RBC Heritage
Friday, April 15, 2016
Kevin Chappell
Press Conference
MARK WILLIAMS: Kevin, thanks for coming in to join us, a pair of 68's. Was it a little different today than yesterday, a little more difficult or windier?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: Yeah, it's blowing a little harder, blowing from the same direction it has the last three days, so that helps. You have an idea. You might not be feeling it down below, but you know up above, because you've been doing it for three days now.
MARK WILLIAMS: What's so special about your round today? Obviously in the middle of the round looked like it was pretty solid.
KEVIN CHAPPELL: Yeah, I've been driving it great all week. That's half the battle here. Harbour Town's greens are tiny. You're going to miss some of the fairways, so you need to scramble well. And you have to be putting the ball around the hole.
MARK WILLIAMS: Before we take some questions, I understand you've got some family here this week supporting you. Can you talk about that a little bit?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: It's fun having them here, my son, Wyatt, turned one on Tuesday. My parents are here, my in-laws and my wife and sister-in-law, and it's been fun having everyone here to catch up. We don't get to see everyone together too often because of our schedules, but it's great to have them out.
Q. I take a look at your season this year, it seems like you're either runner up or you're struggling to get on top of the leaderboard. What has been the difference this year? Do you feel like you're getting closer to consistent results?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: Yeah, I think for me LA was kind of a turning point in my year. I was kind of in contention. I didn't play great. And then I didn't play for two weeks. The season goes on, and I kind of go away for a little while. And then come back, and Tampa is a tough place for me, I like playing there, but haven't had much success, but found some positives. And then also played great at Bay Hill.
And then again I played Houston, but it's a really hard week for me mentally knowing I have to win a golf tournament to get into Augusta. Essentially I had two weeks off. So now you look at the schedule and I haven't played -- I have no, ade cuts since Bay Hill. And so you guys see it as he's not playing well. But my game didn't go anywhere. I'm still on form, and really excited to be here and really excited about where things are at.
Q. You say you're excited to be here, Kevin, and you haven't played very well here in the past, why now and what do you like about it?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: I love the feel of being here. I love being able to walk places, and people are great, atmosphere is fantastic. Why haven't I played well here? I think I've been a little aggressive in the past. Maybe I just wasn't playing well, may be a better reason.
But I feel like I have a better formula this year, a little more simple, look at the pedigree of the guys that win around here, and they might be hitting drivers, but it's not to where someone of my length or Jason Day, we're going to be hitting drivers, too. If you really think about plotting your way around the golf course, a Luke Donald or a Graeme McDowell, or someone that has had a lot of success around here, or Jim Furyk, the game plan is probably in that realm than bombing it off the tee.
Q. How many drivers did you hit today?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: I hit driver on 15, 18 and 8 -- three.
Q. What were your prepared for weather-wise today, and did you have to change your game plan at all when the terrible weather never hit?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: I went to bed expecting rain and wind and woke up and the forecast looked better this morning than it did last night at 9:00. And then the warmup in the little rain, and really never got anything the rest of the day. The wind just blew a little harder. Had to find some warm clothes to pack in the bag, in my travel bag, but other than that it was the best case scenario for weather for us.
Q. You mentioned you had family in town, do you think having some support helped your game at all?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: Yeah, you know, for me I guess it's not necessarily support, but it's getting away. It's no secret that I play my best golf when I'm really enjoying it and smiling and being jovial. And I think having family here and getting away from the game and kind of forget that you're here on a work trip.
Q. You finished second At Sea Island, the same kind of atmosphere, did you have family there, too?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: Yeah, it was a very similar atmosphere. I had a caddie that worked for me for three years, came back to work for that week, and he and his family were there, so, yeah, it was very similar, actually.
Q. Who's got the better beard, your caddie or Graham DeLaet?
KEVIN CHAPPELL: Probably Graham. Graham's is a little more full. Joe's probably been working on his longer and it's stopped growing, but there was a lot of facial hair in our group, wasn't there?
MARK WILLIAMS: Appreciate you coming in. Good luck on the weekend.
KEVIN CHAPPELL: Thanks.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #2 by #178 at 2016-04-15 16:18:00 GMT
