THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2021

Brian Harman

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. You played here a lot, so when you get off to that start was there any need to maybe calm down or is this just what you expect from this golf course?

BRIAN HARMAN: You know you're going to have a stretch like that at some point to where the ball bounces into the wrong spot, you miss a putt, you just barely miss a fairway and have a really -- it's, that's just part of the rub of this place. So I knew I was playing well. I prepared really well, I played really great in the practice round, so I figured if I could just stay patient. But it is hard to stay patient -- I make a couple birdies and then I get to 5 and 5's like impossible when we come through there, it's into the wind and hard to hit that fairway and it's just, it's just a hard, it's a hard golf course. It will eat you up if you let it.

Q. Did something maybe click a little bit at the turn to be able to turn and shoot 31 on the inward half?

BRIAN HARMAN: I made a really good swing on 7 -- or I made a good swing on 8 and then made two really good swings on 9. And after I drove it well on 10, I felt like I could kind of turn it loose a little bit and that's kind of what happened.

Q. Did you look at any of the early scores, like anything going on early? It was playing very difficult.

BRIAN HARMAN: Well, I knew -- I checked it kind of at breakfast this morning and it started trending to kind of the over par, so but if you didn't know that it was going to play hard today after the last couple days, then...

Q. You weren't paying attention?

BRIAN HARMAN: Then you didn't -- you didn't. The greens are firm, the fairways are hard to hit, the rough is really, really difficult, it's a hard golf course.

Q. So it didn't change anything that you thought of before you went out there today?

BRIAN HARMAN: If anything the course played easier today than it did the last two days. In the practice rounds. I mean the greens were firmer and faster on Monday and Tuesday than they were Wednesday and then they were a little softer today than they were yesterday.

Q. How much did you miss the fans?

BRIAN HARMAN: You know, that's a loaded question. I missed -- I miss entertaining, I miss being -- I miss the cheers for good shots. I do. Because like I enjoy that aspect, it feels good playing in front of people again. Like when we didn't have fans it was like, well, this is kind of like the purest form of our sport now, like the lowest score wins, no one's interfering, no one's trampling down grass, it's like the purest form of golf. And then it's like, well it's nice having people cheering and being out there and following us around. So I just, you know...

Q. What don't you miss?

BRIAN HARMAN: What don't I miss? No, I mean --

Q. Trampled down lies that stuff you talked about, is that fair?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, I mean -- but that's part of the game.

Q. Did today feel different?

BRIAN HARMAN: It feels like -- I thought about it on like 17 and 18. I played with Cameron Percy today and he's 46 years old, never played in THE PLAYERS. And he looks over at 17 and he's like, Man, how cool is this. And I remember thinking like, man, this is great, it nice to see people out again, it's nice to be out in front of people again and it just feels like we're finally starting to like turn the corner a little bit. I don't know. I'm no expert. But it feels nice. It feels nice having everybody out here.