Q. How would you assess the day?
BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, I think everyone would probably say it was kind of a grind. Fortunately, having a later tee time, I didn't have to battle the elements quite as much as some of the early groups. Definitely had some heavier rain at times, but it looked like the early guys had more the tougher draw. So for me I was fortunate to try to take advantage of some of that. I didn't really make a lot of birdies, but had a really steady round, and yeah, just the one hiccup on 10.
But a day like today when it's really wet, I think hitting it in the rough is just even more penal. The ball just kind of goes straight to the bottom with the moisture, and then when there's moisture, it's harder to get to the ball down in the rough. So I had some very tricky lies. I got some good breaks on a couple holes where I was in the rough and was able to get it up to the green. So all in all, coming off of yesterday where I made just about everything I looked at, you can't do that every day when you're playing golf. So I'll take it and I'm excited to kind of keep the pedal down on the weekend.
Q. What was maybe the worst lie you had today in the rough?
BEN GRIFFIN: Probably number 10. Yesterday I tried to take on that bunker on left off the tee and did not cover it and was actually in the lip in a very difficult spot. So with the wind being relatively similar, I wanted to take a line that's a little more right with the driver, and I just went through the fairway on the right. So it was only three steps into the rough, but I couldn't -- I could have gotten a pitching wedge on it, but it would have only gone 70 yards, so I figured sand wedge, if I could get it on it, it would probably go about the same.
So I laid up completely sideways, even though I would say an average -- you know, any other day not here at Muirfield, you miss the fairway by 3 yards, you probably can advance it and get it up near the green. So that was one.
The other par-5, number 7, I had a really difficult lie and only advanced it again, like, 70 yards, so I had 215 for my third. So you're almost better off in these bunkers. Even though they're deep, you can advance it a little bit further out of a fairway bunker than in the rough. So it's a challenge here. Jack makes it hard on us. And yeah, you got to stay aggressive.
Q. Would you prefer a 6-iron in the fairway or a wedge from the rough?
BEN GRIFFIN: I mentioned it earlier. I would say, like, -- I think you still take the wedge, but you're thinking about what the wedge is going to do a lot more than you're thinking about what a 7-, 8-, maybe even 6-iron is doing on these greens because 8-, 7-, 6- are going to land on the green and finish within a few feet of wherever it pitched. A sand wedge could land and it could be 45 feet from where it pitched. You hit a slope and you have back spin.
So I think you always want to be close to the hole. I think the stats would say that. But on a day like today, to a back pin you would almost rather have a little bit more and be able to kind of one-hop stop something. So it was tough. Looking at second shots into 14, for instance, that pin is in a very tight little window, and you're going to see guys all day either end up just long of that pin or spin it back off into the rough.
Fortunately, the rough there is just long enough to keep it out of the water. But very difficult pins on a lot of those holes where you have wedges.
Q. In terms of the run you've been on, in terms of the fun you're having, how does this compare in terms of the most fun you've had playing golf in your life?
BEN GRIFFIN: I don't think it can get any better. I basically -- someone said I'm the hottest golfer on the PGA TOUR. I mean, I feel like I'm playing right now with a ton of confidence. I'm hitting it kind of more or less where I'm looking with a lot of my clubs. So it's just really fun to go on these -- golf's cyclical, but it's fun to be on these highs, and I'm just going to try to stay on the high as long as possible.
Q. Do you feel any different than before the win in Zurich or maybe even earlier this year?
BEN GRIFFIN: Totally. I always said, once I got my first win, it would free me up a ton. My mindset's never changed from before I won to now, but I would say I just feel so much more confident in myself and my ability that I've gotten it done. I can weigh back on some of those moments going back to the Schwab, going back to the Zurich with Andrew, where I hit some really quality shots down the stretch and was able to get it done.
So once you kind of do that a couple times, it frees you up to kind of continue to do it, you know you can, and you keep the pedal down. Beforehand, I was playing pretty solid golf, but I would say even for my physical game and body-wise, I just feel like I'm at a really, really -- or in a really good place to be an elite golfer.
Q. Along those lines, being in the last groups and playing with a lot of people around having those wins, do you feel like you your routine has changed at all a little bit in these last couple of months?
BEN GRIFFIN: No, routine's very similar. I'm just playing with new golfers now. The way the tee times work on the PGA TOUR, you kind of have featured groups, you have categories where you're in a winner's category, and so someone like me, I was never -- unless I got lucky and got paired with 'em on the weekends, I was never playing with the Scottie Schefflers or Rory McIlroys, some of these top players, and now I'm just playing with different golfers.
Going back to before Zurich, I'm just playing with guys that haven't won on TOUR, and you kind of don't -- you almost feel like there's two separate tours out there in a way on the first couple rounds because I'm always playing with the same kind of guys. I was always playing with Charley Hoffman, I was always playing with Beau Hossler, some of those guys, and it's funny, we joked about it, like, everyone in kind of our same category would play a couple times a year, and you'd go on stretches where you'd play with the same guy three times in a 10-week stretch or something like that and it just kind of happened.
