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JOHN DEERE CLASSICJuly 13, 2012Troy MattesonSILVIS, ILLINOIS THE MODERATOR: Troy, you got it to 13‑under today. Talk about the conditions today and the difference between today and yesterday's round. TROY MATTESON: Greens were a lot smoother this morning. They weren't a lot faster, but they were a little faster so we couldn't be as aggressive with some of the putts. Pin placements were a little different for me. They were a little harder to get to than yesterday. But we the storm was kind of moving in and looked like it was going get us. The wind picked up for a few holes, so I know that changed the way a few guys played holes. I know holes like 5 played 40 yards longer. Instead of being a 3‑wood 9‑iron, it was like driver, 7‑iron. But holes 4 played easier; holes like 3 played a lot harder. All in all the course was pretty much the same. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Considering those conditions, pleased with the round? TROY MATTESON: I'm fairly pleased. Like I said yesterday, if you told me I was going to get 13‑under after two rounds I would have taken it and not even tee'd it up. You know, it was tough today. When I came out I was a little bit more apprehensive after shooting a low one yesterday and obviously I wanted to put a low one out there today. Made birdie on 1 and 2, and then hit it real close on 3 and missed it. I just ended up with one of those crown‑type putts. Couldn't tell whether it went a little right or stayed straight. Then the next hole I kind of ended up with a squirrely putt that wasn't very far for birdie and missed it because I misread it. So I had some chances out there, but I still hit a few squirrely shots that I didn't hit yesterday. Luckily I survived most of them today. Q. Apprehensive, why? TROY MATTESON: It's just always tough when you shoot a low one to come to the golf course the next day. I got here early. You get a little out of sync because you're anxious to get out there and play and see what you do. But, you know, all in all I felt pretty good with what we did today. Because we did hit the loose shots that we hit, we got away with most of 'em. Q. (No microphone.) TROY MATTESON: Well, couple years ago or 2009 I shot 61, 61. I think the last day I shot 3‑under or something like that. So, I mean, I've done it before. Maybe one or two times on the Nationwide Tour I can remember shooting a low one and then shooting another low one. Q. (Question regarding superstition.) TROY MATTESON: I said this outside: I think one of the tough things to do is you envision yourself playing the round the same way you did before. However, the pins are going to be different, the arches are going to be different, the wind may be different. It's really hard to‑‑ it's even hard to shoot 4‑under and shoot 4‑under the same exact way you did it the day before. You know, birdie all the par‑5s and par all the rest of the holes. It's just really difficult to play the same every day. Your mind I think wants to do it that way, but a lot times if you shoot two low rounds you birdie in completely different holes. Like I said, that's a factor of the pin placement or the wind or the type of putts you're leaving yourself. I knew today would be interesting because I might birdie or mess up different holes. I prepared mentally for it being a little tougher than yesterday, so I think that kind of helped us get through it. That round could have easily turned into even or 1‑under. Q. Did you hear from Matt Weibring at all last night? TROY MATTESON: Yeah, I got a text from him. Usually he keeps his texts pretty short. He's a pretty joking guy. He just texted me, Good play. I'm curious what he will text me today. He's always sending texts to his buddies and keeping up with everybody. I'm fortunate to have him as a friend. D.A. is kind of a mentor when I was going through college. It was really important for me. Q. Where do you see 13‑under standing at the end of the day? TROY MATTESON: I'll be shocked if it's still in the lead by the end of the day. I think a guy at 7 could easily shoot 8 or 9. Easily. Or at 6. I know there are some guys going pretty low out there right now. It's out there every day. I mean, somebody could shoot a 59 today if they get it going. Tee box is moved up on 14; you know, you've got a little easier pin on 15; 16 is kind of a tricky one; 17 is kind of a pin you can make three on if you hit two good ones, because it kind of funnels in there. There are opportunities out there today. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody got to 15. Q. You talk about D.A. telling you a little bit about the golf course when you were in college. (Indiscernible.) TROY MATTESON: Well, I think, you know, he helped me a lot in college with a lot of my golf. I took every opportunities I could to learn from what he had to say, whether it was wedges or putting or just learning to get around the golf course. Out here, you know, he's got holes like ‑‑ if you're turning it over and you hit it a long way, 17 is tailor made for you. It's perfect. He likes giving a guy who hits a good shot a chance to make a birdie. 