Q. Henrik, solid start today. What was the key to your round?
HENRIK NORLANDER: Yeah, I don't know. I got into it pretty quick. I love starting early. I'm an early riser. But it was very dark until we got to the tee. I didn't see one ball land on the range, so I didn't really know. Six, seven weeks off, you don't really know where you're going to be mentally, but I felt pretty good early and made about a 15-, 20- footer on three for par and then after that calmed me down a little bit and hit some good shots and putted nice.
Q. Why do you like starting early in the day?
HENRIK NORLANDER: I mean, coming west from Augusta, Georgia, I wake up at 2:30, 3:00 every morning, so it's nice to get going.
Q. Can you talk us through that stretch on 5 through 9, making four birdies in five holes?
HENRIK NORLANDER: Yeah, I pulled it a little bit off the tee on 5 and had a good number. Hit like a little wedge from 150 maybe, a little flier, and came back off the backstop and made a nice 12-footer maybe, and then hit a great drive on 6, hit it to about 14 feet, made a nice putt, and then pulled it a little bit on 7, but it caught the left edge of the green and made a nice putt. Then got up-and-down on 8. I hit a terrible wedge shot, worst shot of the day, and hit a good drive on 9 and 6-iron to the fringe and two-putted, so it was a nice stretch.
Q. You mentioned the lengthy break that you've had before this week. Did you feel good about your game coming in?
HENRIK NORLANDER: Yeah, I've been practicing and playing a lot. I really don't take time off. Like golf is obviously my job, but it's still somewhat my hobby, so I play a lot of golf with friends back home. I felt pretty ready.
Q. It's not unusual to see 7s and 8s on a Thursday or Friday. What was the biggest defense of the course today?
HENRIK NORLANDER: It got pretty breezy towards the end.
Q. You've seen worse wind here, though.
HENRIK NORLANDER: Yeah, absolutely. But it always gets tricky. I think I've said it a few times, the first round of the year, competitive round, you don't really know how far is it going. I've been home, in Augusta it's been 50 degrees the last few weeks, the ball is going nowhere, and here it's going. It's sort of when you're in between clubs, you don't really know if you're going to hit the shorter or the longer club.
But yeah, definitely. This course, I think there's a good bit of rough this year. If you drive it in the fairway, you're going to have decent looks on every hole.
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