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U.S. BANK CHAMPIONSHIP IN MILWAUKEEJuly 16, 2009Greg ChalmersMILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Like to welcome our current leader in the clubhouse, Greg Chalmers. Great round today, 6-under 64 in some pretty blustery conditions. It added to the fact that you bogeyed your first two holes of the day and came back with about eight birdies and a round of 64. Maybe some opening comments about a very good day for you. GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, look I got away to a really poor start and drove it into the rough on both the first and second holes. I guess that's a shining example of how difficult the course is at the moment. It really puts you out of position and you make bogeys quite easily. But I hit 2-Lovely shots into the 4th hole. Hit a 5-iron, and I was about 60 feet from the hole and made it. That really turned my round around, I think. I think a lot of guys made bogey on 4 today, and if I had made a bogey there it would have really killed any momentum I was ever gonna have. So made a birdie there and then rattled off two more straight up quick after, and then birdied 8 and 9. I really finished both nines off in a hurry, so I'm really happy. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay. Questions. Q. Is the course and the way it's playing today proof that it doesn't have to be 7,400 yards to have some difficult conditions out there? GREG CHALMERS: Yeah. Ultimately if you get heavy -- you know, decent sized rough and firm fairways and greens, that typically sorts us out. Then you throw in a 20-mile-an-hour it's gonna be very difficult regardless. If you get out of position off the tee you just can't get close to the flag because it's so firm. You know, I drove it ten yards off the front of the ninth green but I was in the rough, and I was left with a pretty tough spot. As it was I got it up-and-down, but I had to hole a 15-footer to do it sort of thing. It just wasn't easy, even though it was -- if I was five yards shorter in the fairway it would have been pretty simple. And, yeah, certainly a great example, this golf course, that length doesn't need to be the answer to make it difficult. Q. Can you just sum up the difficulty today in a few words. GREG CHALMERS: Well, it seemed like every hole was a cross-breeze. It felt like the wind blew from five or six different directions. When it's like that, it's not so much about what you hit, it's about when you hit. You have to really time, wait for the wind to be the direction you know it is. Sometimes you just get it wrong. I know with my playing partners, I know with Dean Wilson, he hit a couple shots today, same club as mine, and mine end up all right and his got him in trouble. It's just when you hit the shot, not so much what you hit. Q. On one and two what happened to start the round? And mentally did you feel like you were close and just made mistakes, or was it the opposite feeling, where you're just sort of lost? GREG CHALMERS: Look, I drove it in the rough on the both holes, the right rough. One I drove it actually quite a ways into the rough into the trees and just wedged it back out. Two I got a little lucky and it was still in the first cut. I had a long way to go from the front bunker to get it up-and-down. But I thought if I could get through the fourth hole and just make a par on 4, there was a par-5 to come. Thought I could reach that. So it was a long way towing to go. I'm 35 years old, not 19 years old. I have an idea of what it takes to, you know, stay competitive. Ultimately, if it was gonna be a good day, certainly getting down on it wasn't gonna help. Q. At what point did to start to feel like, Hey, it's gonna be a good day? GREG CHALMERS: Uhm, I got intrigued when I holed a 60-footer and a 30-footer two holes in a row. You know, that sort got my attention. I had a par-5 to come that I lipped out for eagle on with a chip on the front nine. Then, you know, I holed about a 20-footer on the eighth hole and about a 15-footer on the ninth hole. So I really holed some real estate on that front nine. And even though I was 3-under, I felt like I still had some more birdies in me. I felt like I really was rolling the ball nice on the greens. The greens were in good shape, so probably after about nine holes it would have been. Q. You just touched on the putting, making some bombs. I heard you say on the Golf Channel you think this was the best you putted all year. Have you made any changes? GREG CHALMERS: Today was. Yeah, I changed my grip early in the week. I just went from -- I had a double overlap grip, which is when you interlock both hands. I just went to a single overlap, a standard putting grip, which I've used in the past. I grew up putting that way. I just thought I would try that again. I haven't rolled the ball fantastically this year, so that was definitely, today was -- even the putts that missed were pretty good. So that's the way I like to see the ball rolling. Q. Just checking ShotLink on your final three holes, it looked like were exactly where you wanted to be in the fairway and then exactly where you wanted to be on the greens. Just talk about the three birdies and the way to end the day like that. GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, look, it was really pleasing, because I'll be honest and say I wasn't playing fantastically to the green. Certainly my putter was holding up my round for a period there. But then on 16 I hit 3-wood straight down the middle and wedged it in there under the hole about 20 feet and made it. On 17, I hit 3-iron straight down the middle and wedged it in there about eight feet and made it. On 18, I did hit a poor tee shot off to the right. Got lucky. It kicked back into the first cut, and I laid it up with a 3-wood, if you can call that a layup, and wedged it about 12 feet under the hole and made that. Q. I read somewhere that your nickname is snake; is that true? GREG CHALMERS: Yeah. Q. And also, would you care to describe where that came from and tell us how that came about. GREG CHALMERS: It's not what you're thinking. Last name, yeah, Greg Chalmers, snake charmer, because my last name is Chalmers. Craig Perry's brother gave that to me. Q. (No microphone.) GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, I can't remember what it was. It was a while ago now. Q. So there's no why to that? GREG CHALMERS: No, it's meant to be because -- no explanation on why, it just -- well, snake charmer, I don't know why. I don't charm snakes, if that's what you're asking. Q. A lot of guys in the field with conditional status, some guys with no status, and a lot of guys that haven't won. Can you talk about the opportunity of being in an alternate-field event how that plays into everything? GREG CHALMERS: Yeah, look, I've played in -- I've certainly played in this event, but I've played in several opposite-field events. It typically provides a fantastic story for someone if they're not a player like Kenny Perry or something like that. That's still a nice story, but I really enjoyed this year in Puerto Rico, Michael Bradley winning. There's a guy who's been battling away to get his status back, and he goes out and wins. So that could happen again this week. There could be a first-time winner or could be somewhere who goes from nowhere to somewhere very quickly. I think that's one of the -- people talk about the great stories of the Tiger Woods and Phil Mikelsons and all the top players. Sometimes some of the best stories are about the guys that are battling away and manage to find a week where they strike gold. Q. From one left-hander to another, does this course play different for you? GREG CHALMERS: No, no. It's -- look, there are some weeks where I'll -- like I love Hartford's golf course, but I've never played that well there. You know, I missed the cut seven times. I don't mind Hawaii, but I've never played that well there either. This week, I really enjoy the fact that the greens are firm. I would love it if it didn't rain. That feels a lot like what we experience when we play in Australia: firm greens and firm fairways. And I love it when the wind blows. I grew up in Perth, Western Australia. It's the third windiest city in the world. I enjoy that. It feels easier to move the ball around. But left-handed or right-hand, at this level, doesn't matter too much. Q. Third windiest city. Do you know what the first two are? GREG CHALMERS: I believe Wellington, New Zealand and Chicago is up there. Yeah, it's in the top 5 I'm sure. End of FastScripts |
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