ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 4, 2022

Talor Gooch

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you assess your round today?

TALOR GOOCH: I don't want to go play again. I'm happy with it. As you guys know, it's tough out there. So any time you can get under par on a day like today, you've done some good.

Q. What was the best thing you did today to -- in those tough conditions?

TALOR GOOCH: I hit a bunch of fairways. As you all know, out here fairways are so crucial. You're praying for par if you don't hit fairways, and half the time when you do hit the fairways, you're still praying for par. If you're not hitting fairways, you don't have any chance. I hit a fair amount today, which gave us a chance.

Q. What do you do to kind of relieve stress after a day like today where you constantly feel like you're on edge?

TALOR GOOCH: Man, we do this enough, it comes with it. You know when you leave the course how to turn it off. About to go see my wife and my daughter, so I'll have my hands full for the next -- what's it, like 5:30, 6:00 or so? Until about 8:00, I'll have my hands full. I'll get my mind off golf real quick.

Q. It's probably not going to get any easier. What are your kind of expectations for how much tougher it's going to get these next couple days?

TALOR GOOCH: I don't know if they can get the greens any firmer or faster without it getting ridiculous. There would be a few players not too happy if that were the case.

You know what to expect on weeks like this. So you just go out there and kind of -- I don't want to say have no expectations, but it just really epitomizes one shot at a time. You've just got to try to go with that first fairway. If you hit that first fairway, then you try to hit the green.

It's so cliche, but it's cliche for a reason. It's weeks like this that it's paramount you've got to take it one shot at a time.

Q. Does it help that you spent four years playing Karsten Creek every day?

TALOR GOOCH: This place is maybe the antithesis of Karsten. The first time I played qualifying at Karsten, I shot 67. It's a very different type of intimidation. Out here you look -- we were talking about it. There's a handful of shots I hit today that there's probably a lot of fans out there who were like, oh, that's okay. They were like elite golf shots.

People just don't understand how penal it is around the greens and the spots we're having to land shots. You've got to be so precise. Karsten, you've got to play well, but this is a whole different ballgame.

Q. Do you like weeks like this more than the birdie fests?

TALOR GOOCH: No doubt, no doubt. I was just saying the birdie fest weeks you can kind of fake it from tee to green, and then it becomes a putting contest. Here there's no faking it in any shape or form of the word fake. I mean, the cream rises, and it's going to expose you if you're not on your A game.

Q. Since your win, what have you learned about yourself, about your game? Anything in particular?

TALOR GOOCH: Not really. Other than golf hasn't been as easy for the last 2 1/2 months for me. We know with golf it comes and goes in waves. It hasn't been as easy the last two months as it was kind of the two months when last fall. So just trying to get back into that -- not necessarily mind frame, but just trying to get ball control back.

So weeks like this is why you work so hard so that you can get ball control back so that you can play these top courses with the top players in the world. I didn't necessarily learn anything that I didn't already know, but it's just an affirmation for, you know what, I can do what I'm about to try to do this weekend.

Q. Talor, what's the challenge of playing rounds that are that long? You guys had to be out there five hours today.

TALOR GOOCH: Well, one of the challenges, I was working down the last, and I was like, well, I think my baby girl's daycare is about to go up. So I hope my wife's getting in the car and going and getting her.

No, again, we do this so much, it's just part of it. It's not what we would like.

Q. A longer day though?

TALOR GOOCH: Oh, yeah, for sure. You know it's going to happen. Again, we know what to expect. We've done this enough, this being my fourth or fifth time around here. You just know in the afternoons it's going to be a long day. It's going to be a grind. You've just got to get ready for it.

Q. What part of your game let you down at Riv?

TALOR GOOCH: I mean everything. Golf was hard that week. I was hitting it everywhere. I was not making any putts. It's just this game gets you sometimes, and it got me that week.

Q. Anything you kind of cleaned up between now and then?

TALOR GOOCH: I took a few days off and kind of a little reset. Like I said, this game's hard. It's just going to get you sometimes. I really hadn't played average to bad golf for about four or five months. So it was coming. It was just a matter of time before it showed its head and got me again. I'm hopeful to go another four or five months to not have a week like that again.