Q. Nice couple days, in a good spot into the weekend. How do you feel about your game so far?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, playing good. It's nice to get off to a good start today. Birdied 1 and 2. Man, it got tricky there on the back nine, as it can here at Hilton Head. Gusty winds. You don't really know what direction it's coming from. Trying to get your yardage right, got me a little bit on 11. I left it a little right off the tee, had to lay up and kind of got gusted. I felt like I executed the shot I wanted to and just got the direction and didn't know it was going to hurt it that much come into 11 and you pay the price. You plug it in the bunker, and you're looking for the bail out where you can get up-and-down from.
That's what makes this place different and so difficult if it's blows like this. All you need is 15 to 20 miles an hour and it can change in a heartbeat.
The greens are getting firm, hard to get close to the flag. You could see it there on 18; I hit a great shot and bounced it over the green in the back bunker, but that's the place you want to be, chipping back into the wind.
Happy with the round, happy where I'm sitting, and looking forward to the weekend.
Q. Were you surprised to see a 14-under when you teed off?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I was. Obviously Fitz likes this place a lot. I didn't really watch much of his round. I guess he was turning by the time I was teeing off. Really, really good round. He's going to be tough to beat this weekend.
Q. Going off what you said about the weather, are you someone who checks the weather pretty constantly the night before to see what you're going to get the next day?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I like to game plan and get to know what you're hitting off certain tees and kind of going into the round of not second-guessing yourself; when you step up on a tee you know what you're hitting. The par-3s can be a little bit different with them moving the tees around a little bit. But I like to look at the forecast and kind of have the game plan going into the day.
Q. Do you look at the leaderboard and see who's around you? You mentioned Fitz; do you notice different themes? There's four European Ryder Cuppers in the top six.
HARRIS ENGLISH: I wasn't really going there. But obviously Bobby Mac can play in the wind really well. Fitz is a good wind player. Maybe there's some really good players from Europe; I think that's the thing. They've been playing really, really good all year. They played really good at the Ryder Cup. I think they're just some really good players.
Q. What do you take from the Ryder Cup? Does that still sit within you at all, or is it something that you move past --
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I want to get back. I want to get back next year in Ireland. It always leaves a sour taste in your mouth when you lose. Been on a winning team and a losing team, and losing sucks. It hurt a lot. It took a few days to bounce back from that. But going to give me even more fire to get back to Ireland and try to win the Cup back.
Q. Which emotion lasted longer?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Definitely the loss.
Q. Got a little Scottie in you, huh?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah. I was a little more hungover after Whistling Straits. I wasn't really in the partying mood. Obviously you want to congratulate Team Europe for playing so well. I'm good buddies with a lot of those guys. But losing sucks. It's not as much fun as winning. We'll get back. We're going to kind of get back to the drawing board and get it right for Ireland.
Q. Is it good to have some of those things in your career, kind of in the long-term, as much as it sucks in the short term?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Oh, 100 percent. I've had a lot of bumps and road blocks in my career, and it just makes you stronger and makes you better. Makes it more worthwhile when you play good golf, getting over some of those hurdles.
I've had a lot in my career. I'm probably going to have more of them. That's just golf, and that's life.
Q. Are you better at that now than when you were younger, would you say?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I feel like I have a way better system, a way better blueprint now to where if it does get a little off, I know I'm not too far off. I know how to get it back on the tracks pretty quick. But yeah, that just takes -- from my 15 years of experience out here, I've been playing golf a long time, and I know I'm not too far away when things go awry.
But it happens. Golf is a hard game. I think that's why we all are addicted to it. That's why we love the challenge is every day is a little bit different, and you're always striving for perfection.
Q. Is that kind of what makes Scottie's run the last few years so crazy, so rarely outside the top 10 --
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, he's unbelievable. Just the way -- where his bad days aren't that bad. He's incredible to watch. People don't see his work ethic, how much time he spends in the gym, how much time he spends on the range, the putting green, the chipping green. He's got one of the best work ethics I've ever seen in my life. For a guy who has been No. 1 in the world for a few years now, he's not stopping. He's not backing off. He's not taking any time off. He's relentless in his pursuit of perfection, and it's incredible to watch, and he sets the bar really, really high for guys out here on the PGA TOUR.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports