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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 22, 2016

Mike Modano

Stateline, Nevada

THE MODERATOR: Take us through your round today. What did you -- give us some highlights here.

MIKE MODANO: It was kind of really, like everybody says you kind of ham-and-egged it. I hit some good shots. I hit some bad ones. I was able to make some putts and got a couple wedges close to make some birdies, and it was just a lot of everything.

Really was no one direction or nothing. My caddie made some great reads on some putts and we were able to get up-and-down at least seven or eight times.

So we dodged some bullets, but we made some good putts when we needed to.

Q. You've always been considered one of the guys that's kind of right on the cusp of winning this thing; a lot of guys say Modano has a great game could win this thing. Is this the year, how is it feeling?
MIKE MODANO: I think it's the confidence thing, it's being able to control yourself and the atmosphere and the elements out there, but trusting your swing, obviously. It's a lot of short game, a lot of putting, worked on my putting almost a year now. I'm comfortable with that, if I could pick a good line I could stroke it good.

So it's really hard to say. I think it's just being aggressive. Trusting yourself is a big thing. But it's a different arena for us.

Q. J.R. was just in here. He was mentioning how fast he thought the greens were. What's your impression of the greens and how they were rolling?
MIKE MODANO: They're the best I've seen them since I've been playing here. They're so smooth and true. Like I said, we can pick our line and trust that it's going to stay on that for the most part of the putt.

The staff, the greenskeeper, has done a great job. The whole course is in great shape. But the greens, they hold. They roll nice; they're smooth. So they're fast. You get on the upside of the holes, it's deadly. But all in all, I agree with J.R.; they're perfect.

Q. And what is it with hockey players and eye/hand coordination, the ones that have been here, like J.R. and Grant Fuhr-- Lemieux won it one year -- just seem to be more natural?
MIKE MODANO: Well, it is a little bit in a sense -- I've always said that hockey is more of a sliding movement into the puck, and golf is obviously rotational.

But I think our hands are so good. We're able to save it at the bottom. We're able to flip it or control it at the bottom where the ball is, a lot where the puck is. So I think in that sense we were able to save a lot of bad swings and kind of redirect the head at the last second and square it up.

But all in all, we take lashes at it, we swing at it hard, but it's that couple feet above the ball that we're able to fix things and kind of save it.

But it is similar. That puck and that ball is right in the same position and we're kind of coming into it, same movement, same lower body into it, so it's very similar.

And we're just a lot of guys can hit it hard and a lot of us do. But most times we don't know where it's going.

Q. Did you have a shot of the day on 18 you hit 3-wood off the tee, about 150 yards left?
MIKE MODANO: I aim at that big tree on the right and I swing as hard as I can. And I hope with a little wind and a little help it kind of falls left, and that one did.

I hit it on the screws. I can't hit it any better than that one. I had a good stock nine in it. But coming down 18, a little jacked up, and pulled it long left. So hopefully, luckily it carried the pond and I was able to 2-putt. But that wind is a favorable wind for us righties coming into that last hole.

Q. How are the crowds out there today for a Friday?
MIKE MODANO: Amazing. They were good on Wednesday when we were out here on practice rounds. It's been phenomenal. Every year they get better and better. The fans are great.

Tons of hockey fans out there. But sports fans, in general, they just love it and we appreciate them coming out here for sure.

Q. I don't think you ever were a really big guy playing hockey but you look even trimmer now. Have you lost some weight?
MIKE MODANO: Well, I'm chasing after almost three kids now in about another week, and I have twins that are two.

We live in Scottsdale. You don't eat like you did when you played. Can't afford it because we're not as active as we were when we were playing, can burn the calories off. So try to watch the calorie intake a day and try to work out.

We do a lot of hiking and biking in Scottsdale and Arizona. So we just don't do that real heavyweight lifting like we did when we played. So it actually helps the golf game a little bit.

Q. Your position, I think you're just one ahead right now of Jack Wagner. Do you concern yourself at all where you stand this early in the tournament?
MIKE MODANO: No, because I never expect myself to be here in the first place. I just try to go out there and have fun and relax and breathe a little bit and make some good swings and see what happens. It was a good day.

Like I said, I got pretty lucky. Made some good putts, got up-and-down. Like I said, it was just a Band-Aid-type round. I was kind of putting some -- putting some gum on some leaks and I was able to hold it together.

But I just can't think about it. It was fun. I'll just worry tomorrow about tomorrow.

Q. Can I ask how much weight you've dropped since you played?
MIKE MODANO: I was about 208 to 210. I'm about 200 now.

Q. And then we've had two hockey players and a football player in here so far. Probably the two most violent sports of the guys we get here. Are you banged up at all? Do you deal with every morning just getting out of bed is a little bit of a struggle?
MIKE MODANO: It hasn't been, knock on wood, I really got lucky. I was really fortunate. I had a couple of good concussions -- actually from J.R. was one of them.

So we had our tons of runs in each other. We were pretty hard on each other when we played, him more so on me. It's a fast sport. Both sports are so fast. You're coming at each other 100 miles an hour and there's collisions and there's hits to the head.

I think both games, they're trying to do their best to correct it and improve it. But it's really tough to obviously totally take it out of the game. There's accidental contact all the time.

But for me, I just got lucky. Physically I feel good, try to keep up with my health and nutrition and working out when I finished and trying to keep it together.

Q. This is the best round you've shot as far as Stableford points since we've been doing that. How comfortable are you going into the weekend now?
MIKE MODANO: It feels good. Like I said, I have a little trust factor in the game and the swing and just able to control your breathing, just kind of let it loose and stay calm, don't get too tight. I think that's a big thing. You start steering that ball around out there, it's just going to add up to some bad things happening.

But, like I said, I made three or four birdies, couple bogeys, and the rest pars, and just kind of really boring type golf, I think.

Q. A number of guys out there with North Star Modano jerseys. I've never seen as many North Star jerseys since the team moved.
MIKE MODANO: I know. I don't know where they've come from. But last couple of days I've seen more North Stars than I think I ever have since playing here.

Q. Have they followed you around?
MIKE MODANO: They have a little bit. They pop up every couple of holes somewhere. But they have that jersey, that logo. That team was great. I love everything about that team.

But, yeah, I don't know. There's just Minnesota guys, people hidden all over this country that pop up with those jerseys.

Q. It surprised me. I'm thinking who are these guys with the North Star shirts.
MIKE MODANO: Me too. Way out here. I didn't expect to see them way out here.

Q. They showed me the back: Modano. You have somebody to play for besides yourself, big ticket at the end.
MIKE MODANO: There's a big fan following obviously hockey and Minnesota. It's always there. Some big North Star fans to this day that are still ticked off about us going to Texas.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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