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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONALAugust 7, 2010Ryan PalmerAKRON, OHIO LAURA HILL: We'd like to welcome Ryan Palmer, a nice tidy 63 today, bogey-free round to get yourself right in contention. Must feel good heading into the final round tomorrow. Talk about how today went. RYAN PALMER: Yeah, I had a great feeling. I had a good -- I broke my black shirt jinx today, so that was good. I felt good all week, felt good coming into this morning and just tried to stick to my guns. I've been driving the ball good all week, and I drove it good after the 8th hole. Kind of struggled there for a while but was able to put the ball on the greens in the right spots and made a lot of good putts and some good par putts and played steady, took it one shot at a time, more than I have before, and great finish on 16 and 17 and great two-putt on 18. It was a fun day. LAURA HILL: Something you saw coming at all? RYAN PALMER: Actually I did. Obviously I had a rough ten weeks where I missed nine cuts, threw a top 10 in there somehow, but at Canada we figured out my irons were a degree and a half flat. We got the measurements from last year's PGA and the guys at TaylorMade got them to where we thought they were last year. I had one of my best iron-play weeks in Canada where I finished 24th. So after a long stretch of bad golf, I was able to play well at Canada and worked with Randy Smith Sunday. We tweaked a little bit my setup, got a little close to the ball, knew I was hitting the ball good and driving it good. As long as I kept doing what James and I have talked about, releasing the club through impact, I knew it would come out, and the way I've been putting, so far so good. Q. How were the irons at Waialae? RYAN PALMER: Well, it's funny, those are good because I got a new set at THE PLAYERS. I think that's where the whole debacle started. I got the same set of irons that I played at Waialae and even the year before, but I had them matched up in the truck, so they went and matched them up to my old set, and somehow I never even noticed it. We got them checked at Canada, and somehow they were a degree and a half flatter from what I had been playing the year before. Even the wedges were off. We got them all fixed up, and I hit the ball great at Canada. And it carried over to this week, and so far, so good, like I said. Q. What happens when they're a degree and a half flat besides missing the cut? RYAN PALMER: I think you don't realize, you just start adjusting through your swing. I never even noticed the divots. And even Randy, we were talking about it Sunday. I told him and he couldn't believe. He pretty much rolled his eyes backwards and probably wanted to hit me upside the head. He couldn't believe he never noticed it and I never noticed it, as well. You can definitely tell in the divot patterns when I got them fixed, and even hitting shots out here where the divots are perfect, you can really see it when you hit a good, crisp shot. It took us a while to figure out the problem, but I'm glad I found it now. Q. Did somebody just not read the numbers right on the order or something? RYAN PALMER: It wasn't the TaylorMade truck, I'll leave it at that. It wasn't the guys I've been trusting the last three or four years, so I've learned my lesson. Too bad it was a ten-week lesson. Q. What about the mental edge on that? Being frustrated maybe that you weren't hitting the ball right, with the degree being off and that, now that you've figured out the problem, does that completely change the mental approach? RYAN PALMER: It did. The funny thing is I wasn't really scoring that bad in those ten weeks, I just couldn't get over the hump. I missed the cut by one, missed the cut by two, but I was still putting good, so I never changed that. But once I figured that out in a practice round at Canada on Tuesday, I was able to free it up and play the way I did at Canada. Then the little tweak I got with Randy on Sunday, I was able to come out here even more mind confident, clear and not worrying about the clubs anymore. It was amazing when I got it fixed what it did to my mental aspect of the game. Q. James said that you were in between clubs all day long up until 18 was the only time that you felt like you had a good number. Is that pretty surprising when you sign for a 63? RYAN PALMER: Yeah, all week it seems like we've hit a lot of half shots, which is usually -- I consistently hit better shots when I hit a little more half shot with irons, I think. It was. We just talked about it on 17 how many half shots we'd been hitting all day, and finally on 18 we had finally a perfect club we could hit. Of course what do I do, I slam-hook it left. Maybe I should have hit the soft 8 instead. Yeah, it was funny because I didn't even feel like I hit the ball as well as I did yesterday. I got a lot out of my round today. I hit it good, just not as just as solid. I still hit a bunch of fairways and a lot of greens. I only had 24 putts. It's very -- it gives me a lot more confidence going