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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 11, 2013David LingmerthPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We're joined by David Lingmerth here at THE PLAYERS Championship 2013. You've got one hole left to finish your third round, but you're 12‑under par and currently leading the golf tournament here at THE PLAYERS Championship. If we could start with some opening comments about a great day for you and so far a great week. DAVID LINGMERTH: Yeah, no, it's been good. Obviously, thrilled to be in this position. It's going to be a fun day tomorrow. I played really solid all week. First day I was striking the ball really well and wasn't able to make too many putts, and then the second round I was able to get my short game going pretty good. I wasn't quite striking the ball that well. But today I was hitting the ball pretty good. I had a few misses out there and short‑sided myself a couple times, but I was able to make some putts and keep my round going, so feeling good. Q. Could you talk about your par‑saving putts at 10, at 14, and how critical‑‑ and at 13 as well, the up‑and‑down there, and how critical that is to just kind of keeping your round together and getting it going? DAVID LINGMERTH: Yeah, obviously, that gets your confidence up when you can do that and keep your round going. I wasn't striking the ball great at that time, but I knew I had it in me, so I got a couple birdie looks after that and was able to keep on rolling it well. I don't know. It's just those putts are big to keep your round going. Q. When did you know for sure that you were going to be in this field? Do you recall when maybe you figured out by the points and the guys not playing here, when did you figure that out? DAVID LINGMERTH: Was the cutoff after Zurich? Yeah, and I thought I was going to be right on the borderline. After that event I looked at the worksheet and the commitments worksheet and I was in by like 12 or something. It kind of got me confused because I thought I was going to be one of the last guys in or out, but, yeah, that made me feel good. Q. On Sunday, correct me if I'm wrong, you were like the second or third guy on the range when they opened it up. I think Vijay beat you, but he does that to everybody. At the time, Sunday you're out there, did you have any idea this was coming? DAVID LINGMERTH: No. I was looking forward to this, and I was there Sunday because I missed the cut the previous week, so I was here trying to practice. But I was looking forward to this week because all this year it's been ongoing. I haven't known any of the courses, basically, coming to the event. So this one I knew I was going to have a pretty good idea what I was going to get into, so it made me feel good. It's been helping me with the lines off the tee and where I can and cannot miss around the greens and stuff like that. So, yeah, I had a good feeling, but this is obviously great. Q. I'm surprised you wanted to come in. I mean the last ten minutes out there were great for you. Can you talk about the eagle on 16, birdieing 17 and then coming in? DAVID LINGMERTH: Yeah. I don't know. I hit a great drive on 16, and my yardage was‑‑ what was it? It was 183 or something. I had 176 to the front, and the wind was helping me, so I figured I'd play the 176 number, hit a little 8‑iron in there and was able to make a little left‑to‑righter. And then on 17, the wind was coming into me. It was 122 to the pin, and I hit a pitching wedge to 10 feet short and decided to try to make a putt instead of sleeping on it, so, yeah. Q. I guess I kind of mean because it was dark, did it affect your thinking or anything? You knew you didn't have too much golf left? DAVID LINGMERTH: Yeah, I was just trying to finish the round. I was feeling good about things, so I didn't want to sleep on it and try to start over tomorrow morning. Q. You missed your last five cuts coming in here. Two things, one, could you have imagined yourself at the start of the week being in this position, and secondly, how easy or difficult will tonight be? DAVID LINGMERTH: I don't know if I could predict that this was going to happen, but my game was feeling a lot better than missing five cuts in a row; I can promise you that. It was kind of frustrating because I couldn't get anything out of my game really. But now this week I've been able to score, which obviously helped. Second part of your question, it will probably be a little hard to sleep, maybe. But I'm feeling great about things, so hopefully that won't be a problem. We'll see. Q. Do I have it right, you live here in Jax Beach area? DAVID LINGMERTH: Yeah, I moved here in December. Q. How much have you had a chance to play out here? DAVID LINGMERTH: I've been on the road so much, so it hasn't been all that much. I think I've