RBC Heritage
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Graham DeLaet
Quick Quotes
Q. Talk about 12 of 14 fairways, 6 of 18 greens. You've got to be pleased. You hit the ball really good today?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, I did. I gave myself -- I hit a lot of greens. I felt like I didn't have a ton of birdie chances. I felt like I had 30, 40 feet all day and made it a stress-free round. A lot of tap-in pars. I felt like I was in the wrong side of the hole today, a lot of slick 25, 30 footers, just trying to cozy down to it. Nice to kind of limp one or two of those in. I played well. It's always disappointing at the last. I thought I hit a great shot in there, three paces left of the hole, and I think I misjudged the thing.
Q. You must be thinking about going to the center of the greens, because you had long birdie tries, but you hit a lot of greens?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I felt like for the most part today more than yesterday we were in between numbers a lot more, and sometimes that just happens. Sometimes you have perfect numbers, and you have birdie putts all day.
Especially early in the front nine tomorrow if I can keep it around par, try to get in around under par going out and see what happens on the back nine. But I think the strategy is going to be about the same for the front nine tomorrow and then see what happens.
Q. You have a chance tomorrow to win for the first time. You played well for three days. Your confidence has to be pretty high?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I feel good. Obviously this is the one thing that's kind of missing. So there's going to be some battles that I'm going to have to -- inside, that I'm going to have to deal with.
I feel like I'm ready now. I want to get this monkey off my back, and I want to get it done. I'm going to go out and try to have fun tomorrow. I think if I do that, which is what I've done the last few days, it's going to be fine.
Q. How would you rate today's effort?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I played well. I hit a lot of greens. And that was kind of the idea is to try to make it stress fee. And that was the case today. I felt like I was in between clubs a lot and never able to really attack.
It was disappointing at the last. I hit a good shot in there, and then misjudged it.
Q. Seven greens, best through three rounds. Out here the greens are small, difficult to hit. How much of an advantage do you have if you're able to continue that ball-striking on Sunday?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, that's the key. For me if I can do that, at least on the front nine tomorrow, and just kind of plod away like I did today, then we'll see what happens on the back nine. I can press a little bit, I'll do that, just try to make pars and take my chances at birdies. It's hard to trust the wind at times.
Q. A chance for your first career victory, what from your past will you rely on most?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I'd like to get the monkey off my back. I think more than anything it's patience. I felt like I did a good job of that today. I bogeyed the first hole and then made a birdie. That's the key here is to be patient and know that I'm going to have birdie looks. And if I can hole a few putts in, see what happens.
Q. Late tee time on Sunday. Going to be able to stay up tonight?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I'm probably going to have super, have a nap and then wake up for that 10:30.
Q. What's working so well out there for you now?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I hit a lot of greens today. And made it mostly stress fee. That was nice. I played well. I can't complain. I'm right in the mix and looking forward to tomorrow.
Q. Do you think it's going to help you to not be in the last group?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I don't even know if I am or not. I don't think it really matters. It's would just nice to be one stroke up, to make that putt on the last. Either way you're going to have to play good golf to win this golf tournament and I'm up for it.
Q. Seemed like you left a lot of birdie putts just short. Did it not quite have the speed?
GRAHAM DeLAET: A lot of putts I had today felt like they were real slick, 30-footers down the hill. And you can't get aggressive with those putts. It would have been nice to dribble a few in from the edge, but it was 2-putting from 30, 40-foot I felt like all day, that was just the thing, tap-in par, tap-in par, tap-in par, but that's never a bad thing.
Q. Frustrating when Donald is all over the lot and you're in the middle of the fairway every time?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Not at all. I'm playing my game, he's playing his. His short game exhibition today was one of the best I've ever seen. I'm impressed. This is my 8th year on Tour, and I've never seen anything quite so good.
Q. What's it going to take tomorrow to get that plaid jacket?
GRAHAM DeLAET: I think more than anything it's just to stay in the mix on the front nine and see where we're at on the back nine, if we need to get aggressive and try to make some moves, we'll do that. If we need to keep plodding along and see what happens the last few holes, we'll do that. A lot of it is going to depend on what the other guys are doing, and I can't really do anything about that, so we'll keep the game plan up in the air.
Q. Motivating to see the Canadian flag in the grandstands at 18?
GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, there's a ton of support, with the RBC there's a lot of Canadians down here, and everywhere we go there is a lot of support.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #178 at 2017-04-15 22:17:00 GMT
