Q. How good was that round today?
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, it was a great round. The iron game was very, very sharp. Putting, made bunch of nice 5-, 6-footers on that back nine for par. For me, at this place, I need to be in the fairway. That's everybody. But if I'm in the rough, it's pretty much a chop out and try to get up-and-down with a wedge or something. So keeping it in the fairway has been key.
Q. Did you putt on 15 and 16?
NICK TAYLOR: Yes.
Q. So you putted for birdie on every hole but 10.
NICK TAYLOR: Pretty much, yeah.
Q. How special is that? That's hard to do.
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, that's pretty good. Not that I was necessarily keeping track of it, but it was nice to not have to be -- but the nice thing was for most of the day my speed was very good, so it was a lot of tap-in pars if I wasn't make birdie. And that's huge out here to kind of relieve some of that extra energy if you're having 3-, 4-footers all day on these tricky greens.
So, yeah, it was a clean card, which not necessarily that I expected, but it was nice to keep it as simple as possible.
Q. How does this course compare to other courses you play on TOUR with all-day-long rain?
NICK TAYLOR: Well, the rough is almost second to none, at least for a quote/unquote regular TOUR event, or regular stop, I should say. The lie I had on 10, I hit in the right rough, I could hit it maybe 40 yards at best. Torrey Pines was pretty thick this year, Bay Hill is always thick, but it seems to be just a little bit thicker here, playing that much more difficult. You can catch a break here or there, but you just got to be in the fairway. So it's definitely top 2 or 3 most difficult every year and this year with the rough, it seems to be just a brutal test.
Q. How does it impact your strategy moving forward the next two days?
NICK TAYLOR: The forecast, from what I looked earlier today, it looks like not much rain, so it will firm up I'm sure a little bit. They have a little bit of control with the greens with the SubAir, but I just got to keep it in play and from there, attack as much as I can with the irons. But I don't think it's going to play any easier, so par's a good score.
Q. Did you grow up with this kind of weather?
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, this was every day of my golfing life since I was about 23. Usually October through March or April this was a pretty standard day. College was the same. I went to school in Seattle. So I don't enjoy playing in this, but I've played in it enough where I kind of know what to expect.
Q. Washington. I can't believe you didn't go to Kent State?
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah. That was more for the East Coast guys, so I stayed west.
Q. What was one of the longer clubs you hit today in a par-4 -- or actually, what did you hit on 4? That's a good birdie.
NICK TAYLOR: 4, I hit 4-iron.
Q. How close did you hit that?
NICK TAYLOR: Probably 25 feet-ish. Like, 1 and 2 are playing longer than they were. I think I hit maybe 7- or an 8-iron into those, which yesterday, it was maybe a wedge into 2. Yeah, it was probably -- a 6-iron was the longest club into the greens. It wasn't, like, cold, so the ball was still going. It just wasn't rolling. So again, if you hit it in the fairways, you were able to attack on a few of the pins.
The par-5s here, honestly, I don't think I'll go for one of them this week. It's such a challenging second shot, and I'll have so far in that I just got to rely on my wedge game, which I parred them all today, which I would have taken starting the day, and yesterday, I birdied a couple. But if I could put myself in a good layup position and give myself chances there. The greens are actually quite predictable right now with the first bounce and then getting spin with the wedges, so that's where I have to try to take advantage of my game there.
Q. You've never been to Oakmont, unless you played an amateur there --
NICK TAYLOR: No, I haven't, no.
Q. What do you think when you hear the name? You can spell it, but I mean --
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, probably one of the hardest tests at least from what I've heard. Paul Tesori told me a funny story when it was there last, maybe 2017 or 2018, where Webb Simpson was obviously top-10 player in the world. Halfway through the second round, he looked at Paul, and he said, Paulie, this place is too hard for me. Yeah, but people have said they have that hype and they get there and it's extremely difficult but it's fair. I think the USGA likes the sticker shock of the 295-yard par-3 where, I don't think it will play like that, they have probably multiple tees, so we'll see how it is. The rough is going to be at least this, if not a little bit harder. So, again, fairways will be crucial for me, especially with the length out there. So, yeah, I'll be there for a few days to prepare, but it's going to be probably three straight weeks of very long rough and difficulty.
Q. What's next week? Is Toronto hard?
NICK TAYLOR: I actually never been there, but I think they will juice it up.
Q. So when are you going to Oakmont?
NICK TAYLOR: I'll get down there Monday morning.
Q. From Canada?
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah.
Q. Give me one course or even one round where you turned to your caddie and said, This place is too hard for me.
NICK TAYLOR: I was pretty frustrated at the PGA with some of the mud balls. I wouldn't say it was necessarily hard sometimes, just like irritating would be a nice way of putting it. Augusta last year actually was my first kind of spring one, and with that wind that Friday was maybe the hardest golf I ever played. And that was with no rough, so we'll see.
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