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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIPJune 24, 2011Patrick CantlayCROMWELL, CONNECTICUT DOUG MILNE: Like to welcome Patrick Cantlay. Patrick, you just shot a 60. First amateur to do so on the TOUR and 24th person to ever shoot a 60 on the PGA TOUR. Do you want to talk about your round today and then we'll take a few questions. PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah. Well, I hit it really good this afternoon. I didn't -- I only hit a couple bad drives and they didn't put me in any trouble. And then on the greens I felt really, really comfortable and I felt like I could roll almost any putt I had in. And I played real well on the front, and I shot 5-under on the front. And then I got to 10 and I hit a drive right, and then I chipped out. I wasn't going to make a big number. And then hit kind of a mediocre pitching wedge to like 20, 25 feet and then I rolled in the 25-footer for par, and that really kept my round going and gave me a lot of confidence going into the back. DOUG MILNE: Okay. Questions? Q. You said you were comfortable on the greens. The greens are rolling at speeds that are less than what you're used to, especially from the Open. Can you talk about that? PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah. I struggled this morning with it. I like really fast greens, to be honest. The faster the better, and these are kind of slow. But you know, once I started getting the pace down, the putts started to fall. And the more putts I made, I felt more and more comfortable. Q. Did you know that you were pushing the lead? Were you looking at leaderboards at any point, and if you were at what point -- PATRICK CANTLAY: Unfortunately I did see the leaderboard a couple holes later. And you know, I try not to think about it, but yeah, I was in the lead, and I knew, and I knew with about four holes to play, and I hit a couple poor shots on 15 and 16 and then kind of settled down and made birdie on 17 and 18. Q. What were your expectations on Wednesday for this week? PATRICK CANTLAY: I tried to have no expectations, just so I didn't limit myself. And you know, you can't expect to win, but I just was going to have no expectations, try and play the golf course as best I could, and I knew if I played to my capability I'd have a good finish. Q. When did you realize sort of what you were doing out there? Did you have any idea? What was your mindset as you were going along out there? And two, have you ever played a round as close to what you shot out there today? PATRICK CANTLAY: I was just trying to stay in the moment. So as far as realizing what I was doing, I was just, you know, trying to make good swings and put a good stroke on every putt. I actually, I shot 60 maybe three, four months ago at my home course, Virginia Country Club in Long Beach. That was 11-under. No 59. Not yet. Q. Was there any point when you were on 18 that you started thinking about 59 or 60 or knowing that no amateur has ever shot a 60 or anything like that? PATRICK CANTLAY: I didn't know that no amateur had ever shot a 60. So that wasn't really in my brain. I knew where I was and I knew I needed to make eagle on 18 for 59. But you know, it's tough to hole it from 152. Q. Did it look like it might have a chance to go in from your angle? PATRICK CANTLAY: I thought it had a chance. It was covering the flag pretty good. But it takes some luck. Q. Did the guys in your group at any point start to talk to you or were they talking throughout the round and did it get a little looser toward the end of the round? PATRICK CANTLAY: The guys were real great all day, and then Billy said some really nice things on 18 green after I hit it in there, but they were good not to say anything about how I was playing until after it was pretty much done. Q. What did last week do for you as far as experience, comfort level out there? PATRICK CANTLAY: It just gave me a ton of confidence that no matter where I tee it up, I can compete. I played well last week. I didn't play great. And I finished well. So it just gave me a lot of confidence going forward. Q. You have already said that you will not turn professional. If you win this golf tournament -- I know it's still 36 holes away, (indiscernible) will it put you in position to reassess the rest of this year? PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not thinking about that right now. So I'm going to try and take care of business this week and then see what's going on. But I'm going to stay amateur definitely for the Walker Cup, and my plans are to stay amateur, you know, until I finish college. Q. In your experience will it be easy or hard not to get ahead of yourself when you step on that tee as the leader possibly going into the 3rd round? PATRICK CANTLAY: It's very difficult. I've had a couple leads before, and I know it's really important to stay in the moment. I mean the tournament's halfway over and guys haven't even finished their second round. So I really need to not get ahead of myself and stick to my game plan, stay aggressive, you know, have a good time. Q. Can you go over your birdies, what you hit? PATRICK CANTLAY: Sure. On 1 I made birdie from the front fringe, like 12 feet or so. On 5 I hit hybrid to 12 feet, made birdie. 6 I hit a gap wedge to eight feet, made birdie. Then on 8 I hit a 7-iron to like 25, 30 feet and rolled that in. 9 I hit it to -- I hit 9-iron to like four feet, made birdie there. Then I went to 13. I hit hybrid to like 20 feet and made birdie, or made eagle. And then I went to 14 I hit a gap wedge to seven feet, eight feet and made birdie. And then I hit 7-iron to, I don't know, five, six feet on 17 and made birdie. And then I hit 8-iron to a couple of feet on 18. Q. You often will hear a basketball player describe what it's like to be in the zone, the basket looks gigantic. Can you try and describe what that's like for a golfer? PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah. That's how I felt on the green today. I just felt like I could roll anything in and I wasn't worried about my stroke whatsoever. You just kind of see it with your eye the best you can and try and roll it on the line that your eye sees. Q. I'm sure you've been asked a thousand times since the Open about the 97,000 you could have made at the Open. If a million dollars for first plays here, I mean that's tough to sort of filter. What goes through your mind when you think of that, or try not to think of it? PATRICK CANTLAY: It wasn't a factor at the beginning of the week, so I had nothing to gain at the beginning of the week. I have nothing to lose as far as money's concerned, and it's just not a factor. It's like playing in an amateur tournament for me. The money is irrelevant because I can't win any at the beginning of the week and I can't lose any at the end of the week. Q. How much practice time did you get in? Did you get to play a full round here? PATRICK CANTLAY: I played the front nine on Tuesday, and then I played the back nine early Wednesday morning. Q. What was your feel of the course when you came out? PATRICK CANTLAY: I liked it. I thought it suited my eye, and there's a lot of right-to-left shots that I like to hit little drops. So I really felt confident going into the week. Q. What are you going to do tonight? How do you kind of not let yourself sort of get wrapped up in the fact that you're leading the tournament? PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm going to get some dinner and then I'm going to go back to the hotel, take a shower and go to sleep. I mean pretty standard. I'm just not going to worry about it. You know, I got 36 more holes to play and I'm just going to play the golf course as best I can. Q. You said during the week that you how you were getting tired, four-week stretch. Is it tough -- are you on adrenaline now or are you tired? PATRICK CANTLAY: I rested Monday and I got to rest yesterday. I didn't play any golf yesterday which was nice. But yeah, I'm a little tired, and 36 holes always makes you tired. But I'll find enough energy to finish out the tournament. Q. I just want to tell you real quick, McIlroy said "respect" with an exclamation point, and everybody wants to know when you're joining twitter. PATRICK CANTLAY: I won't be joining twitter, ever. That's just not for me. It's not for me. Q. (Indiscernible)? PATRICK CANTLAY: There was a different set of butterflies my first round last week. But other than that, I felt real comfortable, you know, the last five rounds I've played. So it hasn't been any different than a college tournament, or any other tournament for that matter. DOUG MILNE: Okay. Thanks a lot, Patrick. Good luck tomorrow. PATRICK CANTLAY: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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