DEAN & DELUCA Invitational
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Derek Fathauer
Press Conference
(Recording in process.)
DEREK FATHAUER... been struggling with my chipping a little bit, so that was a nice one to get up and down there.
Q. Yeah, I saw the caddie kind of pat you on the back. Well done.
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, he knows I've been struggling a little bit with the chip. I worked hard on it last week and feels pretty good.
Q. All in all how were the conditions out there? Greens looked perfect.
DEREK FATHAUER: The greens are perfect. The course is perfect. The wind picked up on our back nine. I don't know what it's going to do this afternoon, but the front nine was pretty calm and then it really started blowing on the back nine.
Q. Putting is your game. I followed you on the Web.Com. With these greens you got to be smiling. That is your setup, isn't it?
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, they're so pure. Actually just this week I switched back to my putter I used in high school and college. It's been sitting in a closet for about eight or nine years and it was ready to come back out.
Q. What prompts a change like that?
DEREK FATHAUER: I don't know. The putting has been a little stale the last couple months. Just cleaning out my downstairs room and just brought it out.
Q. Really? What kind of putter is it?
DEREK FATHAUER: It's a Scotty Cameron. Just a basic Newport.
Q. You guys got reacquainted. You went out for a little practice round today. You guys had a nice little four hours, didn't you?
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, it was perfect. Fun having my brother with me. Came off a nice week off last week.
Just trying to enjoy myself.
Q. What do you do now the rest of the day?
DEREK FATHAUER: I don't know if I can tell you. No, we're going to Party City to get some masks, some old man masks, Morgan Hoffman and I.
Look for us out on the street.
Q. Really?
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah.
Q. So Fathauer and Morgan Hoffman scaring the public here in Fort Worth.
DEREK FATHAUER: That's what we're doing.
Q. Good luck with that.
DEREK FATHAUER: Thank you.
Q. What kind of model was the current one?
DEREK FATHAUER: It was just like a Newport style one. It's old.
Q. No, I mean, the one that you previously had been putting with.
DEREK FATHAUER: Oh, what I was? I don't know the name of it. It was a Mallett.
Q. Did you have to dust it off?
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, the grip, you should see the grip. It's rusty and looks terrible if I don't use a head cover.
That's what I like. It's got a little character.
Q. You didn't change the grip?
DEREK FATHAUER: No. No, it's cracking and the core was peeling out of it, but it feels good.
Q. Did you feel like you had this round coming at all?
DEREK FATHAUER: My previous four or five tournaments wouldn't say I had this in me, but I did have a really nice week last week at home and kind of simplified things.
I kind of believed I had it, but I looked at my last 15 rounds or 16 rounds I wouldn't have said.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
DEREK FATHAUER: Back in the fall.
Q. Yeah.
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, I've just been kind of hanging onto that. I'm not far off. I just complicated things. I was working on my swing. Don't need to be working on my -- just go play golf. That's what I'm trying to do.
Q. Along the same lines, looking at what Billy did last week winning after missing four straight cuts, do you look at a situation like that and get any confidence that you're really not that far off?
DEREK FATHAUER: I did see that and it was kind of cool to see. You see James Hahn, he'll miss some cuts but then he's up there contending. A lot of guys do that and fly under the radar.
I don't know, just need to stick to my guns and do what I know and not try to be something else out there.
Q. Is that kind of a measure of how close you actually are between missing the cut an contending in a PGA Tour event?
DEREK FATHAUER: It can be. That's not where I've been. I've been just off track. Working hard, but working on the wrong things.
So just kind of try to simplify things. I talked to Bob Rotella for a while during the PLAYERS. Never talked to him before. He kind of made me realize what I've been doing and just kind of get back to the basics.
So...
Q. Was there one thing he said?
DEREK FATHAUER: Just play my own game. Like you can walk up and down the range and see guys with TrackMan and swing coaches and gadgets and stuff, and that's not how I learned to play golf. I just hit the ball, go find it, and hit it again.
If you ask me how to hit a fade, I don't know. I just do it. That's kind of what I am trying to get back to.
Q. What is it, Party City? Is it a sponsor...
DEREK FATHAUER: No, it's just like a store where they sell those things.
Q. Just going to go walking around?
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, we don't want to give it away too much.
Q. Check your social media feeds?
DEREK FATHAUER: Maybe his, not -- I'm not too into that stuff.
Q. Solid opening round four Derek Fathauer, with us now. Started out with two birdies and a bogey to start your first nine holes, and came back strong with your final nine; four birdies there. Your assessment?
DEREK FATHAUER: I just played solid golf. Didn't do anything spectacular. Didn't hit any shots close. Just made a few putts and kind of stayed out of trouble.
Q. Your stats were really strong, particularly your strokes game and your putting just overall with the play that you had. You were channelling it well, playing well. Do you feel like it was an advantage to get out before the wind gusts up to 30 this afternoon?
DEREK FATHAUER: Absolutely. Yeah, the course was a little softer front nine. Maybe it was blowing 5 miles an hour on the front nine; now it's blowing 5, 20 maybe.
So definitely a big advantage.
Q. Cutting back to the greens one more time. The way you were putting out there, give us an impression of how they're rolling?
DEREK FATHAUER: They're perfect. We got to play early. They might get a little spiked up in the afternoon because they're a little soft, but they are perfect.
Q. Derek, 5-under first round here. You got to be pleased with your round.
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, solid round today. Stayed out of trouble. I think it was six birdies and one bogey, so pretty solid round here.
Q. What was the key? What was going right for you today?
DEREK FATHAUER: Like I said, I stayed out of trouble and I putted pretty well. That makes for some good golf.
Q. Glad to be in before the wind really started blowing today?
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah, front nine was really calm and back nine kind of picked up. Glad to be done.
Q. What's it going to be like over the weekend if this continues?
DEREK FATHAUER: I don't know. I'm not a weatherman, so I have no idea.
Q. Talking about if this kind of wind holds up, with the greens what will it be like?
DEREK FATHAUER: Probably some pretty high scores. I really don't know. I haven't paid too close attention to it.
Q. How patient do you have to be?
DEREK FATHAUER: Very patient. If you get in trouble, you have to maybe make bogey be your worst score and kind of plot your way around.
Q. Do you expect -5 could hold up with the wind blowing like this is today?
DEREK FATHAUER: I don't know and I don't care. I'm just glad to be done.
Q. Different guys have different mindsets when they shoot a low round and sit on top of the board at least for a little bit. What is your mindset?
DEREK FATHAUER: I'm going to go hit a few balls and stick to my normal routine.
Just ate lunch. Probably go watch a movie. Probably won't go to the gym. That's about it.
Q. Give us a review tomorrow whatever you see.
DEREK FATHAUER: Yeah.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #2 by #179 at 2017-05-25 17:32:00 GMT
