Q. Just your overall assessment of your first round?
GARY WOODLAND: First of all, the golf course is amazing it’s in great shape it’s a great layout. I played well. I didn’t drive it particularly well got in a couple bad spots, but iron game game was great. Nice to make eagle there on the back nine, kind of jump start some things. And I made some putts, missed some putts, all in all it was a solid day.
Q. We talked back in May and you had gone back to Butch Harmon around the Wells Fargo. Now you talked about going to Mark Blackburn about a little over a month ago. What was the main reason for kind of that switch there?
GARY WOODLAND: I sat down with really with my putting coach, with Kenyon, with my caddie, I’ve known Mark for a long time, I played with Hoffman a lot, so I’m around him, he’s seen me. I love Butch and I’ll still talk to Butch but unfortunately Butch doesn’t travel anymore, so I don’t see him enough. And Mark’s out a ton. He’s close to my house in Kansas and he’s halfway between Kansas and Florida, so for me that’s a lot of access. And it’s been really good. We’re working, he’s got me back doing a lot of things that Butch had me doing which is very comfortable for me, so it was an easy transition and something I’m excited about.
Q. You talked about him kind of measuring what your body — I see a lot on social media like that that’s what he does is measuring players bodies for what they can do. What has he showed some of your strengths, maybe some of your limitations?
GARY WOODLAND: He’s put me through the 3D screen twice now. So right before when I first saw him I just went to consult with him a couple months ago, he put me through the 3D and then when we started working a couple weeks ago he put me back through. And it’s amazing how well my body’s moving now compared to what it was a couple months ago. So I started to train again, starting to work out which is nice, which just puts you in a better mood mentally, but there’s there was some things I was trying to do in my golf swing that I couldn’t do physically. So we’ve simplified it, kind of gone back to a lot of things that Butch and I worked on for a long time. So it’s simple and easy for me to understand and now when I get off I know what I’m doing. That hasn’t been the case, I’ve hit bad shots the last year and a half and searching out there. I hit some bad shots today but I wasn’t searching, I knew what I was trying to do. That just makes things easier.
Q. What’s one big key that’s kind of worked on with you that has kind of helped you?
GARY WOODLAND: A lot of it is setup, which is nice for me, it takes a lot of thinking out of it, but we’re trying to get the club more on plane. I was a little above the plane most of my life, which causes me to drag it left. So a little more down the line allows me to work the golf ball both ways, which is huge for me. I’ve predominantly been a fader of the golf ball, but still trying to hit it pretty straight, but I have the ability to hit it both ways which is what Butch has been trying to get me to do for a long time.
Q. You said you you’re feeling better, obviously you had the injuries. Where are you with all that stuff and going forward here?
GARY WOODLAND: Getting cleared to train has been a huge deal. Like I said that just puts you in a better frame of mind. And then you start getting comfortable with the golf swing. This game can beat you up pretty bad. It’s, obviously everybody out here’s really good, but mentally when you start playing bad and you have high expectations it wears on you and it puts pressure on everything in life. So getting back and working out, getting my body right and then getting comfortable with the golf swing, I’m in a pretty good spot right now.
Q. How hard was maybe the last year and a half or so?
GARY WOODLAND: Brutal. Obviously’s everybody’s dealt with a lot of stuff, COVID’s been hard for everybody, but for me I’ve grown up my whole life being around teams. I had a big team around me. Being in COVID where I haven’t been able to see Pete Cowan and Butch and Phil Kenyon hasn’t been able to travel, there’s been a lot of things — Steinberg’s a big part of my team — not seeing those guys and being out here by myself, that’s been tough. So things opening back up, kind of getting people around me again — putting a lot of pressure on my caddie the last year and a half having to deal with me by himself. So it’s nice to have people back out here and just makes me feel more comfortable and makes life a lot easier for me.