RBC Heritage
Friday, April 15, 2016
Charley Hoffman
Quick Quotes
MARK WILLIAMS: Charley, another 68, to back up the first round with a 68. Give us a quick assessment of your round today and what the conditions were.
CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, lucky enough to make a long putt on the 10th was my first to get the round going with a birdie.
And then I followed up with birdies on 12 and 13, which was nice. I knew the wind was blowing, I knew it would be tough to get birdies the first four. Good start.
Struggled heading back into the wind on the back nine, which was 15, hit an errant tee shot and made a bogey. Made a couple of pars on 16 and 17. Hit some good shots on 18. And just didn't -- 18 played tough today. I just didn't pan out, made bogey there.
And hit some good shots making the turn. 1, I hit it close. 2 I hit it on the green and a two-putt for birdie. A couple more opportunities coming around and was able to save a couple pars at the end and ended with a three-under and six-under and tied for the lead.
MARK WILLIAMS: You've been getting in contention, you had the lead after 54 holes after Shell a couple of weeks ago. You mentioned out there that you really feel like you're ready.
CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, you know, I've obviously been in this situation before. I've been out here 11 years, and unfortunately the last month or so I haven't been able to close the deal. I haven't played very well on the weekends, Saturday or Sunday. Held the lead at Shell after 36.
Hopefully the more times you knock on the door, hopefully it opens up pretty soon. I feel good about the game, feel good where I'm at. Just something I'm going to have to overcome. I have to have good shots here on the weekend. No one is going to give it to you out here on the PGA Tour. I'm going to have to keep playing good golf.
Q. Why did the back play so much more difficult than the front today? Was it the wind just one direction?
CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, the par 5, start with say 14. 14 obviously is a very hard par-3 into the wind. It was trying to sort of find some ground to make a par there. 15 was a tight drive into the wind. If you get it wayward -- it's a hard layup if you hit the fairway, so if you miss the fairway it's another hard shot. And 15 is a great par 5 and then it's tough. And 16 was a tricky little pin placement there on the front left, if you didn't get it in the fairway you couldn't really get it close to that hole. And 17, I would say, played medium, a little down off the right. 18 played dead into the wind. I hit driver, 3-iron just short. You actually hit in the middle of the green and ran over the back. I don't know where you're trying to land that second shot. When you hit a good shot it goes over. I sort of tried to play it out to the right and wasn't able to get it up and down. That's a tough hole.
Q. How much momentum and confidence can you take out of the way you finished because you birdied 8, which a lot of people don't do, and then you were able to scramble after a wayward tee shot on 9?
CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, obviously I'm trying to make birdies out there. A driver off 9 is an aggressive play. Didn't hit a great shot and I got pretty lucky. I was able to be in a decent spot to get it up and down.
I've learned through my years you can't really layoff once you get the lead. You have to keep making birdies. That's what Tiger did so well during the early two thousands, and I'm going to try to do it on the weekend here. If you get the ball in play off the tee you can birdie almost every hole out here. I'm going to try to still stay aggressive off the tee and keep making birdies. And hopefully I've got a chance coming down Sunday.
MARK WILLIAMS: We appreciate your time. Good luck on the weekend.
CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Thanks.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #178 at 2016-04-15 22:19:00 GMT
