HILTON GRAND VACATIONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 19, 2023

Brian Urlacher

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk a little bit about your round out there. You're tied for first with Annika and Mardy right on your tail.

BRIAN URLACHER: Yeah, I feel like that's not going to hold up. I had a pretty good front nine. I was the first group out, so we were going to be leading for a while. But I figured they would catch us pretty soon. But I played well on the front. Back nine struggled a little bit. But the course was great. I had a hard time on the greens, but it was fun. Great fans, great pairing.

Q. Talk a little bit about your pairing.

BRIAN URLACHER: It was fun. Kevin Millar, I never get to play with Kevin. I see him on the range every tournament we go to. He's my range buddy, but we never get paired together. He has some pull at this tournament, so we got paired together. A lot of fun.

But Celine was awesome. She was great. She hits it so good. Just everything is in the fairway, on the green, two putts or a birdie and get out of there.

Q. How has your experience playing in these helped the level of your game kind of climb?

BRIAN URLACHER: You don't want to embarrass yourself. When you get in these events you don't want to go out there and lay an egg, but it's challenging because the courses are -- these are set up a little harder than the ones we play in Tahoe and some of the other events, so it's a little bit more difficult when it comes to that.

But it's fun. I try and practice as much as I can leading into it, but you're never ready when you get there. My game changes every day, so whatever game shows up on the tee box is what I'm going to go with that day.

Q. What do you think you have to do tomorrow and the weekend to stay up there?

BRIAN URLACHER: I need to putt better. Gosh, I hit eight of the first nine greens. I made two birdies, but they were both tap-ins on the par-5s. I didn't make any putts. I think the putt I made was four feet.

If I could make some putts, I don't think I'll be near the lead, but I think I'll have a better chance and not embarrass myself.

Q. I work for the LPGA Foundation, so we have a Girls Golf program. I know you have some daughters.

BRIAN URLACHER: I do.

Q. Talk about what it means to you to be a girl dad.

BRIAN URLACHER: It's awesome. My oldest is 22 now. My middle daughter, she'll be 18 in April, so they're a little bit older, but it was awesome growing up with two daughters. I also have a son, as well.

They actually played golf when they were younger, which was fun for me because anytime you get a chance to do things with your kids when they're young, it's a great thing.

But it's been fun. Totally different. I don't care what people say; you treat your daughters a little bit different than you do your boys. You're a little bit rougher on your boys than you are your daughters. That's just the way it is. I don't care what anyone says.

But I've been very fortunate to have two smart, well-behaved daughters.

Q. With Girls Golf, obviously a valuable program, just in terms of leadership, life skills. With your daughters playing golf when they were young, how important was that in their development do you think?

BRIAN URLACHER: Well, they didn't play enough of it. I wish they would have stuck with it, but they had other stuff going on.

The things that are available now to young women golfers and men, as well, is amazing. I think it's a great thing to teach them not just how to play golf, but you learn how to be on time, the rules of the game, how to be respectful. There's so many things you can learn from being around the game.

Other sports, as well, but golf is more of an individual, do the right thing, call yourself for a penalty if you create a penalty.

Q. Great playing today. I had more of a football question. What do you think Kevin Warren will bring as the new president and CEO of the Chicago bears?

BRIAN URLACHER: I don't know who that is. I don't live in Chicago. I don't get a lot of the news. I know that Ted Phillips retired as the president. So they hired someone new, obviously?

Q. Yeah, Kevin Warren.

BRIAN URLACHER: I'm sure they'll do a great job. I know they're trying to move out of downtown Chicago to Arlington Heights. I'm pretty sure they'll do that. They probably hired him because of doing stuff like that, but I don't know who he is, I don't know his background, but they do a good job there of hiring people who are going to do the best thing for the organization, so I'm sure he'll do a great job.