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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 16, 2017

Emiliano Grillo

Orlando, Florida

Q. What's your assessment of the round?
EMILIANO GRILLO: It was very difficult at the beginning, as you can see it was very cold this morning it was more like British weather out there, very tough conditions. After the fourth hole it got pretty easy, as you can see, but no, I just started playing better. I actually didn't play bad the first four holes. I actually think the best I played all day was those first four holes. I just had a couple missed calculations in there and end up with two bogeys. But I think the best part of the round was holes 1 and 2. After that it was just a couple mistakes and then I was able to hit the greens and make the putts.

Q. (No microphone.)
EMILIANO GRILLO: Well, the first four holes were really difficult keeping warm, even after that it was a bit warmer, but I couldn't feel my hands for -- if I had my hands out of my pockets for a minute or two I would be freezing. But I was able to keep it in the fairway mostly all day and I was able to make a few good putts on 9 and 17 and that kept me going.

Q. A quick look at your stats for this round of golf. A golf course that's proven to be quite difficult for all players out there this morning in those conditions. When you see that sort of start at 78 percent in greens in regulation, is this really playing in your hands as really good ball-striker, this sort of golf course?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Yeah, definitely it's a golf course that I loved last year, I was looking forward to coming back here. I played up to my expectations today. It was a tough time and I was able to turn the start around and I'm proud that have.

Q. We know it's a golf course that you don't have a rich history on, because you only played it one year. Of course last year was the last year that Mr. Palmer was here, so you played the event when Mr. Palmer was around. He's not. What's the feeling this year being at the event where an icon of the sport isn't around anymore. How have the players been feeling about it this week?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Yeah, for golf that was definitely one of the toughest losses and being here and last year I was expecting to see him around and when he showed up in his golf cart I was like, wow, that was very impressive. I only felt that a couple times in my golf career and that was one of those. And this year it's like again I was expecting him again to see him arrive at the driving range with his golf cart. And they definitely did some spectacular job this year honoring him, everybody's wearing umbrella, I have the umbrella on my sweater today and everybody's carrying the name of Arnold Palmer with great honor and I think they did a great job and hopefully not only the tournament, the sponsors, they keep up and keep honoring him like they did this week.

Q. I think Mr. Palmer would give you one of his trademark thumbs up for that round today.
EMILIANO GRILLO: Thank you.

Q. What a tough day, but you didn't really make it look so tough.
EMILIANO GRILLO: Well, it was very tough, it was very cold this morning, it was almost freezing temperatures out there and I couldn't feel my fingers on the first five, six holes. A couple mistakes in there from the middle of the fairway on 3 and 4 that unfortunately that would have been an even better round. But I'm really happy the way I played after that and I was able to turn it around.

Q. Speak to the mindset it takes, because you reference you were over par early, but seven birdies beyond there. Was there a moment like, come on, let's get this together?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Definitely the bogey on 3 and then another bogey on 4 from 120 yards, it was a perfect position, that was like, man, I'm hitting it well, I mean I made the best two pars everyone 1 and 2 on the most difficult conditions out there and I knew it was just a matter of patience and just keep it going and hit the green and try to make the putt. And that's what I did the next few holes and that gave me some chance to put the nerves back down and I was able to put together a good round.

Q. Has the game been trending in the right direction, you had the nice weekend in Mexico, have you felt this round coming up?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Yeah, definitely, over the last few tournaments it's gone the right way, I just had the one bad day at PGA National and one bad day in Mexico. It's just a matter of putting four rounds together and just keep everything clicking together. Today the two most difficult holes, especially in the morning and then I had a perfect position on 3, perfect position out of the fairway on 4 and I walked out with two bogeys out there. So, all I wanted was to make some pars in there the first five, six holes, that I knew it was going to be very cold, and then the sun was going to come up and it will be warmer and those were the conditions where I needed to take advantage of. I just needed to hang in there and I was able to make birdies on 5 and 6 and that kept me going really hard and I just kept hitting some good shots in there, made a great putt on 9 and then I had made some short ones on the back nine, but.

Q. You made some from 40 and 50 feet.
EMILIANO GRILLO: No, no, that definitely makes it back, that's for sure. I really hit it good on the back nine and I knew it could have been a lower one, even though I made those two putts on 9 and 17, even though I felt it could have been even a lower one out there. I hit it good, I hit almost every fairway, just I think I just missed one fairway, but it was just because it went through the fairway, not because I hit it that bad.

Q. How much distance do you think you were losing in the morning?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Oh, no, all the way to 40 yards. I mean I hit, we were laughing on the first hole because I hit a great drive and it was just in the first cut and I think we had 175 or something and I hit a 5-iron and I hit it perfect and it went short of the bunker. It just rolled into the bunker. I mean we were talking about 20 yards shorter. So we're talking, I don't know, 50 yards shorter than usually. So it's playing really tough there at the beginning, it was hard to judge the distance, but I was middle of the fairway all day and that helps a lot out here.

Q. What does it say, obviously nobody knows what's going to happen this afternoon, but three shots better than the field in the first round.
EMILIANO GRILLO: No, definitely, making putts anywhere, that helps. Playing in the fairway, that helps. That's where I've been working really hard on my game the past weeks and it's been paying off. That's nice to see. Hopefully, I can continue that way and this afternoon, I mean, there's still wind out there, the ball is releasing quite a bit, and it's not easy, you have to play from the fairways, you have to execute the right shots and be in the right position all the time.

Q. Did you think the coldest you've been all year would be in Orlando, Florida?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Hopefully, no.

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