ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 4, 2021

Jason Kokrak

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you assess your opening round here at Bay Hill?

JASON KOKRAK: I played decent. Didn't have my best stuff. I felt really good in the pro-am yesterday, kind of working in, not a different direction, just got a little bit off center and just a little out of sorts, a little disconnected or whatever.

It's starting to work back in the right direction, I hit the ball really solid yesterday, and just trusting it, I think, for me is going to be the key the rest of the week. But short game saved me today, made a lot of nice par saves, nice up-and-downs.

Q. You said you didn't maybe have your best stuff today, what was maybe missing, in your mind?

JASON KOKRAK: I've been tending to get a little bit underneath the ball, body's too fast out and I get a little -- well, way underneath it. So I'm trying to stay a little bit more on top of it, take the hands out of it and hit the ball a little straighter off the tee and into the greens instead of playing the big draw.

Q. You've had a solid record here, this is your ninth start and you've definitely got three top 10s here. What do you like about Bay Hill that suits your game so well kind of almost year in and year out?

JASON KOKRAK: I think you can play this place a ton of different ways. You don't have to hit a lot of drivers here -- you can if you would like to -- but you hit a lot of long irons off the tees. Some of the other guys are hitting maybe a hybrid or a 5-wood off the tee where I'm hitting maybe a 4-iron so I think that makes the fairways a little bit bigger for me, easier to hit. And I'm a high-ball hitter, so I think being able to hit it higher into the greens and stop it in some spots that some other guys can't.

And I feel comfortable here. A lot of the shot shapes are kind of right-to-left off the tee so I tend to like those. And if I can put the ball in the fairway, you can attack this place. But the rough is up this week.

Q. Does being a high-ball hitter, you seem to be playing tougher golf courses pretty well in recent years. Being that high-ball hitter, being able to bring down some of these firmer harder greens, kind of help you out a lot?

JASON KOKRAK: Yeah, I think I don't really have to think about landing it 15, 16, 17 short of some of the pins, I can kind of be a little bit more aggressive. I hit my irons longer than I guess the average guy, maybe not Bryson, but I think I can use that to my advantage. Once we start driving the ball a little bit better like I did when I won at the end of last year, we'll definitely be in the mix.