VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2024

Kevin Streelman

Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead)

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you assess that round, was it a grinding round or was it just --

KEVIN STREELMAN: Definitely a grinding round, yeah. Those up-and-downs on 15 and 16 were pretty crazy. I was fortunate to get those two up-and-down.

17 was just a brain fart, but 18 to come back and birdie it was pretty nice. So I'm very happy with it. I knew it was going to be very difficult today. The wind was supposed to be even worse, I think, than it is, but we're fortunate to not get the rain, and just wanted to get myself in the last group or two tomorrow and was able to do that, I think.

Q. Stats say you hit a handful more fairways today than yesterday. Do you feel like you drove it differently from the first day?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I guess so. On courses like this and days like this you don't necessarily, you're not like pumping it as hard as you can down sides of fairways. It's more kind of like missing it in the right spots a lot of times. It's all about angles. It's about, a lot of times, not getting yourself into certain positions that are so difficult to be in. This course has some spots you can attack and has some spots you just got to be defensive on.

11's a good example. It's long par-5, but I hit 3-wood off it today because I knew that chute that you shoot down to the left on your play is much wider where my 3-wood would be. I hit driver and it gets into the wind and gets into the trees then all of a sudden you got to chip out sideways. So, did the right thing there. Hit a nice 4-iron punch shot down there and was rewarded with a good look at birdie. But there's some thinking to do on this golf course, for sure.

Q. Was it frustrating not making a birdie until the last hole?

KEVIN STREELMAN: No, it's not frustrating, it's such a chess game today, hole by hole. Had a few good looks, kind of missed some and hit some -- pretty proud of my short game and iron play still and just still trying to stay in position. Go Duke.

Q. Is this a place where the experience really pays off, is this one of those tracks?

KEVIN STREELMAN: It does. Yeah. Especially when the conditions get such. Things change. It's not just trying to spin it, landing balls at the hole and just have 'em grab. It's leaving it in the right spot, acknowledging when you're in trouble and trying to get out of there with bogey at worst. But at the same time you have some downwind par-5s you got to take advantage of as well. That's what makes it a great golf course.

Q. You had the ball marker in play today, right?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah.

Q. Have other players given you a lot of feedback on that or asked you about it?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I think they think it's cool. It's not rocket science, but it makes sense. You try and get the line down close to where you want to roll it, and then if you use the line you try and match 'em up, and then it kind of gives you the confidence to say, well, this is pretty close to where I want to roll this ball. It takes maybe a step of thought out it have to a degree.

Q. (Inaudible) was saying they talked to you about the potential trap of not getting the exact spot. Have you thought of that before hand?

KEVIN STREELMAN: We talked about it Wednesday. I got to be careful of spinning and then putting it in at a different angle. As long as the ball is in the same spot, you're fine, but, you know, it's, you got to get it to the same spot you mark it from, that's for sure.

Q. You had a day to think about it, even though you probably haven't given it a second thought about who made this thing, do you still know?

KEVIN STREELMAN: It's one of those where the caddies were kind of walking around and said, try this out. I got a new one of these, too.

Q. Who made that?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I got it from -- (laughing) I should be better at that. I'm pretty sure it was a Whisper Rock member where I'm at that mentioned it real quick, like, he made these and wanted you to try one. And I, at the top of my mind, can't say who it is. But I'll figure it out and I'll get it to you.

Q. What is on the top?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Just a line.

Q. And did you grind it down?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, this couldn't be more than an inch, so I had to cut it down to an inch. It was just like over an in, an inch and a quarter.

Q. Did you do it?

KEVIN STREELMAN: No, the Wilson guys did it for me.

Q. Do you remember how many holes where the wind just went away for a bit?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, I had two wedge shots on 12 and 15, 14, 12 and 14 that were down, and it's one of those you trust it and you kind of hoist it, but sometimes it almost gets knocked down in the wind. Both those shots, 12 for sure, it just kind of died on me. I was trying to hit a 150-yard wedge, which I normally hit about 135 and that one flew 135. Then the other one, the same thing, it was like 149 and I flew it 132. So you got to trust it, at the end of the day, if you're going to play for the wind, you got to trust the wind. It's sometimes tough. Especially on back pins where you know if you get a, you hammer it, it gets you to a place you don't want to be. Like I did on 16.

Q. You probably didn't need to look at a leaderboard to know what was going on out here this morning, but is it at all comforting when you look at a board and nobody's doing anything and it kind of reaffirms that you don't worry about a dropped shot here or there?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, I knew it would be a very challenging day, and it's Friday, so I'm not really too worried about leaderboards anyway, really try to wait until Sunday afternoon. You got to just take what the course can give you. There's not, it's not giving you much right now.

Q. Where do you think 6-under will be at the end of the day?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Probably top -- well, the wind seems like it's not getting crazy, probably in the top 5 or 6. Hopefully in the last group or two.

Q. How do you spend the afternoon? I know it's your son's birthday.

KEVIN STREELMAN: Call my son when he gets out of school and then just watch basketball. Hit a few more 4-footers. That ticked me off on 17 there.