WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 4, 2021

Mark Hubbard

TPC Scottsdale

Quick Quotes

Q. You talk about running through the finish line, you just burst through the tape with birdies on your last four holes. What a great 90 minutes to finish off your day. Tell me about it.

MARK HUBBARD: Yeah, it was good. I think that's a little bit of this course. You can definitely score coming down the stretch with the par-5s and the drivable par-4.

That being said, I kind of found a little something in my swing. I think earlier in the day I was kind of whipping it a little inside, so I kind of straightened my takeaway a little bit, and that kind of got things in motion, and I putted pretty good all day.

Q. You also hit your irons pretty good. You only missed two greens all day, not just hitting greens but giving yourself makeable birdie putts.

MARK HUBBARD: Yeah, definitely. I hit a lot of really, really good iron shots. I got away with a few. Honestly I got away with the one on 18. I blocked it a little and I was lucky that it covered those bunkers, but you've got to get a little lucky to shoot 63.

Q. You're outside of the top 100 in FedExCup points. But one week can certainly turn things around, one little Band-Aid on your swing and you're at 63. How do you look at the next three rounds?

MARK HUBBARD: Yeah, I love this tournament. I really like this course a lot. I see the greens really well out here for some reason, and I just really love the energy. It's great to have fans back.

It's early in the season. I don't think too much about the FedExCup, but I'm just really excited for the next three days.

Q. You were cruising along playing pretty well but then you closed beautifully, five of your last six you birdied. What clicked for you in the latter part of your round?

MARK HUBBARD: Yeah, I think that's the scorable part of the course, but I found a little something, especially with the driver, in my backswing. I was kind of bringing it a little inside and just kind of getting stuck. I straightened that out on about 12 or 13 and really clicked into gear for the last couple, and I putted well all day.

Q. Is that something that's been bothering you over the last weeks or months?

MARK HUBBARD: Yeah, it's been something I've been working on a little bit, so it was kind of in the back of my mind when things started to go a little sideways in the middle of my round. Just I had a few checkups and that was one of them, and turned out I was right.

Q. You know you missed a number of cuts to start the season. What does a round like this do for your confidence and optimism?

MARK HUBBARD: Yeah, I mean, for whatever reason, I really like this place a lot, and it always kind of seems to kick me into gear right around this time of the year. Last year luckily I had a little better fall, so I didn't need that kick, but I still played here well last year. This stretch, this West Coast Swing, the next three starting here, just kind of always gives me some confidence. Yeah, I'm really excited with how I played, and I'm really excited for the next three days.

Q. What have you done with your putting since Palm Springs?

MARK HUBBARD: You know, I've worked on it a little. I haven't done much of the snail, but we were joking on 16 that if I had hit it to a tap-in's length that I would have had to have done it. It drew a little more at the end, so I had five feet and it was kind of outside that range. But who knows, we might break it out this week.

Q. Yeah? The snail could be in play?

MARK HUBBARD: You know, ideally a tap-in on 16 or a tap-in with like a two-shot lead on 18 for the win, those would be the two situation to see break it out.

Q. What did your teammates say? What was kind of the response you felt?

MARK HUBBARD: They all know I'm an idiot, so they just expect it from me.

Q. Hubbard's peanut butter --

MARK HUBBARD: Hubbard Peanut Company, yeah. No actual blood relation, just the same last name. But I played pretty well last year in Detroit and got a lot of TV time because I was paired with Bryson, so they kind of just reached out to me and they're a big golf family, a family-owned peanut company in Virginia, so it's been a great partnership.