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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 11, 2019

Ryan Palmer

Silvis, Illinois

Q. Good day for Ryan Palmer, a 65 after you took about four weeks after, had a nice family vacation. How did that play an impact in this opening round?
RYAN PALMER: You know, it was obviously stress free today it felt like, being off for four weeks, traveling the world a little bit. It was fun. I just came into the week wanting to get my game back going for next week, obviously, but this golf course sets up good tee to green for me. I've just struggled on the greens. But Randy Smith was here this week and kind of had a crisis on Tuesday with my ball-striking, but took yesterday's pro-am round a bit more serious and got my ball-striking under control and was able to make some putts today. One of my best starts here for sure.

Q. What specifically were you focusing on on Tuesday?
RYAN PALMER: It was just my setup. Alignment was really off, I think. I was blocking a lot of shots. We just worked on my shoulder rotation and then just my alignment. Got it fixed up yesterday and came out today and had a great day.

Q. We were talking earlier in the week about how excited you are to go to Northern Ireland for the first time. What are you anticipating?
RYAN PALMER: Good Guinness, I hear. But I haven't heard much about the golf course yet. I'm anxious to see it, so like I said, I've got to do some studying on it a little bit the rest of the week, but I have not heard yet exactly how the golf course is. Weather looks pretty good, I think, so we'll just wait and see when we get there.

Q. A little bit of momentum while you're at the John Deere Classic, how about that?
RYAN PALMER: That's right, using that tractor, so we'll work on that.

Q. No summer vacation rust; nice way to start this tournament?
RYAN PALMER: It was a great way. Yeah, it was a nice break, much needed, I think, mentally for me with the stretch I had before. Nice two weeks in Italy with Jen and the kids. But then I had a hard week last week grinding and working and knowing I wanted to play here. I came in feeling pretty good. Had to do a little work on Tuesday. We kind of had a little rough go of it on Tuesday, I think, but we fixed up some of my alignment issues and some of my rotation. Randy Smith was here, so we were able to get it under control, and great start.

Q. I saw some Thursday fist pumps out there out of you on a couple of the putts that you were able to roll in out there. You enter this week 26th in the FedExCup points. You've got a couple big weeks coming up in terms of starts. What is the goal, the game plan the next couple weeks?
RYAN PALMER: The goal is to lock up Atlanta before the Playoffs start. I think with one less start this year in the Playoffs, it's going to be harder to -- for guys to move up as much as they have in the past. You've got obviously Northern Trust, the only tournament with a cut. You go into Atlanta top 15, I think, maybe even top 20 or go into Northern Trust, I think you're going to be hard to get knocked out if you just play decent golf because there's no cut at the BMW, and that's the last one before Atlanta. That's the goal these next three weeks I'm playing. I'll play Reno if I'm not in Memphis. I enjoy going there, so our goal these next few weeks is to, like I said, lock up Atlanta before the Playoffs start.

Q. Way too much math in the summer at this point in time in the schedule. It was sort of like an old Texas golf course out there today, the fairways were running out, there's a little bounce in the greens out here. This place wasn't nearly as soft as we've seen it in years past.
RYAN PALMER: No, not at all. That's what I love about it. I think it's going to keep some of the golf a little more honest. You're going to have to hit a lot more golf shots, a lot more distance control with your irons. But I hit some tee shots and they ran out to spots I've never been in before. I hit lob wedge into 15, which has never happened.

Yeah, no, I'm excited the way the golf course is playing. There's no rain in the forecast, going to make the golf course a lot more firm, and I love the fact of getting up in the morning with a little bit more soft conditions, I think, and it's going to be a great week of golf with a firmer golf course than we've seen. So you're going to see some good and bad golf, I think.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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