RBC Heritage
Friday, April 13, 2018
Ian Poulter
Quick Quotes
Q. Bogey-free 64. A course that demands precision.
IAN POULTER: It's nice whenever you play this course, A, keep it out of the trees, B, keep bogeys off your card, then generally you're going to have a decent round. You're going to get opportunities. The 5s can give up a few birdies.
But it's a fun course. It's not the longest course we play during the season. But you have to be on your game. The fairways sometimes aren't quite good enough. You have to hit the right or left half of them. And it's a great test of golf.
This morning with the greens freshly cut and rolled, slightly softer conditions, so the wind is going to pick up, I would think, this afternoon. And when it does it's tricky, when it starts swirling through the trees.
Q. You've had a very exciting time the last month or so. What do you put that down to?
IAN POULTER: I would say my form has been pretty consistent. Confidence is definitely there from a perspective of feeling like I can be more aggressive right now. The wind helps a lot. I can free myself up in my mind. I can start attacking pins and just play free golf. And when you're in that position sometimes the game feels easy when sometimes it isn't.
Q. You played a lot of golf recently, how have you managed that schedule? 43 years old?
IAN POULTER: Am I 43? I think I'm 42. I might be 43. I don't even know. 42. Yeah, I'm getting old. Thanks for that. Thanks for reminding me.
And six weeks in a row is unusual, kind of forced into that with trying to play my way into the Masters. I was committed to play here. It made it six in a row. I will be taking next week off to relax. And then obviously I'm going to play New Orleans with G-Mac, which should be fun. And then I'll take a week off and play THE PLAYERS Championship. I need a little bit of rest in and around the next few weeks leading up to a busy summer.
Q. On this Friday morning, in with your best ever round in this tournament.
IAN POULTER: Today is my best ever round -- I got it done with a clean card, no bogeys, which is key on this golf course. It's tricky. The wind can swirl, tiny little greens, so it's easy to make mistakes. I didn't do that today. I holed a couple of nice little par putts when required, and rolled a few nice birdie putts in. That led to a decent round, 7-under par, in position for the weekend.
Q. We talked about the whirlwind since the victory in Houston. How do you stay fresh, motivated, upbeat considering what the last two weeks has been like?
IAN POULTER: Go to bed exceptionally early. Tuesday I played an RBC day and went straight back to the room, literally had a quick bite to eat, shut it down for about 11 and a half hours of sleep. And then Wednesday night got something similar. I've had two really good nights of sleep, which were well needed. I feel relatively fresh, all things considered. Six weeks in a row is unusual. That's more golf than what I'm used to playing. So I'm looking forward to having a glass of champagne next week, relax for a few days and then back on the horse.
Q. How does your perspective and approach change since winning?
IAN POULTER: I tried to be aggressive at Houston, and it seemed to work. I'm taking that mindset on as much as I possibly can. And playing aggressive golf obviously works for me. I'm going to try to continue that form; try to continue being aggressive on the course. And also rolling the putts the way I've been rolling it is obviously nice to see. When your stats are good you see the line a little easier. You start to hole a few putts. And when you do that you shoot good scores.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #178 at 2018-04-13 16:59:00 GMT
