ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 22, 2021

Billy Horschel

Sam Burns

TPC Louisiana

Quick Quotes

BILLY HORSCHEL: I gave him a couple good reads. I gave him bad advice on No. 8, but other than that Sam played beautiful today, and it was awesome. Really this course isn't really designed to play in this wind, and to see how well he hit the golf ball, and the one thing I was really excited about having Sam this week is he's a really good putter and he showed it today, so that was -- that helped because I didn't play bad but I wasn't on top of my game. It was nice to see Sam have a really good round because he's been playing well, so it was nice to see him play really well, and I just made sure I didn't do anything stupid.

Q. I saw you giving Sam a couple reads. How does that dynamic fit in with another player? Any other week you're playing against him but this week you're trying to help him?

BILLY HORSCHEL: I try not to get in there unless they ask. I'll take a look at it and then if they want me confirmation that that's what I see, then I'll give it to them. But Sam like I said is a good putter, so if he's a good putter he reads greens very well. It's more or less just confirmation on what they're seeing, and I think that's what I did except for one hole.

Q. At what point in the day were you feeling like -- were you really feeling it, and what was the best putt you think you hit today?

SAM BURNS: Well, I think Billy and I kind of discussed, if we could have two looks at it on every hole, we knew one of us would convert. Just so happened today that I converted a good bit of them. It was nice knowing that Billy at worst was going to make par, and so a lot of times we already had par in, and I still had a chance at it and was able to convert a few, like I said.

Really it's just having that little bit of extra comfort with him.

BILLY HORSCHEL: I think his best putt was on No. 18, our ninth hole of the day, the par-5. It was a really good putt. Kept the momentum going. Obviously we didn't get as many birdies on the front side as we wanted but I thought that was a really big putt on a par-5 to -- when you're playing two guys, you should at least make one, and I didn't make mine. That was a really beautiful putt.

Q. How important is it to get off to a good start?

BILLY HORSCHEL: I mean, it's massive to get off to a good start. You don't want to feel like you're behind the 8-ball going into the alternate-shot format. I can't say -- I think this sort of makes it a little bit easier tomorrow, but it's still a tough format, and it allows us just to be a little bit smarter and not feel like we have to go really low tomorrow. If we shot a 4- or 5-under par that's really good in that format. Like I said, it just frees us up a little bit more tomorrow.

Q. What kind of strategy do you have on 13 with that tree in the way?

SAM BURNS: Apparently not a very good one because we were both behind it. The thing about that is you're not really thinking a whole lot about a three-yard-wide tree. Your first order is to hit the fairway, and then you hope that you have a clear shot in. And most of the time you do, just happened today with that wind, where those balls ended up was pretty close to that tree. The chances of us both hitting drivers that are behind that again are pretty slim.

Q. Were there any particular holes that you were really disappointed about, like say 7 or 13?

BILLY HORSCHEL: I'm never driving No. 13. I've got three really long guys -- I'm not laying up I'm playing out to the right. 7 is the one where it affects me more because I have to hit two really good golf shots to be able to get there.

SAM BURNS: Two of the longest guys in the field didn't reach today.

BILLY HORSCHEL: Two of the longest guys. Tony hit a great drive and hit a great 3-wood and he still was short of the green. Yeah, I mean, the wind is the way it is. I'll tell you what, I can't say I'd rather have this wind, I'd rather have this temperature, and that means the wind comes from this direction. But yeah, it makes this course a little bit more challenging because you look at No. 17, you look at No. 9, you look at 15, you look at 7, those holes are into the wind and they're really tough holes when you're playing into the wind or they're not as easy holes.

Yeah, I think 9-under par in these conditions with this wind is a really good score today, so I think Sam and I are a really disappointed that we didn't birdie 7 and 8 when we both had some opportunities there. Yeah, we'll go take care of it tomorrow.

Q. How much support did you feel out there from the fans?

SAM BURNS: A lot. We heard tons of "Geaux Tigers." That was cool for me. Just being 45 to an hour from where I went to school, it's always cool, and I enjoy coming back and playing here and seeing friends and family. So it's really fun for me.

Q. Do you remember the time that Toms won here?

SAM BURNS: A little bit. I don't remember watching it, but obviously I've seen videos and all that. So hopefully that would be cool to follow in his footsteps.