Second Round Quotes
May 29, 2008 | Men's Golf
May 29, 2008
NCAA Div. I Men's Golf Championship
Second Round Quotes:
UW Head Coach Matt Thurmond
Do you guys feel really comfortable here with the course here being a bit similar to the West Regional?
"No, not at all. How could anyone feel comfortable here? I think if anything we just have a very healthy respect for how difficult the course is. I don't think you feel comfortable on one shot out there. The only time you feel comfortable is when you're done and you can go home."
On Nick Taylor's round:
"I didn't watch any of it so I can't claim any credit for it. I saw he was doing well early and I didn't want to mess him up. I've been a part of some great rounds in the past with some of our players and I know to just stay away from them. I was watching it closely on my handheld. I heard early that he was 4-under and Garrett (Clegg, assistant coach) said he wasn't even hitting it that well. And then he hit it to about two feet on one and almost holed it on two, so I thought well he must be hitting it better now. This course sets it up so good for him. He hits it so straight that it didn't surprise me."
Your team came in as one of the lower ranked teams, yet the Huskies are in the top-6 heading into the final two rounds. Seems to be a common theme during your career, what's going on?
"We play well on tough courses and usually championships are on tough courses, that's what we practice on. We don't really watch the rankings too much or derive our view of ourselves from them, so we still come into these things saying hey, we're all tied and we have just as good a shot as anyone. I don't have any other secrets other than our guys think they're pretty good and deserve to be here."
Did you think Nick Taylor had a 66 in him?
"We were very optimistic about how he would play coming into this thing. He was frustrated yesterday because he had a couple balls that just rolled through fairways. He never misses it much but just rolled through fairways and talked about what a joke the rough is. I said, `Nick this is perfect for you. You hit it so straight that those bad breaks are going to be a lot fewer for you than for anyone else.'"
UW Sophomore Nick Taylor
At what point in the round did you feel like you might have something special going on?
"After nine I was hitting it good. When I birdied one and two, I knew something could be special. I kind of slowed down after that."
Is Coach Thurmond doing anything differently with you guys this week?
"No, not really. Just the same old same old. We're just starting to play a lot better and play like we should be."
How were the conditions and how much wind did you really come across?
"Comparing today to yesterday, it was a lot easier today. Obviously it's really hard still but there wasn't a lot of wind, so you didn't have to pay attention to it a lot. Today was a lot different than yesterday with the wind."
Did you think there was a 66 out there when you've been playing in these practice rounds?
"Not at all. Talking to guys on the team, anything in the 60's would have been really good and if someone shot that I'd be impressed. Especially yesterday when (Kevin) Chappell shot it, that was really impressive. I did not expect it, but once I started going I tried to keep on going for it."
How did you feel you were playing coming into this event?
"I felt pretty confident. I played pretty well at regionals and I thought if I was putting well I'd play solid, I just had to keep it out of the rough. Today, I only missed two fairways and they were in the first cut it so it wasn't that bad."
