KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 25, 2024

Greg Chalmers

Quick Quotes

Harbor Shores

Q. Greg Chalmers with us at the 84th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Greg, nice 66 for you today. What did you do well out there?

GREG CHALMERS: Got out of the gate with some good iron shots. Really controlled the trajectory well into the wind. Even though I didn't make the putts, I had about a 10-footer for birdie on 2, the par-3, which was a great shot with a 7-iron.

Missed about a three- or four-footer for birdie on 3.

Hit a good shot on the par-3 4th. Hit it ten feet above the hole and made that. That kind of opened things up a little bit.

And then hit a lot of high quality iron shots. Probably the highlight when I birdied 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 was the seventh hole I hit a 5-iron from about 180 yards into the wind to about four feet.

So that gives me a lot of confidence when I start to see that kind of ball control. And then it was a little scratchy on the back nine. Not super comfortable with my driver today, but I was very comfortable with every other area of my game. So if I can just get that squared away for tomorrow, see if we can get out there and compete.

Looks pretty bunched up at the moment, so should be an exciting day hopefully.

Q. It's very bunched up up there. What was does it feel to get yourself right in the middle of things going into Sunday?

GREG CHALMERS: It's great. Yeah, look, this is the thing, I haven't had this for so long. This is the great thing about sort of Champions Tour golf. It feels like you're part of a big event, which you are.

So I've been looking forward to this opportunity. I need the challenge. I'm looking forward to see how I do tomorrow and how I play. See if I can embrace it with both hands and play some good golf.

Q. You've had a lot of fun getting to this point with your Twitter stuff; been fun to follow. How much has this helped building enthusiasm to getting out here and having the energy?

GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, like a few years ago -- honestly I don't know if it had an affect. I've always pretty much wanted to have the enthusiasm to come out here. Twitter is just something that makes may chuckle. I don't take myself or it seriously, and I suggest all followers do the same if they follow me.

So that's just a bit of fun to be honest. And as I get older too I'm probably a little more honest about who I am, a bit more relaxed and not so worried about what people think.

I enjoy doing it, but I don't think it's had a major affect. If I have a chance to educate people on things I'm working on, get them involved a little bit, that's always a little bit of fun.

Q. Talk about the wind today and how much it factored into your play today and what your clubs and stuff like that.

GREG CHALMERS: You have situations where like the 7-iron I hit on No. 2 into a howling gale, that's normally a yardage I would hit, oh, I don't know a 9- or an 8-iron.

It was more about ball control, and the biggest thing when it's windy like this to be honest you have to get a little lucky. If you don't get a gust, particularly when we have forced water carries and things like that, I got lucky today in that I didn't have any of those moments where the ball holds up and falls in water or fall short or long or whatever.

You do need to have those, and that is how you have rounds like this. You walk in and you go, seemed okay to me, but there are guys obviously really struggling because it was very difficult. A lot went right for me today.

Q. And this course, what do you like about this course? How does it suit your game? Have you ever played this...

GREG CHALMERS: No, first time was this week. And to be honest there is bits about it that suits someone really good with their iron control, which I did have today. That's an area that's improved a lot in my game. I think it gives you a couple holes -- like they did a great job on No. 3 today where they moved the tee up and enticed us a little bit.

The three guys I played with, we are all playing together and we all played it different, and I think I things like that are really interesting.

I think at my length, too, I enjoy -- I can reach or get very close to reaching most Par-5s in most conditions, and if I can use that to an advantage, that's always good.

So I'm really enjoying the golf course first time here.

Q. So you talked about how it maybe plays well with your game. Are there any parts of the course that are a bit of a hardship for you?

GREG CHALMERS: Chipping against the grain. There are a couple spots on this golf course you got to be really careful of. Left side of 10 is a really heavy grain. I saw where the pin there is tomorrow, and if you miss it left that's going to be a really, really hard shot. I actually practiced that shot the other day.

So there is some chips that are quite tricky because they're tight, and you can get this like laid-down grain that's going against you, so it's not a lot of fun.

So that will be the thing that challenges me the most. There is a couple tee shots here that are also challenging for me with water all down one side. Driving, if I do it well I tend to do well, and if I don't do it well, that's typically more how I've played. I have to work hard to get the ball in play. Once we get to that, hopefully I can handle it from there.

Q. With it being the final tomorrow, any pressure that you might be feeling and how do you cope with that?

GREG CHALMERS: Look, I think it's always kind of -- it's relatively new me. Over the last sort of few years I've been pretty much not dealing with that kind of stuff.

I don't know how much pressure is on me personally. I think there is a long way between now and when they hand the trophy to someone. There is a lot of golf that has to be played.

You saw today how easy it was for people to fall down and back and up, so I'm not too concerned about that right now. I got to play good. Got to play some good golf. So I'm more focused on trying to do that.

Q. And the weather tomorrow is supposed to be kind of dicey. They moved up the...

GREG CHALMERS: Yes, moved up early tee times tomorrow so hopefully we can avoid a bit of rain. I don't know if it's going to be windy. Is it? I don't know. Yeah, I'm guessing we got some rain on the way, so we'll get wet.

Q. What was the club you hit in at 4? And then as you look at that hot stretch on the front, what really got you going?

GREG CHALMERS: When I holed -- I made it on 4 down the hill from 15 feet; that was an 8-iron.

Q. 8-iron.

GREG CHALMERS: Yeah.

And then I hit it just right behind the hole. Lovely shot. Then I didn't hit a very good drive on the par-5. I didn't birdie that.

6 was probably a key for me I think. 6 and 7, because 6 I hit 7-iron to eight feet, ten feet behind the hole. It was a tricky little putt I rolled down the hill.

Then did the same with that 5-iron on 7. So that stretch, 6 and 7, if I go par, par there might be a different sort of day.

There was two-high quality shots and some well-made putts.

Q. How much has your speed training added to your game?

GREG CHALMERS: It's been tremendous. It's been tremendous because it gives me a lot of options off the tee. It takes some trouble out of play sometimes. It's rarely a disadvantage. Be great if I'd drive it straight. The events I played so far on the Champions Tour I've really enjoyed having a little extra speed in the tank.

Q. What have you picked up, do you think?

GREG CHALMERS: Since I started training -- in yardage you mean?

Q. Yeah.

GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, I went from carrying about 268, 270 to 290, and if I get really rolling I can get going a little faster than that. Probably won't see that at 9:00 in the morning, but, yeah, I picked up a bit of speed and that's been about a four, five year journey for me trying to get that right.

Q. I think ten Aussies made the cut here.

GREG CHALMERS: Yeah.

Q. What's that like for you and what is that like for all you guys to have this many guys? I'm sure a lot of you came up together.

GREG CHALMERS: It's really cool. You saw at Q-School on the Champions Tour Q-School four of the five were Aussies. I think one of the cool things about this event for us as players and I'm bumping into a lot of them.

Some of them don't live here and don't play here, and even some of the Europeans, because I played the European Tour, DP World Tour, so it's just great to see a lot of familiar faces I haven't seen and catch up.

I think the one thing I love in this age bracket everyone is chilled out just a little bit and I really enjoy just catching up with some people.

We're all competing, but it's a nice -- got a nice level of chill to it about it as well, which is great.

Q. As you look to tomorrow, what do you think the biggest key will be?

GREG CHALMERS: I would say just managing myself. What I mean by that is the ability to commit to what I'm trying to do on each shot, focus on where I want to hit and what targets I want to pick. Just normal things, but sometimes when my mind gets a little busy I get distracted.

My caddie and I will talk a lot before I play and make sure we have a good plan what we're trying to do on every shot and see what happens after that.