Q. 10 birdies and six to close and an 8-under 62. Give us an assessment of that round as it fits into your career.
ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, probably the last six holes is probably as good as I've ever putted in a stretch of holes. Just so consistent.
But since I changed coach at Pebble Beach this year on the putting, I've turned the right corner. I've got back to doing what I'm used to doing. You don't expect to hole the big long putts. I don't even know how long that one was on the par-3, but it was a long way away. But I expect to roll in putts. I work hard at it. I do a lot on my reads. I do a lot on my touch.
When you get the eye on, it's free flowing, and it's nice.
Q. That suspension of play came at a time when it seemed like you came out and just let it go after that. How different was that for you?
ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, I'd never been great on restarts after a rain delay. That kind of changed -- I changed it up at the U.S. Open this year when we went in for the rain delay on Sunday. I kept myself moving. I kept myself warm. I wasn't allowing the air-conditioning to almost freeze you and then you come back out to the heat and it's a shock. It was all about trying to stay warm, and the locker room was a nice temperature, so it wasn't like I was having to keep moving, keep stretching.
I just changed outfit because of the conditions, but no, it came at a tough time, but it gave the course a little more to us.
Q. When you're in a situation like that, how do you stay in it hole by hole, not get ahead of yourself, not think about what's going on?
ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, it's so tough out there. There's so many shots that you can't not think about. You can't just stand up there and swing at it because there's so much trouble. 17, 18 tee shot, it's difficult.
For me, it was literally just tick off each shot, and it's something that -- the tougher the test for me, the better I can accept things like the tee shot on 12. Terrible tee shot, but I know a bogey is not horrendous, and I can accept a bogey when it's such a tough hole. So a bogey is not going to kill you.
The tougher the test for me, I stay switched on, and I feel like the way I play golf is better suited for the tougher tests, where you're rewarded for hitting a fairway, you're rewarded for hitting a green, and then take your chances with the putter.
Just happy with today's work.
Q. You found that when you were playing the two Opens this year. What about before the rainstorm? How were you playing in your mind at that point?
ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, I was playing great. I hadn't holed any putts, to be honest. I had a few chances. But the greens were really slick early on when they were dry. When I went back out, they felt a little bit slower, a little bit smoother.
Yeah, just got the speed of them right away and dropped in a few long ones and tidied up where I needed to.
Q. Remind me of the coach that you're with now.
ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, Mike Kanski. He works with loads of guys on TOUR now out here. He's like Phil Kenyon's -- he was with Phil and then he's got a lot of young guys like the Højgaards, so yeah, there's a lot of us with him.
We've worked hard at what we're doing, and we continue to do it.
Q. What's the most helpful thing he taught you?
ROBERT MacINTYRE: I don't know. It was just we went back to -- I've been with different coaches on putting over my time, and I do the same stuff. It's just in a different way potentially. I've not changed what I've done on the putting since probably the PGA this year. We were trying to do something technically that was statistically better, but for me, I wasn't feeling comfortable. I wasn't -- yeah, it just wasn't feeling right, so we adjusted that. We changed putters. We changed technique again to make me feel comfortable.
The priority is getting that putter face as square as I can at impact, which it's not rocket science but it's difficult to do. For me, that's the priority now, just to go and do that. Then when you get in a certain range, it's all pace putting and touch, and my touch is normally pretty good.
Q. What week did you change the putter?
ROBERT MacINTYRE: I think it was actually Friday or Saturday of the PGA. We completely changed technique. I was sitting in a good position after two rounds, changed technique, and we didn't play great over the weekend, but yeah, that was one week, and it was like last week I putted beautifully, didn't play great, but that was a week, put it on the back burner and we go on to this week.
Had my swing coach out this week, and we've worked hard. I've hit more balls the last week and a half that I probably have all season after rounds. Yeah, just happy with the round.
Q. When you first saw this golf course, did you have a number in your head about what sort of scores might be posted, and are you surprised that there's probably a dozen scores under par today?
ROBERT MacINTYRE: I'm not surprised the scores are under par. There's chances. If you drive the ball well, it does give you chances. You've got to be on the right side of holes to be able to give a putt a go. I didn't see my score, but again, when we get in a rhythm, it's just -- and when it gets soft like that, as long as it can be, if you're hitting fairways and on par-3s you put it on a tee, yeah, I'm sure the next couple of days won't be as easy.
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