ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 5, 2022

Talor Gooch

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. Just get some opening comments about the third round today and the difficulty the course played.

TALOR GOOCH: Probably sounds like every other guy coming up here. It was a grind out there. The place was playing super, super difficult. The wind was whipping, and it was changing directions. When you have to be as precise as you have to be on this golf course, the little wind changes make a huge difference. So it was a grind.

Like I've told a few people, if you'd have told me I wasn't going to shoot over par and I didn't have to play, I would have taken it and not touched a club today.

Q. Billy just called it awesome golf. What's your take there?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, I just heard what he's saying. We all love it. It's a grind, but I kind of think we don't get this enough on the PGA TOUR. So I think that's part of why we like it when we do get it. It's nice to not have a week of a birdie fest.

And you've got to be playing your best golf to have a chance. You can't fake it at all. So it's a grind. It's a wear on you mentally. But you've got to enjoy it.

Q. (No microphone)?

TALOR GOOCH: Where I play back home, Oak Tree National, the GM of the place, Tom Jones is his name, he played on the PGA TOUR back in Arnie's day. He's a little younger than Arnie, but I think he was on the TOUR like late '70s. We were talking about this golf course last week, and he goes, hey, can you imagine hitting driver into 17? I was like nope. And he goes, because we had to do that sometimes whenever the wind would get whipping.

He goes, everyone was so frustrated with Arnie at the time, how he built the course, because the par-3s were brutal and he was one of the best long iron players to ever live, right? So Tom was like, everyone would come in and be like, Arnie, could you give us a break on the par-3s here?

No, it's special. Obviously, he's synonymous with golf, so it's a special place to be able to be in contention.

Q. You know that cliche U.S. Open conditions. You hear it said quite a bit. But does it apply?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, for sure. It's exactly what you think of when you think of a U.S. Open -- firm, fast, thick rough. If you're not in the fairway, more often than not, you're not able to knock on the green. You've got to kind of pitch out. So it's going to expose any weak shot, plain and simple.

Q. And last thing, Scottie Scheffler said that he felt like he was still in it. He was eight back, playing two some hours after the leaders, and he's right there now. What do you think tomorrow? How many guys are in this thing, do you think?

TALOR GOOCH: I think, if you're under par going into tomorrow, you've got a chance. Anything can happen. It's easy for the guys that are in the lead or near the lead to go shoot 5, 6-over, really easy to go do that. It's not like just because we're playing good golf we can't go do that. This course will expose you really quick.

If you're under par, you've got a chance. I don't know how many guys are under par, but if you're under par, I think you've got a chance tomorrow.