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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 9, 2016

Roberto Castro

Carmel, Indiana

AMANDA HERRINGTON: Like to welcome Roberto Castro to the interview room here at the BMW. Second 65 today, clean card, except for that one on 18 late last night. What's clicking for you this week?

ROBERTO CASTRO: I've gotten off to good starts both days. 1 and 2 are gettable and then 4's a par-5. I think I've been 2-under early, but it's been clean rounds, I birdied two or three par-5s each day. But it's a big golf course, it keeps your attention, which I think helps me out there.

AMANDA HERRINGTON: How much has the delay in times -- you finished yesterday though.

ROBERTO CASTRO: Yeah, it was a long day yesterday, but it was nice to play 18 holes and then play 18 more today.

AMANDA HERRINGTON: We'll get into some questions.

Q. You didn't seem to miss a ton of fairways. How much does that set up the whole round for you keeping it in play?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Well, that's kind of my game. I got to play from the fairway. With soft greens, not too much wind, I feel like I can get at some flags from the fairway. The rough is really long. You can kind of hack it out in front of the green, but you're not going to -- you're going to struggle on some of those holes out of the rough. So that's helped a lot.

Q. This is a golf course that has the last time this tournament was here in 2012 it brought out a lot of big hitters to the top. Same sort of thing behind you with Dustin and J.B. right there right now. What suits your eye about this track here at Crooked Stick that's brought you playing it from a few yards further back from a lot of these guys that you really like about this golf course?
ROBERTO CASTRO: I think if you look at the TOUR, it sure helps to be long, but the guy who is striping it usually wins. Couple of my best weeks have come on really long golf courses. Billy Hurley won at Congressional this year. It always helps to be long, but really the best player that particular week will win. So, I don't think -- it happens all the time.

Q. I don't know if you have any plans back home in Atlanta the next couple weeks you may have to scramble around if things work out well here. The Clemson game's on Thursday, but I don't know if you have any, did you have plans that you may have to rearrange?
ROBERTO CASTRO: No vacation plans or anything during TOUR Championship, that week is left, has been left for golf for awhile. So, hopefully, I'll get to play golf at East Lake.

Q. What was that experience playing there before and how important is it, has it been for you to get back to that?
ROBERTO CASTRO: It was really special. I'll never forget that seen on the first tee there, I played with Schwartzel on Thursday, I remember that. And it was a good week. I played well, I played with Snedeker on Sunday and I just remember finishing off a good round and him telling me, "good year" and it's a nice way to wrap up the year. I think for every one of the 30 guys that are there, because even the, how many years was it there the guy that one the FedExCup didn't even make it back to the TOUR Championship? So, everybody really appreciates that week.

Q. Great play first couple days. I think you're 53 on the FedExCup list now. Are you thinking much about that going into the next couple days or are you just trying to stay in the moment, just like a normal golf tournament earlier in the season?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Yeah, it's pretty simple for me, I have to basically win the tournament to make it to East Lake. So there's not a whole lot of shuffling or points thoughts for me.

Q. Do you have to win, is that the way you're thinking?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Pretty close. I'm not exactly sure.

Q. When you got to East Lake in 2013, I think, and then the next year was a bit of a struggle, you get what you earn out here or what you get or whatever, was that any kind of a jolt at all to have had, to have gotten to East Lake one year and then be fighting it probably harder than you had in years the next year?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Yeah, I think so. I was in all the Majors the next year. I played a WGC at Doral. It was a bunch of stuff going on for reasons I didn't play well that year, but you definitely can kind of lull you into thinking, oh, I got all these great opportunities and I'll just be back here again. But I think that helped me this year, because I lost my card playing in four Majors and a WGC and this year I played out of the, I started the year in the WEB category and it doesn't matter what tournaments you play, it really matters how you play in those tournaments. So, it kind of helped me on the back end, knowing that I was going to get enough opportunities to have a great year. The year I had the most opportunity, I didn't do anything with them, so.

Q. It's so hard to figure out all the permutations here, but have you done any work coming in here saying it's win or go home?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Pretty much, yeah. You guys watch this TOUR every week, you play great get a chance to win, you got to finish it off. So if you're shooting for third or fourth, you're probably not going to win.

Q. Is this back to back best rounds? I don't know what do you compare this to? Your Greenbrier?
ROBERTO CASTRO: I think overall, yeah, just tee to green and then making some putts. I've probably had a few better ball striking 36 holes, but that was a good, really good from a shot selection and course strategy and execution standpoint.

Q. You got a couple of medium longish 30 feet, whatever you want to call it, birdie putts. The par save on 8, I think, is that just as meaningful as some of the birdies in terms of how you're feeling on the greens?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Yeah, definitely. I had a lot of good looks. The greens are perfect, for one, and then on 8 I had a 12-footer for par, but I left it straight up the hill. Good chance to make it. And then a couple of those longer putts I made on the front are tough holes and it takes two good shots to get it kind of underneath the hole in the right spot. But that's where I was putting from.

So, the par-3 there, No. 5, that was a brutal pin today. A really good shot's kind of 30 feet left of the flag and that's where I was putting uphill. So, good chances and then a few fell.

Q. Were you surprised at all given the rain yesterday and coming back today just how much speed the greens are, how much run out they had around the holes?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Yeah, you can tell they have been prepping here. Crooked Stick, the whole golf course is in great shape, but the greens are a joke. I mean, they're perfect. They really are as good a surface as I've ever seen. So, they definitely still had some speed to them.

Q. How many times you play this golf course before the tournament?
ROBERTO CASTRO: Just Tuesday. One time.

AMANDA HERRINGTON: All right, well thank you for joining us inside here and great round.

ROBERTO CASTRO: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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