Q. Not a bad way to slide into your Memorial defense; did you experience any déjà-vu out there today?
PATRICK CANTLAY: No, I got off to such a quick start today that it felt like -- it actually felt like I gave some back coming in, and I did bogey 18 and made a silly bogey on 8. But I played really well, so I'm happy about getting a good feel on the golf course. The greens were a little quicker, felt a little like a first round of the Memorial out there today, so it was a nice rehearsal for next week.
Q. How different has it been playing the same course where you won when you're not defending champ? It's an odd thing; did you ever get lost out there thinking that maybe this is the Memorial?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Try not to think about it, really. The greens were a lot slower the first three rounds, and I kind of struggled to adapt. Also I haven't played a lot of golf, so it's nice to play another tournament. It's only my second tournament in the last four months or so. It was really good prep work. I did a lot of work this week. Ended up playing nice today, so a decent finish, but more importantly, getting ready for the defense next week.
Q. What prompted the two tournaments? I think Travelers was your first back --
PATRICK CANTLAY: Travelers was the first back. Yeah, I just wanted to see how it went, and I was just prepping to get ready to play, and Travelers has always been a golf course that I like. I've had some good success there, so it was nice to start back there.
Q. Did you consider not playing this week? How did you make that determination?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, no, I figured an extra week here at Muirfield Village was good for me, so I took it as a positive. I enjoyed it.
Q. What was working well today? What really was --
PATRICK CANTLAY: I hit it really well today. I had a ton of looks. Really a ton of looks. I actually didn't make all the ones I felt like I should have made, and I made a couple bogeys. The golf course was very scorable today, perfect conditions. We were first off so had perfect greens for the front nine and no wind. I always feel like if you can drive the ball well here, you can score, and today that was the case.
Q. Winning here last year, did it change your career at all? Any perspective? You really got on a roll and kept it going.
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I had played well here the year before, so it's just a golf course I really like. Growing up watching Jack on the 18th green, it's something you think of, like oh, I really would like to do that. It was nice to see that come to fruition and kind of a really nice validation of all the hard work paying off.
Q. I remember at the end of last year Jack's big thing was try to look like you're having fun out there. I don't know if you remember that. Did that make any impact? Has that stuck with you? Or how have you changed that way?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think more the -- the bigger, more important lesson was to enjoy it, so when you are coming down the stretch, realize that that's why you're there and soak it all in and enjoy it and enjoy putting on a show for the thousands of people that are there and really just have fun and have a good time coming down the stretch.
He leaves out the part where I said hi to him on Monday, and he said, you've really got to start playing those 40 minutes better, kid. It's easy to have a good time out there when you're making birdies.
Q. You said you wanted to see how it went before you came back at Travelers. Was that to see how your game went or the return to golf went?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Just see how the return to golf went. I felt like it would be better to go slow than not. I just kind of wanted to see what it was like. I think the TOUR has done a great job, and I think it's remarkable how small the number of positive tests are, and I think it's a real success story that we've been able to go week after week the way that we're doing it, and I think that's a reflection of the TOUR's great job handling it.
Q. What's your schedule going to look like going forward? What's your plan?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Playing next week at the Memorial and then a week off and then two weeks on, and then it's the PGA and then the Playoffs.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports