CHRIS REIMER: Want to welcome Richy Werenski here to the virtual press conference at THE NORTHERN TRUST, winner recently of the Barracuda, and probably our closest thing to a local boy here.
You've made it to the Playoffs in 2017, 2018 and you played in the NORTHERN TRUST, but you fell short of getting to TPC Boston. So I would imagine you're pretty happy with the rotation to have this the first Playoff event.
If you could, just talk about coming and playing here at TPC Boston.
RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, you know, I grew up about an hour and a half from here, so I've played out here a few times when I was younger.
But I got just a lot of family and friends in the area. Like I got fans all throughout Massachusetts, so it's kind of a bummer that there's no fans this week because it would have been really fun. You know, it's still really cool to be playing here and I am excited about it.
CHRIS REIMER: Trying to figure out how many managers you could sneak in to get a credential this week?
RICHY WERENSKI: Exactly.
Q. I just had a question about the back nine specifically. It's pretty unique this week that the four-most difficult holes at TPC Boston are all consecutive on numbers 11 through 14. Overall, what's your strategy through that stretch?
RICHY WERENSKI: 11 is a good golf hole. Nice, long par 3. If you just play for the center of the green or kind of left center, you know, that's kind of my just -- I'm not going to try to get too cute, you know what I mean, with the pins or back pin. I'm going to hit to the middle, left center of the green every time. If I do that, I'll have couple putts at birdie or worst case make pars.
12 is pretty generous off the tee. It's kind of wet right now out there in the practice round, so I don't know if it dries out, it's going to change the strategy a little bit but right now I can hit driver down there and kind of have a little bit shorter of an iron in there on a second shot, same kind of deal. You know, play to the middle of the green there and you've just got to be happy with par. If you're hitting it well, you can have -- you never know, you can probably make a couple of birdies. But not trying to force anything on that hole.
13, kind of the same deal. It's just kind of managing your misses around that green. There's not many areas you can miss it. Left is going to be really a hard up-and-down to any pin. There's kind of a back right bunker that is pretty easy to get at any pin from there. So that's kind of -- be favoring the right side of that green a little bit more.
And 14, you've got to hit a good drive. If you do, that makes that hole a lot easier. So really just hoping I hit the fairway on 14, kind of the same deal, middle of the green. Just basic stuff on those.
Q. Having last week off, being towards the back of the 125 -- just how big was getting that first win --
RICHY WERENSKI: You're kind of breaking up. It's kind of going in and out here. I can't really hear you at all.
Q. How big was it to have a week off coming into this event, and then just how big is it actually breaking through, getting that first victory?
RICHY WERENSKI: It's huge. You know, as far as having a week off, last week was great. I wasn't planning on getting into the PGA obviously, so that was going to be my week off and I was going to play the Wyndham, but the win at the Barracuda got me into the PGA. So you've got to go out there and work hard.
But I was definitely ready for a week off to recharge the batteries a little bit. So it was great, and last week I was home. Got to see my dog, my fiancee, it was perfect. I'm ready to go this week and obviously feel like I'm playing good coming off that win, and I'm in a really good spot in the Playoffs to go make a run and try to make it to East Lake.
Q. Obviously with the third place at 3M and the victory did something click? Did something change for you or is it just working on the same things and planning paid off?
RICHY WERENSKI: Kind of just working on the same stuff honestly. I mean, I felt like I had been playing pretty good. Since the first couple tournaments back, I was a little rusty after the break, but I was playing really good golf. I wasn't hitting it that bad. I just kind of -- some putts weren't falling here and there, and you know, hit a couple bad breaks, whatever it was.
It just wasn't super solid, but it was really close, and you know when it feels like that, you know you're kind of just right around the corner from playing really good golf. You know, I just kind of kept everything light. Kept myself pretty relaxed and things kind of just fell into place at the 3M and the Barracuda.
Q. You've gone through the Midwest and West Coast, and now you're here in the northeast close to home. Is there something here where you're like, okay, yeah, now we're in the northeast: The type of grass, the temperature, just the look and feel of the golf course itself, is there something that just feels like home to you here?
RICHY WERENSKI: It all does. I love northeast golf. It's my favorite. And this course is very northeast looking. You have a lot of trees. The grass is all what I'm used to, so I love being up here. I feel really comfortable on this golf course, so hopefully should be a good week.
Q. One last question. Wondering after your car accident last October, did that affect your expectations at all going into the season, and if someone told you a week after that accident, like what your season would have ended up like, what would you say?
RICHY WERENSKI: Definitely was after I broke my rest, I didn't really know what to expect. I thought I was going to have a lot of work to do just to keep a card and keep my job next year.
So I probably wouldn't have believed going in -- it was kind of a bummer, because right before the accident, I felt like I was playing really good. You know, had a good finish at Greenbrier a few weeks before that. So I felt like I was in a really good spot.
And then it was basically like kind of I think about three months off that I had from the wrist and came back and I think the first tournament was out in the desert, and then I went to Torrey Pines, and the rough was really nasty out there and I was feeling the wrist, and I was like, this is going to be a little harder than I thought.
But you know, I just kind of just stuck to the game plan and did what I could and didn't kind of expect too much out of myself. Wasn't pushing too hard but at the same time, I was playing really hard because I knew I've got to have a good rest of the season. Things kind of fell into place.
This is I think year four out here, three or four, so I kind of know what to expect and you've kind of just got to keep plugging along and just keep doing what you're doing and then things will happen. So that's kind of what I just tried to stick to.
CHRIS REIMER: Did you ever come to a PGA TOUR event at TPC Boston when it was played in the past? Did you ever attend as a fan?
RICHY WERENSKI: I never came here as a fan. But honestly as a fan, I really -- the only tournament I think I ever went to was the U.S. Open at Bethpage in like 2001, or I don't know when it was. That's about the only one I went to. I never even went to Hartford. I was playing a lot when I was a kid and just, you know, off-weeks, I didn't really want to go watch golf. I'd watch it on TV.
CHRIS REIMER: Boston as a city, known for playoffs and championships. Are you a big Boston sports fan, and what would it mean to be a Playoff winner in Boston?
RICHY WERENSKI: It would be pretty special to win in Boston. They would definitely, it would be right up there with the coolest things I've ever done. Huge Boston sports fan. You know, I love it all. So definitely Patriots fans, Bruins, Red Sox.
CHRIS REIMER: So Boston is title town to you then.
RICHY WERENSKI: Oh, yeah.
CHRIS REIMER: Sounds good, Richy. Good luck this week and thanks for joining us, and congratulations again on your first victory a few weeks back.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports