	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 15, 2019

Abraham Ancer

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Well played, first time to THE PLAYERS, but you're making it feel like you've been here many times before. Talk us through the last two days.
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, it's been a blast. I've had a lot of fun. This golf course I think suits my eye really well. You've got to hit it really good off the tee, and I've been having fun. The first nine holes of the tournament I was a little bit out of rhythm, but after that I think I played really solid.

Q. What's been the key to the day, especially a lot of birdies, going out in tough conditions this afternoon?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I hit it really good off the tee. I was pretty much in the fairway every single hole, hit my irons really well so I had a lot of looks at birdie.

Q. You made par on the last hole. How big was that?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, that was big. I got in trouble, got a little greedy trying to go for the green, didn't quite hit my 5-wood that well and I cleared the tree, and then I was in a tough spot. Managed to get up-and-down from like, I don't know, I think it was like 80 yards in the bunker, which it was huge for the momentum going into the weekend.

Q. That par save, how big is that going into tomorrow? Does that kind of change your whole game, your whole strategy?
ABRAHAM ANCER: No, it doesn't change my game but it's huge just momentum-wise. You don't want to finish with two bogeys. On 8 I hit the shot just like I wanted to, maybe just a little lower than I wanted to and it just ended up dead, just behind the green there. So you don't want to compound on that bogey and finish with two of them, so yeah, that putt for par was huge at the end.

Q. What happened on with the birdie on 13?
ABRAHAM ANCER: On 13?

Q. That was the 38 feet.
ABRAHAM ANCER: Which one was that?

Q. You made a 40-footer.
ABRAHAM ANCER: Oh on the par-3?

Q. Yeah.
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I hit -- it was supposed to be the wind in and off the left and it didn't really quite touch it. I hit a good shot right over the pin and it went a little bit long. Then just hit a really good putt. Slider left-to-right down the hill.

Q. Do you feel relaxed out here? Is there anything different about this week as opposed to other tournaments?
ABRAHAM ANCER: No, I try to have the same frame of mind everywhere I go. It's just a golf course that I really like. It's in great conditions. You have to really play some good golf, some quality shots, and I just like the place. I've been having a good time.

Q. What is it about the golf course you like?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Just that you have to move the ball both ways, I think, off the tee. For example hole 1 you kind of have to hit a little fade. You don't have to, but it just makes you think that you have to do that. And then on 2 you can't hit a fade. I mean, you have to hit a little draw in there to keep it in the fairway. So every hole kind of tests you in the way that it makes you feel like you have to move it both ways.

Q. Had you ever been here before?
ABRAHAM ANCER: I've been to the other golf course, the Valley, for the WEB.COM finals.

Q. But did you ever play here?
ABRAHAM ANCER: No, I played 1 and 2 just once and that's it. It got dark and I didn't have a chance to see it.

Q. You've been in this spot plenty of times before. You had the lead at Quicken Loans after 54. What's different this time that you maybe were able to learn from previous experiences?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I mean I think just putting myself in this position as many times as I can obviously will make me better just because I've been there before. I think Australia helped me a lot, winning the Australian Open going into the final round with a pretty big lead and just keeping that -- I think I finished with the same lead that I went into it with, and just being in that position, I don't know, two, three, four times, maybes me feel very calm and just going out and doing my business.

Q. No Latin player has ever won this event before; what would that mean to you?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Oh it would be awesome. It would mean the world to me. Obviously for a Mexican golf it would be huge but also Latin America. I think we have a lot of great players that maybe don't get the spotlight that much, but I think that we have plenty of talent to win tournaments like this.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297