First-Round Remarks from Beau Hossler (-6)

Quick Quotes
Q. Thought you hit a lot of drivers off the tee. You were very aggressive. Missed only two fairways.
BEAU HOSSLER: That's pretty darn good. It's a tough golf course. You know, I feel like to have any chance of scoring out here you got to get it in the fairway.

At the same time, the course gives you a lot of opportunities to lay back and get the ball in the fairway pretty easily, but then you got some long shots into the greens.

I was pretty confident in my driver. I was trying to get it down there in the fairway and did a pretty good job.

Q. I was watching you on 15. Two players in your group hit irons; you go ahead and bang driver. I think you all walked away with pars. A lot of options off the tee.
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, this golf course is as good as it gets as far as strategy. You got to be smart, but I think there are times you can be aggressive and try to take advantage, obviously particularly when the greens are soft like this and the wind wasn't too crazy.

Q. Tell me about your birdie at 13. We had you just inside of 40 feet, par-3.
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, so that was -- I mean, that's one of the best holes that we play on tour. It's a great Par-3. I think they had like 175 or 178 yards or something today. The wind, even though it was from generally the same direction, it was swirling just a touch. I was afraid of getting a little down gust around the green, so I hit 8-iron.

Hit a pretty decent shot into the middle of the green kind of right where you want it and just had a putt straight up the hill.

Q. Beau, excellent start. Just get some comments on your opening round.
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, it was a strong start obviously hitting a lot of fairways. That's kind of the name of the game out here at Colonial. If you can hit some fairways you can get some pretty good looks at birdies. The course isn't overly long.

I tried to stay cautiously aggressive off the tee. Cut a few corners because I was feeling good with my driver, and was able to get in the fairway and get some pretty good looks.

Q. (No microphone.)
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, I played last year.

Q. What is it you like about this place that that suits your game so well?
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, I think it's just a challenging golf course, but it's right in front of you. There is no trickery out there. The greens are very pure. They're soft right now so you can be pretty aggressive into them.

The holes are shaped and framed so well. You immediately know when you get on the tee whether you need to hit a fade or a draw or a high shot or a low shot.

And then you can kind of use some slopes into the greens. Particularly with them being soft. You can try and put some spin on the ball and get it close to the hole.

Q. (Regarding learning experience this year.)
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, it's been a great learning experience for me this whole year really. Golf is hard. It's hard to get yourself in contention, especially out here. There are so many good players.

Many of these golf courses are new to me. Fortunately the courses I played last year on sponsor's exemptions I feel a lot more comfortable on this year. I feel like I know what the conditions relatively are going to be like. I know generally where pins are going to be. I know what types of shots I needs before I even show up that week.

Any time you're playing a golf course for the first time like I do most weeks out here, it's a little bit of a challenge. Obviously even start to feel more comfortable on the golf courses by the weekend?

Q. Has that been the biggest learning curve, learning the golf courses and the grasses, and also maybe stuff away from the golf course?
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, definitely. I mean, scheduling is tough out here. We have a lot of obligations. We have a long time commitment in the middle of the day, so making sure I have enough energy to get me through, making sure I am getting enough rest, and then scheduling my days properly has been really important.

I feel like I'm on a good track.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #179 at 2018-05-24 22:54:00 GMT