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THE McGLADREY CLASSICOctober 25, 2014Chris KirkSEA ISLAND, GEORGIA Q. Just quietly playing your way into contention. 66 today, your thoughts? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, it was a little bit of an up‑and‑down day, but thankfully was able to finish on a pretty high note there. Q. And it was one very high note there on No. 8. Do you want to walk us through how you played that hole? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, it was just a hybrid off the tee like I've been hitting every other day and ended up with a perfect number, 120, with a little bit of helping wind, so that was a perfect kind of sand wedge for me, and managed to get it just perfect. Q. You got yourself right in the thick of things. Just thoughts for tomorrow? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I'm very happy with the position that I'm in. I haven't really putted my best the first three days, so really I'm just hoping I can kind of get the putter going a little bit and then make a few tomorrow and maybe I'll be able to give them a run. Q. Earlier in the week, we'll start with that, when you said you thought you might be kind of rusty coming in here and you had low expectations. What's changed since then, if anything? CHRIS KIRK: Not a whole lot really. I'm happy with the position I'm in. I've managed to put three pretty solid rounds together, and hopefully I can give them a little bit of a run tomorrow. Q. Just an up‑and‑down kind of day for you, but you hung in there. And talk about the shot you made on the last hole. CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, it was. Unfortunately I've been in that bunker a lot of times, so I know the shot is possible, at least. And yeah, it was a little bit of an awkward lie, the ball below my feet and a 4‑iron which is not the ideal putt to be coming out of there. But I made a good swing at it obviously and came out just flush and ended up in a good spot and thankfully was able to roll that put in. Q. I know you're not a big stats guy, but no defending champ here has finished better than 15. Do you think you can change that tomorrow? CHRIS KIRK: I hope so, yeah, I hope to finish a lot better than 15, but yeah, we'll see how it goes. Q. Were you leading in Boston going into Labor Day, Monday? CHRIS KIRK: No. Q. Who was leading? CHRIS KIRK: I think Russell was. Q. In Boston? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah. Q. Was he really? Anyway, my point is your position is probably going to be somewhat similar to what it was here last year, isn't it? CHRIS KIRK: I was leading last year. I was tied for the lead. Q. I thought Briny was leading. CHRIS KIRK: He was tied with me. Q. Someone want to take over here? (Laughs)? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah. New question. Q. Birdie putt on 18, how did you read that one? CHRIS KIRK: It's about a cup out, left to right. It was actually on the same lie. I made a putt for birdie on Saturday last year to that same pin on the same line. And had that putt countless other times out here, so I actually knew what it did, it breaks pretty hard at the end there and I was able to sneak it in. Q. I was looking on the first page of the leaderboard, your three wins top anyone pretty much except Stewart Cink. Do you feel like you've transitioned from kind of the new breed to one of the established guys out here on TOUR? CHRIS KIRK: I'm probably somewhere in between. I would say I'm far from being a veteran, that's for sure, but far from being a rookie as well, you know, so somewhere in between, I guess. Q. Did you hit it in the bunker again on 18? CHRIS KIRK: I did today, yeah. Q. Seems like you haven't seemed to hit it left on the hole. CHRIS KIRK: I've hit it in there a few times, yeah. Thanks for pointing that out. It's never been the most comfortable tee shot for me for some reason. It's usually the wind off to the left, which I don't love. But I don't know, I hit a perfect tee shot yesterday and I've hit a lot of perfect tee shots on that hole, so I'm going to tomorrow try to remember some of those perfect ones instead of the ones I hit today and the first round. Q. Seems like you're getting more comfortable on the bunker hitting 4‑iron out of it? CHRIS KIRK: I did hit a pretty good 4‑iron today, yeah. That was nice. But it's a pretty stressful shot trying to hit a 4‑iron from an awkward stance and get it over the lip out of that bunker. A lot of bad things can happen there, so I'd rather just avoid the thing altogether. Q. Looks like you're going to be three behind, whatever. Would you have taken that at the start of the week? CHRIS KIRK: Oh, yeah. I really had no idea what to expect from my game after not really playing a whole lot during my five‑week break, so yeah, I was just trying to play some decent golf, and thankfully I've managed to play some pretty solid golf. Q. How do you feel like your experience from winning on Sunday last year will hope you going into tomorrow? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I mean I think not necessarily from winning this tournament, but the experience of winning any tournament is always going to help you in the future, and so having three TOUR wins under my belt will definitely help my chances, I think. It's not a situation where anyone is comfortable. Everyone is going to be nervous, but if I can be just a little bit more comfortable than the next guy, maybe that'll give me an advantage, but we'll see. Q. You were leading through 10 today and then you had the three birdies down the stretch. Did anything really change after the first half of your round today? CHRIS KIRK: It was just kind of a little bit up‑and‑down deal. I haven't putted great this week, you know, and I made a really nice like 20‑footer on the first hole, just center cut, perfect speed and was like, all right, here we go; I'm going to roll it today, and then three‑putted the second hole. So, so much for that. You know, I hit some really good putts and some really poor putts today. After holing out a wedge shot on 8, I hit a terrible putt from about six feet probably on No. 9 and made a bogey there, and then misread probably a 10‑footer for par on No. 10. So kind of sucked to after holing out from the fairway for eagle to bogey the next two holes. But I think part of what's helped me this week is that I haven't really had that high of expectations for myself, and you know, so when I do stuff like that, it probably doesn't piss me off quite as much as it normally would. This is my first tournament of the year and I'm just trying to ease into it and now I'm in a good spot, so hopefully I'll be able to keep playing well tomorrow and just keep plugging along. But I'm not really that concerned about it, to be honest with you. I'd love to win tomorrow. I'd love to play a great round tomorrow. I don't know, maybe that's just from being not a rookie anymore, we play 30 or so of these every year, so each one, you can't put too much pressure on yourself or too much weight on it or you'll drive yourself crazy. I'm hoping to be doing this for a long time, so hoping to have hundreds and hundreds of more events and a lot of other chances to win tournaments. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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