Q. You spoke a little bit yesterday about consistency round to round. Is that what you had today?
DOUG GHIM: Yeah, it didn't get off to the best of starts. There's some scorable holes to begin the front nine. 1-over through 3 is not really what you're looking for. I was hitting good shots. I lipped out twice in my first three holes, which usually means you're pretty close.
Just had to stay patient, made sure that -- obviously you're trying to make a bunch of birdies, but another bogey -- any bogeys out here is detrimental because the scoring is so good.
Yeah, I did well to just kind of hang around, and then the birdies started to fall, and yeah, we were 4-under. You know there's always a scorable stretch on the back nine, so you just try to stay patient, and a couple of putts fell. Hopefully I make a couple more putts tomorrow, but given the fact I didn't think I putted my best, I'm still right here.
Q. Do you have family here this week?
DOUG GHIM: Yeah, I've talked to them a little bit. They're going to try to make it to the weekend. I'll definitely have a couple of friends and family over the weekend. Yeah, just we'll see where we go from there, but I know they're really excited right now.
Q. Your dad made such a splash as your caddie at the Western Amateur. How close are you with him in terms of your game and getting advice from him?
DOUG GHIM: Yeah, obviously my dad has been a big part of my life. He'll always mean a lot to me. Yeah, I mean, I talk to him a little bit here and there. He gives me some advice, and yeah, just looking for a good weekend.
Q. I know that you're not exactly in Arlington Heights, but how nice is it to be back and have a chance on the TOUR in Illinois?
DOUG GHIM: Yeah, it's everything to me. Unfortunately the second playoff event won't be in Chicago this year, so this is all we get. It's always exciting to be somewhere near the Chicago area. The Midwest in general just makes me feel at home, but to be in Illinois is even more special.
Like I said yes, I didn't get to even fully participate the last time I was here because of sickness. It means a lot to me to be able to come back here and finish the tournament and hopefully have a really good finish, and who knows what'll happen on Sunday.
Q. How is your game improving? Where do you see the biggest growth in your game over the last year or so?
DOUG GHIM: A lot of it has to do with just understanding me. I feel like I've made great strides throughout everything, but I just feel like I've gotten to understand that everybody is super good out here, and the ones that seem to be the best are the ones that know themselves the best. Just trying to understand what works for me, what I need to do to get better. That doesn't necessarily mean I need to emulate anyone, it just means that I need to be more efficient in what I do well and get better at what I don't do well.
Yeah, it's just been a lot of just self-reflection, patience, all that stuff. It's been working so far.
Q. A lot of players approached the time off or less tournaments during the pandemic in different ways. How did you do it to stay sharp and be ready for when the TOUR fired up again?
DOUG GHIM: Yeah, it was great for me, honestly. Not to be insensitive to everyone affected by the pandemic, but it couldn't have come at a better time as far as how my season was going, and to find out that I would have status coming in for the next year kind of gave me the summer to try some new things and try to apply some of the new stuff that I was working on off the course.
Yeah, it gave me everything that I needed to come out in the fall in the new season and feel like I could compete and be ready to actually do the things that I knew I could.
I just spent a lot of time, again, self-reflecting and trying to figure out what I needed to do better and what I was already doing well and getting myself ready for that, and it was great when I came back out.
Q. Are you based in Las Vegas now?
DOUG GHIM: Yes.
Q. And you and your team would all be there, your coach or whoever you're working with?
DOUG GHIM: Yeah, for sure. I work with Drew Steckel on my swing. I work with Derek Uyeda and Chris Cho. Chris lives in Vegas and Derek works out of San Diego. So I've been spending a lot of time with them. Ryan Chandler, who's my trainer, is also in Vegas, so a lot of major parts to my team live in Vegas, which has been great for me, that I get to spend a lot of time with them on my weeks off. And they'll even make a trip out to tournaments to come see me, as well.
But not to forget, my mental coach is from Philadelphia and my agent is from New York, so still got people everywhere, and then obviously my family in Chicago. Kind of still spread out, but I would say a lot of the physical team that I need on an everyday basis is in Vegas, and it's very helpful for me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports