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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AMFebruary 6, 2014Andrew LoupePEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA DOUG MILNE: We would like to welcome Andrew Loupe here to the interview room at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro‑Am. Andrew, great playing, 8‑under 63, bogey‑free in your first round here. And with that, I'll turn it over to you for some comments on your great play today. ANDREW LOUPE: Thank you. Had fun out there today. It was a good time. I thought I struck the ball well. I thought I kept it in front of me for the most part. One fairway that I think, that I can remember missing. I think I hit every green. Kept it in play. Stayed patient. Got a little lucky with the weather. And made a few putts, but really didn't make it too hard on myself. I would have liked to have had that 4‑footer on the last, but I put a good roll on it and you're just not going to make all of them. Fun day, man, I had a blast out there. What a great place. It is my first time here and Monterey was‑‑ it's beautiful out there and it's just cherishing the moment. DOUG MILNE: Questions? Q. Where would you have been when they stopped play? Getting ready to tee off? ANDREW LOUPE: I was walking to the tee, and we were about to start. Q. How were the conditions? How did the rain and softness affect the golf today? ANDREW LOUPE: We had ball in hand, so that allows you to have a little bit of an advantage playing out of the fairway, and I played out of a lot of fairways today, but it did play longer. I think it usually plays long this time of year from what I hear. But, there was a little wind out there, especially early on, midway through the round it picked up, it blew pretty good and then it really laid down. And you get some scoring clubs out there at Monterey, if you're driving it well, and I think I just took advantage of those scoring clubs. I think I gave myself a lot of looks and I also thought my speed was pretty good today for the most part on the greens. Q. Did you feel any of this coming after the first five tournaments you played this year? Could you talk a little bit about those first five tournaments and how things have gone for you and what were your thoughts coming in here? ANDREW LOUPE: Obviously, a rough start to the year. Couple of them being in the fall. But, I really just stick to the plan and I know that my group is good. I have a hundred percent trust in my swing coach, my family, my trainer. Chuck Winstead is my swing coach, he's, he's as good as it gets, out of LSU. And Kolby Tullier working with him as trainer, my parents, just really sticking to the plan. I did make one little adjustment, I've gone back to a little bit of a left‑to‑right shot shape, which I'm having success with. Not quite hitting it as far, just toning back a little bit, but I guess when you're in those ruts, you just‑‑ what, I just keep telling myself, you're supposed to be here, you're going to play good, just keep playing. And this is just one round, guys, you know, but I feel good. Q. Had you not ever been to MPCC before? ANDREW LOUPE: I played Monday. Q. That was the very first time? ANDREW LOUPE: Yes. Q. What did you shoot? ANDREW LOUPE: Monday? I played pretty good Monday. I got beat. Kevin Foley took it to me, but I thought I played pretty good. I don't know what I shot, but Foley took it to me, man, I was a little bitter after that, but. Q. When you talk about the start Tour year, how much of a lesson, I guess, could it be last year to realize that you're on the verge of nowhere, cut, cut, cut and then show up at Sawgrass and here you are? ANDREW LOUPE: I pulled that, I pulled off of that too. Q. One week can change everything? ANDREW LOUPE: I did miss a few cuts coming in to Sawgrass and played good. And I just knew that I could do it again.  Would I like to play more consistently? Yes, that's what I'm working towards. But I just want to keep this rolling. Q. Had you ever been to Monterey Peninsula before this week? ANDREW LOUPE: No, this is the first time. This place is amazing. I didn't know there was this many golf courses. I think my caddie, he's played a ton of rounds out here on Tiger Woods 2003, but that's about it. Q. Your caddie has, not you? ANDREW LOUPE: No, well I ‑‑ I think I played Pebble a couple times on it, but I'm not huge into video games, but he had it covered. He's played all of them plenty of times. Q. That's where your local knowledge came from? ANDREW LOUPE: Exactly. Q. Did you watch this tournament as a kid? Any memories or preconceived ideas of what it was going to be like? ANDREW LOUPE: Right, not Monterey, but Pebble. Yeah. I've seen the footage, Watson on 17, Nicklaus's 1‑iron, Graeme winning here, Tiger shot out of the rough on 6 up over the cliff. Yeah, I mean those are things that I really appreciate, the history of this golf course, the beauty of it, can't wait to play it tomorrow. Just spectacular place. There's not even words that can really live up to what it is. Q. What did you do when you got here? What courses did you play? M P on Monday? ANDREW LOUPE: I did. Actually, I guess I lucked out. I went MP, Pebble, Spyglass. And that looks like tic, tac, toe. Yeah, just three different golf courses, all great. Q. Did you lose money at Pebble and Spyglass too? ANDREW LOUPE: I came out okay. But Monterey‑‑ (Laughter.) Foley got me. But it's all good. DOUG MILNE: Well, last thing if you wouldn't mind, just run you through your birdies if you wouldn't mind. You had eight of them today. Just give us some a little bit of description. Maybe some clubs and yards. ANDREW LOUPE: Okay. 1's a good hole out of the gate. Kind of hits you in the face. And I just hit a good tee shot, hit 7‑iron in there. 160 something, a little back in. Hit it in there close. Knocked it in. Q. Close, meaning three feet? ANDREW LOUPE: Maybe four. Three and a half, four. I hit, just a great way to start your round. Had a couple looks on those pars, didn't knock them in. What is five 5? Par‑5. Good drive, 4‑iron, went for it, hit it solid, wind out of the left, just kicked into the bunker. Hit a really good bunker shot and tapped it in. 8, hit a good 3‑wood off that tee, playing downwind off the tee and then out of the left into the green. Hit a good 8‑iron in there. 150 something, 158, maybe. Hit it in there about eight feet. Rolled it in. 10, par‑5. It says four on here, but it is a par‑5. Hit driver, laid up, hit 4‑iron. It's such a tough shot to go for that green. Hit 4‑iron, laid it short. 60 something yards. I pitched it up there. Didn't really hit the greatest pitch shot, maybe 13, 14 feet. Up the hill and knocked it in. 12, another par‑5. 3‑wood off the tee, that's the only fairway I missed, just in the first cut. Just hung it a little right. 4‑iron, you think I had 108 with that shelf behind it, just threw it back there. Spun it back to maybe four, four and a half feet and knocked it in. 14, let's see, par‑3. 14, 190, just a choke hold 6‑iron. Aimed it at the left edge of the green and it ‑‑ just tried to hit a little bleeder in there. Didn't really cut, but it was a solid shot to the left side of the green and made about a 20‑footer on that hole. That was nice. Rolled that one in. 16, I man I wanted to hit driver on 16. I give my caddie some props. He put 3‑wood in my hand, just wider with 3‑wood. I want to take advantage of my length, but that was one where I thought I stayed patient. 3‑wood, hybrid to the front fringe. 2‑putt. 17, did hit driver on 17. Hit a good one. Hit 48 degree in there about maybe seven feet. Little right‑to‑left. And knocked that in. 18, I had the hybrid, 7‑iron to four feet and just hit a good putt, just didn't break as much as I thought. Q. You talked about the history of Pebble, you kind of recited that very easily, are you a student of golf history? Sounds like you are into the history of the sport? ANDREW LOUPE: I am. I think I'm just a student of athletics. I appreciate greatness. There's just so much history here. Those are just the highlights that are running through my head. I think that a lot of people in this field would know exactly what shots I'm talking about when you say those. But, yeah, I think I'm somewhat of a student of the game. I've been playing this game pretty much my whole life. Q. Where would you put this round since you turned pro? ANDREW LOUPE: It's right up there with any of them. What did I have, 8‑under today? So it's just one round. But it was a very fun, very enjoyable round. It is only a start. I think I had 8‑under in Omaha earlier this year to start that week off, I would probably say that this one's a little bit more special than that. But it's only one round, guys. Q. You mentioned your caddie, and the video game. What's your caddie's name? ANDREW LOUPE: Kevin Ensor. E N S O R. Q. E N S O R? ANDREW LOUPE: Yes. Q. And you also mentioned your length off the tee. How big a hitter are you? Sounds like that's a big asset of your game? ANDREW LOUPE: I am. I think I was second in driving distance last year on the Web.com TOUR. I've just, as a kid I just always swung really hard at it. And then I tried to learn how to hit it straight. (Laughter.) But, yeah, probably not hitting it quite as far now as I was a couple months ago, just because I got it going a little back left‑to‑right, probably a little shorter in the back swing. But that's something that I needed to do, you know. Q. 21st century player, right. Play hard. ANDREW LOUPE: That's right. Q. What's the biggest adjustment that you've had to make going from the Web.com to this TOUR? What are some of the things that you notice are different? ANDREW LOUPE: So far probably there's a little bit more to the golf courses. But that's not it. I think it's settling in. You're not putting next to the guys you've been putting next to. You're not hitting balls to the guys you've been hitting balls next to. I'm looking at guys I've been watching on TV, you know, and it's just realizing that I'm supposed to be here and this is ‑‑ I'm here for a reason and I think I was a little nervy the last couple weeks and I thought I did a lot better job of that today. Q. Was there any, "I'm here" moments or jarring moments maybe at Fry's, in terms of guys you were hitting balls with, watching on TV, etcetera. But I think I would be more curious, did you notice a difference from the three or four you played in the fall compared with the start of this season, San Diego or wherever, where it seemed like more guys were starting to show up? ANDREW LOUPE: Well, it was easy in the fall because we rolled right into it at Fry's. And Fry's is an unbelievable golf tournament, but there's not huge crowds there. So I was very relaxed at Fry's, I just didn't think I executed. But when you get to Torrey, it's like, boom, this is definitely the PGA TOUR. And a very hard golf course there as well. When did it hit me? Probably ‑‑ you know, I mean obviously I knew I was here, but Torrey really kind of let's you know. There's some big names there, Phil, Tiger, the list goes on. Q. Peterson. ANDREW LOUPE: Right. (Laughter.) He did play. Q. Are you fully exempt for this year? ANDREW LOUPE: I don't think any rookies are. I think you got to play, kind of play your way in. Q. So how many exemptions do you have? ANDREW LOUPE: I don't know, nor do I take too much time to think about it. I just would really like to play good tomorrow. DOUG MILNE: All right. Well we wish you the best at doing that. Thanks for coming in. ANDREW LOUPE: Thanks you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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