THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2023

Collin Morikawa

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Collin, how would you characterize your play this morning?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Pretty steady, nothing crazy off. Just a few bogeys or one bogey and just kind of some good par saves, but it was nice to see two putts go in on the last two. Even though they were for pars, just obviously nice to see a putt go in.

Q. How did you find the course conditions? Obviously a little softer --

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, way softer. Thursday when we were out there, even yesterday, you could hit 3-wood nearly everywhere off the tees and have the ball roll, and you just weren't seeing that today and I don't think you're going to see that until maybe late afternoon. With the winds down it's going to play fairly soft this afternoon, and I think you're going to see some pretty low scores.

Q. How much did it help you to see seven or eight holes this morning knowing what the conditions will be like this afternoon?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I think it's just to kind of get in a groove again. It's obviously going to be a long day waking up I think at 4:00 a.m., so it's just about kind of maintaining that energy level throughout the entire round, knowing we're in the third round of THE PLAYERS and we want to play pretty well here.

Q. Round 2, hitting it just as good?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, still hitting it good, just missed a few fairways out there which made it a little tougher and obviously the putts didn't drop. When putts aren't dropping it's a little frustrating. I think I gave myself a ton of chances from 20 feet and in for birdie, and that's all I can really ask for, and knowing what I've been working on is going to have the putts drop, it's just burning edges right now.

Q. Do you like the cooler weather or do you care?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I like warmer weather. I like not being in a sweater, but it's warm enough now, it'll be plenty nice for the rest of the day.