MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 3, 2023

Ben Carr

Quick Quotes

Q. First day, first day of the week. Just give me an idea of what it was like, the conditions this morning?

BEN CARR: Overcast, 70 degrees. The course was fairly soft. Definitely looking for it to firm up a little bit over the next couple of days.

Mr. Larry Mize and Russell Henley have been nice enough to let me lean on them a little bit. It's kind of my main goal to learn how the course is changing day to day.

Q. How huge is that to be able to play with a couple guys that not only you have a good relationship with, but are experienced out here?

BEN CARR: Yeah, it's awesome. I think it really made the whole day a lot easier, just learning from them and kind of following them and just trying not to do anything wrong out here.

But, yeah, it was super cool to be able to warm up with them on the range and then walk over here. I think it made me a little less nervous, it being my first day with the patrons. But it was really cool.

Q. That was actually my next question. We talked about it, you've had a handful of practice rounds out here, but it will be the first one with patrons moving about, and there will be a little bit of a buzz around the course. How has that experience been different for you?

BEN CARR: It was really cool. I actually really enjoyed it. The 1st tee I was a little nervous, but after that I settled down a little bit and kind of embraced there's going to be people out here all week, and it's just something I'll have to get used to.

Once I was able to kind of realize that, it felt a little easier. Yeah, I got a lot of support out here, and me, Larry, and Russell all do. There's a lot of people from Columbus here.

Just really cool to look over into the patrons and see familiar faces.

Q. Was today your team able to come out?

BEN CARR: Yeah, my team was able to come out today. They played in a tournament this weekend in Augusta, and part of the tournament they gave everybody in the field practice round tickets for today. So they got to come out and watch, and it was really cool to have them out here.

Q. I have to imagine too it was nice to have that -- you have that support system with your friends and family here, but having the guys who you've kind of grown up with over the last few years experience today with you had to be big.

BEN CARR: Yeah, it was cool. Columbus is very special to me, and so is Statesboro. So to have my teammates and my brother and my mom, people from Country Club of Columbus out here and being able to play with Larry and Russell, everything just felt super casual and really comfortable.

I think it helped a lot, it being my first day.

Q. Tell me about this morning. Stepping on the driving range and kind of getting loose. Did you have a chance to kind of chop it up with any of the big guys?

BEN CARR: Not this morning really. I just kind of got here and worked out a little bit and then went to the practice area. By that time, I found Russell and Larry. So we hung out on the range a little bit.

I hit next to Jordan Spieth, so that was cool just to kind of see how he goes through his warmup.

Q. What's your game plan going forward knowing the course is probably going to firm up?

BEN CARR: Yeah, just being very mindful of what's changing out here and how the conditions change. It might not firm up as much just because of the weather forecast.

But I'm just going with the flow and just adapting every day to what's going on out here.