17 I didn't hit a good drive. I pushed it, went down the hill, I had to take a drop out of the hazard. I mean, you know, he didn't design it for that kind of shot. The other thing he's done out here is with the multitude of pins that you have out here which you don't have on a lot of courses, we have these really big greens, and when you get to them there is only three pin placement. Out here you have tons of pin placements. So a hole like 10 looks, even though it looks straightforward, drive, layup, wedge, you really got think about where you want to leave that second shot so that you got the best angle on your wedge or the right yardage on your wedge for that particular hole location. When it's in the front you want to spin it. When it's in the back you want to not spin it so it stays on top of the hill. He's really put a lot thought into it. When I talk to him about it, that's kind of the way he describes it. Holes like 9. When 9 is into the wind, I designed it so you could move up on the tee so guys could hit driver to the end. If 9 is downwind, you can move it all the way back to where it's close to 500 yards. That's how he intend for it to play. I think that's what you get when you get a player designing a course rather than a designer designing a course. Q. Is he pretty chatty? TROY MATTESON: If you ask him. You take a lot pride in the fact that you had so much to do with a big project like this. Same thing if you went out‑‑ I graduated with civil engineering. If you went out and built a nice bridge or building, you would take a lot pride in the fact that you built that. Really, there is so much risk involved with all these big projects. Multi, multi, multi million dollar projects. If it goes wrong it's terrible and everybody blames it on you. When it goes right and the guys love coming here and love playing, I mean, you need to be proud of what you did. Q. How satisfying is one bogey in 36 holes? TROY MATTESON: Yeah, it's unusual for me. Usually I make all least one bogey a round. To go 36 holes with one bogey is unusual. So I'm pretty happy with that. Hopefully that continues over the next couple of days. Q. Is that one of your best bogey‑free streaks you've had? TROY MATTESON: Yeah, probably, because I'm a little bit more of a high‑risk player. When you do that, you do make a lot more birdies but you put yourself in a lot positions where you're going to make bogey. There is a couple ways you can play. You can be the guys who makes three birdies and shoots 3‑under or you can be the guy that shoots six birdies and shoots 3‑under. The guy who makes three birdies is never going to shoot more than 3‑under. The guy that makes six might shoot 6. So I think that's why you're seeing golf go the way it is. There is evidence now in golf that the further you hit it the better you'll play. It's statistical at this point. It's not fairways and greens anymore. Look at how Phil plays or some of the guys that hit it really far. If you have a wedge out of rough and the other guy has a 6‑iron from the fairway, in a lot of cases on soft greens a wedge out of the rough is just fine. And if you hit the fairway, you at a huge advantage, especially on par‑5s. The riskier guys are definitely making moves. Maybe they don't play as consistent, but they win golf tournaments. Q. (Question regarding risk.) TROY MATTESON: Yeah, I mean, I think you'll see more plays in the par‑5s where you got 270 and you're still going for it. A lot of the guys will just say, I can't get it there. Just lay it up. You're thinking, Gosh, if I hit one really good and I turn it over and it takes this bounce it's going to get there and chase onto the green and be perfect. That's how a risky player sees it. A guy who is a plotter sees it as, All right, what's the chance of me hitting it perfect? I can't get it there anyway. I am just going to lay it up to a wedge and wedge it in there. A lot guys play that way. You're seeing more guys play the other way. Q. (No microphone.) TROY MATTESON: I think I got play with Steve in 2006 right before ‑‑ he hadn't gotten into a lot of events. He either was in on a sponsor exemption or his number in Houston. It was funny. He played really well. He started to make putts. I can remember he was either one shot clear of the cut ‑‑ I think one shot clear of the cut and a long par‑3. He hits 3‑iron on the green. You could just tell he just wanted to make sure he got down in two, made the cut, and moved on. All of a sudden he makes a bomb. Now he makes the cut by two. That's the time where the putter came back, everything started working again, and before you knew it he was second in the world.  When you see a guy like that playing, doesn't matter where he's playing. That guy finds his way to the top of the leaderboard. Does he have the Tiger effect? Q. Here. TROY MATTESON: Yeah, I think so here. I think we expect big things out of him. I think most weeks you expect big things out of him. Tiger is a little different deal winning 70‑something times, but Steve is not a guy you want to see two or three shots behind you playing, because out here he can shoot 60. And he probably will shoot 60 sometime this week, you know. So we'll see how right I am on that. But Steve is an unbelievable player. It's just a matter of time before a bunch of birdies come reeling off for him. Q. That said, does that play into your plans for the weekend and how you play? TROY MATTESON: No. I'll probably play pretty much the way I play. On a course like this you just got to try to keep shooting 5‑, 6‑, 7‑under a day as best you can. You really don't know what's going to happen. A guy could shoot 59 the last day and you shoot 6‑under and you get lapped. You can't really plan for that. But, you know, it's a shootout. These tournaments where you got to shoot 20‑plus‑under to win are really fun because we get to make a lot birdies and see how the chips fall at the end of the day. It will be a very interesting finish. Q. (No microphone.) TROY MATTESON: No, because it works everywhere. Statistically‑‑ I'm probably not the best guy to talk to about this‑‑ but statistically there is evidence just period in golf hitting it 340 yards is statistically better than hitting it 290. That's not because guys are more accurate. That is just getting closer to the hole. If a guy hits it 340 yards, if he's playing a 500‑yard hole he's still probably hitting 9‑iron in. Not every hole can you do that. Obviously if you're uphill and the fairway is not running you might only be able to hit it 300 yards. That's if he crushed it. That's probably better than the guy hitting it 290 because he's hitting it 268 or 272. There is just more evidence now that bombing it with will get you a lower score. Maybe not consist play, but it's definitely the road to a lower score. Phil is the best example of that on this TOUR. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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