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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 18, 2017

Kevin Kisner

Orlando, Florida

AMANDA HERRINGTON: Like to welcome Kevin Kisner to the interview room here at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 4-under 68 today to go with a 67 yesterday. What's working for you?

KEVIN KISNER: Well, I've hit the golf ball really well, given myself a lot of opportunities, and made a lot of putts from inside of 10 feet, which that seems to be the recurring stat of the guy leading the tournament, every time we turn on the TV. So I feel really comfortable on these Bermuda greens and want to keep rolling the rock tomorrow.

AMANDA HERRINGTON: Great. Questions?

Q. You seemed pretty dialed in, what was the mindset? You seemed to be able to play really aggressively out there.
KEVIN KISNER: Well, I've lost plenty of playoffs out here, so I try to makes a many birdies as I can and so I don't have to do that anymore. That's really what I've learned is these guys are not afraid and they're going to make a lot of birdies and there's no protecting leads. So I saw I got the lead early and then tried to make as many birdies as I could on the back nine. And had a lot of chances, just didn't hole the putts. But I hit a lot of nice putts and I'm going to build off that tomorrow.

Q. How in the groove were you, with your irons particularly? You had a lot of short birdie attempts early on.
KEVIN KISNER: I feel really comfortable with the numbers I'm hitting. I've hit a lot of fades and a lot of draws and feel really comfortable with what number is going to come down. And the greens are perfect so you know exactly what it's going to do when it touches the ground, which is always fun.

Q. Considering your connection to Augusta, does it take some pressure off knowing this you've already got that invitation and you're not playing for it tomorrow?
KEVIN KISNER: Well, I think so, yeah. I've already started my preparation for Augusta, so that was nice to know that I was in six months ago or five months ago. That's a huge tournament for me. Growing up from there, always been a big part of my life so, I like the way my game's progressing for it.

Q. I know there is some at least geographic connection, can you just take us through how often you went there as a kid and how many times you've been to the tournament.
KEVIN KISNER: I've grew up going there. My town basically relied on Masters week for a lot of its income. We basically shut down spring break, hotels are packed, restaurants are packed, golf courses are packed, and a lot of budgets rely on what the Masters brings. So, we're very thankful in our town for it. And I grew up going there, I would work in the mornings and then take somebody's ticket and run over there in the afternoon and watch golf. Sorry, I didn't take anybody's ticket.

Q. I was out on the course a little bit today and I saw that the wind would pick up and then it would die down and pick up and die down. Did you have any difficulty judging what it was doing from time to time?
KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, it moved directions a few times, so it was difficult, but it never got to the strength where you were really worried about it. I think tomorrow the forecast is for it to blow, so we'll find out really the test of it tomorrow.

Q. Results have been a little better beginning of this year than they were end of last year. What are you doing better and how close do you feel like you are to playing at that kind of peak of late 2015, early 2016?
KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, our goal was to start peaking about this time for Augusta. In the end of last year I was just worn out, played too much, too much grind, two TOUR Championships in a row, a ton of golf. I needed a break. And then we reset our game plan. I told my caddie at Honda, I said, in about a month I think I'm going to be able to do this on the golf course, and I hit some shots working on the things I've been working on today and that was cool to see under the gun.

Q. You talked about the Bermuda greens. Being from the region, do you consider that your an advantage and you also very often played much better in the southeast. Is that also an advantage for you?
KEVIN KISNER: A hundred percent. I love getting here to get on the Bermuda grass, it's what I grew up on, I feel like I can read the greens very good here and I use it to my advantage. That's, I just try to get through that West Coast and get over here to start making some money.

Q. What did you learn last year from getting to play in the Masters that you think you can use to your advantage this year?
KEVIN KISNER: Last year was an odd year, I felt like, because it was so difficult. Most of the guys were just trying, or I was, just trying to survive out there. It was so brutal. It would be nice to catch it on some good weather and be able to try to make some birdies, instead of trying to save par on every hole. So, I learned that it's just another golf course, another golf tournament you got to go play. It's still a big position golf course, you got to be in the right position and you got to hole putts.

