PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2020

Robert MacIntyre

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park. Pleased to be joined by Robert MacIntyre who posted a second-round 67 today. He is even par here at the 36-hole mark.

Robert, terrific close here, two birdies in the last three holes kind of got you where you needed to be to see the weekend I hope. Maybe talk about that. Did you know what you needed to accomplish there at the end.

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, I was like lucky that that was my front nine, so I managed to scrape that early in the round, and I thought 1-over will get in, but coming up the last there, the ninth, I seen that it wasn't in yet. So it was nice to get up-and-down at the last to pretty much secure the cut.

JOHN DEVER: You had a 73 yesterday, 67 today, big difference there. What put you where you needed to to play like you did today?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I wasn't far off yesterday. Yesterday afternoon, the weather was as hard as I've played in with the condition of the golf course. If you missed a fairway, you were chipping out, and I couldn't find a lie until the final hole today I finally found a lie that I could get up near the green. It was a bit easier. The wind wasn't as strong.

I think the conditions made it hard yesterday, and today obviously it's playing easier.

Q. I think this is your first major in America; is that right? Big golf course, long rough; how do you like this kind of setup versus what you saw -- I know you had a great week at Portrush. How do you like these kind of setups?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, I was actually here at University in Louisiana, so I've played -- I know this style of course. The style of golf suits my game. I hit it high, normally straight off the tee. I don't normally hit many wide ones, and this week I feel like the wider you are the better you are the way the rough is. If you're close to the cart path you're going to have a shot. But if you're just off the fairway, which I seem to be doing this week, then you're hacking out.

But I feel like it suits my game tee-to-green.

JOHN DEVER: Robert, you practiced Monday through Wednesday, tougher weather conditions. Was it tough playing in really rugged conditions, and so it's been a little different here Thursday and Friday? Has that been a challenge for everybody?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I'd say it has been. I was lucky enough to get a game last week in Memphis; so it kind of set me up well for this week. I knew it was going to be -- I knew the golf course, the style of the course was going to be similar but firmer, and sure enough, it's proved to be the same.

I just feel like the weather conditions at the start of the week were a lot cooler, but now it's heating up well.

Q. Had you ever played golf in California before?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, I played Walker Cup at LA Country Club and also U.S. Amateur at Riviera and Bel Air. So I've played a bit. I know my way around this area, so we're all good.

Q. Is your goal to kind of do a dual schedule where you play European Tour and PGA TOUR, or are you kind of good in Europe right now?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Just now, I'm fully focused on just trying to get top 50 in the world, whether that's getting invites on the PGA TOUR or back playing in Europe, but I don't know where I stand just now. I'm in that bubble of just outside it.

Once I get in the top 50 in the world then I'll play out here as well as back home in Europe. It's the place you've got to play, the best players in the world are out here, so if you manage to get in that position, you've got to take it.

JOHN DEVER: Thank you for stopping by, Robert. Good luck all weekend.