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NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CHAMPIONSHIP

September 24, 2016

Grayson Murray

Columbus, Ohio

Q. You started the year with no status on this TOUR. Now you have your PGA TOUR card. What's your approach been in these finals?
GRAYSON MURRAY: Just to improve my status. I finished 18th on the regular Money List and knowing that I probably wouldn't get into all the fall series events if I finished with no money in the finals. So, play well in the finals, this week and keep some momentum going into the PGA TOUR season.

Q. If you were to win this week you would take-over the No. 1 spot on the Money List here in the finals. The No. 1 player gets that gold ring, gets in THE PLAYERS championship, is that something you'll think about, change your strategy at all, or will you just try to play your game?
GRAYSON MURRAY: No, I'm going to play my game. Martin's been there before, he's won this year, I don't expect him to fall back. I still got to make some birdies. But this course is tough, so just got to miss in the right spot and I know I'm not going to play a perfect round tomorrow, but hopefully just limit the mistakes, for sure.

Q. Overall thoughts on the day.
GRAYSON MURRAY: Yeah, I played solid. I played really well early on, gave myself some birdie looks. This course is tough if you drive it out of play. So my main focus today was giving myself as many looks with just hitting fairways. I hit a few loose shots coming down the stretch, but you're going to do that, just I only had one bogey today, which is pretty good around this place.

Q. The last week were you feeling pretty good heading into this week?
GRAYSON MURRAY: Yeah, I was. My game feels good. All parts of it feel good. I'm driving it well and making putts and if you can hit fairways out here you can make some birdies and hopefully I can just carry that into tomorrow.

Q. What's the key for you, is it the driver when you're hitting it well?
GRAYSON MURRAY: Yeah, I would say that my strength is hitting it long. So if you can hit it long and straight, that's a good asset to have out here. You can tell the guys who are playing well on the PGA TOUR right now, that's what they're doing.

Q. First week you got Mike on the bag. Obviously he's been on the bag for a U.S. Open, what's it like having him on the bag this week?
GRAYSON MURRAY: Yeah, he's a veteran and he's well liked out here. He's been on the bag with Payne Stewart, three Major Championships, he's not afraid of the moment. And he makes me comfortable out there, knowing I have someone that I can fall back on and I really trust him out there.

Q. Seven top-10s already this year. Do you think that's going to prepare you for tomorrow chasing down the lead?
GRAYSON MURRAY: Absolutely. I lost in a playoff this year, I wasn't scared of the moment. Tomorrow I'm not going to back down, I'm going to keep trying to make birdies and keep trying to stay patient. I like to get on runs, if I make one or two birdies, I can probably make three or four in a row. And if I don't get off to a hot start just stay patient and it's going to be a good test out there tomorrow and we have a good couple players that I'm chasing.

Q. Have you been pleased with how you've jumped up the Money List, knowing how important it is to get those first two couple events in the fall?
GRAYSON MURRAY: Absolutely. I had buddies that play the TOUR a lot and many years and they were telling me you still got to play well to get into events you want to play in, in the fall. So I didn't slack off in these last events and still keeping the pedal down.

Q. Are you donating 50 bucks for every birdie. Where did you get that idea and have you done it before?
GRAYSON MURRAY: No, I haven't done anything like that before. I helped out a little kid in Knoxville, his family. But I'm all about helping people out and that's the least I could do this week is, I figured if I made a bunch of birdies I was going to play well anyways, and it's nice to be able to play this game for a living and make a good amount of money. So any little bit I can give back to charities or foundations, I'm in for it.

Q. You're leading the TOUR in birdie average, what is it about your game that let's you rack up so many birdies?
GRAYSON MURRAY: I just hit it long and you're going to have a lot of shot shorts into par-4s and you can attack some of these pins that might look a little dicey from 170 yards, but from 130, you can pretty much take dead aim and it gives me opportunities to have more birdie putts than most people.

Q. You just mentioned about helping kids and stuff like that, a lot of athletes they like doing than a people kind of forget that you guys are people, too.
GRAYSON MURRAY: Yeah, like you said, if an athlete isn't helping people out, they're not doing it right. Because they're just being selfish. Every athlete probably makes more than what we deserve. To do what we do for a living, it's hard work, we put a lot of hours into it, what people see on TV is just .1 percent of what we actually do, we do a lot off the course. And there's a lot of good guys on this TOUR and the PGA TOUR that do a lot of things behind the scenes that people wouldn't even realize.

Q. People tend to forget that you guys do a lot of traveling and a lot of time away from family, they don't realize that.
GRAYSON MURRAY: Absolutely. We're on the road a lot. 30 weeks probably out of the year. And some people are lucky enough to bring their wives and kids out here and I'm young and I don't have a wife or kids, but I would love to be able to take my parents out here next year to a lot of events. They would rather me in person rather than watch on-line or TV, but it's tough being away from family for sure.

Q. What's the thing with the kid in Knoxville?
GRAYSON MURRAY: I went to a hospital and visited with some kids and just made a donation to their family. I hit a seeing anyone going through chemo, especially a five year old, with his parents just having to pay those medical bills. I figured I would give them a little bit just to make them worry about one less thing. They should be focused on him, not medical bills.

Q. Is that another reason you're excited to go to the PGA TOUR to make more money to help more people?
GRAYSON MURRAY: Absolutely. One day, hopefully, I'll start my own foundation and I don't know what that will be towards, but I think it's a no-brainer, I wouldn't even think twice about not helping people out next year, whether it's sick little kids at children's hospitals or anyone. This country is hurting right now, in many different ways it's hurting, and I think that just one little thing that could help would go a long ways right now.

Q. And you got to do that Pros For Patients thing. What was that like on Tuesday?
GRAYSON MURRAY: That was good. I don't know what all those kids, what their issues were, I was happy to see their smiles on their faces. They can get out of the hospital and come do this with a few of us pros, that was special for them and I know the parents really appreciated it also.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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