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August 25, 2017
Old Westbury, New York
MATT KUCHAR: Got off to a somewhat slow start but the opening holes are tough. I bogeyed the first. I hit a bunch of good shots. Still walked off with a bogey. Ended up bogeying the 7th after a poor second shot but knew I was playing some good golf.
John Wood said to me -- 3-over at the moment, let's see if we can get this thing back to even, even par, going into the weekend, not too far back of the leaders, and I quickly got back to even, so might as well keep going.
Q. Is that something, when you get that momentum, you feel like you can kind of turn it on? Is this a golf course, especially on the back nine, you can make a few birdies in a row?
MATT KUCHAR: Definitely I saw this course playing the practice round, I saw this as a course if you're playing well, you can make some birdies but if you're not playing well, you can make some bogeys, too. I thought this course, you could see a big separation between the leaders and some of the guys that missed the cut.
I didn't think there would be quite the bunching up that sometimes happens at TOUR events. I think you're seeing some guys shoot some pretty high scores because the course is tough. But good golf is rewarded out here and I've been pretty pleased with the way I'm hitting it, pleased with the way I'm putting it, and it kind of all clicked the second half of my round today.
Q. All the big names seem to be at the top.
MATT KUCHAR: It's just a good test of golf. You just never know -- on a hard but fair golf course, I think you're going to see the better guys up top.
Q. What sort of challenge does that pose for the weekend, as opposed to maybe less seasoned guys at the top?
MATT KUCHAR: I mean, the great thing about a course that has this sort of challenge where you get good shots rewarded and poor shots penalized, you have chances for both birdies and bogeys on any given hole. So you can have huge swings and it's going to take quality golf to win this thing and it's going to take a steady dose of it.
Q. Is the zone something you get into, eight birdies or whatever, in ten holes or something, that's kind of ridiculous. It backs, easy; right?
MATT KUCHAR: You never quite know what the zone is or when the zone happens. But I remember being out there, I think it was the 14th hole, I just hit a wedge to a couple of inches, and I was talking to guys in my group, Marc Leishman and Adam Hadwin: Man, if I only made that putt on 12. I missed a makeable putt on 12; if I made that putt on 12, it would be six birdies in a row. It kind of hit me, I shouldn't talk about a streak; I should stay out of the way of the zone.
Parred the next, the 15th, but right away birdied 16 and 17. So it was nice to stay enough out of my way that still kept the good things going.
Q. What do you think about Tiger Woods involved with Bridgestone for golf design?
MATT KUCHAR: I was very excited to have Tiger Woods join the team. Certainly talked to him a lot last year when he was getting ready to play more about the golf ball, and he was excited about it. I think his knowledge can only help out. I'd love to see him out playing more, healthy again. But you know, even if he's not, just being part of the team I think is a great thing for Bridgestone.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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