MYRTLE BEACH CLASSIC

May 9, 2024

Matt Atkins

Dunes Golf and Beach Club

Quick Quotes

Q. The opening round from your perspective, you got off to a hot start and seemed to manage your way in. How would you assess it?

MATT ATKINS: Yeah, I played solid. I didn't really make any putts. Hit a few shots close early, took advantage of some opportunities. I didn't drive it particularly well. I didn't drive it terrible, either, to where it put me in a big spot of bother or anything like that. But I definitely feel like I left some out there.

But it's kind of one of those rounds, greens are quick. If you're not below the hole, you just don't get a lot of opportunities to be aggressive. I just didn't really convert on anything. I was 3-under through 5 early and missed a few looks.

It's the type of round where I know if I keep playing like that, I'm going to keep shooting some good scores. I've just got to see where it puts me on the leaderboard and just keep playing the next three days.

Q. You feel like you didn't convert, but does the par on 18 out there maybe give you a little bit of momentum heading into tomorrow?

MATT ATKINS: Yeah, I hit it a little bit right on 18. Honestly I didn't think it was going to be as bad as it was, and kind of had a difficult shot coming into the green, but executed it well, got it in the back bunker, and it was nice to leave myself a tap-in instead of another four- to six-footer that you're kind of grinding over.

It was nice to finish off the round with a par, especially because I didn't think I hit a poor enough shot to where it was leading to a bogey or anything. It was nice to make par and shoot a couple under, and like I said, I felt like I left some out there, but off to a solid start. Can't complain.

Q. I'm not sure what the gallery was out there today, but did you feel as if you had picked up some attention having qualified for the event through the Q?

MATT ATKINS: It was pretty quiet out there this morning, not a whole lot of people out there. Starting to get a few more people out there this afternoon as we were finishing the round. But I think Wesley and George were teeing off kind of back to back, so they were probably getting all the people.

I think maybe the next couple -- Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I think it'll be busy for -- if you want to call it the Bryan Bros crew or whatever you want to call us.

Q. The golf course, how do you feel it held up as a test for a TOUR event?

MATT ATKINS: I mean, the golf course is great. There's not a ton of rough, but you almost don't really need too much just because a lot of trees come into play. More so you've got to drive it pretty well. The bunkers are well placed. The greens are unbelievable. They're extremely quick today, much quicker than when I played in the practice round.

It's definitely, I think, going to -- if we can avoid some rain, some serious rain, I think the weekend is going to get pretty difficult.