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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 13, 2011

Hunter Mahan

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

Q. How did things go out there today?
HUNTER MAHAN: It was good, yeah. Hit a lot of good iron shots, made some putts. The greens are not lightning yet, but they've got some -- you can make putts. The pins were out there for it and the wind, you know, it's perfect conditions right now. So should be some good scores.

Q. Do you like the tactical element of this course where you've got to actually talk to your caddie and not just reach over and grab the longest club on the first tee and hit it the rest of the way around?
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, there are a lot of options. We were talking about driver, 3-wood, even hybrid on a few holes. There are a lot of options you can play on this golf course. You just don't want to play it from the rough, because trying to shoot it out of the rough into some of these pins and greens is just impossible. You're just going to get these big fliers. It's compounding mistakes you can do easily out here.

Q. How does it compare to Augusta in terms of a golf course you have to learn and play throughout the years before you really understand it?
HUNTER MAHAN: Augusta's pretty consistent, the greens are going to be fast. You know what you're going to get there. It has just the intricacies of the greens and certain things.
This course, the greens have changed over the years. They're not quite -- for some reason they're a lot grainier than they used to be. And sometimes, you know, the condition isn't -- this year the condition is incredible, but sometimes you get bad Florida winters and the course dries up, you get too much rain or something. So it's difficult to keep this course the way it is year round.
So it's not, you know, it changes every year. There's nothing that I've learned that's been pretty consistent.

Q. Are the greens -- you mentioned they haven't gotten fast yet, does that mean you think that they will and they'll become very difficult and treacherous?
HUNTER MAHAN: I think so. I don't think they're going to water, and I don't think -- I mean, it's thick blade. They're very grainy. I mean, a few years ago when they put them in there wasn't hardly any grain because everything stuck straight up and they scalped them, but you could see the grain from a mile away. And they're going to get firmer, I believe. So playing tomorrow afternoon will be a big change from playing this morning.

Q. Graeme said they were a foot faster today?
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, I think they're going to do that. They're going to progressively get faster every day, and they're definitely rolling out more today than yesterday, no question.

Q. To see your name at the top of the leaderboard and getting closer to the weekend, what's that like for you?
HUNTER MAHAN: I don't know. I don't really care. It's only Friday. Whether I'm 40th or first right now doesn't matter. I want to be there on Sunday.
My game feels good, which is good. I'm not too concerned about position right now. I just want to get my game and my head in the right place so I can have a good weekend. Going into the weekend out here, you can move up a lot on Saturday with a good round because it's going to get tougher and low rounds are going to be even harder to get. I don't expect anymore 66s or 64s out there.

Q. What's going on with the beard? It seems like the thing out here. McDowell hasn't shaved in a month, and Glover hasn't shaved since apparently the womb. You've got the timing a little wrong for summertime, don't you?
HUNTER MAHAN: I don't know. I don't really feel it that much. Yeah, he's in another category of woolly mammoth. I don't know. I guess it's just -- I don't know.
I don't like a smooth face, I guess. I want to see something on there. I don't know. Just something different, I guess. Everybody has a shaved face and short hair and a hat on and rolls around here. As long as you guys notice, I think it's a good thing.

Q. With me, I figure, the more of my face covered up, the better. I don't know what your deal is?
HUNTER MAHAN: I can't disagree with that (laughing).

Q. Were you a beard guy from the time you could grow one?
HUNTER MAHAN: Not too much. It's not a great beard I have. It's okay, it's not great by any means. But I don't know. Just off-season, I don't know if you saw in Hawaii, I grew out the goatee pretty well. I don't know just something different.
I don't like to do the same thing every week. I don't get my haircut at the same place every time. I go somewhere different. I don't know. I guess it's just the way I roll. Something different, you know.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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