Q. Welcome back to contending here at John Deere. You won three years ago and took a while to defend the title with the pandemic and everything. Maybe that year off paid off as you're back in friendly confines?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, feels pretty good to have a good round around here. I think last year I started off well and had a poor second round, so I definitely have got to keep things in perspective. I've got to be able to play well tomorrow to set myself up for the weekend.
It was nice to be out there making birdies in some really tough conditions. I started off poorly but played really well throughout the last two-thirds of the round.
Q. You were a great defending champion. Unfortunately weren't able to defend the title. Do you feel like getting that aspect of things out of the way and back here at a course you're familiar with where you've had great success puts you in a good place this week?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, it's definitely coming back. I've only defended three titles before in my life, so it's a different vibe having a bunch of media exposure and people asking for autographs and time and dragging you in different directions.
I enjoyed it. It was nice to be celebrated two years after winning my first PGA TOUR title, but it's definitely a bit more low-key this week, so it was easier to prep for the first round.
Q. Would you size up your round today? 5-under par performance.
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Very good round. Very good round. I probably should have been 2-, 3-over through the first six holes. I don't think I hit a fairway until 9, so I was all over the place early.
Wind was pretty blustery so I tried to keep it in perspective and know that once the wind died down or if it died down I could get off to the back nine a little bit.
Glad I made some putts on the back nine. Glad I stuck to my plan of hitting fairways and greens. Yeah, try and do that tomorrow.
Q. As a top tier pro, do you think about someone getting off to a start like J.T. did today and think, wow, I got work to do?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Not at all. That 9-under round is an amazing round, but guys in the morning didn't have much wind, so it was almost two different golf courses. I wasn't playing the same golf course he was playing.
Tomorrow morning I should get some good conditions, so if I can go few under tomorrow early then I'll definitely be looking at his 9-under as something to aim for for my second round.
Q. Do you feel the course could be more gettable tomorrow morning?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I assume so. I wasn't out here in the morning. I didn't watch any coverage, but I would guess the greens and fairways were softer and less wind.
I think the scores if you had to look at them would surely be about a shot lower in the morning at least than they are this afternoon.
Q. How much does that wind impact to the layman when we watch you guys? How much did the wind impact you today?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: You won't see it on TV, but we had a couple shots the first five, six holes where should be out of the southwest and then it was out of the south and then switching around a bit.
Like 45 degrees, 90 degrees doesn't sound like a lot on a shot, but when we're trying to be exact from 165 it turns a shot of 10% missed ratio to almost 20% if you have that 10 to 20 miles variable wind.
You can add it up, do some math to figure out much you're going to miss it by.
Q. Was there a different feel for you out on the golf course? You may be backtracking a little bit here, but not being in this the role of title defense this year, did it feel any different out there this year?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: No. I mean, not really. I definitely felt it coming down the stretch on the second round last year. I was like, I don't want to be a defending champ missing the cut and I made an amazing chip shot here on 18 late Friday and had an 8-, 10-foot that lipped out, virtually horseshoed, and I knew that was going to miss the cut by one shot.
Yeah, it was kind of sad coming down the last two, three holes not to be able to play the weekend, but guys had some terrible weather on weekend if I remember correctly, so I was actually too upset to miss the last two days.
Q. How much can you draw on '19 going into tomorrow and hopefully the weekend?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: A lot I would hope. I mean, I haven't been in contention in two events I guess on the PGA Tour coming down the stretch. If I think to any events I've done well in, it's pretty much been the only good week I've had at that specific venue.
I would like to think there are some tee shots I could feel comfortable over and draw on some experience from final round in 2019, but only time will tell. If I am in contention on Saturday or Sunday I can only answer the question truly then.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports