HILTON GRAND VACATIONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 21, 2022

Derek Lowe

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Welcome Derek Lowe to the interview area. Great playing once again today. Right now you currently have a one-point lead, top of leaderboard. Tell us about your day today.

DEREK LOWE: One of the best round I've literally played in a long time. Perfect pairing. As I mentioned yesterday, I've gotten to know Nelly over the years. Such a calming presence. And got to play with my really good friend, Kevin Millar.

For me it's honestly been the pairing. It's so laid back. Just it was -- yeah, eagle the Par-5 on the back, 15, whatever it was; double bogey 16 and was able to birdie the last to -- I don't know how many points I got, but just a great day.

Q. Tell us about the eagle at 15.

DEREK LOWE: Yeah, they moved the tees way up, so I think we had like 175 yards, and was able to hit it to like 15 feet and make it.

Q. What did you hit in?

DEREK LOWE: 7-iron. I should say a 9-iron so it sounds better, but 7-iron. No, it really was just a very comfortable group. Didn't get in a lot of trouble, which as I mentioned yesterday is tough around this golf course.

But no, really happy. I mean, as they say in football, this is halftime. Got a long way to go. Nice to be towards the top.

Q. Always nice to be ahead of Mardy Fish, I would think.

DEREK LOWE: I know. I don't know what hole we were on, but we looked up and he had 60 points. For the total. I don't know how many he had today, but he could tell he was having a great day.

I think there are a lot of good golfers here, and you just got to keep going, put your head down, and try to make as many birdies as you can.

Q. You mentioned you have known Nelly for a few years now. Did you meet through this tournament or somewhere else?

DEREK LOWE: We did, and I have a summer home in Grand Rapids and she happened to win there last year. It was beautiful. We went and watched her last year.

No, we stay in contact. Just, again, such a joy, such a great family. We all know the sister-sister-son combination of great athletes. She's supportive. She's everything you would want in a No. 1 player in the world.

Q. Is she your good luck charm or are you her good luck charm?

DEREK LOWE: Well, I would love to play with her again, whoever wants to pair us up again tomorrow. I've love to for the third day in a row.

Q. As a competitor, what do you see in her?

DEREK LOWE: Level headedness. I think she gets over a bad hole, a bad shot so fast that I try to learn from that.

You know, obviously as amateurs we give her space. She doesn't make many bogeys, but if she does happen to have a bad hole she gets over it in ten seconds. That's what all great athletes have to do because you can't do anything about it.

Her willingness to win, desire to win, is pretty impressive to watch.

Q. You mentioned her ability to get over a bad hole, put it aside.

DEREK LOWE: We're not that easy.

Q. Well, that was going to be my question.

DEREK LOWE: Yeah.

Q. What's the difference, if at all, between putting aside a bad hole and getting over that and putting aside...

DEREK LOWE: It's very interesting. I think you see a lot baseball players, pitchers I should say, being halfway decent golfers. As the pitcher you have to get good over it instantly, and it's not easy to do. In baseball that was kind of how you have to do it. Bad pitch, get over it.

This sport is a little harder to do because we're not as consistent as we would like. Again, repeating I try to watch her. I made a double bogey on 16 and give yourself ten seconds, get mad, say whatever you want, but you got to keep golfing. But I learned a lot from her.