into tomorrow knowing I can come out play solid, just not great, and shoot 63. That's a good confidence booster for tomorrow. Q. How aware are you of the actual leaderboard? Today at one point there were seven players in the top and then names -- for fans following it there were names appearing and disappearing. How aware are you of all that kind of stuff? RYAN PALMER: I'm not going to lie to you, I watch it on the time on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Those guys that say they never see the leaderboard, they're lying to you. I think they are because you can see it clearly. I'm always interested in seeing what certain guys are doing, some friends of mine are doing. I like knowing where I stand, especially when I get on a little run and knowing I'm moving up and kind of seeing what everybody else is doing. I won't lie to you, I'll be watching it all day tomorrow. I'm a leaderboard watcher and always have been for some reason. Q. What about Wednesday? Pro-am, no? RYAN PALMER: I haven't been in a pro-am this year. I finished 150th last year. It's been a good year not playing pro-ams. Q. What would it mean -- you've had your highlights on TOUR at times. What would it mean to really play your way into the top 50 and really be entrenched there for a couple years and be in all the events for a stretch. Is that a goal? RYAN PALMER: No doubt, that top 50 in the world is huge because you get in all these here and all the majors, and that's one thing I've lacked is my appearances at majors. I've gotten to play in the Masters for winning and obviously the PGA, but I didn't get in the U.S. Open, aside from Oakmont, which I won't talk about, that result, but I never got to play in the British Open. To get in the top 50 in the world, to be amongst the elite, that's what we strive for out here. Of course, winning golf tournaments is the ultimate, and that's what I work to do the hardest. It's nice to give myself chances each time, but I wish I could do it more often. But I look forward to getting in the top 50 and being able to play week in and week out in these World Golfs and even the majors and giving myself chances to be on Presidents or Ryder Cup team. Q. What do you think has been missing for you that has kept you from achieving that? Is there anything you can point to? RYAN PALMER: The degree and a half of lie that was wrong. No, just the consistency of my game. I would say that's been the hardest part. I've always been pretty good at putting, it's just going in week in and week out. You look at my history, I'll make half the cuts that I play on TOUR. But if I can win three times during the year, that's fine, I'll take three wins and 20 missed cuts, sure. I'd like to make more cuts obviously because when you miss the cut you don't have a chance to win, so that's been the thing I've been lacking is the consistent part of it. Q. What if this lead holds up? What would you attribute your win to, should it occur? RYAN PALMER: Just not giving up the stretch I went into, and knowing that I can play with the best and just staying in the moment. You know, if I can go out tomorrow -- I feel if I can go out and have a good round tomorrow -- I'm confident the way I'm swinging it and my putting is the best it's been in a long time. So just I attribute a lot of it just to the grinding. I've been practicing a lot more, I think, instead of playing when I'm home, and I put the work in with Randy, like I said, Sunday. And I went back to my old driver, my old TaylorMade driver I've been hitting for a while, and I'm finally swinging it and hitting it good. So just keep doing the things I've been doing, and we'll see what happens tomorrow. Q. You said you do watch the leaderboard. Can I ask, does it affect the way you play? If you find yourself slipping behind or crawling ahead, do you find yourself being inspired or depressed at all? RYAN PALMER: I think I do on Thursday and Friday the most because I'll go out and see where guys are 7-under through one round, and I'm struggling. I'll start going, oh, man, I'm eight back. I shouldn't get so wrapped up in it. But like today I was watching, I kept telling myself, just play your game, just go out and hit your shots, and we'll see where you fall. That's the only thing I can do. That's the one thing I did at Hawai'i, I told myself to play each day for that day, play Thursday for Thursday and try to win the day and see where I stood at the end of the day. That's the way I did it today. I just went out and played golf today, and I still watched it but I kept telling myself, just keep hitting your shots, you're going to have chances, you're going to make some birdies and just don't -- try to avoid the big number, which I'm pretty -- I can do a lot. For some reason I think I'm leading the other category. If I can avoid the amount of mistakes that I make off the tee and keep driving it good, I know I'll have a chance at the end. Q. If you had a black shirt jinx, why did you keep wearing them? RYAN PALMER: I hadn't worn them all year long. I always carry it but I always wear it