SHRINERS CHILDREN'S OPEN

October 13, 2023

Nick Taylor

TPC Summerlin

Quick Quotes

Q. Nick, a pretty different looking scorecard today, but a solid round of 67. Just an opening comment on your round.

NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, the back nine kind of went as good as you'd want coming off a good round and playing in the morning. That's the scorable nine, so it was nice to get off to a good start.

After my tenth hole, the 1st hole, I just had a hard time finding fairways and was kind of grinding from there, but did a good job of saving pars on probably three, four holes and kind of keeping it in there. Keeping a clean card is nice. Just need to drive it a little better tomorrow and have more chances from there.

Q. Could you walk us through some of those shots on the four-hole stretch that you played in 4-under on the back nine?

NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, I hit a really nice pitch on 13, the par-5 there to pretty close.

Hit a great drive actually on the drivable hole, just went through in that bunker and hit a nice shot to a few feet.

Then hit a nice 4-iron from where I was on the right side of the fairway on 15 just over the green, and that was kind of a bonus, too, to drain about a 30-, 40-footer from the fringe there. That was a nice stretch.

I hit some good shots after that. I felt like the last 10, 11 holes, just had a hard time hitting it close. It was just kind of make a par and move on.

Q. Anything to the theory of being in a good group pushing each other along? You guys all played pretty well.

NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, no doubt. When you see the ball going in, people hitting the fairways, constantly hitting it close, it kind of brings your vision in, and it's always a good thing.

Yeah, we all played great on that first nine. I felt like we kind of stalled out in the middle of the round but finished it off decently well. Yeah, it's always fun to play when everyone is playing well.

Q. The leaderboard right now is pretty packed, which is not uncommon for a Friday, but what does that mean for the weekend to try and break away from a group?

NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, this place is hard to break away. There's so many birdies. You've just got to keep the pedal down. I feel like that's the best I can do, not even bother looking at leaderboards tomorrow, try to shoot as low as possible. The greens are firm, so it's probably not as low as in the past, but fairways are a premium, so I need to hit a few more tomorrow to try to have some more wedges in my hands.

But other than that, like I said, kind of keep the pedal down, try to make as many birdies as I can.

Q. The attention this week obviously has been on Lexi. Looks like she's got a really good shot at making the cut. She's inside right now. What does that do for the game and what does that mean?

NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, it's incredible. We were in scoring; I think she's 3- or 4-under today. I hope she can finish it off. It would be awesome for the weekend. Even that, shooting 3- or 4-under, giving it a good run already is very impressive. I'm pulling for her. I hope she'll make it.