MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2021

Corey Conners

Quick Quotes

Q. Corey, what's the story up there on the round?

COREY CONNERS: Had a pretty good first nine, made a few birdies. One thing sticks out, I made a mistake on 13. I got a little greedy my second shot and ended up hitting it in the creek, then I compounded the error there and ended up making a double.

Made a few nice putts throughout the round, hit a few shots. After that double bogey, it felt like I hit the ball really well and rolled the ball really well. I just wasn't getting the putts to fall.

Q. What happened on this second shot on 13? Mis-hit or?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, it was just a little bit of a mis-hit. I was just trying to stick it to the pin more than I needed to and just didn't quite catch it solid. I ended up coming up short. If I were to hit it again, I'd move my target a little over to the left there and hopefully hit it in the middle of the green.

Then, yeah, I wasn't able to hit a very good pitch after my drop. Yeah, stuff happens out there. Overall, I felt like it was pretty solid.

Q. You talk about putting. In November you finished 10th over here, 38th on the putting surface. What did you improve since November to get better on those greens?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, I felt like I've continued to work really hard kind of on the same stuff, just being a little more consistent. I feel like I'm hitting my lines better and better as the weeks go on. I felt like I putted pretty well in November also. I feel good with that club right now. It's been working well the last number of weeks.

Yeah, I feel like I'm hitting my lines really well. There's a lot of tricky putts out here, so that's definitely important to get the ball started in the right place.

Q. With your short game going really well, do you think you can contend over here? Off the tee really good. Greens in regulation, you're really good. Just the putter or the short game.

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, my short game's continued to improve and a little more creativity. I feel a little more comfortable hitting different types of shots. Still working hard on it, but I definitely think it's at a place where I can contend. Definitely, like I said, I need a lot of creativity. You can hit shots with confidence, and I feel like I have confidence right now.

Q. How far do you have to be creative over those kinds of greens so fast and so firm?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, there's certain situations where you maybe have a couple different options of the shot. So you can pick and choose there, but other times, you kind of only have one option. Now, using slope virtually on every shot, you're hitting around the greens, whether it be playing it behind the hole or way to one side of the hole and letting the slopes of the greens do the work and try to feed it close to the hole. Definitely need a lot of creativity.

Q. Will the rain help for the play tomorrow?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, I mean, I love how the golf course is playing right now. If I could choose, I would say no rain.

Q. Okay.

COREY CONNERS: Keep the conditions really firm and fast and continue to get firmer and faster. We'll see, if it does rain, I think it will soften things up a little bit, but we'll see how it goes. The golf course is in amazing shape. It's playing, I'm sure, just as all the players want it right now.