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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2017

Thomas Pieters

Augusta, Georgia

MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are pleased to welcome Thomas Pieters to the interview room. It's Thomas's first Masters appearance, representing Belgium. He had a great round today of 4‑under 68. Birdies on holes No.6, 9 and 14, along with an eagle on the par‑5 13th. Thomas finds himself in a tie for first with Sergio García and Charley Hoffman at 4‑under par.
How are you feeling about your round and heading into the weekend after such a strong performance in only your second competitive round here at Augusta National?
THOMAS PIETERS: I'm a bit tired. It's been two long days. It's been pretty slow out there, I must say. But I've been hitting a lot of good golf shots the last two days, so it's nice to see my stats, as well.
Yeah, I've hit a lot of golf shots and I haven't had to make a lot of long putts, either. I've had some two, three‑, four‑footers for birdie, made a couple really good par saves today. And given myself a lot of good chances coming in, but didn't really make any.

Q. What were your expectations coming here this week for the first time?
THOMAS PIETERS: You know, as any tournament, I just like to get within three shots on a Sunday afternoon, three or four shots. Then you really give yourself a chance. So it's a bit bold to say that you want to come here and win and then you don't do it, and you know, you look like a fool.
No, if I just get in contention on Sunday afternoon, that's all I want.

Q. So you had a great start yesterday, it sounds like, and then have had an up and down and then back up again. So how did you recover mentally when you gave back some of those strokes?
THOMAS PIETERS: You know, it hurt coming in, obviously yesterday, but if I look back and when you do the interviews, everybody said 72 is a very good score. So then you kind of make a click and say, it's a very good score; I got it to 5‑under.
I'm not going to say I got unlucky yesterday, but I got some bad gusts, like on 12, and hit it in the water. But I kept very calm.
And I was very patient, as well, today after the bogey on 1. I just hit it in a very bad spot on 1. It's very windy on 3, 4, 5, very tough holes. I made good pars there and stayed patient and got some birdies.

Q. As a first‑timer, what would you describe as the defining difficulty of Augusta National? And just the second part of that, we've seen you putt very positively in the past. How difficult is it to be like that around here?
THOMAS PIETERS: I mean, sometimes when you're above the hole, you can't putt‑‑ like you said, I did on 9 and luckily the hole was in the way because that would have been off the green. But, you know, sometimes they can go in. I didn't have any yesterday. But, yeah, you have to be a bit careful.
Sometimes I don't really see the big slopes, yet. I think the veterans, the people that have played here a lot, they see it more than me. But I've put it in very good spots to have putts straight up the hill or small breaks. I haven't really left myself on the wrong level or very, very short‑sided where I have a very difficult chip or a putt.

Q. I hope you won't mind if I say that I've been watching you for awhile and of all the strengths you have, I wouldn't have said that patience was the best.
THOMAS PIETERS: Oh, no. I know (chuckles).

Q. And yet you talk about patience a lot here, and you have to have patience to play this golf course. How have you dealt with your, what one might describe as your natural impatience?
THOMAS PIETERS: Well, I've been hitting really good shots. Even the ones where I made double yesterday, I felt like I hit good shots.
Yesterday on 15, I hit six good shots and I made a 6, and that hurts really bad. But when you walk off and you tell yourself you hit six good shots, then what else can you do? That's just golf and that's Augusta, I guess.
And my coach told me to please have a lot of patience this week, so I'm trying my hardest.

Q. Had you played this course before, and had you seen‑‑ what did you take to it? It seems like you've taken to it quite well, quite quickly. What is it about this course that kind of suits you?
THOMAS PIETERS: No, I had not seen it. And I think if you hit from the fairway every hole, it gets a lot easier. It kind of, like it's very open, so you think you can get away with a bad drive or something, but hitting from the pine straw or from the rough even makes it a lot tougher. I feel like I've hit a lot more fairways than it says over there, but that's a big thing out here, I think.

Q. Both your competitive rounds here so far have been in blustery conditions. How much are you looking forward to potentially playing in calmer conditions across the weekend?
THOMAS PIETERS: I'm looking forward to it a lot (smiling).

Q. How will you approach it differently, perhaps?
THOMAS PIETERS: Nothing different but I feel like it's going to play a bit easier and make a bit more birdies. You won't have to‑‑ it's mentally so tiring when you're in the wind all day. Obviously you have to focus on every golf shot, but these golf shots get a lot tougher when there's a lot of wind.
Hopefully it won't blow as much tomorrow, and you can hit some straightforward golf shots. Although I like playing in this kind of wind. It's just really tiring at night. You just kind of pass out when you get home.

Q. That shot on 13 from the pine straw, was it much of a decision for you to take on that shot, and on a scale of kind of out of ten, what scale of difficulty did you see it as?
THOMAS PIETERS: No, if I have‑‑ I just looked at the yardage in the caddie's book and it said under 200 or 200 or something, then I normally always take it on; it's a par 5. I have to take advantage of my length. It was quite a tough shot, but if I just carry the water, I knew it was going to be on the green. And I knew I would have a tough putt because I was aiming just a little bit right of the flag and trying to hold it there. And I pulled it maybe two or three yards, and worked out fine.

Q. How much have you watched the Masters growing up and have you ever imagined what it might be like to be in contention on the weekend on Saturday and Sunday, especially on the back nine?
THOMAS PIETERS: Oh, I've holed the winning putt about a million times. Yeah, I've watched it my whole life, as do all those guys. We've all had that in practice, that winning putt. Hopefully one day.

Q. Now that you've been around the course twice, is it easier to imagine what that might feel like, maybe come Sunday afternoon?
THOMAS PIETERS: No, I don't think about it. No.

Q. Is it daunting at all, or is it something that you can put out of your mind, that so few first‑time players have won here?
THOMAS PIETERS: It's just a stat. It's just like, you know, as the best rookie on The Ryder Cup Team. You know we lost. So I don't really care about that stat.
Yeah, no, it doesn't affect me. No.

Q. It doesn't sound like you plan to be too affected tonight or wake up tomorrow morning saying, oh, my gosh, I'm tied for the lead at the Masters. Have you always been able to kind of put aside these big moments and focus on what's ahead?
THOMAS PIETERS: I would think I have been good at it. In my mind, it's just golf. And when I get home, of course I'll watch a bit of yesterday. But I have my family here, girlfriend, you know, my friend just flew in. So yeah, I'll have plenty to do tonight.

Q. Can you clarify when you got here and how much golf you played after you got here?
THOMAS PIETERS: I got here on Sunday night, and then I played nine on Monday. Then I played two nines on Tuesday, one morning, one afternoon, and nine on Wednesday.

Q. And that's the first time you played the course?
THOMAS PIETERS: Mm‑hmm.
MODERATOR: Great job. Good luck this weekend.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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