KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 28, 2022

Tracy Phillips

Press Conference

Harbor Shores

Q. Tracy, just your overall thoughts on the day.

TRACY PHILLIPS: Today was pretty exciting to play with Ernie Els. To think that I'd be here doing that is -- no, I had a good day. Got off to a little rough start making a bogey on 3 but kind of bounced back with a birdie on 5 I guess it was.

Q. What did you make there?

TRACY PHILLIPS: On 5, the par-5, I made a birdie.

Q. How long was the putt?

TRACY PHILLIPS: Probably about 12 feet.

Q. Every time I looked you had a 10-footer it looked like.

TRACY PHILLIPS: Well, I made my fair share, and I made a crazy up-and-down on 7.

Q. Take me through that. You had a little mud on the ball?

TRACY PHILLIPS: A little mud on the ball on the right side and kind of in between yardage and on an up slope and I didn't rotate through and got it going left pretty quick.

Q. It was a 5-iron?

TRACY PHILLIPS: It was a 5-iron.

Q. Did you even think you'd find it?

TRACY PHILLIPS: No, to be honest I didn't. I had no clue. I didn't know that that was still part of the golf course. Once we found it, you play it. I had I wouldn't call it a great lie, but for the area that I was in, it was probably about as good a lie as you could hope for.

Q. Like Sandy, kind of like a parking lot and a beach down there?

TRACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, it was very sandy, had the ball by my feet and had some weeds behind it and had some reads in front of it. I was more worried about getting it up and out and just opened the face and really tried to keep the face open going through impact. I think Ernie and Rod said the ball bounced a couple times in the high rough and then just trickled out. Hit it up there about six feet and was able to make the putt.

Q. How huge is that, because you think of --

TRACY PHILLIPS: It was huge. I mean, that could have easily been a double or a triple possibly. To get that up-and-down is pretty crazy.

Q. Then you birdied 10 and 11.

TRACY PHILLIPS: Birdied 10 and 11, kind of got my nerves back in check a little bit, made two good birdies there. Made a good up-and-down on 12. I hit it left off the tee and then trying to punch out, and I just pulled the punch a little bit more left than I intended to, and it got hung up in the rough around the bunker.

Hit a good pitch shot considering the lie that I had with the ball above my feet, and hit it in there I'd say about 10 feet and had one of these downhill sliders that creeped in on the last roll.

Q. Your understanding of the short game, how handy does that come in when you're faced with these wild shots?

TRACY PHILLIPS: Well, obviously out here with these greens, you've got to be creative. You've got to -- sometimes you've got to chip away from the hole to get it towards the hole. So a lot of imagination goes into hitting shots around the greens, and for some reason I was always able to kind of do that, and fortunate that I'm able to still do it today and this week.

Q. It's been such a great week; how important is it to finish strong when you go out there tomorrow?

TRACY PHILLIPS: Well, yeah. Obviously I came here really what I felt like was playing well, swinging well, and got off to a good first two days. Today kind of was a little bit -- I didn't quite hit it as well as I would have liked, but just hung in there.

Again, this whole week has been -- I've been able to make the crucial putts to save a par, to sustain momentum during the course of the round. It usually happens two or three times a round that if you can stay on the positive side, you can turn a 73 into a 71 or 70 into a 68. Pretty fortunate there.

Q. I was talking to Tim Fleming and he was talking about how well you've been playing beyond here, just coming in. What do you feel has been so great for you?

TRACY PHILLIPS: You know, I've just been driving the ball really well, putting the ball in play off the tee and been hitting iron shots good. All in all, I've probably hit the ball better than I ever have, even as a kid. Certainly hitting it longer with technology. But just all in all driving the ball good, putting myself in good position, hitting good iron shots. I'd say the first time in my career that probably my putting and short game isn't as good as usually my ball-striking. But this week it's been good. My putting has been good. I've been comfortable on the greens. I've missed the ball in the right places. Been able to get up-and-down a few really good times.

Q. A lot of texts on your phone at night?

TRACY PHILLIPS: I have been, yeah. There's a big support group back home. The guys I teach from Executive Homes on a daily basis, they've been lighting up my phone, plus all the members at Cedar Ridge, they've been really supportive.

Q. When you catch one out there today, catch a good drive and Ernie catches one, where are you?

TRACY PHILLIPS: Well, 18 is a good example. I hit it pretty good, and Ernie was probably 25 to 30 by me and Rod was probably 45 by me. That's kind of expected. These guys have been doing this for many years and they're taller and stronger. I just want to try to keep it in the fairway and hit it as solid as I can.

Q. Did either of them have a good reaction when you made that save at 7?

TRACY PHILLIPS: Yeah, both of them were just like high fiving me, and Ernie said it's one of the best up-and-downs he had ever seen, next to some of Seve's and stuff like that. It was great playing with those two guys.