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PUERTO RICO OPEN PRESENTED BY SEEPUERTORICO.COMMarch 9, 2014Chesson HadleyRIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO SEBASTIAN MARENTES: Chesson Hadley, congratulations. You are a champion here in Puerto Rico. Tell me how it feels for your first win on the PGA TOUR. CHESSON HADLEY: Thank you, Sebastian. Yeah, it's incredible. It's a dream come true. You know, I'm fighting it off‑‑ fighting coming down the stretch. Danny is kind of making a run at me on 15 and 16. And you know, to birdie the last two, it's incredible. I mean this is what I‑‑ you dream of as a six‑year‑old out in the bunker, you know, hitting bunker shots on the range. You know, I don't‑‑ I just‑‑ it hasn't sunk in yet. It'll be nice to sleep on it, and you know, wake up in the morning knowing I'm a PGA TOUR champion and nobody can ever take that away from me. It's very special, and especially to do it down here in Puerto Rico. That was fantastic. And I'm just very grateful. SEBASTIAN MARENTES: That's awesome. We'll open it up for questions from the media. Q. Chesson, tell me about, you mentioned a little bit, it was a tough night last night and you had some trouble eating. Talk to me a little about what it was like just getting to the first tee. CHESSON HADLEY: Yeah. I mean it's straight out of a movie, everything you think it would be. I wasn't vomiting or anything, but there was a couple of times where I felt nauseous out on the course. I remember No. 10 I felt a little nauseous. You know, I went to bed. I watched maybe three minutes of the Duke‑Carolina game, and you know, I felt right asleep and I woke up ready to go about 5:30, 6, and I never really went back to sleep, just kind of tossed and turned. You know, having these late tee times, you gotta sit around, but I mean that's the nature of the game, so fortunately I've gotten used to kind of figuring out some things to do. It helps to have a four‑month‑old, you're kind of always occupied with oh, my gosh, what is he doing. You know, I was able to get off to that good start like I wanted to which excelled me in, and to birdie the last two holes to really kind of clinch it there on 17, it was pretty close to over after that. So extremely pleased to have my first victory, and it's a dream come true. You know, you can't say that enough. Q. Tell me about defending your lead all day and pushing at the end. CHESSON HADLEY: Sure. You know, I have‑‑ it's very difficult to do, and I have not typically done that very well. And so to do that today‑‑ I mean honestly it's not a lot of fun, you know, grinding, and I mean I shot 5‑under out there today, but the last 12 holes was a grind. And you know, obviously it's worth‑‑ it's worth it all now, but it's just‑‑ it's fantastic. You know, I hit a great wedge on 17, and you know, when I saw that thing kind of slip in the left center, that was a huge relief knowing that I could still par, for the most part par 18 and still have a chance to win. Q. Yesterday you mentioned that you wanted to attack the flags again. Was that aggressive approach the key for your win today? CHESSON HADLEY: Absolutely. I went at every flag. I was not lying. There was not one I was aiming at today, even when I was out of position I was going at it. That's one of the things that I've learned in being in contention is you can't stop, you know, pushing the pedal down out here especially on this course. It's in such great condition that you get the putt on line, it's going in. So a lot of birdies to be made out here. And you know, I was talking to my wife before the round, and we talked about a number to get to, and I thought if I shot‑‑ I was pretty sure if I shot 5‑under today, I would win it outright, for sure. And you know, I was‑‑ honestly I didn't really care what the putt did on the last hole as long as it was within about a two‑inch circle to tap the next one in. But you know, it went in. So I stayed aggressive all day, which was the game plan. I'm proud of that. Q. I saw you finish Friday on nine. You had a nice little up‑and‑down to save par. Saturday it seemed like you were all over the flag stick and a lot of putts weren't going in. Can you go through your emotions over the weekend? CHESSON HADLEY: Sure. Yesterday that was the most frustrating 5‑under I've ever shot. And I mean I hit it very well again today. I was a little loose because I was really nervous out there. But I painted some flag sticks out there today, too, which I had to do that. I had to go shoot a score. So you know, I stayed patient out there. It was‑‑ you know, I flagged one right on the first hole, and I left that putt a little short, which is kind of just, oh, no‑‑ I wasn't thinking oh, no, here we go again because I was prepared to handle that. Just knowing me and how things go for me, I typically like to make it interesting and very hard on myself. So I knew coming out today I might experience a couple of missed putts here and there as well, so I was prepared to handle it. Q. Given you used the word pathetic to describe the missed cuts coming into the tournament earlier in the year, what one word would you use to characterize how you feel right now? CHESSON HADLEY: Elated. Relieved. You know, I am‑‑ I have the rest of this year and then two years after that guaranteed on the PGA TOUR. I mean that's a huge relief. Not that‑‑ you know, I'm still going to go out there and try and fire at every flag; right? That seems to work. So definitely relieved. Q. How has been your transition from the Web.com Tour last year to the PGA TOUR? CHESSON HADLEY: You know, I thought about that this week. This is a PGA TOUR event. It has PGA‑caliber players, but I kind of had a Web.com feel. I don't mean that in any disrespect at all for the tournament. It just‑‑ to me, I don't know, from the sense of you had to go out there and make a bunch of birdies, and I love doing that. Like I don't know, I felt like I did that very well last year, and so I was very comfortable out here this week, especially with the course. I felt like there was maybe one or two shots out here that were slightly uncomfortable, and I knew if I was able to, you know, hit those shots, you know, I could‑‑ I would be right there come Sunday. And I was able to do that. I executed well all week, and here we are talking to you guys as the winner. That's very special. Very blessed. Q. You won at Valley at TPC Sawgrass. When you go back there, you're going to be playing the stadium with PGA TOUR champions. Your thoughts on that? CHESSON HADLEY: That's really cool. You know, I missed out on $567 being fully exempt out here from John Peterson. And he played the best. He deserved it. But I remember that, and you know, I didn't know if I was going to get in the PLAYERS or not based upon FedExCup. Honestly, I don't even have a clue how that works. I'm just glad I'm in now. So you know, that's really cool. That's one of the greatest fields, if not the greatest field, in golf. It's the highest purse. Was it 10 million this year? That's a lot of jack. 1.8 to the winner. You can write me a check for 1.8 whenever you want. So you know, hopefully my game will be in good shape, and I've got obviously good mojo there. Might play the Valley Course on Wednesday just to kind of, you know, reminisce a little bit. Probably not, though. But anyway, I'm excited about going back there. SEBASTIAN MARENTES: Well, Chesson, this is exciting and exciting for Puerto Rico. Especially exciting for you. So I think there's some celebration in order for you, and congratulations. CHESSON HADLEY: Absolutely. Thank you guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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