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SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN

November 3, 2017

J.J. Spaun

Las Vegas, Nevada

Q. J.J., solid playing today, particularly in some tough conditions when you guys started. What was the key for you today?
J.J. SPAUN: I think we were just real deliberate on our numbers out there. It's super swirly, windy. Zeke and I discussed every shot and kind of visualized each shot and executed well and had a couple good looks, and fortunately some of them poured in and some of them were close enough to just tap in.

Q. The wind died down a little bit, but what was the challenge with the wind as strong as it was out there today?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I think it's just kind of getting your distances correct. Out here you've got so many undulations around the greens and you've got tight hazards next to the pins and the greens, so it's crucial to get the right number, and we did that well today. That kind of set us up for having a bunch of looks out there.

Q. You talked yesterday about how a year ago you got yourself in some good positions, weren't able to capitalize. As you head into the weekend at 11-under, what's your plan?
J.J. SPAUN: Just to continue what I've been doing all week. I'm putting well, I'm hitting it well, I'm just trying to play simple golf. I know it's not going to be easy on the weekend, but just trying to keep things in perspective and stay within myself and give myself a shot on Sunday.

Q. One better today; seemed like the conditions were a touch tougher. How were you able to put together another nice round?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, just stayed patient out there. Zeke and I got some good numbers and we committed to sticking to those numbers, and just were able to see shots out there and try to execute. That's kind of what we did, so we kind of kept it simple and had a lot of good looks out there today.

Q. You had 11-under halfway through, seems like it's been two smooth rounds. Talk about what it's like when your game seems to be clicking.
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, this is a course I feel really comfortable around. Even when the wind is kind of kicking up, it's just a matter of kind of respecting some of the holes. I mean, there's holes out here where you feel like you need to attack and some holes that you need to respect a little. You know, it's just staying patient out there I think is key, especially when it's windy.

Q. How much can you draw on from last season as you get right in to tackle the weekend in a great spot?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I mean, I kind of -- I've had a year's experience now on the TOUR, and this year it's kind of just taking my game to the next level instead of just kind of being someone that lingers around the cut or like top 20s. It's time to step up if I want to do something big out here on TOUR and make a name for myself.

Q. Is there a point where you say, I don't feel like a rookie anymore?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, but it's still like -- it's like the same year still technically as my rookie year, but yeah, it's kind of like you need to kind of grow up and you're not a baby, you not a rookie anymore. You feel like when you're a rookie, everything is kind of stacked against you, for instance, like guys out here that are in the rookie category aren't going to finish a round until tomorrow morning, so I think after a year it's kind of -- that was your -- you're getting your feet wet, and now it's time to actually go to work and put yourself in contention and try to get W's out here.

Q. Do you feel yourself at that breakthrough point?
J.J. SPAUN: I mean, I feel like I had a lot of experience last year early on in the West Coast Swing. I had a couple of good finishes and been in contention a couple times, and it's just -- I think for me, it was kind of figuring out how to deal with such a long season last year, and that's why kind of the second half, I kind of just tailed off and stayed quiet, didn't really make a lot of noise, but now it's just trying to get myself in contention and make a name for myself, and you're not a baby anymore, so it's time to step up and do something big. I'm just trying to stick to my game plan and execute.

Q. Is consistency of performance important to you?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I've consistently struck it well. I mean, I didn't miss a whole lot of cuts last year, but you don't -- I'd rather be really good and then really bad, rather than like consistently mediocre. But I think it's just for me getting the putter going, and that's kind of what I've been doing this week is making a lot of putts.

Q. Is there a stretch of holes out here where you think you can really score?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I think on the back I like the stretch from 11 to 16, and then 17 and 18 are just kind of like -- if you make a par, good; if you make birdie, great. And then on the front, I think the first three holes are kind of difficult just because one is always kind of a jittery hole just because it's the first hole of your round, and 2 and 3 are tough, and then once you get to 4, you can kind of get some momentum going if you make a birdie on 4 and 5, and it's just keeping the ball in the fairway on those holes and you can have some short irons.

Q. Like 4 through 9 then?
J.J. SPAUN: I think 4 through 9 it's pretty gettable to make some birdies and get some looks.

Q. So it's really green-lighting then?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, that's the thing, I don't feel uncomfortable on a lot of holes out here. Maybe like two or three holes just really the tee shot, but other than that, it's kind of green light if you're in the fairway and you have the right club.

Q. It was impressive to see, that 3 is really hard, but you had the bogey there, and the next two holes were not only birdies but like stiffing it. Was that something you were trying to get rid of that bogey quickly?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, yeah, I think you can easily -- once you kind of see a wheel fall off, you can kind of start seeing all the wheels fall off. But I kind of did that a little bit last week, but it was a couple of bad breaks. This week I didn't want that to happen. Even though 3 is playing really hard. I mean, that's probably the toughest hole on the course, and it was just a misread with the distance on the putt, and other than that, I was still going to go with my game plan and fire at every pin if I had the right club and the right opportunity.

Q. You mentioned it earlier the success you had early in the year on the West Coast. It sort of tapered off as the summer went along. Is that the product of just a long season? What sort of led to the taper off?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I think I tapered off kind of after RBC. That was my last top 10.

Q. You had a couple withdraws in there, too.
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, and then I got injured during Colonial. I had an intracostal rib injury. I withdrew that week and I really wanted to play Memorial badly and withdrew after nine because I didn't touch a club, so I thought maybe Thursday morning I could do it, and I felt good, but once it came to game time, it was just too hard after about seven or eight holes.

Q. Was that nagging for the rest of the summer?
J.J. SPAUN: Well, I had to take -- after that I took three weeks off, so between those two weeks I only swung a club for maybe two or three days and then nine holes during the week of Memorial, and then I went back home, didn't do U.S. Open qualifying, I didn't play Memphis, I didn't play Travelers, I didn't play obviously the U.S. Open. So I just took almost five weeks off just from not even swinging a club because that's the only thing you can do to recover from that injury. And then I think when I came back, I lost a lot of my confidence maybe on the greens, ball-striking took a while for it to get back to where it was because you don't want to reinjure yourself and you kind of feel tentative out there. But yeah, and then just was kind of a blah finale for me, barely making cuts. I made it to Boston but didn't do anything out there.

Overall my goal was to keep a card, and that's kind of what I did. Definitely things to draw on and focus on for this year.

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