Q. Nico, just talk about how the course played today and how you played today.
NICO ECHAVARRIA: Yeah, the course played fair. There wasn't a lot of wind on the front nine. The wind started picking up a little bit, but the greens weren't as firm as they were yesterday in the afternoon when I played. So there were some birdies out there.
It's still a very challenging course. Putted well. Hit the ball good. I'm very happy with how it went.
Q. I saw you didn't birdie the first two par-5s. You must be pretty enthused about the finish, the save on 17 and then the birdie on 18?
NICO ECHAVARRIA: Yeah, unfortunately didn't birdie the par-5s having good looks, but yeah, the finish was great. Birdieing 14, birdieing 16 and making par on 17 and birdieing 18 was a great finish.
Q. Michael Thomas won this tournament a few years ago after he had missed a bunch of cuts in a row. I know your season hasn't gotten off to the start you wanted. Talk about being able to turn that switch and play really well.
NICO ECHAVARRIA: Yeah, it wasn't the best start of the year, but I did play very, very well in Pebble, and those Signature Events give you a lot of points, so I'm happy with that.
The golf hasn't been that far off, and I could tell today that having patience and just enjoying it out there was going to be the key for the day, and we did that.
Q. You said you found something with the putter. Can you talk on that, and what were you feeling out there on the greens?
NICO ECHAVARRIA: The greens were rolling incredible. I was struggling a little with the left to righters. Some of them I was pulling them and some of them I wasn't starting them on line. We found a little bit of setup and path for those left to right putts, and it worked well.
I made a lot of great putts today that kind of rolled end over end and with good speed.
Q. Outside of that stretch of missed cuts, you played really well in the one event in California. Did you find anything that week, and what's been the difference between that week and today?
NICO ECHAVARRIA: Yeah, in Pebble the weather wasn't great, and I was just keeping it in front of me. I was making very few mistakes. I got hot on the weekend, played very well on Saturday and Sunday.
I almost had a chance to win at one moment. I made eagle on 11, holing a 100-something shot, and unfortunately didn't finish the tournament great, the round great, but it was a great result for me.
Q. Did you build anything that weekend, find anything with your swing, get some confidence?
NICO ECHAVARRIA: Yeah. I mean, it hasn't been that far off. I kind of had that sense of, okay, let's not panic. We're just starting the year. It's a long season. I hit it really good Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday out here. I had my coach. So we just said today, just try to execute and go as low as you can.
Q. You recently got married; any good vibes heading into the week or just your season as a hole?
NICO ECHAVARRIA: Yeah, we've been together for a long time. Marriage, it doesn't change much for us. We did have a great time with our family and friends out there. But we have a great relationship. Not a lot has changed.
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