Q. Always feels weird to say +16. How do you feel about your opening round?
BEN MARTIN: Yeah, +16 is usually a tough start. This week it's good. Yeah, to be honest warming up on the range this morning, it's cold, I'm getting old, it's hard to keep my body moving well.
I had very few expectations, but went out, was hitting the ball in front of me, kind of hitting to where I was looking and made some early putts. Saw those go in, so confident with the putter.
Just one of those days where you think about the type of round you want to play and I was putting it together.
Q. Are those the rounds where you're least expecting it or maybe you weren't having a good warmup and you play freely?
BEN MARTIN: Yeah. I think sometimes when you tamper your expectations and just -- I was trying to go play free, trying to play not caring I guess about the result.
Sometimes that's -- a lot of times that's easier said than done, but I managed to I think stay present in the round and not really care where the ball was going even when some birdies started going in.
Sometimes you can feel the pressure, oh, I got to finish this off because I'm playing a good round. I want to finish it off strong.
I did make a couple bogeys late but bounced back and birdied the last two holes.
Q. Battling back from an injury and major medical through John Deere, has that also helped on the freeing?
BEN MARTIN: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I had -- I didn't fulfill what I needed to do to keep my full card, but thankfully I have a few events here to hopefully do something for next season.
A little bit you got 10, 12 events where you feel like, all right, I really got to play well. It's short season in that respect. I think sometimes maybe that adds a little bit of pressure.
But barely missed the cut at Deere and put some good rounds together last week this Kentucky. I think that gave me a little bit extra momentum coming into this week.
Q. You mentioned putter was feeling comfortable. Anything you've been working on or that's especially been translating?
BEN MARTIN: I thought I putted well last week. I think just kind of that same mindset of being free and not really caring as much if the ball goes in; just putting a good roll on it. Sometimes you do that and start seeing it go in and that frees you up even more.
That's kind of the mindset you want to be in every day. Sometimes we find it, sometimes we don't, but I had it out there today.
Q. Mentioned trying not to put the pressure. What do you do to do that mindset to make sure you're not fixated on results?
BEN MARTIN: Yeah, sometimes we can get out here and we can stay and grind and work hard. Those are good things. But I found a lot of times when I'm able to kind of forget about golf when I leave the course that's a good sign.
Family was out in Kentucky. Three kids in a hotel, it easy to forget about golf. This week staying in a house up by Lake Tahoe, so plenty to do out here to unwind and relax. Hopefully that will be on the docket this afternoon.
Q. Staying with any other players?
BEN MARTIN: I hopped in a house with Will Gordon. He and I are staying together. Yeah, a little beach close by. I think he rented a Sea-Do the other day and went out on the lake. Plenty to do.
Q. Do you guys keep it non-golf or kind of similar situations on the season of battling injury?
BEN MARTIN: Yeah, that's true. We were in similar spots. Normally I'm not watching a whole lot of golf, but the British Open is my favorite tournament to watch so I will probably tune in and watch a little bit this week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports