RBC Heritage
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Kevin Kisner
Quick Quotes
Q. 64 yesterday, 66 today. No bogeys on the card and you are right in the fight for this championship.
KEVIN KISNER: Right where I need to be. If you told me I was going to be here early on Thursday I probably would have laughed at you. I knew I was playing well, I just had to clean it up. I played nice the last two days.
Q. I noticed your patience out there, especially on the back nine, because the closer putts didn't seem to fall but you hit that long one on 17 for birdie?
KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, I kind of had a lull there where I thought I should have had a couple more. And it's always nice to hit a long one. That was a nice putt to make and made me feel better about my round.
Q. A couple of years ago you fought Jim Furyk in a playoff. You're in a great position for an incredible Sunday. What are you looking forward to the most as we get to tomorrow's round?
KEVIN KISNER: It's one of the most special places on Tour for me. I'm going to enjoy the day having friends and family out there, and hope to get in roars going early. I think I need five or six more to have a chance so that's the goal.
Q. Talk about your day.
KEVIN KISNER: This is pretty good. I played nicely all day. Clean pars. Put myself in right positions to make birdies. I feel confident around this course.
Q. Speaking of confidence, how high is it heading into Sunday?
KEVIN KISNER: I'm as confident as I can get. This is a week where you've got to put yourself in position when you know where the ball is going and feel good over the putter. I'm looking forward to the day tomorrow.
Q. You're a South Carolina boy from Aiken. What does tomorrow and the potential victory mean here?
KEVIN KISNER: Well, I've heard all week about South Carolina and the wind here. I'm going to put all of it into tomorrow.
Q. What worked for you today?
KEVIN KISNER: I was hitting the ball nicely. It was going where I was trying to hit it. The golf course is getting firmer and faster, so you have to be precise around here.
Q. When we talked to you on Thursday you weren't happy with your first round. What changed for you?
KEVIN KISNER: Just putting. I think I was the last in putting after Thursday. So there was only one way to go, and that was up. I feel comfortable on the greens here. I just had to work out some kinks. I feel better on the putting.
Q. Your position headed into that round tomorrow?
KEVIN KISNER: It's going to take five or six more where I'm at to have a chance. There's a lot of guys up there. I've got to get out and make a bunch of birdies to have a chance to win coming down the stretch.
Q. What did you work on?
KEVIN KISNER: I worked on my speed. I don't know if it was from Augusta or what. But the transition from the speed was terrible. I worked for a couple of hours on the putting green, slight set up change. I didn't feel great yesterday, but the ball was going where I wanted.
Q. You played here two of the last three years?
KEVIN KISNER: I love it here. It's probably the top three on Tour for me. Every year I come I love this weather, love in atmosphere.
Q. This is a place where you don't have to hit it 320 on every tee shot?
KEVIN KISNER: It's funny, every Tour player that I play with says I wish we had more places like it. I don't know why we don't. Seems to be the recurring theme of the week. Every course we get to now 7000 to 8000 yards. Would be nice to see some modern technology or modern architecture change more in this line.
Q. It seems the leaderboard has a whole certain pedigree up there?
KEVIN KISNER: Doesn't matter if you hit it far or short. You can take advantage if you hit it long, if you don't -- it's precision golf, and that's what the game is all about.
Q. Did you make any long ones?
KEVIN KISNER: I made a 20-footer on 17. That was nice.
Q. No. 6 --
KEVIN KISNER: I was 15-footer off the fringe there. I made a couple of nice big breakers on 6 and 9. Yeah, I missed a few on the back nine, kind of had a lull in energy or something, but it was nice to make that one on 17.
Q. (Inaudible.)
KEVIN KISNER: You hit it out of position it's hard to get it up and down. The way I've been ball-striking the last couple of days it's pretty tough to make a bogey. If I can keep away from a three-putt, keep it in play, I should be all right.
Q. How many drivers did you hit?
KEVIN KISNER: I hit a ton. Pat hit driver maybe three times.
Q. How frustrating was Thursday, and how maybe out of body was that entire round?
KEVIN KISNER: It was one of the weirder rounds I've ever played. I probably hit the ball the same as I have the past two days. I don't know what happened. I looked up at a 20-footer, I knocked it eight feet by. And the next one I left it eight feet short. It was weird. It doesn't matter now, it's over.
Q. Was there something in yesterday's round or on the practice green that kind of clicked into place?
KEVIN KISNER: I just put some work in. That's all I know what to do. I went and putted for a few hours, started hitting my lines and the ball starts going in.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #178 at 2017-04-15 21:08:00 GMT
