THE MODERATOR: Sam Stevens, 2-under 68. Just talk about that round a bit.
SAM STEVENS: Yeah, it was a good round. I got off to kind of a weird start with the double on 10. We had the delay. Teed off and didn't get to hit my second shot for 2 1/2 hours or whatever it was.
Yeah, got off to kind of a weird start, but made a birdie on the very next hole. So it kind of felt like I settled in after that.
Drove the ball well. Hit my irons really well, I felt like. Had a lot of birdie looks. The greens were a little bit softer. They had to water them. I felt like you could hit good shots close to the hole, and then made a few nice putts, so overall good.
Q. Talk about your initial reaction to seeing the course, to Shinnecock, and what you sort of expected out of the week.
SAM STEVENS: Yeah, it's an awesome place. It's visually very appealing. I know it's played really hard here in the past, but they've kind of known this Thursday was going to be pretty windy. So the greens haven't been too firm, the fairways haven't been too firm.
So I've really felt like it's pretty scorable. Obviously it's difficult, but overall it's an awesome place. I think the setup's great right now.
Q. What was like the weirdest shot you had today? 120 away and I hit a 4-iron, that kind of stuff.
SAM STEVENS: The weirdest shot I hit was the 60-yard wedge shot that I flubbed on the first hole.
The trickiest shot, that shot on 7, the par-3 is so hard. It's maybe 180 or 175. I hit a 6-iron, which I normally hit about 200 yards. Yeah, just getting that ball on the green, I don't know how you get it on the green. You have to hit a perfect shot.
Yeah, there were a handful of tricky ones, whether it was way downwind or into the wind. Yeah, I didn't have any -- nothing crazy like you were saying.
Q. When you were facing a big cross-wind or a really severe wind, are there any like tendencies in your golf swing that you have to kind of mentally say, okay, focus on this or whatever it may be?
SAM STEVENS: With the driver, I get to cutting it pretty good. So when I get the wind off the left, I've got to pay attention. Otherwise, that can get away from me.
But it seemed like there weren't too many of those drives today where the wind is off of the left. I don't know if it's the prevailing wind, but a lot of them were off the right, which was kind of comfortable for me and could hold my cut against it.
With the irons, yeah, I'm just hoping to catch it solid and hoping for the best.
Q. Can you kind of take us through that beginning, what you did during the delay? Had you only hit one shot when you got called off?
SAM STEVENS: Yes.
Q. Just the tee shot then?
SAM STEVENS: Yeah, I teed off on 10, and I was getting ready to hit my second shot, and they blew the horn, which I thought was great because you couldn't even see the pin. It was pretty foggy or whatever it was, misty.
Yeah, during the delay, I'm playing with two Oklahoma State guys actually, and my old assistant coach is caddying for Eric Lee. We were just kind of sitting on the range kind of chitchatting. Just kind of kept delaying it 15 minutes at a time. So you had to stay ready because you never knew when you were going to have to go right back out.
Yeah, it was pretty relaxed and chill.
Q. I assume you were at the bottom of the hill. Off the tee shot on 10, you were at the bottom of the hill?
SAM STEVENS: No, I was actually at the top of the hill. Maybe I should hit it down to the bottom tomorrow. It would save me at least one shot.
Q. What did you hit on your second shot?
SAM STEVENS: I hit a 6-iron into the green. I thought I could get it over the hill with the club I had off the tee, but it was playing pretty long this morning with it being colder and a little wet.
Q. Just as a follow, you come in here, results-wise, doesn't look like you've been in terrific form. Is this a surprise to you? Did you feel this coming this week, practice rounds?
SAM STEVENS: I wouldn't say I'm surprised. I haven't played as well over the last month or so -- to be honest, I've had a really crappy attitude, which makes golf a lot harder.
So I got a week at home last week and just kind of focusing on trying to stay positive and kind of enjoy playing a little more.
I've played well this year. I just haven't had maybe the best last month or so. So I'm not super surprised, but I'm grateful to shoot a couple under.
Q. Can you put into words crappy attitude? Just negativity? How would you define your crappy attitude?
SAM STEVENS: Yeah, just maybe having a little too high expectations. Then the moment that those expectations aren't met, being a little more upset than I need to be. No broken clubs or anything yet. So that's good.
Yeah, it's kind of one of those things. It's a long season. I played a lot the first half of the season. It's easy to get worn down a little bit, and I just haven't been as on top of keeping a good attitude as I should have been.
I don't know, just a week at home is always nice, a little perspective.
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