Q. You said those guys other guys won't be scared tomorrow. I heard you say in the past that you feel like that's one of your strengths that things don't scare you like that. Is that the way you feel going into tomorrow?
KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, I'm not too scared. It is what it is. It's just golf and it's another game. So I have a pretty good outlook on that. There's a lot of other things I could be doing that would be way worse than to have the lead at Arnold Palmer's tournament, that's probably not the worst of them. I'll be anxious to get going and want to get off to a good start, but it is what it is. I'll try my best and hopefully not be in a playoff.

Q. What are you doing now that you weren't doing say a year ago and what specifically did you need to get sorted out that you predicted would come about this time?
KEVIN KISNER: I played injured a little bit last year and it got me into some bad swing habits. So I feel like I struggled through that through probably April to June, July, and then starting in the winter and this year, I've got a better grasp of my tendencies of what I do incorrectly when I hit poor golf shots. And I think that eases the mind when you hit a poor shot and you know exactly what you did. So, I'm pretty comfortable in my game and pretty comfortable with the shots I'm trying to hit.

Q. Can you give an example when you talk about the stuff you're working on using some of those shots today.
KEVIN KISNER: I never been a very good cut guy, so here, with the greens being firm, you got to get the ball in the air and get them coming down softer. So I hit a couple what I consider cuts, my caddie laughs at me, he says they went straight, but I hit really nice mid iron cut shots into like 8 and 11 and 14, 15. So I was pretty excited about that.

Q. Wondering the clubs into 7, 8, and 10, the approach shots.
KEVIN KISNER: 7 was a 5-iron. 8 was an 8-iron and 10 was just a lob wedge.

Q. You joked a few times about not wanting to be in a playoff, but would that sort of get a monkey off your back to go out and win one in a playoff at some point?
KEVIN KISNER: Absolutely. I would love to be in a position to be in a playoff tomorrow, if it comes down to that. But I've never done anything wrong in the playoff, so I'm not too worried about my role in a playoff.

Q. (No microphone.)
KEVIN KISNER: It was a beautiful shot for an 8 though.

Q. Just what would it mean to win this week, not only here, but the first year without Mr. Palmer here.
KEVIN KISNER: Well, if I did win I sure wish he was here to have a drink with him afterwards, that's for sure. But it would be a pretty unbelievable thing to have on my resume and add that trophy to my trophy case. He was such an icon for our game and guys don't realize how much he did for our game and how many fans he brought to the game, so we should all be thankful for what he did.

Q. What was maybe the most frustrating point last year?
KEVIN KISNER: Just the average golf that I was playing. It was very average. A lot of 30th, 20th, 40th, never get in contention and the whole reason I play the game is to get in contention. So I didn't feel like I was playing well enough to get in contention and that was the hardest part.

Q. Was there a week or so that it was maybe most frustrating where you knew something needed to -- you were injured so maybe give your self a little bit of a break -- but you knew things needed to turn around.
KEVIN KISNER: The playoffs. I was trying to make the Ryder Cup team and I just knew I didn't have the game, I wasn't doing what I needed to do, and it was just frustrating. I put too much pressure on myself probably to perform. And it just wasn't happening. So that's just life, you got to move on.

Q. Why didn't you go for it on 6?
KEVIN KISNER: Why didn't I? Where was I going to go? It hits over the water it's in the back bunker, dead. So I had like 217 front. I don't have a club to stop it on the green. You could have gone for it though. You would have rinsed it, right in the water. No reason to yell at you.

(Laughter.)

At least you walked today. I didn't see anybody else out there. Oh, never mind. Just kidding.

(Laughter.)

AMANDA HERRINGTON: All right, we're going to let you go, Kevin.

KEVIN KISNER: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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