CHRIS KIRK
Q. Much tougher than yesterday and I think you withstood that bogey-double bogey early and fought hard to get back to even par?
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I played reasonably solid today. I had a bad three-hole stretch making the bogey on 14, not taking advantage of 15 and making par there unfortunately, and then a bad tee shot on 16. Yeah, the rest of the day my ball striking was really solid and I felt like I rolled the putts really well, too. I had a lot of misreads on that front nine, which these greens are just tricky, especially when they get a little crispy like that.
Q. Describe the course setup and with the wind, I mean, you’ve played here a lot, how difficult was it because the wind is blowing like it always does, but I thought the hole locations were pretty tricky?
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, definitely some really tough pins for the first and second round. I was surprised by that a little bit. I think when the greens get a little bit firm and a little crispy with a little wind blowing, the pins all look a lot harder than they really are.
Q. So this weekend, what are you expecting, more of the same? You’re obviously in great shape.
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I haven’t really looked at the weather forecast, but I would expect similar conditions to what we had today. It’s still definitely very doable if you hit the right shots and make the putts, so if I can get a couple mid-60 rounds in.
Q. Chris, good day out there on the golf course. What made Seaside so tough today?
CHRIS KIRK: We were a lot more exposed to the wind. I think today was a little bit more windier day overall anyways compared to yesterday, but Seaside’s a lot more exposed out there. And the hole locations were really difficult today, I thought.
Q. Can you talk about the combination, too, that was there, between the wind and the hole locations and the speed of the greens?
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, the greens are definitely a hair faster and just really, really tricky pins. They put a lot of pins on little humps or grain changes and tucked some that were really difficult to get to. But I had a couple bad holes middle of the back nine, my front nine, but other than that I hit the ball really well today. Hit a lot of nice putts and didn’t see as many go in as yesterday unfortunately, but I feel good about my game.
Q. I was going to ask you, what is your comfort level with the putting? Yesterday I think you had 23 putts and I think when I last saw the stats, they may not have been fully updated, you were still in the top-5 in putting this week.
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I rolled the ball really well today. I didn’t hit a great putt for my birdie putt on No. 9 on my last hole there, unfortunately, but overall my speed was great. I was hitting my lines and they’re just really tough to read out there.
Q. You’ve been in this spot before and you’ve come through a winner, so what will it take on the weekend for you, what will you be focusing on?
CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, just try to stay aggressive. Seaside’s a golf course that it can give up some birdies if you stay aggressive and hit really good shots, so that will be my mindset, for sure.
