Q. How would you assess the round?
HAROLD VARNER: Any time you're leading a golf tournament you probably played pretty well, especially out here.
It's windy. The biggest thing for me was last week I just had a terrible attitude and those are things I just -- having a bad attitude probably makes me more mad than I guess playing bad golf. That's the only thing you control. You don't really control what you're going to shoot or where your golf ball is going to end up, but you control how you approach each shot.
Q. What was maybe the impetus -- you don't usually have a bad attitude.
HAROLD VARNER: Oh, I know, tell me about it. I don't know what happened. It is what it is. I talked to my caddie and talked to some people that I like to talk to about things like that. The best players in any sport I feel like always feel like they have a chance and are always scrapping, always fighting for it.
You just can't lose that. That starts with having a good attitude.
Q. When did it happen?
HAROLD VARNER: No. 11. Hit it over the green at Wyndham and I'm still pissed about it actually. So, yeah. I don't know.
Q. What day?
HAROLD VARNER: I'm not sure. Third day.
Q. Third day?
HAROLD VARNER: Yeah, I was playing pretty well, and it is what it is, but I'm glad it happened there rather than here.
Q. How did that help you today?
HAROLD VARNER: Just helped me refocus on what I wanted to do. It's not like I had a super bad attitude. You can't be just moping around there. It's golf. Everyone has to deal with it. Quit being a -- I would say something else if it wasn't on camera.
Sometimes you need that. We're losing a lot of that tough love in our kids. I hope -- you know, I'm having a kid in October -- that I'll still be able to do that.
Q. What happens when you got a bad attitude? You're not snapping clubs?
HAROLD VARNER: No, now, that's not being a professional. You're not going to be a child. You can cover it up a little bit, but I just know how it felt, how I was thinking after it happened, and it just wasn't -- first of all, it's not healthy with all the mental illness stuff, and just wasn't right for -- if someone is doing something for me I want them to do the best they can do, best attitude.
When I'm not doing it, who am I to judge them for half-assing it?
So that's what really pisses me off.
Q. What was the turning point to snap you out of that?
HAROLD VARNER: I had about two beers on Saturday night and I sat there and just talked to people that I love and care about, and they're just like, What happened? We just talked through it. Communication is good, and it's hard to do it on the course.
Need to do more of it so that you can just, Hey, I hit it in the water, over the green, whatever that might be, and carry on.
Q. Were there any breaks today where because of snapping out of it, the good attitude helped you get out of bad breaks here? You had a clean round.
HAROLD VARNER: Yeah, clean round, I don't know, I just know I hit it over the green on -- bogeyed 15. Yeah, 15, and I was just like, Dude. You know, I had a 50-footer or whatever for par. If you're sitting up there complaining about you didn't get it over the bunker, you're not focusing on the putt.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
HAROLD VARNER: Yeah.
Q. Being so close now, how did you learn from that experience?
HAROLD VARNER: Correct. I just know how one shot matters. Yeah, I was -- the thing about last time I didn't know I was that close because I was so far behind, and then everyone is like -- when you got done they have the guy at the computer like, Hey, you're in Eastlake, you're not in Eastlake.
He is like, Hey, you're in Eastlake if Abe misses his putt. I'm like, Holy cow! You know, it's that crazy, and it's good for the sport. Makes people watch it and the competition is obviously good this week as well.
Q. I think you were T3 here in '19 if I'm not mistaken.
HAROLD VARNER: Sounds about right.
Q. Is there something about this place? What is it?
HAROLD VARNER: I really don't know. There is a lot of tough shots, and if you drive it well you can make up a lot of ground I think. But I putted well today, so I guess that was good.
Q. Just to follow on that, when you come into this week knowing you played well here two years ago, what does that do for you?
HAROLD VARNER: It does nothing for me because I get really excited and I just blow everything off before I even tee off. So the biggest thing for me was just that was in 2019; it's 2021. Do your job. The biggest thing for me is what I talked about earlier, having a better attitude. That's what it comes down to, especially with the conditions like they are right now, windy.
You're going to hit it some places. You're going to hit it in some places that you're screwed and you just got to figure it out and keep grinding away.
Q. On 5 from the fringe, that also a putter?
HAROLD VARNER: Yeah, that was a putter.
Q. Any keys to the...
HAROLD VARNER: That's a lot of the luck. There was a clump of mud on one side of it. I was like, I'll just roll it down there, whatever, and ended up going in. Perfect pace.
Q. Any keys with the putter today, or just a good day?
HAROLD VARNER: Same thing, just having a good attitude. You know, if you get another shot, the last shot doesn't dictate what's going to happen next.
Q. Not to get too personal, but the people you turn to o (indiscernible) about this?
HAROLD VARNER: Not on my attitude, no. That's more personal. That would be like way more my wife, my caddie. With my caddie it's way more we're butting heads, which is good. I've done it that with my parents. That's good. That's healthy for life. It's not supposed to be pretty.
So I had -- my birthday is on Sunday, and at the house there were some people that I like hang out with a lot in Charlotte that I've been friends with for years. They were like, Hey, what happened? Because the joke turned into, Hey, this is what I was thinking, and then I get do the self-reflection in front of them. That's how you grow up.
Q. It boy or girl in October?
HAROLD VARNER: Boy.
Q. Nice.
HAROLD VARNER: Yeah, I did all the work. What you talking about?
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