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THE HONDA CLASSIC

February 24, 2017

Ryan Palmer

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

RYAN PALMER: It was nice to hit some great shots coming in. Made a huge putt on 6 for par, about six, seven feet. A great 4-iron on 7. Hitting wedge six feet and making eagle was great. Thought I could have good chance on 9 but just fell left there.

A lot of fun. I'm hitting the ball well and now that I'm comfortable with my putter and feeling good about it, it makes for a more enjoyable round.

Q. Started back on 13, a 43-footer for birdie.
RYAN PALMER: Yeah, it's there. I was having some issues for a month, my first four events, it was all putting. Something inside me, some anxiety kicked in, right arm, right hand, and my short putting was disastrous. Made a switch at L.A. My manager, Mike, made a call for me, called the Stockton. He said, you have a meeting; met, and made a putter switch to the Spider. My stroke's never felt more free and confident.

Q. Time for a change?
RYAN PALMER: Yeah, like I said, I spent those first four events, Phoenix where I play good and Hope, and Sony -- I missed the cut. Getting some advice from Dave Senior, Junior -- now I'm taking advantage of my ball-striking.

Q. You took off at BMW, was that injury or resting?
RYAN PALMER: I spent the whole fall with my wife through chemo. She got diagnosed with breast cancer in July, so the whole fall we were involved getting her chemo treatments. That was my fall and winter break.

Q. How is she doing?
RYAN PALMER: Doing good. She's five radiations away from being done with all that. Things are clear and she's doing awesome.

Q. How difficult has that been to balance?
RYAN PALMER: Yeah, especially as much as I've been playing -- I don't want to play as much. Right now I'm playing four in a row and I played last week because of the struggles I was having, and it paid off.

The work I did -- Mike, my manager, decided to call Stockton for me and had a meeting in L.A. Spent three days with them and switched to the Spider, and it's been awesome.

Q. How does it feel to be back in this position?
RYAN PALMER: If teams good. I've been here numerous times and gives me a comfortable feeling. It nice to see the putter and take advantage of my ball-striking, which has been really well -- really good so far. I'm making longer putts now than I have done in years past, so things are on the up-and-up.

Q. Did your wife travel with you?
RYAN PALMER: No.

Q. What is her name?
RYAN PALMER: Jennifer.

Q. So when was she diagnosed?
RYAN PALMER: Date July during Canada. We found out while I was in Canada, and the surgery was four or five weeks later. Spent the whole fall going through all her chemo treatments.

Q. What type?
RYAN PALMER: Stage 2 breast cancer.

Q. How much of a relationship have you had with the Cinks?
RYAN PALMER: Once we found out and we knew what Lisa was going through, we made a few calls through him and the doctors. I went to Phil at the PGA and told him what just happened, and he went right to work and made phone calls for me. I can't thank him enough for what he did. It's been a long ride.

Q. How difficult to balance, obviously that's a priority in your life, and now you have a profession that you have to still pay attention to; what was it like for you the last six months?
RYAN PALMER: I was home. I watched a few tournaments. There were times when she said, I should have gone and played. I was going to play Vegas and I was going to play Malaysia, but after that, I was like, there's no way I could play golf. Enjoyed time at home, take care of the kids, but it was a lot of hard times for sure.

Q. How long?
RYAN PALMER: After BMW last year and then I played the Sony Open.

Q. How old are the kids?
RYAN PALMER: Ten and seven.

Q. Talk about how tough the Bear Trap is.
RYAN PALMER: Yeah, two days in a row, I'm even par on the trap. Keep saying how I'm 38-over par. You know, 17, I had a misfortune on the back -- hit a great 7-iron into that green, just two poor putts. Then played the other two really solid.

But it's a daunting task, those three holes. You never know what the winds are doing. 15 is not that long of a hole by how hard it is, but 16 you have to hit a really good tee shot and 190-yard second shot. And 17 is one of the harder par 3s we play on TOUR. You get out there of even par, you've made ground on the field.

Q. How much do you hear about that? Golf Channel always has their stat list -- do people mention it to you?
RYAN PALMER: No, a couple guys Tweeted me about it. You see it once in a while.

Q. Did you know, yourself? Obviously that's a cumulative number. Were you even aware of your struggle?
RYAN PALMER: Not at all, you don't think about that. That's the way it goes. Those holes, they have gotten me, and you don't think about that. You're just trying to hit some quality shots and make pars.

Q. How much did you touch a club during the time away? How much were the first four missed cuts getting back in --
RYAN PALMER: I played a little bit. I saw Randy quite a bit and I played with the guys at Colonial. When we got to Hawai'i, I was ready. But it affected my putting. The greens, all hell broke loose, the nerves, anxiety, right hand -- I spent four weeks going through that. Don't normally play L.A. but played because I needed -- worked with the Stocktons for three days prior to that event and saw some good results.

Finished 49th but felt like it was the best putting I've done in a year in a half and it's carried over to this week.

Q. You came close to winning a few years back. Anything to draw from that experience?
RYAN PALMER: Of course, I love this golf course. I love coming here. We get back into the heat and the greens are pure. But you've got to drive the ball and you've got to hit your irons well.

It's been my strength the last few years, so come here, you don't have to shoot 7- , 8- , 9-under par each day. If you break par on this golf course, you're going to be in contention on the weekend. We got some soft conditions and able to take advantage of it.

Q. You switched to the Spider, when?
RYAN PALMER: Last week.

Q. Is your wife on a schedule now that they say is going to end soon, the chemo and things like that?
RYAN PALMER: I think overall, radiation is next week and she'll be done with all treatments in August. She's still got some things to go through.

Q. How do you balance --
RYAN PALMER: Yeah, yesterday was a nice day. When you get inside the ropes, everything kind of goes away. You enjoy those four or five hours. You kind of get away. It helps. Makes golf less aggravating at times. You realize it's just a game we're playing but it is what I do. I love to play the game of golf but also there's a lot of things going on. Doesn't make this quite as aggravating.

Q. Your history with your dad --
RYAN PALMER: Yeah, played a little bit. He's a solid six handicap. Obviously there's those days that come back. It's been a couple years but miss him every day. Yesterday was his birthday. Thought yesterday was a fun day for all of us.

Q. How long have you been married?
RYAN PALMER: 15 in June.

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