SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 1, 2022

Scott Stallings

Country Club of Jackson

Quick Quotes

Q. Scott, how would you assess the day?

SCOTT STALLINGS: It was great. I gave myself a lot of opportunities. Had some weird bounces on 15 and 16. I thought my drive on 16 was right in the middle of the fairway, but kind of how it goes. I hit an awful drive on 18, so I deserved every bit of that.

But happy with the way I hung in there, continued to kind the put the ball in front of me and capitalized with some wedges a little bit better today. But continuing to put some good rounds together and good shots, and I just need that one big full round at the right time, and hopefully tomorrow will be it.

Q. You talked yesterday about needing to drive the ball a little bit better. Did you feel like you drove it a little bit better today with the exception of 18?

SCOTT STALLINGS: Absolutely. Par-5s and all the things you need to do to continue to capitalize around here and get yourself up around the greens on the par-5s, it's not an overly long golf course if you drive the ball in the fairway, so you have a lot of opportunities with wedges. The greens are still fast, and the closer you can be, the better. Hopefully I can do a little bit better job closing out the round than I did today.

Q. What do you feel like you need to do tomorrow to be in contention late in the day?

SCOTT STALLINGS: Man, I got off to a great start. I birdied four of the first five holes, and then I just got on a par streak, hitting it 15, 20 feet, burning edges.

Made a nice birdie on 14 and an unbelievable birdie on 15, and then made my first bogey of the tournament on 16, which man, that sucked. You're just kind of holding it together. Hit some nice shots, but obviously that was a terrible swing on 18. I slipped to go into it, and you're kind of behind the 8-ball anywhere over there is not good. Gave myself a 10-footer and hit a good putt and it lipped out. But go hit a couple and get some rest and be ready to go tomorrow.

Q. Do you feel like there's stretches on this golf course that you have to take advantage of if you're going to score here?

SCOTT STALLINGS: Absolutely, but just like I said, the ball being in the fairway and giving yourself lots of shorter shots in, you can get off to a great start, just like I did today. The longest club you'll have in in the first few holes is a wedge. You don't really hit a real iron shot into a green. Maybe 4, depending on where the pin is, but today was a wedge.

You don't really hit like a longer shot in until you really get to No. 7. I hit wedge into 6 with the pin kind of up there in the middle left, and then I hit gap wedge into 8 and sand wedge into 9. There's a lot of opportunities to make birdie, so I need to do a little bit better job of hit the ball in the right places, just need to lit it a little bit closer and be a little bit sharper with my numbers.

Q. Do you feel like your game is ready again to win?

SCOTT STALLINGS: Yeah, I do. I did a lot of really good things last year, and hopefully continue to carry on the learning experience from being in contention and doing that, and hopefully kind of feed off that tomorrow.

Q. On that note, you played so well the latter part of last season, making it to East Lake. How much does that help your belief when you need it tomorrow?

SCOTT STALLINGS: I think the belief is always there, but having it being validated by instead of guessing that you're doing the right thing, just kind of knowing that if I continually put myself in that situation, continue to kind of keep my foot on the gas and be aggressive in those situations instead of just hopefully it'll come to you, instead of going out there and trying to make it happen and putting yourself where you have more and more opportunities to do that.

The guy that kind of plays off his heels tends to struggle out here, and I learned that firsthand, so hopefully be a little bit more on the front end of that.

Q. I know it was a different course, but what do you remember most from your win here in Jackson in 2012?

SCOTT STALLINGS: It was incredibly hot. It was a completely different golf course, completely different -- we played a lot of golf in a really short amount of time, so completely different circumstances. But similar kind of thing; field was kind of bunched up. A great round went a long way to kind of set yourself out in front, so hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow.