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AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 9, 2019

Denny McCarthy

Irving, Texas

Q. Denny, a strong opening round. What were the conditions like after we saw two inches of rain yesterday?
DENNY MCCARTHY: They were soft. I'm not the farthest hitter so the golf course played somewhat long for me but I really put some work in on my mid-irons, long irons so gave me a chance to work on those today.

Hit a lot of great ones today.

Q. Trinity Forest, you need for the wind for it to play more difficult. Preparation for this tournament wasn't easy because of the rain. What did you have to do with your mindset to get ready?
DENNY MCCARTHY: The greens weren't as firm. They had some bounce on Monday and Tuesday and obviously with the rain yesterday we believe they were going to be pretty soft. I think kind of just -- I told myself I was going to come out and be aggressive today and I wasn't really to start off.

I think maybe making the double bogey at the 4th hole kind of calmed me down in a way. Timid swing off the tree and from there on out I told myself I was just going to play really carefree and really aggressive and just kind of see the shot that I see and go ahead and hit it and move on.

And I've been putting great the last couple months so kind matched up the ball-striking with the putting today.

Q. Missed cuts aren't the end of the world. You do have a missed cut at Wells Fargo. Coming into this week, was there something different from the mid-irons?
DENNY MCCARTHY: Last week you really need to drive it well. This week there's a little more leniency in the fairways, especially with it being soft, too, the balls kind of stick and aren't really getting away from you.

That might change with some wind we get the next couple of days. Just -- I've never really felt I'm that far off. I really felt close the last couple weeks. All it takes is kind of a wrap around like this to get you back where you feel like you should be.

I made a double on 4. Like I was just saying, it just kind of made me more calm after that. I came out with the mindset I wanted to be aggressive and I wasn't and then after that double I kind of told myself, you know, just play really, really carefree and have fun with it today, just let it go.

I did a pretty good -- really proud of myself for letting my mind be able to do that after a double bogey like that.

Q. Why do you think you weren't able to come out aggressive?
DENNY MCCARTHY: It's tough. I put in some really nice sessions on the range the last couple of weeks and I didn't come out and hitting it like I wanted to. It's easy to sometimes -- it's easy just to not make a committed swing and cost me a couple shots there but once I was aware that I wasn't in that aggressive mindset, kind of put me right back in and was able to get the round going.

Q. Denny, you've had have a lot of success on the Web.com Tour. For people who aren't familiar with you, know about you here in North Texas?
DENNY MCCARTHY: I don't know. I don't know that many people in Texas. There's a lot of people at home in Maryland that know me and down in Florida where I live that know I can play some golf.

Yeah, it's tough out here. This is my second year. I'm still kind of learning the ropes a little bit. Everyone is so good, everyone -- the courses are tough and everyone is so good out here.

You just really need to be physically and mentally sharp every single week when you tee it up on Thursday. Sometimes that's hard to do when you play consecutive weeks.

I think I've done a really good job just kind of trying to reset and have a fresh mindset starting on Thursday every week.

Q. With the rain, how does that change your approach for today?
DENNY MCCARTHY: We knew it was going to be softer for sure. The greens were firm Monday, Tuesday but we knew they were going to be a little more receptive today. It made some of the long iron shots, you know, a little easier to hold the greens. I can see if it gets windy later this week and the fairways stay soft, it could play -- it's definitely going to play tougher, kind of hit 5, 6 irons in. They're going to be bounding out a little more. So, we'll have to adjust, see what happens.

Q. After a 63 you probably have good things to say, I would imagine, about this course but it is just the second year of this course.
It is different than a lot of the other courses on Tour. What do you make of it at this point?

DENNY MCCARTHY: I like it a lot. Like you said, it's different. We don't get to play very often. I like it and -- in a sense it's this different. Also just it's a new course for everybody.

Last year I was playing every course. Every week was a new golf course for me. So last year was a new golf course for everybody. So I kind of felt there was a week last year I had an advantage.

Same kind of thing this year. I feel like the more tournament rounds I play on courses the more comfortable I get and that definitely helps when playing, you know, tournament rounds, you need to be knowing where you're going and I think just the comfort factor really played a lot in today's round.

Q. Obviously one round and long way to go. What can a round like this do for you?
DENNY MCCARTHY: Give me the confidence that I know that I can shoot rounds like this. I've kind of been looking for a round like this just to kind of get me going. I know I can be out here playing with the best and today kind of showed that. It's a good start but still have three more days to go.

Q. Denny, talk about Virginia basketball.
DENNY MCCARTHY: Me and Ben Coles, a buddy of mine, we actually went to the National Championship game and we had great seats and unbelievable experience and really, honestly, that was actually a learning experience for me just how that team battled, just watching them all year.

I'm a big basketball fan, played all the way through high school. I went to a ton of the games, see how they handle tough situations. Kind of inspiring, honestly and just things like that and things like Max Homa last week, kind of like all right, if they can do that and Max can do that then I can do that.

So, I think all those little things kind of help out in rounds like today and, like I said, just the 1st Round and three more to go.

Q. It's interesting that you can just be a fan and still pick up something that you can use at the office.
DENNY MCCARTHY: For sure. Learn something new everyday and certainly try and use that --

Q. Do you know the coach?
DENNY MCCARTHY: I do know Tony, yeah. Great guy, class act.

Q. Golfer?
DENNY MCCARTHY: I never played with him. I've heard he's a pretty good stick.

Q. How was watching the game?
DENNY MCCARTHY: I wasn't a point guard. I was a shooting guard. Didn't do much of the handling. I'm a deadly three point shooter. Look out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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