Q. Scott, thanks for joining us. 7-under today, clean scorecard, just assess your round.
SCOTT PAREL: Yeah, I played very well obviously. Shoot 63 is -- I hadn't had many 63s in a long time. I putted really well today. I've hit the ball much better in other rounds but hadn't made putts like I did today.
Q. Was the weather a factor at all for you?
SCOTT PAREL: No, I mean the weather was fine. We got rained on maybe three or four holes at the most. Never got really cold, which usually here if there is no sun and it's raining you're going to be a little cool.
So, no, the weather was fine, yeah.
Q. This is your first (round in the 60s in 20-aomw rounds. What do you attribute that to?
SCOTT PAREL: Putting. 100%. There is no doubt. Last week -- I don't really look at stats much, but last week I looked at stats. I love that golf course. I won there in Seattle. I was like sixth in driving, sixth in accuracy, top 10 in greens in regulation, and I finished 27th or something; I was 69th in putting.
That's been my year; my putting has been erratic. Got a little tip from Keith this week, which felt really good today. We'll see how it goes the rest of the weekend.
Q. Can you share what that was?
SCOTT PAREL: Yeah. You know, my putts I felt like were starting right of where I was intending, especially under the gun. He just said, you know what, your golf swing has very good, slow tempo and your putting stroke used to have very good, slow tempo, and I got to where I don't let -- I wasn't letting the putter get back. I was going through.
So he said, just be patient. Just be patient. Let that club get back just like in your golf swing. Yeah, so that helped today. You know, golf, we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm going to try to obviously keep doing that. You know, actually I didn't hit it that great. I just made -- obviously didn't get in terrible trouble, but just made a lot of putts today.
Q. When you have one of those days where it seems like the putts are just falling for you, is there a secret to capitalizing on those?
SCOTT PAREL: I mean, you know, obviously you have a lot more confidence. What's happened to me this year is I'll hit -- I'll get on the first hole, hit it 12 feet and miss. Get on the next hole, hit it ten feet and I'll miss, right?
So then you start pressing, you think you got to hit it to where it's tap-in distance. Today I hit it 15 feet and I made it. Then I hit it three, four feet and I made it. I made a good par save on the next hole.
I think when you see the ball go in the hole obviously you're a lot more confident. You just want to keep it rolling and not think too much about it and just kind of go with it.
Q. On hole No. 8 there, how long was that putt and how nice was it to see that one go in?
SCOTT PAREL: Gosh, probably 20 feet maybe. Maybe a little bit more. Yeah, and I made one that long or longer than that on I guess on No. 6, so it's just one of those days where I could just see the line. Like I said, it's all about having confidence.
I felt like I've been rolling the ball okay but not consistently starting it on my line. Then you start to question, am I reading the putts correctly? So it's like I'm missing every putt to the right. That's a little bit too curious that every putt is missing to the right.
It must not be that I'm reading it, it's that I'm not starting it where I need to. Today I made a lot of really good putts.
Q. You are a winner on the PGA TOUR Champions obviously. Getting off to a start like this and knowing of course there is only two more rounds to go, is it mentally a situation where you're like, I got to keep the gas pedal down?
SCOTT PAREL: For sure. I didn't even really look at the scoreboard today. I'm sure there are plenty of people that are going to shoot this number or close to it anyway because the golf course is in perfect condition. The greens are absolutely perfect.
Now it's a little soft as far as throwing the ball into the green. Scoring conditions couldn't have been much better today. I mean if we had had zero rain, maybe.
But look, I know this is just the first day. Like you said I have won before. Most of my wins I'm not out front. I come from behind. I'm just going to keep playing, hope that I keep making putts. I feel like if I hit the ball the way I have in previous weeks a little better than today, then I think I'll be okay if I can keep putting.
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