Media Center Interviews
April 4, 2019
First Round Interview with Jhonattan Vegas
Q. Warm out here and Jhonny Vegas had a warm round. Johnny, nice playing today. Started with a bogey, but then six other birdies and you even left some chances out there. Tell me a little bit about how you felt about the day.
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well, obviously a great day. Besides having a fever last night, dealing with allergies right now. I mean, withdrawing crossed my mind last night. So from there to 5 under today, obviously an extremely good day. I didn't know what I was expecting today, so super happy with a 5-under par.
Q. Well, as they say, beware of the sick golfer. Talk a little bit about 18. I saw your lie over there in the left rough, we couldn't decide if you were trying to lay up or if you were trying to hit a big sweeping hook. Tell us your thought process there.
JHONATTAN VEGAS: You know what, I mean, obviously it was one of those two or three out of 10 shots that we have in every round, you know. I should have been a little smarter than that, especially not feeling great with energy, but it looked so tentative that I had to give itatry. Iknewthepinwasback. EvenifIhititinthewater,IknewIwasgoingtogive myself a good shot to make par, but I was having a good round, decided to go for it. It wasn't the best lie, but we just had a go at it.
Q. Jhonattan, I was really impressed with that round of golf. You kind of just bided your patience on the outward nine, then just rip off four birdies in a row coming home.
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Yeah, absolutely solid. Like I said earlier, it was one of those days that I didn't know exactly how I was going to feel on the golf course. I'm dealing with really bad allergies. Through my pro-am yesterday I even thought about withdrawing, so I didn't know how I was going to feel today. Obviously I was a little patient on the front nine, and once I saw that the momentum was there, the game was there, that I was there physically and mentally, I decided to be a little more aggressive and things started happening on the back nine. Good round, so I couldn't be happier.
Q. Some really impressive birdies. How about that 2 you had on the 13th; that was an 8-iron from 192?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: It was, it was. I mean, that green is really tough because you have this little pocket there that if you don't get it in that area, it's really hard to get it close. So with the 8, a really hard 8 was going to be the best chance to get it close and luckily we pulled it off, made a nice 2.
Q. Jhonny, despite what you said not feeling great, fighting a fever last night, allergies today, you still managed to shoot 5-under 67 today. Obviously you held it together, put together a great round.
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Yeah, I mean, obviously super happy. I couldn't really be happier. Like I said earlier, I didn't know, you know, who was going to show up today, I didn't know what type of round I was going to have. During the pro-am yesterday I was super weak, but luckily started hitting the ball really well from the beginning and the momentum started to flow, started to feel like I was hitting good shots, hitting good putts. Just kind of forgot that I was a little weak and started playing some aggressive golf and luckily ended up with a pretty good round.
Q. What are birdie stretches like that like?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: It's always fun, it's always fun, but you just have to stay away from thinking that you're doing it and just keep playing a hole at a time because it's real easy to get caught up into, oh, I'm playing well, making birdies, keep going and kind of put a little too much pressure. You just have to keep making birdies and sometimes you can screw it up. It's good that I did it and super happy obviously.
