Q. How tough a day was it out there?
NICK TAYLOR: Well, it was hard. It wasn't that hard. The wind was tough, obviously, to pick clubs. I thought we actually did a decent job there. A few iron shots I just didn't execute. Wasn't massively tricky from the wind, just poor shots there.
I had a really hard time on the greens. That was frustrating because speed wasn't very good, missed a handful of putts inside six, eight feet.
I drove it well enough. I probably should have been around even, maybe at least 1- or 2-over and just scored terribly, so that was frustrating.
Q. What do you do to prepare for tomorrow?
NICK TAYLOR: I've got nothing to lose tomorrow. I'll be able to swing as free as I can. There's birdies out there. I made four today. That's the positive part.
The frustrating part was just kind of the few sloppy bogeys, and even 18 making a bogey with a wedge with a three-putt there. Just missed in a couple poor spots, but it was mostly just couldn't really make anything all day.
Q. Early in the round it looked like it could go either way, a lot of birdie, bogey. Was there one moment that sent it going the wrong way for you?
NICK TAYLOR: It was kind of a slow bleed, to be honest. It seemed like anytime I made a birdie, I think I made bogey the next hole, which was tough.
Like 9, not a great iron shot there, which kind of killed my momentum. 12, I had a good chance but then birdied 13, so I was in it, and then just kind of a sloppy iron shot on 14 and three-putted, couldn't make birdie on 15, and then 17 was tricky. I missed the fairway by a foot, and I had to kind of hook a wedge around and just misjudged it and hit it long and was screwed. Just some sloppiness, which is unfortunate.
Q. How was the atmosphere out there for you today? Your first round at a real Masters after 2020.
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, it was obviously great. Some roars with some good shots. Everyone is so golf knowledgeable around here that they appreciate good shots in these conditions, so that's been fun.
Yeah, hopefully I get some more tomorrow.
Q. When you try to lock in the green speed, what's the challenge there?
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, obviously with the wind, you're guessing if it's going to affect the ball. Again, I don't know if it's inexperience or what, but it was just a few putts just couldn't really grasp the reads. My speed has been quite good the last year really, but this season, and kind of just -- 18, even 3, just kind of sloppiness there.
Again, I don't know if that's inexperience or not seeing them really. Maybe it's both. But that was frustrating.
Q. How much do you attribute what happened today to just this being the Masters, this being Augusta National, or was it just a bad day for you?
NICK TAYLOR: It might be a bit of both. First go-around in kind of the firm conditions, I probably would have loved maybe a five- to 10-mile-an-hour, not gusting to 30. But like I said, I drove it well enough to shoot a decent score. It was kind of scoring clubs which I was feeling pretty confident with. It just didn't happen today.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports