BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 6, 2021

Maverick McNealy

Tahoe Mountain Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Nine points again today. If we can get some comments on your round.

MAVERICK MCNEALY: Another 4-under par round. Remained very steady, one bogey today. I think obviously some guys took it pretty low today. There were a lot of really accessible pins. I think this weekend I'm probably going to have to shoot 14 or 15 points both days, but to do that I think I just need to take advantage of the par-5s a little better, place my second shots in better spots and get them up and in and start converting those 10- to 15-footers, which I caught a lot of lips today, a lot of pretty good putts but not quite perfect putts.

Q. Talk about the conditions. Seemed like the smoke got even thicker toward the end of your round.

MAVERICK MCNEALY: It's definitely not good. Last night we were up here and we don't have air conditioning, and sleeping with the windows open, about 3.00 a.m. I woke up, smelt like a barbecue in my room.

So the wind yesterday, the strong winds we had definitely blew this into the area. I'm not going to practice I'm just going to go straight back to the house. I kind of sound like I have a sore throat from breathing all this. I'm sure it's not good for me. Feels like I smoked a full pack of cigarettes out there. It's scary stuff. Feels like I woke up in Napa.

Q. You've been consistent over the last month and a half or so. Just talk a little bit about the state of your game and then also with the playoffs coming up sort of improving that 51st ranking in the FedExCup.

MAVERICK MCNEALY: I'm really excited about this next stretch of golf because my game has been really solid, especially over the last couple of months. The biggest difference for me has been my driving. I've been driving it great again. I've only missed three fairways and those by not much this week. And I just have been driving it awesome for a couple months.

It's a combination of a great driver in the bag right now, the swing changes I made two years ago with Butch working, started to come together. And physically I feel healthy and strong. And the PGA TOUR is way easier to play golf when you're in the fairway than in the rough. And that's just been setting me up to steadily improve my iron play and just patiently waiting for those putts to fall.