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June 13, 2019
Pebble Beach, California
Q. How did you find the course today, a little softer with the cloud cover?
SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, it was huge. Being first off is always nice, especially on poa greens, you know, you're just going to get absolutely perfect greens.
So took advantage of that. It was fairly soft, cloud cover, and there's not much really you can do to firm it up that much. But I'm sure it will get firmer as the week goes on.
Q. Did you see a round like this coming, the way you've been playing coming in?
SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, yeah. I've been playing great. Playing some good golf. At the end of last week, I had a 36-hole qualifier Monday before, I was a little worn out. But I'm not very surprised.
Q. When you're among the first groups out, the course is pretty much yours. It's not been tainted by anybody playing ahead of you. How much of an advantage is that to let you play the game you want to play and not worry about what anybody else has done to it?
SEPP STRAKA: It's huge. Like I said, you know, the greens are going to be perfect. You put a good putt on it, chances are it's got a good chance going in. So that was really nice to see being first off. It would be a little more difficult tomorrow. Even earlier in the afternoon it was a pretty big advantage.
Q. Did you play Pebble this year?
SEPP STRAKA: I did, yeah.
Q. I know it's a completely different golf course than how it plays in February. Does it help knowing where to hit it?
SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, for sure. The rough cuts were already there. I think some of them they shaved, like 6. I don't know if it was shaved all the way to the edge, I can't remember. But, yeah, certain holes, especially, blind tee shots is pretty nice, you've already hit the shots once before.
Q. On the back nine is where you seemed to catch your momentum and sort of get your stride going. What made the difference getting the three birdies?
SEPP STRAKA: Just getting more comfortable. I was pretty nervous teeing off this morning. First tee is set up, so it was pretty nerve-wracking. But started getting a little more comfortable and took advantage of some of the easier holes.
Q. Obviously a second round to look forward to tomorrow. As you mentioned, the different tee time, more people will have been on the course ahead of you. What's the strategy going into the second round to maintain and if not get even better?
SEPP STRAKA: Just trying to continue to find the good spots. There's always a good side of the hole to miss it on out here. You always want to be below the hole. First key is getting it in play off the tee, hitting it in the fairway, and then from there you can actually take advantage of some of the holes.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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