|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
CIMB CLASSICOctober 26, 2013Chris StroudKUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA CHRIS REIMER: Fantastic round today, Chris. I think you've got to be pretty pleased with where you are. I know the leaders came back a little, but you had a solid round out there. Talk about what you had going right today. CHRIS STROUD: Yeah, I still didn't hit the ball as well as I did the first day today, but I really hung in there, gave myself a lot of good looks and I got on a good tear there. I think I made four or five birdies in a row. You can do that on this golf course. There's a lot of wedges, but I'll tell you what, if you do not hit a fairway, you're going to struggle to make par, and that's really my focus. Every hole I get up on, I'm doing everything I can to get that ball in the fairway. Even though the fairways are very soft, they're pretty tight, and you get just a couple inches, couple feet into the rough, you're going to have a hard time getting to the green. I played well today, had a couple of loose shots there. I missed one short putt on 17 for birdie, but other than that, it was very solid. I gave myself a chance, and like I said, my number in my head is try to get to 20‑under, and depending on the conditions tomorrow I'm sure they'll be pretty similar.  That's the goal, just try to get to 20‑under. Don't worry about what the leaders are doing until I get to the last couple holes and maybe have to change my strategy. CHRIS REIMER: You had a playoff against Ken Duke at the Travelers last year. On the 18th hold you chipped in from about 50, 60 feet off the green. I'm sure you'll use that experience to try to get your first win tomorrow. Just talk about progression since that and what you learned that day. CHRIS STROUD: That's exactly right, and it's exactly what I'm doing. I'm pulling from all that experience, and what I learned under the gun there was I don't need to try to do anything fancy. I just need to stick to my game plan, keep hitting shots, keep hitting good quality shots, keep putting myself in the right positions, keep hitting good putts, and stick to my strengths, which are chipping, putting and wedges, and get myself in the fairway. I'm fairly good inside 170, 160 yards I feel like with my irons, especially on this golf course there's a lot of short irons and short wedges. If I can give myself a lot of wedges tomorrow, put the ball close and keep putting the putter in my hands, you know, hopefully I'll give myself a good chance tomorrow. Q. You talked about the fairways. Did you have problems on the back nine making the fairways, and why do you think in general the back nine has been so problematic for players? CHRIS STROUD: You know, the back nine is a little longer. It's a little more difficult I feel like. I mean, you have a little more options on the back nine. You either hit‑‑ both sides have some holes where you can either hit driver or 3‑iron or 3‑iron and lay up, but I'm choosing to hit driver basically every time. But it's just tough to‑‑ I think the back nine is a little tougher, a little longer, even though there are some short wedges coming in. But yeah, my swing tends to‑‑ the last couple days has gotten a little looser coming in the last few holes. Hit sort of a loose shot on 18 and got myself in some trouble and really did a great job getting out of trouble to make a par there. But it's just‑‑ you've just got to keep doing the same thing. This golf course is really pretty tricky and you've got to be careful not to put yourself in some bad positions, and that's what I'm really focusing on the most is just putting myself, keep the ball in front of me, let everybody else make mistakes. Q. So you feel like today you didn't really make any major mistakes? CHRIS STROUD: Nothing major. Like I said, I had a couple loose shots. I didn't quite feel comfortable on the one putt on 17 from like four feet for birdie. That was about the only thing I felt like I could have backed up and started over. You know, the golf swing felt okay. It didn't feel great. It felt really good Thursday. So I'm going to put a few more reps in and get the swing a little bit sharper tomorrow and hopefully go out there and give myself a lot of looks and give myself a chance, see if I can catch these guys. CHRIS REIMER: I've talked to some players who enjoy the course because if you play well you can score, but if you don't it'll identify you real quick. CHRIS STROUD: Yeah, it's really going to spread out the field here, and that's great test of golf. That's the way all great golf courses do. When you're playing well you can make a lot of birdies, but if you're just a little bit off, you're going to make bogey after bogey and a couple of doubles. I've gotten lucky a couple times. I could have made a double today on I think that hole is 12. I hit a great drive and I was just four feet in the rough. I had a good lie in the rough but it was a downslope over the water, and I caught the rough on the way through, and it was short, went in the water, hit a great wedge to three feet to make bogey. There's a lot of holes out there like that, and even the short ones, I'm talking 13, 14, over the water maybe, it's a 4‑iron, wedge, over the water. If you hit it left or right in the rough you're going to have a hard time giving yourself a chance to make birdie. You can hit it in the water there. I know if you're not sharp on this course you can shoot a pretty good number, and my focus tomorrow is the same as it's been, just get myself in every fairway and then from there get myself on the green, keep myself in some good areas and hit the wedges as close as possible. CHRIS REIMER: You've played almost 200 PGA TOUR events now, you come into Malaysia and to perhaps get your first one, would you consider yourself an honorary Malaysian at that point? CHRIS STROUD: Yeah, that would be pretty special. I've done a lot of thinking obviously the last few years, I've learned quite a bit playing on the PGA TOUR. But my coach and I really have sat down, we sat down this last week and we talked hours about what do I need to do to win a golf tournament. I think I really have figured it out, and I think I need to play one or two tournaments max in a row and just practice, practice, practice at home and put a lot of reps into the golf swing, get the golf swing a lot sharper than what it usually is. I think in the past I've given myself an idea, hey, I need to go play three or four in a row and get golf going. That's the case sometimes, but in my case right now, as sharp as my short game and my putting are, I just need to get the golf swing really sharp, and right now it worked. The last four days in a row I must have hit 2,500 balls and three times that in reps. And I think that's my recipe, and that's what I used to do back in college when I played really well and I was really successful at that, only played a few tournaments a year, just reps, reps, reps, and do it like the best guys in the world, Tiger, Phil, Steve Stricker. They're playing 13, 14, 15 events a year, I guess 15 to 18, and they're coming prepared to win. That's what I want to do. I've tried everything else. I'm going to try this. CHRIS REIMER: Congratulations, and good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|