Q. The game is pretty easy when you birdied more than half your holes and that's what you were able to do today. 10 birdies on the day. That's a new record for you on the PGA TOUR. How did you get in such a rhythm?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, I mean, I think I've been working on some good stuff the last couple weeks and I hit a lot of iron shots close and I made kind of those 10- to 15-foot mid-range putts the whole day, which you're going to have to make a few of those to put 10 birdies on the card.
Q. What have you been working on and at what point did you find it to know it could be a special day?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, you know the week before Sony I felt really good, went to Sony, didn't quite hit it how I wanted to, but I knew I was working on the right stuff and just needed to get some more tournament reps.
Today I think there were a couple pressure shots where I just was covering the ball like I've been working on with my chest through the ball and I started to see the exact thing that I wanted, so I think that was kind of when I knew it was clicking a little bit.
Q. You were an alternate. You got in when Jon Rahm withdrew on Monday. You also have the family in tow with you. What's it like juggling the family balance and then also getting ready for a tournament where you started the week as an alternate?
BRANDON HAGY: Sure. I'm not going to claim I'm an expert, I'm five months in here with a kid. But I have to give a lot of credit to my wife, she's really holding down the fort at home. And I got to just trust her that she knows what she's doing and I try and focus on the golf course.
But there's nothing better than seeing a smile when you leave to go to the course and then you get the same smile when you come back.
Q. And your little girl, Hunter, correct?
BRANDON HAGY: Correct. Yeah.
Q. So you started off with bogey on the day and then you rip off the score that you ripped off. One, do you think that you left a couple out there? And number two, how much did you like the round?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, I mean, with how firm the greens are there's going to be some situations out there where you're going to have putts for par, so that's what happened with the bogeys. There's one par-5 where I knew I couldn't go left and short-sided myself and made par. So obviously I would love to have that poor strategy back on that hole. Not a particularly bad shot, just a spot you couldn't be. But it's hard to complain when you make 10 birdies.
Q. What was going so well for you?
BRANDON HAGY: The 10- to 15-foot range was really kind of the -- I made most of those, which you're going to have to do when you make 10 birdies. So that's it. That was probably the biggest thing.
Q. Your number came up when Jon Rahm withdrew. Do you feel like you're kind of playing with house money and taking advantage of the opportunity you've been given?
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, I don't know what would have shaken out, maybe if he hadn't I wouldn't have got in today, but I actually, I play with Jon a little bit at Whisper Rock in Scottsdale, so we know each other pretty well, we played against each other in college and so I'll have to buy him a bottle of wine or something.
Q. I looked at stats last year and I think you were second in golf ball speed, 197 or something along those lines. Do you use that number during the off-season as your practicing saying, If I can just get to 198, if I can get to 199 -- I'm sure you know where I'm going with this, but.
BRANDON HAGY: Yeah, sure, sure. I've dabbled with a slightly longer driver just to see what was there for me, but I think that the main thing for me in the off-season is I'm always just trying to be as efficient, trying to get my body in a position to support that speed. I'm not really chasing much faster than that.
I would need to put on quite a bit more weight probably to -- because I'm kind of maxing out my frame -- I'm not the biggest guy, so.
But I don't really look at the ball-speed number that much, it's more of injury prevention for me. I had a wrist injury, I got to make sure that I have my bigger muscles supporting that swing speed.
Q. Did you ever consider putting on more weight and follow what he did?
BRANDON HAGY: I have a hard time doing it. I try to eat as much as possible and train hard, but I think that there's probably 5 to 10 pounds in there for me to pick up, I think that it might increase it a little bit.
But for me it's more, I'm just trying to train in the gym to help me with injury prevention.
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