Q. 7-under for the day. How would you assess your opening round?
BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, it was solid. It was a bit of a grind. I don't feel like I hit that many greens, but I feel like I hit the ball well. Struggled judging the wind. It seemed like it swirled kind of with the storms, and my chipping and putting was excellent.
All in all, obviously really happy with it. Had a bit of a hiccup there on the back nine but was able to save bogey on 13 or 14 and get it in the house. Yeah, my game is starting to feel a little bit better, so it was nice to get a good score under my belt.
Q. Had you seen this course prior to this week?
BEAU HOSSLER: No, first time.
Q. What are you seeing out there after a practice round and a round in?
BEAU HOSSLER: Well, in the practice rounds I seemed to hit it in the fairway a lot, and today I seemed to miss the fairway by about one to four yards and be blocked out by overhanging trees. It felt a bit like a Harbour Town, like it's kind of a mix between Copperhead in Tampa and Harbour Town is what it feels like to me. It's obviously fairly gettable, but you've got to put the ball in the right place off the tee to have a shot to the green. The greens are pretty severe. If you can just make sure that even if you hit it a little farther from the pin but you're in the right spot, it seems like it's generally a little bit easier to get up-and-down.
Q. Looking at what you've done this year, would you term this year solid but not spectacular to this point?
BEAU HOSSLER: It's been a good start and then very mediocre the last couple months. Game just hasn't felt great. Wasn't hitting it great, wasn't putting great. Felt a bit out of it.
No, I feel like I'm trending, got some stuff that I'm working on that I feel pretty excited about. It's peaks and valleys in this sport. It's really frustrating.
I think it's like that for pretty much every player in the world except for one at the moment, and I'm trying to just accept the fact that it is what it is and try and have a little better attitude when it's down because it's tough to ride that emotional roller coaster for a career.
Q. You mentioned the peaks and valleys. You had a lot of peaks in your youth and teenage and all that. How do you feel you've been able to progress through that in your pro career?
BEAU HOSSLER: It's a hard sport.
Q. We've got to ask you about the eagle.
BEAU HOSSLER: Oh, yeah. I should be asking you. I couldn't see it.
Q. What did you see?
BEAU HOSSLER: I saw it go up and then I heard people say, "good shot." Yeah, it was nice. I left it right at the spot where I wanted. I thought the left bunker would be a good place, and obviously I'd never expect to make it, but hit a good one, and I couldn't help -- obviously I didn't see it go in, so I don't know how much speed it had, but it felt like a pretty good shot.
Q. You talked about a really solid start early. Is there any one part of your game that you can point to where you can say I'm not doing now what I was doing early in the year?
BEAU HOSSLER: No. All of it, honestly. It's not that anything has been horrendous, but my ball-striking has not just been super sharp. Chipping hasn't been great. Putting, I feel like I've had rounds where I've putted well, but generally that's kind of the strength of my game, and it's just kind of been okay.
Yeah, I feel like when I'm playing really well, I'm great around the greens and hold it together off the tee and into the greens, and I'm in good shape. That's kind of my recipe.
Q. Obviously everybody wants to win every week, and even though this is an alternate event, there's still a two-year exemption, so forth and so on. I looked and found out you are in a rare group, one of seven active players who's won $10 million or more without actually winning a tournament. Would that make a win here even bigger than it otherwise is for you?
BEAU HOSSLER: Nope.
Q. Could you expound on that?
BEAU HOSSLER: A win is a win. It's what we play for, like you just said a second ago. That other stuff is nice. That's basically a product of us playing for more money. I wouldn't necessarily say my performance. I'm trying to win every week that I play no matter where I play.
Q. Were you aware of that stat?
BEAU HOSSLER: I was.
Q. When you heard that the first time, when somebody other than me told you that, what did you think?
BEAU HOSSLER: I'd rather be there than have that be one quarter of my earnings. I mean, it's a nice -- we play for a lot of money out here. We're really blessed to do what we love to do and make a lot of money, but you don't lay your head on the pillow thinking about money. You think about winning golf tournaments and what you're trying to work towards and stuff like that.
Yeah, it's great. I'm very lucky. I'm blessed to have a career that I get to do what I love to do and support myself, and if I need to, support my family. I'm very, very fortunate to have that.
At the same time, I don't count money.
Q. I think the number I saw is you've made the cut in two thirds of the events you've played in. That signals somebody who is consistent week in and week out.
BEAU HOSSLER: I think I'm pretty good at golf.
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