ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 3, 2022

Billy Horschel

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. Billy, how do you assess your round today?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Really good. Really good. We were smart. Fooch and I did some really good stuff out there. It's easy to get a little aggressive out there and miss in the wrong spots. Put the ball in the proper spot on the greens to try and make putts. When I did miss a fairway, fortunately I got some really good lies that I could advance up near the green.

So a really solid round of golf today on a course that could be challenging. Obviously this morning looked challenging, not a lot of low, low scores. It seemed like this afternoon, I'm not sure, did it really play easier? I'm not sure. It looked like it from the scores, but I didn't think it was.

You had to really think about where you were landing your ball on the green, play for the release. I just did a really good job of -- Fooch and I did a really good job of that today.

Q. How important is it on a course like this to get out of that shooting 5-under in the afternoon and you know you're going to go back out in the morning and have some fresher greens? You know it's still going to be tough.

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, it's crucial. Since they've changed this course from overseeded, the entire course being overseeded to Bermuda, and the only thing that's overseeded now is the rough. These greens are tricky. And you look at the winning score, except for maybe one year where I think it was 18, it's been 12, 10, and maybe single digits, around 5 or 7, the last three out of four years.

Play one good round, you know you need to play one really good round around here. To get that in the first round allows me to not having to be overly aggressive the next couple days and sort of just play as smart as we did today and hopefully make a few putts out there.

Q. Do you feel like you kind of stole a few shots just considering how beefed up this rough is this year out there?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah.

Q. 67s are pretty tough to do out on this.

BILLY HORSCHEL: It is. I gave one bad shot away on No. 9. I three-putted from about 40 feet, which was a gift. Then 15, my bogey had a divot lie. Hit a really good shot and the ball flew so far, but I made bogey there. Then No. 8 and No. 18, I had decent lies in the rough that I could really get a lot of club on the ball and advance it and get it either on the green or just around the green, and I got lucky there.

Yeah, if you miss the fairway here, it's sort of you're gambling with your money a little bit to see what kind of lie you got, especially depending on the shot and what hole you missed the fairway on. 8, you really do not want to miss that fairway, and I got lucky to, like I said, have a good lie to be able to feel comfortable that the ball would come out and get over the water and not -- and have a chance to hit the green.

Q. Now, to put your course setup hat on just for a second, there's obviously no more runoffs or there's very few. The rough's grown up around the greens. Do you like that better, or do you prefer the shaved down areas? What allows you to kind of play your best?

BILLY HORSCHEL: That's a debate that my caddie Fooch and I have been having all week. He's been thinking the lack of runoffs is going to make it play easier. I haven't sort of been on that theory. I think it is going to make it play maybe a little bit tougher. So we've got a little side bet on a few holes where the runoff is no longer on what the score may be for certain pin locations.

It's weird because I'm so used to seeing the runoffs and I'm so comfortable with those runoffs that it's actually some holes are nicer that they're not there. So if the ball does release too much or you're in the rough, there's a buffer that the ball is only going to be a couple yards off instead of running all the way down.

Q. Which holes? Like 15?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Like No. 4 is a perfect example. That pin right, today it was front right. I've got a wedge in, and if you missed it a yard or two right, it's running all the way down. Now that there's rough, I can be aggressive. If it's off the green, it's going to be just in the rough there.

Where is another one? I think on No. 14 I hit my tee shot, that runoff there, it would have ran all the way down. There's a couple. It depends on where the pin locations are.

Yeah, I think it's going to be an issue. I don't know why they changed that, and I haven't really asked. I'm curious how it's going to make it play and what the scores are going to be from that at the end of the week.

Q. It sounds easier.

BILLY HORSCHEL: It's easier if you have a good lie. If you don't have a good lie, then you're like, oh, maybe if I had the runoff and run off eight yards, if it's still in the fairway, I can chip it, putt it. I can do a few different things with it.

So that's what Fooch and I debated on. Would you rather be ten yards off the green on the fairway cut or be five yards off or four yards off with a bad lie? If it's a good lie, it's not that big -- it really shouldn't be that hard. It all is dependent on the lie a little bit.