But now I'm obviously going to be playing with some new faces, guys that I'm cordial with in the locker room and everything but I've never really played rounds with. So it's fun, it's a new experience. But from a golf standpoint, everything's the same, routine is the same.
Q. It works out the timing, playing later and adjusting your schedule when you're traveling and doing things during the mornings and --
BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, I mean, my first year on TOUR, I'm in the Korn Ferry category, so I'm at the back end of the wave, so you're kind of battling sunsets early in the year, the greens aren't quite as good because everyone's stepped on 'em.
And then my second year, I was kind of in a category where I was playing more early, so I would wake up at 4 a.m. a lot. I'd say now I'm going to be waking up at a little bit better hour. Whether or not it's an advantage -- it's probably a slight advantage. I think that's why they kind of do it, because they want the best golfers in the world to have the best conditions, I guess, in a way. I mean, it's relatively fair. It's as fair as it can possibly get, and the way the TOUR's set up, it rewards good play, and I think all of us as golfers are just trying to play as well as possible and there's a lot of -- the pot of gold's pretty big at the end of the rainbow if you can keep the pedal down.
Q. Have you learned anything from playing with different golfers, more of the elite golfers, as you've come along here the last month or so?
BEN GRIFFIN: I wouldn't say necessarily, like, learned anything, but when you're playing rounds with really elite golfers, the best golfers in the world, you're seeing a lot of really high-quality shots, so it helps a ton. When you're out there and you're seeing guys make birdies and seeing guys hit good shots, it kind of helps the energy of the group.
That's kind of one of those things you can't look at stats and see, but when you're in a group, you can feel when energy -- the energy's better. Like, going back to the front nine with Shane yesterday, we were kind of feeding off of each other. That's really fun. Sometimes -- it's not like I was playing with necessarily that worse of golfers. I mean, everyone on the PGA TOUR's really, really good, but there might have been some days where I was paired with some guys that just hardly made any birdies, maybe they're past champions or whatever it is, and they're kind of at the back ends of their career, and they're just not at -- they don't hit it quite as far as some of the top golfers in the world, etcetera. So I mean, the energy in the groups have definitely been nice the last few weeks.
Q. Akshay is playing well, too. Do you remember the first time you met him, was he super little or --
BEN GRIFFIN: He probably doesn't even remember because he was so young, but yeah, just going back to junior golf, we played in the same kind of events in North Carolina, whether it be the Tarheel TOUR, Carolina Golf Association, there's a bunch of events in North Carolina where I would see little Akshay walking around. He was probably, I think we have maybe a six-year gap, so I started playing those events when I was 11, 12, I think he kind of started playing more when he was 8, 9. So, I mean, he was significantly smaller than me. I would see him out there, but we didn't actually, we didn't become really good friends until I would say the mini-tours. I was on the grinding on the mini-tours when he first turned pro, so we were traveling together. I don't know if we necessarily ever roomed together, but we played a lot of practice rounds, we always caught up with each other, so I've been really good friends with Akshay for I would say almost seven years now.
Q. What impresses you about his game?
BEN GRIFFIN: Totally, it's been fun just watching. I mean, he's one of those child prodigies that kind of came out -- and it's hard when you're 18 years old and you're all of a sudden a professional golfer and you're managing your own business, didn't go to college, all that stuff. It's very difficult. It's been fun for me to kind of see his growth, not only as a player but as a person. His game's very solid, he's very steady, he's had a lot of success at pretty much all levels. So it will be fun this weekend, I don't know if I'll be paired with him, it looks like I'll probably be with Nick Taylor if we're in twosomes, but maybe on Sunday me and him will battle it out just like -- well, maybe not quite like when we were kids because we were in different age categories, but it will be fun, just a couple kids from North Carolina trying to battle it out here.
Q. Any adjustments you made to your bag this week for the course conditions or that you plan to make for the weekend?
BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, 7-wood. I normally use my Mizuno 3-iron, I love it, it's one of my favorite clubs in the bag. Certain weeks when it's really wet and the rough's long it's nice to have a 7-wood, some guys are even using 9-woods just because you can kind of chop it out of the rough when you get some bad lies. Now today I didn't have a chance to use it because my lies were that bad that I had to put wedges on it. But this is a golf course where the par-5s, going for in two, you want to come in with some height, so the 7-wood adds a little advantage there. As for the rest of the bag it's pretty much the exact same as I kind of always use.
Q. 7-wood this weekend?
BEN GRIFFIN: Definitely. Definitely. Same with probably going into U.S. Open and then -- actually, I don't know, maybe I would use the long iron in the U.S. Open, it all depends on course conditions. I love my 3-iron, it's like one of my favorite clubs, so I hate when I have to take it out, but it all depends on the rough and how firm the greens are.
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