MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2022

Corey Conners

Quick Quotes

Q. Can you assess that round for us?

COREY CONNERS: It was a solid round. I felt like I did everything quite well. It was very tricky out there with the wind blowing, but I felt like I controlled my ball well and kept myself out of difficult spots. I was able to scramble well when I needed to and took advantage of a few of the birdie opportunities that I had. Overall quite a solid day. Definitely happy with the round.

Q. Is that kind of a typical round here at Augusta National, what you have to do because you're never going to get perfect shots all the way around?

COREY CONNERS: It never plays easy, I guess. It's a very tricky golf course. With the wind up, you've got to battle hard and try and keep it as simple as possible. That's pretty much it.

Q. Any holes unusual today? Anything surprise you out there with the wind directions or anything like that?

COREY CONNERS: Not really. Fortunately, the wind was blowing pretty consistently. Some holes maybe played easier with the wind. Some holes were certainly more difficult, but I've got some good experiences around here, so I wouldn't say anything really surprised me out there.

Q. How much has the course changed, I guess, throughout your round, and how soon will it be sort of back to what it was before the rain?

COREY CONNERS: I was shocked with how dry, and it certainly wasn't firm, but it wasn't wet out there at all for all the rain that we've had the last couple of days. So the course definitely started to firm up a little bit more throughout the day with the sun and wind, but it was in phenomenal condition.

COREY CONNERS: Your short game has been tidy the last few weeks, so how happy are you with that, and, obviously, that's something that's a focus around --

COREY CONNERS: I had a couple very nice up-and-downs towards the end of the round on 16 and 18, and overall it was definitely really good. Happy with it. I've been happy with it for a while. Been working hard at it. Hopefully don't have to use it so much, but it feels great.

Q. What happened with the tee shot on 16?

COREY CONNERS: Yeah, both of the other guys in my group, it's not what club you hit but how you hit it. They both hit a 6-iron. I hit a 7-iron. I hit a pretty solid one. Wind definitely didn't touch my ball. Tugged it a little bit, but I was shocked at how far it flew, to be honest. It looked like it was soaring in the air, but I was, like, there's no way it can be long. I thought I needed to hit it quite good to get it up to where the pin was. And, yeah, I found out that the back of the green is playable. I don't think I've ever been there before. Yeah, that was a positive, but just hit it kind of through the wind. I was expecting the wind to hurt it and blow it to the right a little bit.

Q. In shots like that, how much is patience in order -- obviously, you were frustrated by a shot, but you hit a great up-and-down.

COREY CONNERS: It's something that I'm trying to get better at and something I feel like I've done a good job of as of late. When I thought about it, I was, like, hey, struck a pretty solid golf shot. It obviously went way further than I shot, but let's have some fun with the next one and see if we can get up and down.

Q. Didn't hurt anybody.

COREY CONNERS: Didn't hurt anybody, fortunately.

Q. You've been to a number of these now. On the first tee has the feeling changed? How did it feel today?

COREY CONNERS: I think getting more and more comfortable. It's obviously a thrill to be able to tee it up here, so there was definitely a little bit of nerves, but I felt quite comfortable. Yeah, really looking forward to doing it again.