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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 9, 2018

Danny Balin

St. Louis, Missouri

Q. How would you assess it, obviously a tough start but you rallied back.
DANNY BALIN: I played good, I'm happy with the way I played. I didn't make as many putts as I should have, I guess, I missed a few short ones. But all in all it was good. I missed about a four and a half-footer on 18. I missed one on the second hole for par. 11 for par as well. And then I just 3-putted from the fringe on 9, my last hole. So get all those out of there and shoot even par, 1-under, but that's golf and it happens, but I'm happy with the way I played.

Q. A lot of guys said it, did it get a little bumpy in the afternoon?
DANNY BALIN: Playing in the afternoon with all the players, yeah, I mean with those greens being soft, they got a little bumpy, but everybody has to deal with it, it is what it is.

Q. Did you go into the day with a number?
DANNY BALIN: No, I definitely beat my number, I think. If I had a number. No, I don't have a number. I hit it in the fairway and try and hit it on greens and rely on my short game to score and I did that pretty well. Didn't really get down on myself after the first two holes. The nerves, playing in front of thousands of people, it's not something that we do every day and then just to shake off the nerves and then went about my business. And just happy with the way I hit the driver, hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens and made a few putts and missed a few putts.

Q. How do you approach tomorrow?
DANNY BALIN: Same way as today. I can't have too high expectations, I don't want to think about making the cut or think about winning or just, you know, like going to every other tournament, I'm trying to win the golf tournament and whether I'm a club pro playing against the best players in the world or I'm playing in a section event. So I try and tune out the circus that's going on around us and just play my game.

Q. The two guys you played with are Tour Pros. You beat both of them. What does that tell you?
DANNY BALIN: Yeah, I played with them before, I played with a lot of TOUR pros.

Q. Those guys have played in Majors before.
DANNY BALIN: Yeah, I mean, their resumes are a lot better than mine, although I do have a pretty good club pro resume. I played with a lot of Tour players before, I beat them and I've been beat, I've been beat more than I beat them. So my game is just as good as these guys, just got to make a few more putts here and there.

Q. Did you happen to look at the leaderboard and see Matt was 3-under after three holes?
DANNY BALIN: I didn't, but my caddie told me he was and then I looked on the 17th hole, which was our 8th hole and then his name disappeared.

Q. He tripled 5. He could have been 4-under after 4. He hit a pretty good putt.
DANNY BALIN: On 4?

Q. Yeah. And he had two triples.
DANNY BALIN: That's one thing I was happy about I didn't have any doubles and I didn't have any 3-putts. So that's one of the goals that I always have going into every round, no doubles and no 3-putts. So I did that, I took my medicine when I hit it off line and that.

Q. Seems like even though in any round you play you feel like you should have played better, but it seems like in general you're kind of pleased with the way today went.
DANNY BALIN: Absolutely. I thought I played real well. Given the situation, given it's a Major, you have the top hundred players in the world, a long golf course for a guy who doesn't hit this that far off the tee, I'm very happy. I think it's probably the best round I've had in the five Majors that I've played score-wise and I can't be upset shooting 2-over par in a major championship.

Q. And after the first two bogeys what are you thinking? Are you trying to calm yourself over there?
DANNY BALIN: Yeah, of course, I said to my caddie, he was telling me I'm rushing. I go, well, I can't feel anything, man. It's a nerve wracking experience. When you don't do this week in and week out and there's thousands of people around. I never play in front of crowds. And of course I put a lot of pressure on myself. I got my family and friends here and I want to play for them, I want to play for myself, so to be able to calm down and kind of get into my game felt good.

Q. Hopefully that will fare well for you tomorrow since you got through that and it will be an early one tomorrow?
DANNY BALIN: An early one, hopefully won't be that many people as there were in the afternoon.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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