THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 9, 2023

Sam Burns

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. How good was your round this afternoon?

SAM BURNS: I would say it was really good for the game that I had today. I drove it pretty well. Other than that, I did not hit my irons very good. Just kind of battled and kind of kept the ball in front of me and hit some good chips around some greens, and just kind of put together a decent round.

But I didn't feel like I had my best stuff today. It feels good to shoot that score.

Q. You started out here well last year, as well. What about this course fits your game?

SAM BURNS: I don't know. I do like these greens a lot. I think they're really good. I think the golf course is very demanding. You just don't get a lot of holes that you can kind of coast on. Every shot kind of has your attention here. I think that's beneficial for me.

I don't know if I can pinpoint one exact thing.

Q. What part of your game have you been least happy with so far this year?

SAM BURNS: I think the way I've hit my irons so far. I feel like if I can give myself a few more chances on the greens -- I've seen a lot of improvements, it's just kind of transferring it over to the golf course.

Q. Did you make any changes, or it's just something where you haven't --

SAM BURNS: Not really. Just haven't necessarily been comfortable and kind of found a good feel, and kind of working through that.

Q. On a course like this, if you're going south, is it easier to flip it around, or is it easy if you're going well to have one thing go wrong and go straight in the tank, nature of the golf course?

SAM BURNS: Yeah, like I said earlier, the golf course is very demanding, so if you're going south, it's not like you're going to have a ton of chances to make a bunch of birdies. Other than the par-5s, if you hit the ball out of position off the tee, it's very difficult. If you hit a bunch of fairways, you can give yourself a lot of looks, but I would say it's tough if you hit it out of position.

Q. Would you rather shoot 4-under hitting it not great or feeling like you left a few out there?

SAM BURNS: It doesn't matter to me. I think 4-under is 4-under, especially around this place.

I hit some really quality shots kind of the last few holes, so hopefully can kind of build on that for tomorrow.