definitely not exceeded 12 full rounds on the Stadium Course. I mean, it might be 8 to 10 or something like that. But I've played nine holes a few times, and I obviously know the place pretty good. But it's a different course this week than it usually is. Q. What is the best you've shot here? DAVID LINGMERTH: I don't know. Probably 4‑under to be honest with you. It was hard to make putts out there when the greens are a little slower and a little more grainy. Q. Why did you pick Jax Beach? DAVID LINGMERTH: Just wanted to get out of the winter a little bit. I lived in Arkansas before, and it's a great place, Fayetteville where the University is at, but just we don't spend much time at home as professional golfers. The little downtime we have is in the winter, and it was tough to practice in Arkansas sometimes. Q. For right now you're first place, the next three guys behind you are past PLAYERS champions and one of them is named Tiger Woods. Is that something you can't help but think about or do you try to put that stuff out of your mind? DAVID LINGMERTH: I mean, obviously, yeah. I'm aware of where they're at. I try not to look at the leaderboard when I'm out there. I'm just trying to do my thing. But having those guys behind me, I know they're going to try to hunt me down, of course. But I'm just going to try to forget about all that and just try to do my thing. Q. What will be on your mind this weekend beyond the golf, specifically the Capitals? I know that's big for you. DAVID LINGMERTH: Well, we got a huge win last night in overtime, so it made me feel good about today, maybe. Kept me in a good mood. Q. What can you tell us about your victory last year on the Web.com, and what do you think can you take from that experience playing tomorrow? DAVID LINGMERTH: Yeah, I don't know. I was in the lead in a few events out there on the Web.com, and I felt pretty comfortable, I think. That win, of course, was huge. Your first professional win for anyone is a big relief to know that you can win on a professional level. So I know that it could be a little bit different to win THE PLAYERS versus a Web.com event, but it's just a golf tournament. I'm just going to try to win it. Q. Are you and Jonas next‑door neighbors? DAVID LINGMERTH: We're about ten yards apart. Q. Can you talk about it, Matt Every lives down here, Jonas Blixt lives down here. Jacksonville Beach is getting a rep for having a lot of the guys that live down here and the young guns on the TOUR. DAVID LINGMERTH: Jonas is a little influence for me coming down here. He told me this place was great and practice and the weather was always good. It was nice to move somewhere where you knew you had a buddy you could practice with and hang out with off the course and everything. So, yeah, it's fun. It's a good group of guys around here. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Can we go through your scorecard real quick, and we'll take one final question. You want to just go through your birdies and bogeys and eagles, starting with number 3. DAVID LINGMERTH: Number 3, yeah, I actually hit a pretty good tee shot there. I was on the green, and I hit a terrible first putt and ended up three‑putting. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Number 4, birdie? DAVID LINGMERTH: Number 4, I decided to go with a driver instead of a 3‑wood. I hit a good one, but it ended up running through in the rough, and then I hit a sand wedge from there to about four or five feet by the hole, made it. Number 6, oh, yeah. Actually I was trying to cut it out on the fairway there and double crossed myself and hooked it into the water, so I was able to save a bogey on that hole. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And 7 and 8? DAVID LINGMERTH: 7, hit a tee shot a little bit through the fairway, once again in the rough. But I hit a sand wedge in there to about 20 feet by the hole and I was able to make it. Then on 8, I made probably, I don't know, a 25‑footer or something from the left side of the green. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And then par‑5, 11th, birdie. DAVID LINGMERTH: 11 played as a three‑shotter for me today. I hit it about an 81‑yard shot into the pin about four feet or so. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Then bogey on 15. DAVID LINGMERTH: 15? Let me think. Oh, I hit the tee shot on the fairway bunker and kind of didn't catch it quite right. I ended up a little short and chipped it up short and missed a putt. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And eagle on 16 and birdie on 17. DAVID LINGMERTH: 16, hit a good drive, and then an 8‑iron into 10 feet‑ish, and I was able to make that one. 17, I hit a pitching wedge from 122 to 10 feet short and knocked that in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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