to some other ones at Colonial. It's part of what we do out here, is the adjustment we have to make.

Q. Ryan, you touched on the softer conditions we're going to see here. You played here many times, you've thrown up some good numbers.
What particular holes when we have soft conditions do you look toward as more scoring holes or do you look at it in a different way than hole by hole?

RYAN PALMER: Not hole by hole. I think for me I'm able to carry the ball a good distance so I'm able to hit a lot more lower irons because I'm not having to worry about the roll.

And, as far as that goes, it's just -- not any particular hole I look at to where I have to score on. You still got to play each hole. Obviously there's only two par-5s. 7, it's obviously -- only getable one. 16 depends on the wind, obviously.

Other than that, keep the ball in front of you because the winds get swirling here pretty good and you have had some tough conditions wind-wise.

It's a matter of keeping the ball in front of you and there's going to be some low scores with the soft conditions and hopefully the weather holds out and we have a good weekend.

Q. Ryan, I was just curious, what your strategy was on the 3rd hole. I think it's one of the longest par 4s on Tour.
RYAN PALMER: The par 5, 3rd hole (laughter). I always thought they could bring it back and make it a par 5. For that particular hole there's a building in the distance I can see every time and it's just right of the bunkers. It's a matter of just -- the bunker is playable.

Obviously there's water right. You got stay away from it. I've been able to -- the wind usually gets downwind so it's a little easier for me to hit the fairway. I usually end up knocking it through the fairway which is fine because you end up hitting gap wedge anyway.

It's just a matter of obviously keeping it left of the water. The bunkers are playability so it's one of those holes if you make four pars on it all week you're going to make up ground.

MARK WILLIAMS: Anything further for Ryan?

Maybe just before we go, Ryan, I understand this is a busy week for you obviously and then I think you've got your foundation on Monday.

Can you just give us a little information about what's happening on Monday with your foundation and Sunday night?

RYAN PALMER: My foundation is in Amarillo, Texas since '04. We're revamping our foundation and website and a new name, the Brighter Smiles Initiative and what that is is we provide dental work for kids who have not had the means to get the dental work they needed. Dr. Kyle Sparkman has done all our work from braces to implants.

We've done around 26 kids in the area back where I grew up and these are kids who don't have the self-esteem to look themselves in the mirror or have the confidence to go to school and be happy and we're able to provide these kids with the necessary dental work and now they're smiling brightly.

I wanted to bring it to DFW and I'm able to this year. United Rentals is part of the tournament, the United Rentals Battle at the Byron we're calling it, having 22 teams on Monday with 22 of my good friends on Tour which is going to help out which is nice.

David Neal is going to play a concert Sunday night for not only our tournament but the entire, all the patrons that come to the event on Sunday.

So, the biggest thing is getting my foundation name back in the DFW and what we're doing and Dr. Chris Swayden of Smart Workshop in DFW is going to do all our dental work for the kids and we're excited about bringing it here. We're playing at Cottonwood on Monday at 10:00.

Q. Is it open?
RYAN PALMER: It is, if you want to come out and watch. We have a DJ on one tee playing some music so it will be entertaining.

MARK WILLIAMS: You said the concert was --

RYAN PALMER: Sunday night after the final round, David Neal will be on the main stage at the pavilion for the first time in the history of the Nelson. Never had a concert on Sunday night.

And we were able to bring that to the Byron Nelson this year and should be exciting for all the patrons who want to go see David Neal play and I figure he'll start 30, 40 minutes after the last putt is dropped.

Q. Who are some of the players?
RYAN PALMER: Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson, Jason Dufner, David Toms, Matt Jones, Boo Weekley, just to name a few. We've got a good group. I've been able to help their causes as well in their cities so it's nice when you can have good friends like that are willing to give their time.

I've been a part of Charley Hoffman's event in Las Vegas and played in Jordan's event. I've been a part of Zach Johnson's event. I'm blessed to have some great guys to be part of it.

Q. Ryan, is there something that prompted you to get in the Brighter Smiles Initiative?
RYAN PALMER: My wife is a dentist, not practicing at the moment but she keeps her license. She finished dental school in 2002 and you know, five, six years ago we were trying to figure out what we want to do with our foundation and that was brought up.

We thought that was a great way to give -- it made an impact with some kids through dental work. Because I mean every kid needs some dental work done and you want to send kids to school being confident, like they have some self-worth with their appearance. It's nice to be able to give these kids that feeling.

Q. Do kids come to you from Amarillo?
RYAN PALMER: A few kids have been to a few events in Amarillo. We're working to see if we can get a couple kids come down here for the event. I know Dr. Swayden here is excited about the opportunity, the kids he's going to get to help and hopefully in the future we're going to get bigger and bigger.

MARK WILLIAMS: Well, Ryan, we appreciate you coming in and good luck for the tournament this week and thank you for all the good work that you're doing.

RYAN PALMER: Thank you.

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