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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 11, 2019

Corey Conners

Augusta, Georgia

Q. A little better than your Masters debut a couple years ago?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, 10 shots better. Quite a lot. I had a great day out there, it was beautiful, it was fun to be first off this morning, felt pretty special to be out there on the tee and I am really happy with how I played, I hit a lot of quality shots and had a nice stretch in the middle of the back nine on some holes that you would like to birdie but they're not gimmies.

Q. What were your clubs and yardage on 14 and 15?
COREY CONNERS: I hit an 8‑iron, I had 132 to the pin on 14 into the wind a little bit.
And then had 202 on 15 and hit a 6‑iron.

Q. What did Jack say to you before you teed off?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, he just congratulated me on the win, that felt pretty special. Never thought in a million years that Jack Nicklaus would know who I am and it just felt pretty cool. And I watched him and Mr.Player tee off, so it was pretty cool.

Q. Did that make you more or less nervous or did it have any affect on your ‑‑
COREY CONNERS: I don't think it really had much of an affect, I kind of knew what to expect coming up to the first tee from last time and it was just a cool experience to be part of and I was ready to go when we teed off.

Q. Can you talk about what these 10, 12 days have been it's been sort of like a whirlwind for you and a good whirlwind?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, it's been crazy, a lot of positive things have been happening and I'm excited just to be here and trying to really enjoy the experience. I think running off some adrenaline at the start of the week but starting to settle down now and I'm looking forward to another good few days.

Q. A week and a half ago would it be fair to say you did not think it was likely you would be here?
COREY CONNERS: I did not think it was likely at all. I'm a math and stats guy and it was very unlikely that I was going to be here, I'll say that, especially having to Monday qualify last week. So, yeah, could have said almost certain that I wouldn't be here, but it's worked out really well and I'm really happy.

Q. You said in San Antonio that you were playing like really aggressive. Did you carry that over to today?
COREY CONNERS: I did, yes, but there's some shots where you're playing aggressively but not necessarily at the pin, but I just tried to be really committed to the targets and make aggressive swings, definitely tried to keep continue doing what I was doing there.

Q. What was going through your mind last night when you were preparing to tee off this morning at 8:30?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, I wasn't really thinking about it too much, I got in some prep and had a plan in place and just tried to relax, focused on spending some time with my wife, just focused on relaxing and didn't think about it too much. I kind of knew what to expect from the first time around.

Q. And what about this warm welcome on the tee?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, it was pretty awesome. There's, the support out here has been incredible, the Patrons are amazing and I think there's way more Canadians or people pretending to be Canadians out there than I would have guessed. I got a lot of, yeah, positive cheers from them and it felt pretty special. Yeah, it was awesome.

Q. After you won Roberto Castro tweeted out like, yeah, he was a Monday qualifier but he's also in the Top‑80 in the FedExCup standings and that just tells you the level, the depth out here. Could you expand on that?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, well, in San Antonio everyone was calling me the Monday qualifier, I'm like, well I'm a TOUR member, I've had two top‑3 finishes this year, I feel like I belong, it's just the way my status is or was at the time, I had to Monday qualify. But it shows how competitive it is, there's so many great players. And the Monday qualifiers definitely aren't fun and I'm hoping to not have to do those anymore.

Q. Had you ever met Jack before and did he come towards you on the first tee and introduce himself?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, he did, I was standing just at the walkway at the back of the tee and he came up and introduced himself and we had met before, he gave a talk at the Honda Classic last year, but other than that I think ‑‑ I also live in the Palm Beach Gardens area ‑‑ but I have never hung around him until now.

Q. Did you know you're getting crystal?
COREY CONNERS: I don't think so, but I was pretty pumped about that.

Q. Can you talk about the comfort level you felt on the course today overall?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, I felt quite comfortable, I knew I was striking the ball really well, I was a little cautious on the greens, I know how tricky they are and how they can make you look silly, so I tried to be fairly cautious with a lot of my putts and I think the comfort on the greens will grow the rest of the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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