Henrik Norlander (T2,+25) recorded his PGA TOUR career-best 36-hole position at the Barracuda Championship on Friday. Excerpts from an interview.
Plus 14 today, bogey-free. Walk me through your day and some highlights out there.
Henrik Norlander: Yeah, I got off to a good start. I hit a bad drive on 1, pitched out and hit a good wedge and made about a 10-footer. That brought a lot of confidence. Then I hit it to like four feet three holes in a row, made all of them. Just felt like I was cruising. Hit a really, really bad drive on 5 and hit a tree and kicked back in play and was able to get that up-and-down for par, and then after that sort of calmed me down. I’ve been struggling this year a lot, and just been so harsh on myself, judging every shot. It was pretty cool when I hit that — it’s one of the worst drives I’ve ever hit on 5 and I hit a provisional because we didn’t see it and I really felt like it was probably the best swing all year, the provisional, so that brought a lot of confidence. Then hit some really good shots on the back and made some good putts, so it was fun.
Leaderboard after Round 2 @CudaChamp 🏌️♂️
1. Chez Reavie (+28)
T2. @HomelessHubbs (+25)
T2. Henrik Norlander
4. @KevinTway (+21)
T5. Maverick McNealy (+19)
T5. Martin Trainer— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 16, 2022
You were talking about struggling coming into this week. What do two good rounds back-to-back do for you heading into the week and how does it feel to have this under your belt?
Henrik: Yeah, that’s a good question. I don’t think I played good all year two days in a row. I was pretty anxious today. Had a good day yesterday. My game feels all right, but I don’t really know — it was just nice to get off to a good start and sort of not — I’ve been hovering a lot around the cut line on Friday afternoons all year, and it gets to you after a while. You get just exhausted and then you miss a bunch and it becomes a vicious cycle for me. Instead of — I just had a really fun week. I like the golf course, and this format came at a good time where it’s a little bit more relaxing, I think.
Related: Chez Reavie reaps the reward of staying bogey-free at Barracuda C’ship
You had a near ace on No. 15. Walk us through that hole.
Henrik: Yeah, I actually hit it right where I wanted to. We were between 7 and 8, and 8 wasn’t really the club, covering water and into the wind. I hit it perfect. I hit about an 85 percent 7-iron and I lost it in the air, but then I heard people yelling, and I came up there and it was about a foot. Actually I was closer on 3. I flew it about an inch from the hole and hit it to three feet. I was good on the par-3s all week, so that’s been fun.
T2 heading into the weekend @CudaChamp pic.twitter.com/7mvoGLbglP
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 16, 2022
25 points through the first two days, currently tied for second, 14 birdies. Talk about how pleased you are with your performance through 36 holes.
Henrik: I’m very pleased. It’s first of all, nice to not make travel arrangements on Friday afternoon. I’ve been sort of used to that lately. Just a lot better attitude this week. I think this format came at a good time because a bogey you can get away with at least, or it feels like. I played a little bit more aggressive and obviously made some putts today. I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in, but I’m very pleased how I rolled it. I sort of messed up 18 with a terrible first putt, but it was nice to make that putt, bogey-free round today.
You’ve been working a long time with Dr Bhrett McCabe, a noted sports psychologist who’s talked to you about letting it go. How are things going so far?
Henrik: Yeah, there is a lot of bad voices in there, I’m not going to lie. But I think the key for me is to like accept that and then move from there. When I get bad, I try to avoid those voices, but they’re there.
