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SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN

November 2, 2017

A.J. McInerney

Las Vegas, Nevada

Q. A.J., you make your PGA TOUR debut today in your hometown at the Shriners Hospital for Children Open. How would you characterize your opening round?
A.J. McINERNEY: It was fun. I had a blast out there. As far as golf goes, it was pretty scrappy. Had some good saves for pars and it got windy out there. It was gusting pretty good, so even par, it could be worse. Just happy to be playing.

Q. As far as what this event does for the community moving forward and everything that unfolded and you were a part of, break down what that means?
A.J. McINERNEY: Yeah, to have this event here only a month after Route 91 is special. I think Vegas can come together right now and celebrate something and have a reason to have fun and come out here and watch some great golf.

So it was fun today. We had a pretty decent following of local people, and I think tomorrow afternoon an afternoon tee-time will be a good day.

Q. What was it like for you to see those smiling faces outside the ropes?
A.J. McINERNEY: It was awesome to see my family. It's cool. Just after Route 91 and everything and everyone's still kind of struggling, to see that and to see everyone having fun, that's awesome.

Q. First of all, A.J., first round in your backyard. Talk about what it was like out there today?
A.J. McINERNEY: It was fun. I had a blast. Seeing all the local people out supporting the event and to be a local guy, it was special. I'm not going to lie, I did have some nerves out there to start, and just trying to make Las Vegas proud.

Q. What did you like about your round today?
A.J. McINERNEY: I putted well and just scrambled well. I think that's the best part of my game is just kind of staying in it. It's only day one, so to shoot even par and not hitting it great, it gives me some stuff to work on tomorrow, and I'm certainly not out of it, so that's good.

Q. You probably played a few rounds out here, right?
A.J. McINERNEY: Yes.

Q. So how is this different?
A.J. McINERNEY: The greens were a lot faster and firmer than we ever see them and then the wind picked up, that's as far as the golf goes. The tents and the ropes and things like that, it's obviously different. But I played this course a lot in college, so it's nothing new for me. So looking forward to tomorrow to come out and see if the wind is still blowing and how firm it gets.

Q. When did you kind of calm down and it just became natural?
A.J. McINERNEY: After I made my first bogey. I hit it in the water on 12, and that just kind of set me off just a little bit to kind of settle down and realize I'm still out here trying to play golf.

Q. How is tomorrow going to be different?
A.J. McINERNEY: Don't know. Haven't gotten there yet. But I imagine it's still going to be windy tomorrow afternoon, and that definitely makes this golf course challenging. So I'll come out and do the same thing. I think there will be a lot more people out here, which is only good to see all the local fans coming out to support this event. So tomorrow's going to be a fun day.

Q. If you could just talk about a month after October 1st. You're here surrounded by a lot of friends and family, and some of your fellow peers out there on TOUR in this tournament. How has that helped you in the last month?
A.J. McINERNEY: I'm here on a sponsor's exemption, so all the guys that I know from the Web.com Tour last year, and even the local Las Vegas professionals have been very supportive. Everyone's just wishing me well this week and wishing Vegas well. It's great.

My family and friends, we had a lot of people out there today that were at that concert, so to see everyone out here just having a good time, having a couple beers, hanging out, smiling, laughing, I think that's the biggest part of this event.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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