Tied for the clubhouse lead at six-under at The Players Championship after 13 holes, Brice Garnett seems to be reaping the benefits of growing up learning golf when the weather’s not exactly calm. Excerpts:
Take us through the start of the day obviously. Pretty rainy out there, not the easiest of conditions, but playing well?
Brice Garnett: Yeah, it wasn’t bad. It was pretty benign with the wind. Got wet a little bit early, but we weren’t expecting to get 14 holes in, I guess, 13, 14 holes. Yeah, just got off to a pretty good start, made a couple of good putts early, and the shot on 4 was definitely a bonus right before the horn.
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Take us through that shot on 4.
Garnett: Hit a good drive right down the middle, which is super important on that hole. Just from watching the coverage yesterday, I noticed how much the ball was spinning. I think we had about 96 yards, and we just took a bunch of spin and speed off of a sand wedge. Caddie said just land it a little past and right. I actually thought it missed. So I was like I can’t believe — it was lined up perfect, and I was like I can’t believe that I just missed that. I looked back up, and it disappeared. It was a great surprise. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. Great moment for us.
So you were told they were getting ready to blow the horn as you’re waling to your second shot on 4?
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Garnett: No, they blew the horn on the 5 tee box, so it was right before.
It was coming down pretty hard when you holed it?
Garnett: Right on 5 tee box, so it was right before the hard stuff came down.
How is that in terms of, hey, I don’t know if I’m going to play more golf today or I might be going out in three or four hours. But a nice walk-off to the weather delay, if you will.
Garnett: We knew it was going to be a long day potentially today. We were just trying to stay in the moment and not get too ahead of yourself with all the rain. It’s something exciting. Something that you kind of wish you would keep playing and keep the momentum going, but the course is unplayable. So we’re happy to come in and regroup a little bit and get back out there and attack No. 5.
What did you learn from that tee 7 in Puerto Rico to jump start things this week?
Garnett: It’s been a super slow start for me this year. I also remember about having a great West Coast and had a slump in the middle of the season, and I wouldn’t be thinking about it. So I was playing good. Actually really kind of looked forward to the forecast this week. I played well in Puerto Rico, and I always play well in the wind. So we were kind of looking forward to a grind fest this week.
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You’re probably the only guy saying you’re looking forward to the forecast. Is that a little bit of that Midwestern roots there? You played a lot of weather?
Garnett: I think so. Played a lot of rough weather in college. Then I’ve always played well in the opposite-field events in the islands where it’s windy and rainy. That’s kind of our game. Plod it around, keep the ball out of the wind, and looking forward to it. I don’t know about Saturday, but it’s working so far.
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