on Tuesday. It looked good when I pulled it out of the bag today, and it felt good when I put it on, so that was a good thing. It took me ten minutes to decide which hat to wear, a white or black hat, so I went with the black hat. Q. Why so many low rounds today and how does that bode for tomorrow do you think? RYAN PALMER: The fairways are soft still and the greens are soft. Obviously it's perfect out there, and the way guys are scoring, I think this year has been the lowest scoring I've ever seen. The way tournaments are bunched up and -- guys don't spin the ball as much with the new grooves, and when you get in the -- and the rough is not as bad so you can still play from this rough because on that front nine I still had birdie chances from the rough, so the rough is not as thick; you can still attack some pins. You know, the bar has been set high, I guess. It's funny how the scores are lower for some reason and a lot lower numbers are being shot each tournament. I don't know what you can attribute it to, but it's funny how it's working right now. Q. Good thing they ruled on those grooves, huh? RYAN PALMER: Yeah, they're probably kicking themselves about that one now. Like I said, when you watch like Greenbrier and Colonial, you see guys, they're not spinning the ball as much. I had a shot on 16 with a lob wedge that probably would have spun back ten more feet with the old grooves, but it only spun back a couple feet. So I think you're seeing guys are attacking more pins with wedges and not spinning the ball as much and they're able to control their distance a lot more and give themselves more chances. Q. To follow up on Doug's question, would you say that the lack of spin has actually kind of helped players in a situation like this where you have softer greens? RYAN PALMER: Oh, no doubt, it's helped. I think it's made it almost easier. I mean, look at the 59 last week, the 60, 61s, and what did they do at Canada, Carl Pettersson shooting 59, Colonial, breaking records. The greens are soft and nobody is spinning the ball, and they're controlling their lob wedges easier. And fairways are softer. You can attribute a lot to the weather obviously. A lot of the golf courses across the country are softer than they have been in the past, and firmness is a lot of courses' defenses. This course being -- when they get these fairways firm, it makes the fairways a lot more tighter and tougher to hit fairways. But you can attribute the low scores to mostly softer conditions for sure. Q. Can you think of a golf course where it actually went the other way, the new grooves, because the greens were so hard? RYAN PALMER: You know, I haven't noticed because the irons I've been playing have been the V-groove all along. I played the last three or four weeks last year with the new wedges, so I haven't really noticed it. It's helped me I guess you could say in my short game, my chipping. But I'm not sure it's -- I haven't really played a golf course that's been hard and fast yet to really notice. I thought Memphis would be a test, but it wasn't that firm, either. It was pretty soft. And of course the U.S. Open is the U.S. Open. I can't think of a golf course we've played where it's been firm greens yet to be honest with you, that I've played. Q. Sony? RYAN PALMER: Sony, that's usually firm, too, but it was pretty soft there, as well. Q. What prompted you to get involved in your charitable work that you do? RYAN PALMER: When I got on TOUR, I went to my dad and Billy Slaughter, who is our president of the foundation, I said, I want to start something to give back just to some local kids in our community in Amarillo, Texas. Amarillo has a huge golf series in the summertime where they have all these different tournaments, partnerships. You call it the "barbecue circuit" I guess you could say, playing for gift certificates and stuff like that. I had so many followers that helped me when I was playing those tournaments, and I thought it was a way to give back, to get some kids involved, as well. It kind of flat-lined for a while, and then we came into an agreement with The Children's Hospital in northwest Texas, in Amarillo, and we were able to donate $100,000 this November to them, and we're in the process of finishing up a $400,000 project, a healing garden outside the hospital, and of course we did the rooms inside for the kids. You see the charitable help on TOUR each and every week, the hospitals we visit and all that, and it's cool to have one in Amarillo that I can put my name on and be a part of. Q. You're going to make a hefty contribution after today, right? RYAN PALMER: Well, we have a deal starting with Birdies For Brighter Smiles we're calling it. I donate for every birdie and eagle I make on TOUR. They love seeing those eagles, but the people back home are probably going, stop. The more I make, the more they have to spend. But it's a good thing, it's cool. I hope I can write a bigger check within the year. LAURA HILL: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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