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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

June 3, 2016

Harold Varner III

Dublin, Ohio

Q. Harold, I imagine you'd throw a 67 on top of a 68 any day out here, right?
HAROLD VARNER III: Yeah, yeah, that was good. I'm playing well. I need to just keep doing what I'm doing. The course sets up pretty well for me, if you drive it well and putt it. I mean, obviously, if you do that anywhere, but out here, if you can do those things, you're going to have a good chance.

Q. Does it help with having a good scoring round late in the day and come right back the next morning and kind of keep the ball rolling a little bit?
HAROLD VARNER III: I like it that way, but sometimes I just don't get it that way. I did, I birdied 18 yesterday. So I took the momentum and came right out of the gate and birdied 10.

Yeah, that was fun. I had an accident on 18. My stomach was just acting up a little bit, so I had to stop. But we figured it out. It was brutal.

Q. It seemed like you were in a little bit of a hurry there at 18.
HAROLD VARNER III: Yeah, I was.

Q. You kind of made two quick stabs at it.
HAROLD VARNER III: There was going to be something bad happening if I didn't. I'm glad it's over. I'm going to have to do something else here in a minute.

Q. And then headed to the weekend, do you feel pretty good?
HAROLD VARNER III: Yeah, we'll figure out what time my tee time is later on today. I guess the weather is supposed to be bad tomorrow. I don't control that. I'll just let the folks here do that.

Q. Harold, you've got it at 9 under after 36. You ought to be pretty happy with that position.
HAROLD VARNER III: Yeah, after the double on 18, bounced back pretty well. Just need to get ready for tomorrow. I'm excited for the opportunity. The course is in great shape. So you just do the things my caddies tell me to do, and good things are happening.

Q. I notice on your driver head, what do you have on there?
HAROLD VARNER III: It's just like a puppet. My teammate in college, he gave it to me, and he caddied one day, and he threw it on my 3 wood. His name's Gerald. He has his own little thing, his own Twitter. It's kind of weird. I don't do it, but it's really funny. I mean, you all would get a kick out of it. I think it's a little much sometimes because little kids will be like what's that little thing on his head, and I'll be like, oh, my gosh.

It's pretty cool. It's fun. It keeps me laughing sometimes when I'm pissed off. So I like it. The club head is about to come through his head, though. So that's kind of unfortunate.

Q. You were born in Akron, right?
HAROLD VARNER III: I was born in Akron, moved to Gastonia when I was six, not too far away from here.

Q. Do you still have Ohio roots, some family?
HAROLD VARNER III: Yeah, my aunts and cousins live in Akron. I don't know. I don't really get back up there that much, though. My parents do, but not so much. Obviously, it would be awesome to play Firestone because my aunt worked there for 15, 20 years.

Q. Have you ever played Firestone?
HAROLD VARNER III: I didn't. I left when I was six.

Q. What did she do there?
HAROLD VARNER III: She cooked. She was a cook. She's got a picture of Tiger cooking. So it's kind of cool. That would be the goal. Knock out all the home ones, Charlotte and Akron. So I just need to play better.

Q. When did you start playing?
HAROLD VARNER III: Seriously, when I was like 10. Started playing in tournaments and stuff. But I played at an muni, just practice. I'm here now. It's crazy, big time.

Q. Do you have family that came down to watch?
HAROLD VARNER III: No, I do not. Didn't really -- I don't really think too much of it. If they come, they come. I mean, my parents don't even watch me that much. I'd rather spend time with them at home. When you're on the golf course, it's so like mayhem everywhere. So you can't really spend time with them. My dad's too nervous to watch me. It's pretty funny.

Q. Does this course suit you, you think?
HAROLD VARNER III: Does this course suit me well? Yeah, I think it is right now. It's my first time here. I just think if you drive it well, and I've been driving it really well -- out here, if you do that and you hit it far, it's a huge advantage.

Q. We met you a year ago at Web.com over at Charlotte?
HAROLD VARNER III: Oh, man, played great there. Didn't play well on the final day. Both these courses set up the same, you hit it in the wrong shot, you're going to make bogey.

Q. We had a quick chat over there about how you got started in the game and who your inspirations were. Take me through that a little bit, your history, who maybe you watched and that you wanted to connect with.
HAROLD VARNER III: Didn't really want to connect with anyone. I look up to my parents. The sacrifices, that's something I don't know if I'd be able to do. If I looked up to anyone, it would be Tiger. He's the best player in the world. If it would have been anyone else, I probably would have looked up to them just because you want to be the best, and he was -- when I was watching golf, it was unbelievable what he was doing.

Q. Have you played with Tiger?
HAROLD VARNER III: No, not yet. Not yet. I'm sure we'll cross paths soon. He probably just needs to get healthy. It must be pretty bad for him not to be playing.

Q. Was there a connection with him because of being a minority?
HAROLD VARNER III: No, I knew you were going to ask that.

Q. Or is that even a factor?
HAROLD VARNER III: No. I wanted to be the best, and he happened to be black. So it just is what it is. That's how he was created, and he was really good, and I wanted to be really good.

But it's easy to connect that. That's the first thing everyone says, oh, he's black. And I'm like, no, that's not why. It is cool to see him out there -- or it was.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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