Q. Good playing, 64 to start. What was clicking for you out there?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Man, a little bit of everything. My speed was really good on the putts. It kind of just happened this morning. Just the putter just started feeling good, and when you have the speed out here, I feel like you can hit your lines very well.
I know the greens are renovated pretty recently, and they've got a lot of subtleness to it, and you've just got to commit to your line. There's not a whole lot of big breakers out here. It's normally within a cup or so of the hole of how much it's breaking. You've just got to commit.
I was seeing it pretty well today.
Q. How different is this place from last week?
HARRIS ENGLISH: You couldn't have two more opposite places. The only other one would be like Kapalua to Sony and Waialae would be the biggest difference we go back-to-back.
Yeah, Augusta you can let it rip and hit drivers a lot. I put the mini-driver in play last week for Augusta, and I kept it in the bag this week, and I hit it a good bit today. You've just got to hit it straight out here. That's Hilton Head. Put it in the right spot of the fairway to give yourself the best angle into some of these greens.
It's in great shape. I don't know how long it's been open, but got a lot of grass on it, and the greens are perfect. Did a great job of it.
Q. This is your 40th round competitively at this tournament. Is there any hole that you play differently now from your experience from when you first started?
HARRIS ENGLISH: That's a good question. I can't really remember what I was doing 14, 15 years ago back when I first played this thing. Kind of the young gunslinger. I would say I play a little bit more conservative now, but I know how to play this course. Not to say that you're going to play it well every time. I know where to hit it. It's just tough to hit it there sometimes on this golf course.
There's not one hole in particular that I play different, but if I can just keep playing like I did today, I'd like to play that way out here.
Q. How cool were these past two weeks for you being a Valdosta guy?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, it's great. Anytime you can load up the truck and drive to Augusta, drive to Hilton Head, drive home, it's nice. Pack a lot more stuff in there. Yeah, it feels close to home.
You look up in the crowd and along the ropes and see a lot of people you know, and that's not normal when I go out to the West Coast or Arizona or something. It's a lot of familiar faces.
Q. Is there any difference from, say, having a lead heading into 18 rather than gaining the lead on 18 as you head into the next day? Is there any difference momentum-wise?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I mean, I played well. It's nice to -- I hit a great 9-iron in there on 18. I held it up against the wind like I wanted to.
Anytime you get putts like that, I don't know, 10-footer, a little right-to-left break, you've got to convert those, and I hit it right where I wanted to. It's good momentum heading into tomorrow. But I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing. I hit the ball well. I hit the ball in the right spots, and the putter stayed hot.
Q. Had the putter been cool of late? What did you find this morning?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I thought I putted -- I don't know what the stats -- it's hard to find the stats at Augusta last week. I thought I putted pretty good. It's just one of those things where I'm not making that many 12- to 15-footers, and today I had a lot in those range and you made some of them. That can change a round. Just seeing some of those go in gives you that much more confidence.
Q. Did it feel good on the practice green or once you got on the course?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Really just once I got on the course. I went through my normal drills, normal routines on the practice green, and I don't know, I just -- my speed started matching my lines really well and I was striking the putt well, and sometimes the putter just feels really good in your hands and you're not second-guessing yourself on reads. I did a good job of that today, just kind of going with my gut instinct on a read, and put the ball down and rolled it right there.
Q. What's your review of the renovation?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I think it's awesome. Normally when we go to places that have been renovated, they change too much. This place didn't need a whole lot of changing. The only thing I would say, No. 5, the par-5, that tree is just too much in the way on the second shot. I'm two feet in the left rough, and I either have to go below it or above it. It's such a hard shot, and it brings too much luck involved to me, of having a tree literally guarding 75 percent of the green on a par-5.
But it's going to make you think, and Pete Dye does a good job of all his courses make you really think. It's going to make that hole a lot tougher.
Q. Did you talk to Davis at all about it?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I did. I didn't mention that part of it. I saw him out here on Tuesday, and it was before I had gotten to No. 5. I saw him on the back the No. 2. I was like, man, I like what you did. I love the bunkering. I love some of those links-style bunkers that they did with the sod in there.
Like I said, he didn't do too much, which was great. He kind of let it be how it is and helped out some areas and made the greens a little more subtle to me, which is good.
Q. Your results this year, do you look at your result after a tournament to see where you stood, or do you not look at the leaderboard?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Not look at the leaderboard. I know I've played really solid this year. I don't know how many top 25s or top 30s, maybe like eight out of nine. It's just been so close, and that's what I've been -- not struggling with, but I know my game is really solid. It's just a little bit here or there, and rounds like today where I didn't really leave any shots out there, got up-and-down on the par-5s when I needed to, made the 10- or 12-footer for birdie when I needed it. It's just little stuff like that that adds up.
When you're doing it, it's easy to build momentum. When you're not, it's easy to kind of get stuck in neutral.
Q. Is it kind of something where in your mind you can really frame it either way because you can be like, I have no top 20s this year or you can be like, I have eight top 30s?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I frame it as, like, I'm playing really well. Maybe some of the most consistent of my career. I'm driving it really well right now. It's really just been turning around the short game and the putting a little bit. Just those one or two shots a round add up a lot over four rounds. I did that today and have been really close, and it's nice to see everything happen on the good side today.
Q. What position do you want the Jags to take in the draft? Second round, I think, is the first --
HARRIS ENGLISH: What position? I think they need some help at DT, D-end. I think they need to shore up that -- get a little more pass rush. I think that's what they struggled with last year. Obviously their offense is humming. Getting Travis Hunter back will be nice, to shore up cornerbacks. They'll be ready. They're going to get after Buffalo when it comes. It feels like they're close, right.
HARRIS ENGLISH: They're very close, very close.
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