THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2021

Tyler McCumber

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Tyler, first of all, was there any sense of relief closing with that birdie at 10 today? No matter what happened before, does that enable you to walk away feeling pretty good?

TYLER MCCUMBER: I think finishing well is always a good thing, especially just carrying momentum into the next round. So it was definitely good to capitalize on two really good swings going in there and in a good spot with a relatively straightforward up-and-down.

Q. Did you think the wind was going to carry it a little bit on to the green were you hoping?

TYLER MCCUMBER: Yeah, at that point you're sort of really just trying to stay right of that pin, because any of those chips from the right are easier than the angle from the left. So the goal was just to hit a really solid shot and try to keep it on the right edge of the green and if the wind hits it and takes it on to the green --

Q. What club did you hit in?

TYLER MCCUMBER: That was a 2-iron.

Q. It got up pretty high. Were you dialed in to where you could flight it that high?

TYLER MCCUMBER: That wind was sort of right-to-left, maybe a little bit of help and so I felt pretty comfortable getting it up in the air and kind of holding the wind a little bit, which naturally is going to enable you to hit it higher.

Q. Did today feel like you thought it would?

TYLER MCCUMBER: Yeah, I didn't really know what my first round at THE PLAYERS would feel like, but it was pretty awesome.

Q. Do you think it was a plus or minus to be the first group off today?

TYLER MCCUMBER: I think it's a plus, yeah. Really good greens, even though the greens are good regardless of when you play right now. Just sort of the normal tendencies for when you're first off you normally get calmer conditions, maybe a bit more receptive greens. But overall I think it was nice to just get out and get the round in this morning.

Q. What did you hit into 17?

TYLER MCCUMBER: I hit a half-to-half pitching wedge. It's like a 38, 39 carry.

Q. Wind wasn't really doing much at that point.

TYLER MCCUMBER: It was just starting to blow and it was just a little right-to-left and down. Not too much though.

Q. But you'll take that shot on 17 every day?

TYLER MCCUMBER: Absolutely. I'm going to put it right there in the middle every day.

Q. Now I looked this up, dad's first round ever at this course was an 81.

TYLER MCCUMBER: Really. I did not know that.

Q. So you got him by a little bit.

TYLER MCCUMBER: I'll tell you what, he stepped it up then from there. This course can get you. Obviously it's really challenging and really demanding and you never know quite what you're going to get. So just try to go out tomorrow and do the same thing I did today.

Q. Did you get any last words of advice from dad either last night or this morning?

TYLER MCCUMBER: Well I'm staying with him as of --

Q. So you can't get away from him?

TYLER MCCUMBER: Yeah, as of tonight. He came out of his office yesterday talking golf, and I said, you know the rule, no golf when we're away from the course.