MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2021

Billy Horschel

Quick Quotes

Q. Was that kind of indicative of the way you battled today? Pretty proud of yourself for the way you hung in there?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, you know what, I played pretty well today. I just haven't been able to transfer the swing over from the range to the course. Early on, I hit some good shots and then didn't hit some good shots and just grinding away, and then I made a good swing at 8 and made birdie there. Made a good swing at 9. I mean, if the ball just starts rolling from where it is, it's five feet from the hole.

Had a bad club at 10, and then the back side I hit it really good, and I just had a lot of lip-outs. It was unfortunate because I played pretty good. Then I hit a fairly decent tee shot on 18, got away with it, I think, going into the bunker, but I had a weird stance. So it was nice to grind it out and be able to play this weekend.

Q. You changed wedges on 18. What did you go, from what to what?

BILLY HORSCHEL: I had a 62, and I was going to land it on the green and play it up and have it come back. I was just looking at it, but if it didn't have the right spin, if I flew too far. I just felt like it's laying on sort of a downhill there, and the greens are firm, so I didn't feel like it could grab and get too far up into that and not come back off that hill.

I just thought it was fairly -- bump in was fairly easy. All I had to do was make sure it bumped into the hill. If I bumped it too hard, then it wouldn't go too far, it could take that slope back. And if I bumped it the way I did, then it was perfect. So I trusted my instinct there. My caddie Brian did a really good job of saying trust what you feel.

Q. Do you feel like anybody who makes a cut on the number still has a chance on the weekend in this tournament? Is this one tournament where you could feel that way?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I do, especially this way. The greens are a little softer this morning. They weren't nearly as firm and fast as they were yesterday playing at 1:00 in the afternoon. I think the guys this afternoon flipped. There's no waves, but you break it down in tee times. They may get a little bit more of an easier break because the sun didn't come out and dry out the greens too much.

But, yeah, I mean I feel pretty good in my game. I feel like I can get something going and have a good round tomorrow and give myself a chance, you just never know what the conditions are going to be like this weekend. The greens are, like I said, if they play like they did yesterday afternoon for the guys in the afternoon on the weekend, firm and super fast, you shoot a good round, you're going to have a chance.

Q. Is there such a thing as maybe this tournament, maybe the players of wanting something so bad sometimes you try a little too hard?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, it's my MO, unfortunately. I think yesterday I just woke up and felt really good about my game, and I just sort of, not pressed, but I wanted it, but this course requires so much commitment. I can't say perfection, but executing golf shots.

You can get into worrying about not where to hit it, and sometimes you don't make good swings, and I did that yesterday. Today I just did a really good job of committing to what we needed to do. If I hit a bad shot, I hit a bad shot. I just needed to trust that. I did a good job of that.

This is one of those events, I mean, when I watch the commercials and you hear the music -- I mean, sometimes if you're in another room and you just hear the music, you know what that music is. It's one of those weeks that you want to play well. To be able to join a rare tourney of players to be able to win this event, and you get to always come back here. I think that's something so special about this event.