Media Center Interviews

March 31, 2022

First Round Interview with Denny McCarthy

Q. Denny, 5-under par 67 on opening day. If we can get some comments on your round.

DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, it was really solid. Came out firing nice, struck it nice and then went through a little bit of a rollercoaster for a couple holes there on my first nine, the back nine. Then started putting some really nice swings on it, 16, 17, and just fell into a really nice comfortable rhythm out there. Felt like -- my swing felt really good today, my body was moving well and was hitting a lot of really quality shots. For me, if I can be -- if I'm hitting good shots and giving myself some looks with the putter, some more looks with the putter, that's a good thing for me. So just been putting a lot of work in with the ball-striking, so just keep doing what I'm doing and I'll be in a good spot.

Q. Nice eagle on 14, if you can take us through that hole.

DENNY McCARTHY: Driver, and I had about -- hit a good drive middle of the fairway and I had about maybe 225 front and pin was 10 on, maybe 35 hole, a little bit into the wind. I hit a perfect hybrid off the left side of the green, cut it a little bit like right up the chute, landed a pace or two just short of the green, hit the fringe and just rolled on and had about a 12-, 13-footer that broke a couple cups left to right and poured that in. That was nice. Just watched a little coverage, I saw a bunch of guys eating up that hole this morning, so it felt nice to maybe gain a shot there and yeah, that was a nice hole. I don't make too many eagles out here, so it was nice to make one when I can.

Q. Talk a little bit about the conditions today. I know you mentioned earlier about the wind. It wasn't as strong as it can be here, but still a little tricky.

DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, right. We're used to probably anywhere from 10 to blowing 25 out here on a regular basis. Today it wasn't blowing that much, maybe 5 to 10, maybe even a little less at times, but it was tricky just because it just kept switching around, probably touched every direction on the compass. Kind of just had to go with your feels and what you felt at that time. And also just felt like the ball was flying pretty far, so even if you did have a little puff into the wind, it almost canceled out just because it seemed like the ball was flying today. We're at a little bit of elevation and with the little bit of warmth, the ball was just going.