THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 20, 2021

Keith Mitchell

Liberty National Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. I know the round started with a bogey, but the rest of that front nine was impressive. Your overall impressions of the round?

KEITH MITCHELL: Well, 10 and 7 are definitely the hardest holes on the golf course. Unfortunately they played the hardest for me as well. Every other hole I felt like I played great. Had a chance to birdie and really took advantage of the calm winds today compared to yesterday.

Q. Do you think you drove the ball a little better today than you did yesterday and maybe gave you a few more opportunities?

KEITH MITCHELL: Absolutely, and a lot of that has to do with the wind. You're able to pick the line and trust it a little bit more than hoping the wind is going to take it back. If you miss these fairways, it can get really tough. Playing from the fairway here with soft some greens and not much wind, you can really take advantage of it.

Q. You got on a roll, seven birdies in a row at 3M and six today, is there any thinking going on?

KEITH MITCHELL: Try to get to eight. I felt like I hit a good drive on 18, and just to try to make seven in a row again would have been pretty neat, but I had a 5-iron from about 220. So that was a pretty difficult shot, and hit it to the front of the green and 2-putted was happy to make par on 18.

When you get on those rolls, the putts are falling, you're hitting them close, and then you try to just keep the pedal down. And it's a little easier when you feel confident in every part of your game, and today was another time where I felt great.

Q. Was today's six in a row better than the 3M?

KEITH MITCHELL: They are always good timing. Doesn't matter when they happen.

This week I have to finish somewhere in the Top-10, maybe even top five, and to be able to do it here is great. But if it wasn't for those at 3M, I'd probably have to finish even better. You know, we're never going to discredit a birdie, and this week I'm going to need a lot more just to keep going to next week.

Q. Knowing what you have to do to move on, does that free up a little bit to play more aggressively?

KEITH MITCHELL: It's definitely needed. You can't just sit back and try to make the cut and then have a good weekend. You have to be in the Top-10.

So if that's the case, I'm looking at my yardage book and if I have a good number, I'm going at it. And I'm able to do that because of the softer greens, and there wasn't that much wind today. With the weather looking like this weekend, who knows what we're going to have to do this weekend because players might fall back, it might play harder like it did yesterday morning.

Just assess the situation and do the best you can.

Q. Were the numbers the same on that stretch? Did you have yardage you liked on all those?

KEITH MITCHELL: It's a good question. I hit a couple shots, for example, No. 17, I was kind of in between clubs and came up just a little short and was on the fringe but hit a great putt to go in.

16, I had a terrible lie in the rough, was honestly trying to hit it at the flag or just past it and have a two-putt there, and the ball came up absolutely perfectly like I thought, ran up the slope and went to six or seven feet. I don't want to say that was lucky; that was unexpected. I was trying to hit it 15, 20 feet, and it came out right like I wanted to and it went close. Today was definitely a little different, but still, when you get on a roll, you get on a roll.