MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2021

Gary Woodland

Quick Quotes

Q. Not a lot of birdies -- well, 2 and 3. One birdie at 1. Right out of the gate, what does that do for you?

GARY WOODLAND: It's tough. I feel like I just got in the ring with Mike Tyson or somebody. It was brutal out there. They were nice to us on 4. The tee was up. So the golf course is in front of you, though. Obviously, Justin Rose is going off. Different than it was in November, obviously, but just hard to get ready. I mean, I think the chipping was hard. Obviously, trying to get used to the bouncing.

All in all, you're struggling all day just to get to that back nine because you know, once you get to 13, you've got 13, 15, 16 was obviously a birdie hole. You have some holes on the back side that you can get, but you've got to hang on early. 1's obviously a tough hole. 2, you got to get.

And then 5's a brutal golf hole as well. They did a good job when they moved that hole back. I used to hit 3 wood there. You hit 3 wood now, you're laying so far back. It's just a good golf hole.

Q. Gary, not many low numbers out there today. How would you assess your round?

GARY WOODLAND: I played better than I scored, which is a little frustrating. Foot slipped on 17, so that was frustrating to make bogey there because I was starting to drive it. I was doing what I need to do to play well around this place.

All in all, I'm okay with where I'm at. The game is trending in the right direction, but the golf course was hard. There's no doubt about it. It was tough to putt. It's tough to chip. The wind was picking up a little bit late, I think. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll get off before the wind gets blowing a little bit and get low in the morning.

Q. On the 1st hole, with one birdie there today, what was the caution? You can't go long?

GARY WOODLAND: It's just the bunker's placed perfectly. I hit 3 wood. I've always hit driver on that hole, but playing with D.J. yesterday, we hit some drivers, and you miss it left, you have no chance. So 3 wood at least makes the fairway bigger, but now you're coming in with a longer iron. So you're playing to the middle of the green. You're just playing, trying to get 4, and get out of there and try to get to 2 because 2 you can definitely attack.

Just a great opening hole, but one that you used to be able to bomb driver down there, and with the way the wind was today off the left, it couldn't cover that bunker. Maybe Bryson could. I hit 3 wood and laid back and hit 9 iron to the middle of the green and two-putted and got out of there.

Q. And 5 is just the bunker?

GARY WOODLAND: 5 is just a tough golf hole. I mean, it's one of the tougher driving holes for me, especially I like to miss it right, and right's no good, and left's no gimme either in that bunker. So tomorrow I'll probably play a little more conservative off the tee, but it's just you've got to get it in the middle of that green. Long's okay there. That bunker is fine back there. Short is no fun, especially where that pin is. And how firm the greens are, it makes that green a lot smaller.

But you have the option now to run it up there too. So you've just got to get the golf ball in the fairway and try to get it in the middle of that green. Like No. 1, you're just taking 4 and running.