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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 29, 2017

Graham DeLaet

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Q. It's always a struggle coming home and playing in front of these fans that want the Canadians to play so well. Obviously today didn't go your way?
GRAHAM DeLAET: It actually felt pretty good most of the day, the front nine. I was cruising along 1-under without really making putts, felt pretty good. And I hit poor tee shots on 11, 12, 13, 14 and all of a sudden I was 2-over par on a day that everyone was going super low. I wasn't able to make birdies coming in on the last three and you should at least have chances.

It's disappointing for sure. You want to play well here. Maybe I was trying a little bit too hard. It was still fun. The crowds were awesome and I've still got tomorrow.

Q. A lot of guys went out early, and the low scores, does that change your mind-set knowing that all these low scores were out there?
GRAHAM DeLAET: When you're sitting at 1- or 2-over par and you see a 62 posted, you know how it is. It's like, man, you feel like you're playing even worse than you are. But it was one of those days. Had a couple dozen balls stolen out of my locker before we got going, so I had to scramble to find many golf balls before we went. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Q. A little bit of a bumpy ride through the valley but how would you sum up your day overall?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Actually I felt pretty good and I felt like I played pretty solid on the front nine. Turned under par without really making any putts and everything felt pretty good. I hit bad tee shots on 11, 12, 13, 14 and all of a sudden I was a couple over before you know it on a day that everyone was going pretty low. It's disappointing. The crowds are great. Today was a lot of fun even though I wasn't playing well and hopefully tomorrow is a new day.

Q. How do you balance the good feeling you're getting from the fans with the frustration on the course?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, it's hard. Everyone is obviously trying to pick you up, and you know, you're kind of down in the dumps, but yeah, it's golf. I mean, I've been there before. I'll probably be there again. But hopefully tomorrow I can shoot something early and hopefully have a decent championship.

Q. What's it like to play here, year-in, year-out, in front of all these fans? It's such a totally different week for you when you get out here and when you're in between the ropes playing in the third, fourth round, what's it like to ride the momentum?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah it would have been nice to give them a little bit more to cheer about. I felt like they were trying to get me going all day as opposed to really rooting me on. But it's fun. I mean, we're pretty lucky to be doing what we're doing and to have this many people cheering for you, lining up to get you autographs and stuff, it's pretty neat. It's kind of one of those moments that you realize you're playing golf for a living and 1-over par is not the end of the world.

Q. You had a pairing today with Ian Poulter and you were having a little fun on Twitter last night. You were going to give him hockey lessons and he was asking if he was going to give you dart lessons. What was the conversation?
GRAHAM DeLAET: He's a good guy to play with. We didn't really talk much hockey or darts, for that matter, but we had a good time. It's a good pairing.

Q. Frustrating day out there today, can you tell us what the course was like for you?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, it was obviously pretty scorable. You see the numbers that the guys are putting up and that's kind of what makes it more frustrating when you're sitting over par. I felt like I was playing all right in all honesty. I turned it under par, which is solid play without making any putts and I just hit for bad tee shots in a row on 11, 12, 13, 14 and all of a sudden I'm a couple over par and 50th place or whatever it was.

It was disappointing obviously for sure, but I still had a pretty good time. There was a lot of support out there from the Canadian fans and hopefully tomorrow I can give them something to cheer about.

Q. Is it hard to turn your round around after a tough stretch like that?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I hit a great tee shot on 15, and was able to make a birdie, and I felt like if I could get at least one of the two par 5s coming in on 16 and 18, that I could at least shoot even par. You would always -- over par sounds way worse than even par. But I hit a great shot on 17, missed the putt, and it was just kind of one of those days. Just nothing was really happening and it's disappointing.

Q. Speaking of that shot on 15, the crowd was pretty wild. Would you say it's more of an electric crowd on 15 or 7?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Well, I didn't hit one to a foot on 7. I'm sure it would have been pretty fun there. They are a little more on top of you on 15, so that was pretty fun. That was definitely the highlight of my day and kind of got me out of the dumps a little bit and I was able to at least finish with some pars.

Q. With the boards, the fans banging on them, it's a different vibe.
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, I think it's neat. I think RBC and Golf Canada did a good job with that. It's very Canadian. It's fun. The noise that they make, I think it's something that can hopefully evolve into kind of the feature hole out here, whatever it may be. It's cool.

Q. Not loud be than TPC Sawgrass or Scottsdale?
GRAHAM DeLAET: No.

Q. When is the last time you had this many fans follow you?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I'm not a very popular player out here, so probably never. No, I don't know. I mean, it's been a while. Final groups, obviously the crowd are pretty big. It's always good when you're here. Even if you're not playing that great, they stick with you throughout the day.

Q. How was it playing with Ian?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, he's a great guy to play with. We had fun out there.

Q. Fans seemed really excited by him, as well.
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, he was playing great. He gave them a lot more to cheer about than I did.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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