SHRINERS CHILDREN'S OPEN

October 12, 2023

Lanto Griffin

TPC Summerlin

Quick Quotes

Q. Nice start out there today in some tough conditions. Describe how your round went.

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, two years ago I played here and it was windy. Very similar wind but the greens were soft. Scores were still low. Today was tough. When you get high winds, gusty winds and firm greens, it's tough to get around.

Hit it pretty good tee to green, and the putter cooperated really nice. Playing in the desert at elevation with wind and firm greens, there's a lot of variables. There's a lot of things that can go wrong.

Being able to get off to a good start should be -- this tournament is usually 20- to 22-under wins, so to see 1-under in 15th midway through the first round is rare. It's usually 2 to 3. Clearly the course is playing tougher, and hopefully the wind dies down after today. Not for the afternoon, though.

Q. You've been hampered by some injuries dating back to last year, but you get a good result last week at Sanderson. Anything you find last week that you've been able to carry into this week?

LANTO GRIFFIN: It's just putting. I haven't hit it that great this year, either, but the putter has been cold almost every week. I've been feeling lost with the putter. Scott Hamilton helped me Wednesday last week at Sanderson, and it was like a light switch. I know I'm a good putter. I've always been confident with putting, and this year it's just been lost.

Getting my posture, standing further from it, getting my chest a little bit higher, getting my eyes over it, just feeling like my arms are hanging versus feeling cramps made all the difference, and it was like a light switch. I went from having no confidence to seeing a stroke on video and feeling like I could make everything.

Last week was -- T28 is not an amazing week, but leading the entire week in putting gave me a ton of confidence coming into this week. We'll see what happens.

Q. I imagine it's a feeling where you're excited to get out on the course, which maybe hasn't been the case the last year?

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, it's crazy the anxiety of when you're playing bad and your body doesn't feel good. It feels like everything is going against you. Nothing feels good. It's not the most fun sport.

But it's the exact opposite when the putter is rolling and your body feels good, it's the exact opposite. It feels amazing. Obviously there's a lot of holes left this week, and I've got a long ways to go where I'm at on my medical, but seeing some positive stuff has been -- I know my wife is going to be happy. She's not going to have to see me frowning all the time now.

But I've been working hard, and I knew it was going to come back eventually. We'll just try and build off this confidence and see what happens.

Q. How long have you been pain-free?

LANTO GRIFFIN: Tournament weeks have been tougher than off weeks. You're at home, you have your gym, you have everything there. Traveling, airplanes, long days on the course practicing, playing, walking. But the last month it's felt a lot better. But I probably came back a little bit early.

But you never know. I felt good going into Torrey in January and now looking back it was too early, but at the time I thought I was ready. It's a tough one to decide on. I'm sure every athlete that has had surgeries is in the same boat.

I feel my age now versus Senior Tour about six months ago.

Q. When did the rib pop up? Was Torrey still dealing with back stuff --

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, so I had low back surgery, microdiscectomy last July, and then I came back Torrey, Pebble, and at Genesis I fractured a rib in my chest and pulled some muscles in my mid-back. So I was out another five tournaments after PLAYERS.

Just getting kicked when you're down, right?

But that's the way it goes. I've been fortunate, most of my life and career to be healthy and not have many injuries. Kind of wakes you up and been doing the right stuff in the gym and trying to change my diet.

It takes a while after surgery to kind of find what works in the gym and eating and all that, so I've been feeling better the last month.