Q. Chad Pfeifer, got off to a little bit of a slow start, but at the turn you had two birdies and an eagle, minus 3 on the back. Can you talk us through your round overall?
CHAD PFEIFER: Yeah, the round was, like you said, started slow but I was steady, so just making pars. Just had one kind of loose swing on the par-3 on the front which led to a bogey. But then, yeah, got a couple birdies on the back and then the eagle was big. Had 200 left in and nice little 5-iron to like seven, eight feet, so made the putt, so that was nice.
I felt comfortable all day, and just, like I said, pretty much two bad swings, one on 18 here coming up to finish which led to a bogey, but I felt comfortable, and the swing feels good.
Q. You're in a good position, but bigger picture how does it feel to be a part of this championship? Obviously the first ever playing of it.
CHAD PFEIFER: Yeah, it's awesome. This is so incredible for all of the players. I know I can speak for most everybody, but myself personally, this is just an amazing feat for adaptive golf. We're so incredibly grateful for USGA to be putting this on and the treatment that we've got here, we're feeling like Tour pros out here the way this is all set up and how they treat us. Everything has been so incredible, and yeah, just very fortunate to be part of history.
Q. You're playing like a Tour pro out there. How rewarding is it, though, to share the course with so many other inspiring athletes?
CHAD PFEIFER: Incredibly. I've gotten to know probably a good 40, 50 percent of this field through other tournaments throughout the years, so it's always fun to see friends that we only get to see maybe once or twice a year. Then to meet new players that you've never met before, hear their stories and hear what they've had to overcome.
Everybody out here has got just incredible stories to tell, very inspiring. We get to play with other adaptive players, and it's always a treat for me. I feel pretty lucky that I'm only missing one leg. There's players out here missing two legs or you come across guys and girls missing both legs and an arm. Watching them play golf and seeing what they've had to overcome is pretty special.
Q. How would you describe the adaptive golf community? It seemed like a friendship, a bond. You can see it on the range and on the tees.
CHAD PFEIFER: Yeah, definitely. We play -- there's probably a good -- I would say most of the players come out to two, three, four events a year for adaptive tournaments. Again, nothing quite like this tournament here, so this one is pretty special. But yeah, we've formed bonds. You get to meet -- I've met a lot of guys in the military through these tournaments and got to hear their stories, so it's a very tight-knit community. Everybody is similar and is bonded by golf. But at the same time they've got separate stories, what they've had to overcome, what they deal with on a day-to-day basis.
It's nothing but love with the players between themselves, and it's always fun to meet new players, and it's just great. It's a great atmosphere.
Q. You're obviously a mainstay in the adaptive golf community; how do you think this championship is amplifying the stories of those in the field?
CHAD PFEIFER: Yeah, I think it's going to amplify them a lot. The USGA, what they're putting on here is going to be the catalyst of adaptive tournaments in whatever country in the world is going to try to make their tournaments like this now. It's really great. It's phenomenal what USGA is doing, to be able to share all their stories. I know it probably won't be able to share everybody's stories, but the longer they continue to run this, it's going to be just phenomenal. It's going to help spread the word.
I saw a young gal out there on the 10th tee who's missing her arm and she was going around getting signatures and autographs. For her to see what the caliber of play is like with guys and girls out here playing and doing this, hopefully she's inspired and she becomes a great golfer growing up.
You never know who you can inspire along the way, so you just try your hardest, and this event is going to be spectacular for that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports