MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 4, 2023

Ben Carr

Quick Quotes

Q. Day 2 out here. Talk about the nerves on the 1st tee yesterday. Were they a little bit calmer today?

BEN CARR: Yeah, a little bit, for sure. It's honestly a little tougher teeing off 10 just because you're not hitting a driver and the face is a lot smaller. But it was kind of the same thing as yesterday. Once we got off the tee, it was okay.

The back nine was a lot more fun than the front nine yesterday, just certain shots and being able to skip it on 16. I think the crowds are just a little more dense on the back. So it was fun.

Q. You definitely got the full look of the back nine today. Tell me about that run there in the corner.

BEN CARR: It was awesome. We went and hit a tee shot, approach shot, and a bunch of chips and putts. A lot of knowledge from Larry and Russell.

Yeah, obviously like I said yesterday, super lucky to be able to play with them and lean on them a little bit. So another really fun day.

Q. The players' approach on 13 hasn't really changed with the distance of the hole. How did you attack it?

BEN CARR: I hit two tee balls, both with driver. The first one I left out to the right, and I would definitely lay that one up. The second one, I hit a pretty good one, 230 middle and hit a hybrid to the middle.

Unless I hit a perfect drive for me, I'm probably going to be laying up and just trying to get a good angle into the hole location.

Q. Last night was the Amateur Dinner. (No microphone.)

BEN CARR: Yeah. Amateur Dinner was awesome. Curtis Strange was the guest speaker and he had some really cool advice for everybody. Yeah, it was probably a two-hour dinner or so. By that time, everybody was kind of wanting to go upstairs and just check out the Crow's Nest and hang out a little bit.

We watched some of the National Championship Game, and I think everybody went to bed around 11:30. We were all kind of woken up by the kitchen staff downstairs getting their morning started at like 5:00 or 5:30.

But got the whole experience, so it was awesome.

Q. There's kind of like two schools of thought here. (No microphone.)

BEN CARR: I wouldn't really say either, but I will say with it being a little softer, I think it will allow me to -- I mean, I'll have an easier time chipping around the greens.

I have a very average short game, so I think that will play into my hands a little bit. And I'm fairly long off the tee, so I may want to carry some of those uphill slopes and some of the fairways. So maybe those two would play into my hands a little.

There's guys out here that hit it way past me and have way better short games. So it will probably help everybody out a little bit.

Q. Who was in the Crow's Nest last night?

BEN CARR: It was me, Harrison, Matt, Gordon, and the British Am champ. Then Sam was supposed to be up there. There's five beds, and six of us thought we were staying up there.

But they hooked him up pretty good somewhere else on property. He didn't get the Crow's Nest experience, but I think he got a really good one elsewhere. So it was funny.

Q. What's the TV situation like up there?

BEN CARR: So it's pretty small. It's definitely been there for a while. A couple of us went to Sam's suite and watched on his big screen. I guess that's what you get when you win the U.S. Am, you get hooked up in a suite.

No, it was fun. We got to go watch some of the game in there with him and had some laughs. It was cool.

Q. Back to Larry and Russ, what's the one piece of advice that's going to stick with you the most when you're on the 1st tee tomorrow?

BEN CARR: Gosh, Larry's told me several times, I mean, you can get in the habit of playing just like uber conservative out here. I mean, there's definitely shots you want to play conservatively, but he says to take advantage of the opportunities you get.

So I think that was good for somebody like me to hear who kind of would have a tendency to come out here and just play scared. It's nice to hear that from him and to know that was kind of how he went about it in his day. I'm going to try and do the same.

Q. What's your relationship like with Russell, now that you guys are both in Columbus, I'm sure you see him when you come home from school a little bit. What's that relationship like?

BEN CARR: I love Russell. He's been really good to me. His game is unbelievable. I think he's one of the best players in the world. Got awesome hands. Good putter. Hits it on a string.

So just being able to kind of play with him over the last year or two and just learn a little bit about what it's like to be out here and stay consistent in your routine every day.

Yeah, I've learned a lot from him because he's definitely a professional. It's been good for me.

Q. Talk a little bit more about staying in the Crow's Nest. You've been here for two days versus so many people that flew our late, late last night. (No microphone.)

BEN CARR: Yeah. As soon as the patrons get off property or before they get on, like you said, you can hear a pin drop. Especially up in the Crow's Nest. I was trying to go to sleep last night, and it was almost like too quiet to sleep.

We were walking to Sam's suite and walking back from it, and it was dark. We were walking kind of in front of the clubhouse. It was just so weird being out here at that time of night. But it was really cool.

I don't know, it's definitely quiet. Early I went to get breakfast in the locker room and had to go outside to get there, and there was nobody here. It was really foggy, and it was just really eerie. But, yeah, it was cool.

Q. Did you see the ghost of Bobby out there?

BEN CARR: Yeah, he's out there somewhere lurking.