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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 27, 2017

Brandon Hagy

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Q. Brandon, great play today, good, solid round of golf, just one bogey out there. I have to talk about the round first, and then we had a little incident; I've never seen it before.
BRANDON HAGY: It was a solid round. To start off I wasn't hitting it great but made some good putts to just keep the momentum going. In the back nine I found something off the tee and I was able to continue to make putts.

Q. The hard rain, wasn't that during the warmup and trying to get into the round of golf this morning?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, so we definitely had umbrellas out during the beginning part of the front nine, it was on the back nine for us. It was coming down pretty good. We had to definitely use umbrellas and speed up the routines a little bit.

Q. On 7 you hit short of the green. I thought it might have been the explosion of the shot itself, but the ball moved. It was not in position.
BRANDON HAGY: His ball hit my ball on the fly. Mine moved forward and his kind of careened off the bunker, and so he played his and I got to just place it after we repaired the lie where it was.

Q. Not only did it move, but you're also guaranteed the lie that you had when the ball came to rest, whether if you didn't hit it or not and there was a blowout there, you would be able to fix that, also?
BRANDON HAGY: It definitely rolled back in the bunker. It clearly plugged where that Mark was.

Q. 129 on the list, great start, isn't it?
BRANDON HAGY: Absolutely. I've been playing well the last few tournaments. I've made a lot of cuts. Like a round like today, a few of those and I should be good.

Q. What was working for you?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, the putter was definitely working. I made some good mid-range puts, and then I got my driver going on the back nine. Hit a lot of fairways. So I think those two keys were important.

And just making a few putts here and there to keep the round going and keep par saves.

Q. How dry were you able to stay out there, and were the soft conditions a benefit to you?
BRANDON HAGY: I never put the jacket on, but we had the umbrellas out early. It was coming down pretty good a few of those holes, so it speeded up the routines a little bit so you didn't get soaked. It definitely softened the greens up.

When I was looking at it in the practice rounds, it looked like some of those corners would be hard to keep it close but with that soft, with that rain it definitely creates some softness where you could land it and control the ball.

Q. It looked like a workman's 7-under, and you made a lot of putts but you scrambled quite well.
BRANDON HAGY: The front nine, I missed the driver okay; I just wasn't quite hitting it solid. Hit just in the rough and wasn't great. But on the back nine, I found a little something different. Started hitting it a little bit more solid and I continued to hit some good iron shots. Like you said, I had a few good saves that kept the round going when I needed to.

Q. With the conditions the way that they are, doesn't seem to be a lot of roll on the greens. Just target practice out there?
BRANDON HAGY: It looks like the weather is going to be pretty good, so I don't think they are probably going to put that much water on the course, so it should firm up a little bit. It definitely gave me a little bit more freedom to bomb it out there and if I was in the rough, I knew I was still going to be able to stop it.

As it firms up, you have to think a little bit more about where you're putting your ball and what angles you want into some of those pins.

Q. Have you been in this position before?
BRANDON HAGY: Not this position. I've had a low round of the day before, but not -- yeah, not leading.

Q. 7-under in the opening round, your putting was a strong suit in your game but what would you rate your opening round?
BRANDON HAGY: I would say it's a solid day. I started off a little shaky with the ball-striking. Driver was a little off-line. Hit in the rough a few times.

But like you said, my putting kind of kept me going there on that front nine, and on the back nine, started to hit my driver a little bit better and was continuing to make some putts. A solid first day.

Q. With way the course took the rain, how did that allow you to play?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, it definitely put driver in my hands a few more times. I knew if I could get down there far enough and with the softness of the greens in the rain, I could still stop it from the rough. I hit driver a lot and the ball is definitely spinning. There's a few spots on these greens where there's not a lot of space there. So you've got to be aware of that, especially as it starts to firm up.

Q. Speaking of the driver, on 16, an interesting but lucky bounce. Take us through what happened?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, so I pushed my drive a little bit. I didn't see it hit anyone but when I got up there, there was a ball that was a little bit shorter in the fairway and I just assumed I was in the rough. I got up to the ball and he was like, sir, are you hitting it down the right? And I'm like, yeah, it hit me right in the back, it kicked in the fairway. I'm like, oh, geez. I've never really had that happen before but signed a ball for him and was able to make birdie.

Q. How does this set you up for the second round?
BRANDON HAGY: I've been playing pretty good golf coming into this tournament. Made a lot of cuts. When I saw the course for the first time on Tuesday, I liked it. Definitely like to hit some drivers out there, so take advantage of some of the par 5s for sure.

A few of my rounds recently haven't quite made a putt here, haven't quite made a putt there, but today I was able to roll in the ones that I needed to.

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