PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 21, 2021

Lucas Herbert

The Ocean Course at Kiawah

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Lucas Herbert. Lucas posted an even-par-72 this morning and he is 4-over for the championship.

Lucas, you just talked about how exhausting it was. Was it a mental exercise? I'm sure there's actually some physicality to it, too. It's a long walk out there. What kind of overall combination is that for a player of your stature?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I mean, it's both. You obviously get like -- we hit off of 1, so you get a nice stretch there from like 5 through 13 all downwind, and you can kind of get it going. It's still tough, but you've got to keep pushing hard because you know you've got 14 through 18 coming in. You're just feeling how hard that wind is picking up, and the amount of anxiety that you've sort of got waiting for that 14th tee shot and everything that comes after it, it's pretty scary.

Yeah, I just feel like I've just gotten out of a fight and I've won. Looks like I'll probably make the cut. Yeah, I feel like I've had a win.

Q. Have you ever had such a level of satisfaction posting an even-par number as you did today?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, so it's kind of a funny story with today. I turned up in some casual clothes to do some sort of warmups and whatnot, and I got to the golf course and realized I left my golf clothes at home. So I had my friend drive back and get them and bring them back. So I missed basically half of my warmup. And I got on the range straight back into the wind, and I think I hit about four 2-irons in a row over the left fence.

So I FaceTimed my coach with like nine minutes till my tee time going, how do I fix this? There's something really, really wrong. How do I fix this? It was like, we just had a laugh because it can't get any worse. This is going to be a fun day. We're going to be shouting fore left a lot.

And then all of a sudden I'm out there hitting -- I really don't think I missed a shot through the first 13 holes. It was kind of funny really, that it sort of all came from that.

Q. In retrospect, sounds like you didn't know it was happening in the moment, but what got you on track out there? What were you doing well that allowed you to -- looks like you had about five or six birdies in the first 11 holes.

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah. I feel like we played the wind really nicely out there, just kind of judged how much effect it would have on it, and made some really good committed swings at a few tee shots that were definitely daunting for me out there. Having hit a couple of poor ones yesterday, you kind of stand up on the same tee with a similar wind and the same club, and you can get some sort of feelings coming back.

So it was good to sort of make really nice committed swings of those tee shots and get them in play, and then I hit some really nice drives down there on the par-5s that allowed me to take advantage, as well.

Yeah, I think we did that. It's one of those golf courses where you've got to get a little bit lucky with, if you hit a poor one -- I hit a couple of poor ones coming in on 15 and 16, and I get away with bogeys there, whereas you make those bad swings at a different point in the round and they can be a triple straight away. You've got to get a little bit lucky that your bad swings are at the right time and they happen to get into a decent position where you can maybe make bogey out of it, but a little bit of luck and then, yeah, just really tried to focus mentally, and I just know that it was tough out here, and if I was going to make birdies, that was going to jump me a long way up the field.

Q. Did that start in retrospect just free you up to do what you needed to do, there wasn't a lot of forethought, just kind of going out and reacting, kind of spur of the moment type play, and that allowed you to get off to that type of a great start?

LUCAS HERBERT: I think so, yeah. I think it was almost that there's nothing to lose attitude. It was so bad on the range that you're kind of sitting there thinking, well, if we go and play badly, I know what went wrong. It's not as if you're sort of playing nicely and can throw away an opportunity to make the cut at a PGA Championship here.

Yeah, it was a bit of that attitude of like, well, we've got nothing to lose. May as well just make some free golf swings and see how it goes.

Q. What was your coach's thought when you called him nine minutes before and you were like, it seems like things are astray? What was his one piece of advice to kind of get you to where you were able to lock in?

LUCAS HERBERT: He seemed pretty unhappy because I woke him up at about 11:00 p.m. in Australia. Once I kind of woke him up, I think it was just around like just try and feel like I turned off the ball a little bit better. I think here in the wind, you obviously play so many holes into the wind and you get used to hitting so many balls really low, you can kind of get everything shut down a little bit trying to just get it even lower. I just feel I probably wasn't turning well enough off the ball, and then as a result just hitting everything left.

That was kind of my one swing thought I felt like for the day was just feel like I get a nice turn off the ball, and that's all I can do, just commit to that.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for stopping by. Have a good afternoon.