Q. Assess the state of your round and we want to hear about the par save at 18.
JASON KOKRAK: You know, ball-striking was there today. I may be didn't drive it quite as good as I did yesterday but irons were on top form. A couple miscues, one bogey. I hit the tree and got a bad lie in the bunker. It was plugged so I didn't really have a play about there, but a nice save there, and birdied No. 4. Put myself -- giving myself a lot of birdie opportunities. If I can eliminate some silly mistakes, the bogeys will vanish.
But other than that, I'm happy the way I'm hitting the ball, getting more comfortable on the greens and just give myself as many opportunities around this golf course as I can.
Q. How important is it to have the round over with and be in considering the unknown of what might happen weather-wise?
JASON KOKRAK: Well I knew it was going to rain, but rained Monday and Tuesday here, kind of knew it was going to be a little wetter than most years here.
But I like to tee off kind of that late/early tee time, kind of get into a little bit of a rhythm. I don't really like to tee off early and then have 24-plus hours before I tee off again. I was in a nice rhythm yesterday. I had some dinner with a couple of friends that just moved here, and you know, stuck to the game plan and rolled in some nice putts.
Q. Talk about your comfort level and carrying over the momentum from the event last year?
JASON KOKRAK: Yeah, I think this was the first event back after the whole COVID thing, still going on, but I got off to a great start. I rolled the putter very, very well last year here, and I'm comfortable around this golf course. I see a lot of -- the harder holes, I can hit shorter clubs off of. Doesn't really bode well when I hit 4-iron in the middle of the trees on the last hole but overall I can take advantage of my length but also hit irons off a couple of tees where I'm uncomfortable.
Q. Overall, talk about the state of your game. Obviously you want to win.
JASON KOKRAK: Yeah, everybody wants to win out here. I think that's one of the keys I try to key on every year is to just take one part of my game to the next level each year, year-in and year-out, and that kind of gets me to that next stage to where I'm more and more consistent. I was 190th in putting but I was a top five ball-striker, so I concentrated more on the putter as of late, and you know, it's been hot.
But you know, I still want to concentrate on the ball-striking. I've been struggling with the driver, so I think finding a driver this week that I'm comfortable with, it's gone a long way.
Q. Possibly in the lead group or top group; how do you spend the rest of the day?
JASON KOKRAK: Fairways and greens and make putts where you can. I think it's just a golf depending on weather, depending on a lot of things. But if it's a golf course that's soft, I think it's going to be a shootout, and I'm just going to stick to my game plan and take the birdies where they come.
Q. Get to sleep in a little bit later, so be it?
JASON KOKRAK: Yeah, that would be nice.
Q. What did you do to address the putting?
JASON KOKRAK: I worked with Bettinardi a little bit. Went to their studio and learned what my tendencies were. I went up in loft a few year ago, four or five years ago, more than I was comfortable with. But then about two years ago, my caddie gave me -- he saw that I was holding the putter kind of in the base of my palm here, both hands weren't completely on the putter. He said, "Don't change anything, just go to a 36-inch putter," and that's made all the difference. I'm able to stand up a little bit taller and more comfortable and it's working. And it helps that D-Rob is reading the greens for me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
107951-1-1003 2021-05-28 17:34:00 GMT
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