BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 2023

Emiliano Grillo

Olympia Fields Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Good playing today, 67. How do you feel about how the day went, and what was working well for you out there?

EMILIANO GRILLO: Yeah, quite happy. I had a score in mind. I had 3-under par in mind. I thought 3-under par would give me a solid chance. I still have to wait and see. Now I wish I would have said 4-under.

Today I had the cleanest day of them all. I wasn't playing from the rough. A couple missed tee shots here and there, but made good putts at 8, 9 and 14 that give me the chance.

I've got to work on my swing if I'm playing next week. Just wait and see.

Q. Was it your short game that kind of mostly held you in there would you say overall to give you this chance?

EMILIANO GRILLO: No. Look, it's playing super soft. The rough isn't that penal. If you kept it somewhere in between the trees, you were hitting on the greens. Rory made 5-under par the first day with three fairways, so that kind of gives you an idea if you keep it somewhere inside the trees, even though the rough looks nasty, the ball is still coming out.

You can get a hold of the green with a wedge or a 9-iron, 8-iron. It was playing soft, so you could land something on the green and it was going to stay.

Like I said, just a few mis-hits here and there that gave me a couple bad holes like the first day on 18.

Q. How does it feel down the stretch? Does it compare at all to being in contention to win a title?

EMILIANO GRILLO: Yeah, obviously it's pretty similar. When you have your yearly goal on the line, you want to accomplish it.

Obviously I believe I had a great year. I deserve to be in there. If I'm not in there, it's going to be very close.

I'm pleased. I'm pleased with the year that I had so far, and hopefully we can have one more week.

Q. Do you have a gut instinct of whether you'll be in or out or do you feel it's too close to call?

EMILIANO GRILLO: It's not up to me. If the guys are making birdies, then I'm out. That's the way it goes.

Q. Did you look at the numbers of the projections on the course?

EMILIANO GRILLO: I knew where I was standing. I knew what I had to do. Like I said in the first question, I knew what I had to do, and just came with a plan. Like I said, I wish I would have been either a shot better this week or last week. I felt like last week also I left a bunch of putts short on the hole. That's golf, like a little bit here and there.

Q. Your goals for the year when you set them, where does East Lake rank in the goals?

EMILIANO GRILLO: I wouldn't put them in a rank, but obviously -- I'd say winning first and then -- probably two or three, definitely. It's up there. You want to play every tournament that you can, and Atlanta is one of them for sure.