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HUMANA CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONJanuary 16, 2014Ryan PalmerLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: Like to welcome Ryan Palmer to the interview room. You got it to 8‑under today. If you want to talk about what was going good and then we'll have questions. RYAN PALMER: It was a slow start to begin with. 1‑over through 6. Then hit a great birdie on number 7. Which kind of jump started it. Then James and I talked about getting a few more coming in, shoot a 4‑ or 5‑under maybe and have a decent day. But started on 14 and just kind of went off from there. Making six in a row, which was pretty remarkable. But I hit a lot of close shots. I only had a few six, seven footers, I had to make. So nothing ‑‑ I wasn't making a whole lot of long putts, just hitting it close. And really hit it good today on those last 12 holes. But, also, I mean you still got to make a lot of five, 6‑footers to keep a round like that going, and I was able to do that. And off to a good start. MARK STEVENS: Go through the clubs on those. RYAN PALMER: Started on 13, the par‑4. I hit a 6‑iron to about six feet. 14, I hit driver, 3‑iron and 2‑putted for birdie. 15, I hit a 9‑iron or a pitching wedge, couldn't have been five or six feet again. 16, hit lob wedge. Had about a 6‑footer. 17, it was a 50 degree wedge, I hit about seven or eight feet. Hit 6‑iron and 18 and 2‑putted from a ‑‑ from 91 feet. There you go. And then another 6‑footer for birdie. So a lot of short putts I made. MARK STEVENS: Okay. Questions. Q. You've been top‑10 here twice in the last three years. What is it about these courses that click with you? RYAN PALMER: When you get obviously perfect weather, and perfect greens, and I feel like I'm a pretty good putter, and I can make a lot of birdies in a round. I enjoy coming here. I have a good feeling when I get here so I'm always at ease when I'm here in my mind. I've got some great people we stay with and have a good time with. That's over at Indian Wells. And I just, I look back on the success I had here and the round I've shot, and I'm able to carry that over and then obviously, playing good last week helped. So, if I keep hitting the driver the way I'm hitting it, I can get out there pretty good and have a lot of short irons in and keep putting good and I tend to play pretty well here. Q. Given the reputation this tournament has as a birdiefest, does that change your mindset or your approach coming into this week or do you pretty much handle it the same way you handle any other week? RYAN PALMER: Yeah, I do. You know what it's going to be like coming in here. You know if you don't shoot at least 4‑under, I mean you can look at par being 68 I think on every golf course. And if you don't shoot 3‑ or 4‑under par each day, the first couple days, you're kind of behind the eight ball going into Saturday and trying to get up there to have a chance to win on Sunday. But, you still approach it the same. You just got to know that you got to come out and make a lot of birdies and minimize your mistakes as much as you can. Q. Have you been working on anything specific in your swing leading up to today? RYAN PALMER: No, not particularly. I put a lot more work on my wedge game, I think at home, with Randy Smith, and then when I'm out here. And the main thing for me is just kind of working on the mental aspect of the game and kind of getting out of my own way and letting my talent take‑over. That's kind of the way I put it. And just keep doing work I've been doing ‑‑ oh geez, here we go, good gosh. (Zach Johnson entered the room) I was in a good sentence too. Had nothing to do with you, though. Thanks, Zack, Zach Johnson, everybody. RYAN PALMER: Thank you. Exactly. Q. You said see if we can get a decent round going after the start. Par 68. I mean do you think of yourself ‑‑ if you shoot 72 you're done here? RYAN PALMER: Not necessarily. But you got to‑‑ you shoot 72 today, you need to come out and shoot 7 or 8 tomorrow I think to have a chance to get in contention Sunday. If you shoot 4‑ or 5‑under par each day, going in and then being that probably 14, 15, 16 range, going into Sunday, you need to shoot 7‑ or 8‑under hopefully and be up there and maybe win. Because you got to get to 22, anywhere close to 24 under par to win. Q. That stretch on the Palmer Course on the back nine there against mountain, is that a stretch where you think you've got to make birdies or is there enough danger out there where you've got to be pretty careful or are they just green light go? RYAN PALMER: The way the wind was blowing, the breeze today it was green light all day for me, because I was able to‑‑ when I made birdie on 14 hitting 6‑iron that was huge or 13, excuse me. And knowing I can get to 15 easy or 14. And then I was going to have wedges coming in throughout. Because the longest iron I hit was a pitching wedge, besides 18, with a 6‑iron. So I knew when I made three in a row I thought okay, I can get one or two more easygoing into 18. And then birdie the next three after that. So it was ‑‑ I was hitting a lot of wedges, that helped me. When you play with Zach Johnson a lot and learn to watch him hit wedge, you get better. MARK STEVENS: Well thanks for your time, Ryan. Good luck tomorrow. RYAN PALMER: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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