Q. You've had two really good tournaments here, 2010 and 2017, some struggles in there. When you're playing well on this course, what are you doing well? Is it the putting like today or iron play or what?
LUCAS GLOVER: Hitting a lot of fairways, making a lot of putts. No secret, honestly. You probably can say that most places on TOUR. But for me, my cut-made-to-top-10 ratio is really high, so I don't know if that's a good thing or not.
But yeah, I played nice. Somebody said 11 out of 14 fairways, and one good lie I was able to get on the green, two bad ones I wasn't. Then just a silly mistake on 11. Other than that I played nice and made putts.
Q. The last four holes, were you aware of four in a row or do you just forget about that and go to the next one?
LUCAS GLOVER: Yeah, 15 I had a great number, so that was a green light. 16, if you hit it in the fairway you feel like you should make a 4. I drew a good lie in the left rough. 17 I happened to know a putt from years past hitting it there and over-reading it. Then 18, wind switched; I had help all of a sudden. It was an 8-iron number and ended up hitting 9. Then gravity kind of took over for me and pulled it down there to the left, which it does to that hole location if you just get the right number.
Q. How does your tee shot on 6, the type of shot you hit now, compare now with the new tree?
LUCAS GLOVER: Well I hit driver now. That's one change. I have to make sure it's low. So, yeah, different. But two guys in my group today hit -- other guys hit 3-wood and kept it under there, and yeah, I mean it's definitely a different look.
Q. Can you talk about this fountain of youth you've found at 2021 at the John Deere, then go on to win some playoff events, huge playoff events, making it look easier than it is, and then to play yourself in contention so well here? What's going on?
LUCAS GLOVER: I think just motivated, dedicated. Kind of just don't want to be done at 45, honestly. As you know, '21 I said it over and over told me I could do it and then 2023 after changing to the long putter and proving myself there, and now it's -- you know, I deep down believe I can still compete out here at 45 and I don't want to stop anytime soon.
Q. What does it mean to be at your score in the first round when you're seeing other guys that are struggling out here? You made it look easier than it is.
LUCAS GLOVER: That's the thing about this place is there's always some really good scores and always some really bad scores. It's razor thin. The margins are razor thin here, akin to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a little, you can make big numbers in a hurry.
So I happened to have a bunch of good numbers today and a bunch of good yardages and was able to be aggressive and I putted great. But any time you get off to a good start it gives you confidence.
There will be some low scores this afternoon. The golf course is good. It's a complete flip from last week. We had soft fairways, firm greens last week, and right now we got firm fairways and soft greens here. So the ball's chasing out there and then you can pretty much stop any club you want. So there will be good scores.
Q. What's the difference for you at 45 compared to say 10 years ago? What do you have to overcome? And obviously you mentioned the putting change, which was a huge help. But what other parts?
LUCAS GLOVER: Honestly, from 10 years ago, 20 years ago, I get pretty ramped up out there. I get pretty excited. I have to rein that in sometimes. A place like here you got to rein in being too aggressive.
I still have those thoughts about missing short putts and hitting bad shots just like everybody else, but I got some tools in my brain and in my bag now that I can pull out when I'm not feeling my best over a putt or over a shot that I probably didn't have 10 years ago or 20 years ago. So I would say that's probably the biggest difference, there's just a confidence in what I've been able to do and learn.
Q. That part is like worlds different even though from like three years ago, right?
LUCAS GLOVER: Oh, yeah, yeah. A hundred percent. It's not even close. Not even close. I had several today, left-edge putts downhill, fast, from two and three feet that I would have missed three years ago, two years ago, no questions asked. Just nervy and gross and yuck. But, yeah, and you get those out here. You get a lot of short putts outside the hole, but, yeah, don't seem to have that issue now.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports