Speaker 1: 0:00

This is PGA TOUR COUNTDOWN. Well, welcome everyone. Frank Bassett, joining you for this edition of PGA TOUR COUNTDOWN. We are in florida. It's the florida swing, finally, good gracious, and the weather was fantastic. Day one is in the books at the cognizant and what we have is a jake knapp shooting a 59 oh my gosh. Jordan speith birding the three holes through the snake pit Unbelievable. And Billy Horschel chasing gators around the golf course today. Let's just get to it. I want you to hear the three interviews and then we'll close this thing out and let you get on to watching the rest of the tournament. So first up, billy Horschel.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Billy talk to me about the gator encounter.

Speaker 3: 1:11

Yeah, we were on number six green and I just put it out went to the left side of the green. There, right about to walk to seven, I saw the gator coming across. The cop who's walking with us walked over there and tried to shoot him, but he didn't you know, don't have anything to touch him and he was trying to get as close as he could and so, um, it was, either someone's gonna have to go up to number eight and grab a rake or, you know, I was 30 yards away, 25 yards away, and I just grabbed the club and went over there and pushed him away. Listen, he, he was going nowhere, good, and uh. So I just went over there to help the cop. As Cam said before, I went over there, he goes. What are you going to do? Try to use a taser on him, but I think I had to get a little close on that one to try and make it effective.

Speaker 2: 1:56

That's a move of a man who's lived in Florida a long time.

Speaker 3: 1:58

Yeah, I mean, I'm not afraid of gators. Listen, as I tell most people I said, they're more afraid of you. Majority of the time they're only going to come after you. You know, during mating season they're a little aggressive and then if you're around their nest when they've got some eggs but majority of the time, listen, they're fine. I mean, I grew up with my dad. You know grabbing their tail when they're on the side of the bank, you know, and you know shooing them back in the water. I've never touched a tail with my hand, but I've done it with a club, so it's not that big of a deal.

Speaker 4: 2:28

What club do you use to shoo a gator?

Speaker 3: 2:30

I had a 60, and I didn't think about it. But the good thing I did grab a 60 is because I got two extra ones in the locker so that one did become unavailable. I had two more in the locker, you'd be gator bait, right now unavailable.

Speaker 4: 2:44

I had two more in the locker, be Gator bait right now. Yeah, exactly, you saw what Jake did. You were out there for the Talk about those conditions. It's probably as best as you played here a lot.

Speaker 3: 2:52

Yeah, I mean, listen, there was no win so it helped tremendously. Listen, you gotta tip your hat to him. He shot 12 on the par 59 on PGA National, which no one ever thought. But I know we had a discussion earlier this week and I've probably, you know, changed my tune a little bit.

Speaker 3: 3:09

I think the overseed has, you know, rough's not long enough. Um, it's not penal enough when you miss the fairway. Um, I really wish we would just play this as a straight bermuda. Um, you know, from t to green, everything can be straight bermuda. I know it doesn't look pretty on TV and I know that's one of the reasons why it's overseeded.

Speaker 3: 3:28

But it is unfortunate because for me, growing up in Florida, the one advantage I have is being born and raised on Bermuda grass and understanding the intricacies of playing on Bermuda grass and chipping off it and judging the lie out of it. I don't have that advantage, as maybe someone playing out in california on poena greens, feeling comfortable on poena greens. So it is a little disappointing that, you know. I say the condition of the course is is very scorable, but at the same time you still got to go out there, you still got to hit golf shots, you still got to make putts. But this will be right if scoring sort of stays the way it is going into the afternoon. I'm going to suspect it is because there's not much wind projected this afternoon. This will be the lowest scoring average in the history of this tournament by, I'm going to say, a shot and a half.

Speaker 4: 4:17

That's about what it is, yeah.

Speaker 3: 4:18

And, like I said, it's just a little disappointing because it's such a great test of golf. And, like I said, it's just a little disappointing because it's such a great test of golf and, like I said, the conditions no wind. We've had rain this week. It makes it softer. But I think if you add the Bermuda factor in, if you had Bermuda rough and Bermuda fairways and if you missed green, you had to chip it off. Bermuda instead of overseeded rye. It just makes it a little bit tougher.

Speaker 3: 4:40

But listen, there's three days left. Hopefully the wind picks up. Hopefully we see a little bit of pj national, because it is fun playing this golf course when it's tough. I think a lot of us do enjoy it. I think you know, steph and I talked about that and cam cam young we're all three talked about how enjoyable it is to play a really tough golf course and not have to feel like you gotta go shoot five, six, seven under par, normally two, three unders, a really good round here, um, but like I said, we got three more days and we see what happens.

Speaker 2: 5:04

Billy, just wondering. You said just walking over maybe most feet of putts you made all season. Just where? How's the journey been with the putter this season where you're at with all of it?

Speaker 3: 5:11

Yeah, it's been a struggle. You know, mechanically the setup hasn't. There's been maybe one or two weeks where it's felt pretty good and then at the same time I've hit a lot of good putts at burned edges, Like this morning. I mean, I hit a good putt at 11 and 14 and 15 that I thought I made, and I mean a dimple, more of a break, and all three of them were in the hole. And so it's been that way a little bit and it's been nice to make the last two on 8 and 9.

Speaker 3: 5:41

But the consistency in the putting stroke and the way the ball is coming off just hasn't been there this year, which is unusual. I don't usually struggle that much with my putting and I can fix it quickly, and Todd Anderson and I have worked really hard on it. We worked for several hours yesterday on it and it feels better. But I just got to get comfortable and start getting more confidence and the ball is going to come off the way I want, on a consistent basis, instead of when I make a stroke it doesn't come off with the speed I want, whether it's too soft or too hard or it's a little bit of a pull or a little bit of a push. So we're trending in the right direction, and so I'm just an impatient guy at times, Yep thank you.

Speaker 2: 6:20

All right, jordan, I'm sure if I told you your score before the round, you would have felt maybe you're in the lead. Just what did you see out of the golf course and how you played today.

Speaker 6: 6:29

I thought, you know, after playing the first three holes, you know, and what I had, I was even par, but they were kind of more bullpens. You know, I thought that from a course setup there weren't many of the hardest pins on the golf course. A lot of them were in gettable locations, and then we didn't have any wind. So it was a beautiful morning and the hardest part was trying to figure out where it was coming from, cuz it flipped all over the place, but at five miles an hour that's not gonna do a whole lot to it. So it's about trying to find the fairway and then you should have a lot of looks from that eight to 18 range. And then, you know, bermuda throughout the day is just always going to be a better surface to roll those in on. So obviously guys were doing that.

Speaker 6: 7:13

But I, like you mentioned, I would have certainly signed for six. I still would every round and I by the end of the tournament. I mean, I was thinking it was going to be like 14 or 15 this week and now you got to readjust and think it's going to be more like 20. If I can ask, you changed balls recently.

Speaker 2: 7:29

I just did today. What was the thought process?

Speaker 6: 7:32

Well, I cracked my driver and I've been trying to get into a driver since Pebble. So Phoenix, I was in a driver and then San Diego was in a driver here and adjusted settings to try to get this launch and spin right. And you know what ended up happening was the newer ball, the 25x, you know the. The window it goes into is a little closer to the one I was playing and, if anything, it spins a little Bit less, is a little lower, but it has the correct spin rates on my four or five, six irons and then from there it's just gonna be better With the driver. A lot of it was matching the driver and making sure it held my 4, 5, 6 irons and then from there it's just going to be better with the driver.

Speaker 1: 8:10

A lot of it was matching the driver and making sure it held up in the long irons, so you're in the new 25X now. Yeah, jordan, how many holes did you get to play going into today?

Speaker 6: 8:20

and did you have any sense? The course was going to change like what everyone is used to seeing. Yeah, I think just arriving on property I didn't realize that it was overseeded and the fairways being overseeded changes it a lot, because it'll make the fairway softer, which makes them wider, and then around the greens it's significantly easier than the dormant Bermuda. Um. So I mean you're looking at easily a stroke, a stroke around on just the change in the grass types in the fairway, and then I hit a couple in the rough on Tuesday and I could advance a 3-wood up by the green on 10. So right away, just compared to what I had seen, I thought it would be playing easier than it typically does.

Speaker 6: 8:57

But not like this. No, not necessarily like this, but again, the pins were in very gettable locations today. If you give the four locations on the green and you ask which one's the easiest, I would say you know, probably half of them were on the easiest location today and instead of just a quarter of them. So the mixture was a little different and so it's going to be harder just off of whole locations, let alone with some wind picking up as the week goes on and everything firming up a little bit. Thank you.

Speaker 2: 9:32

All right, jake 59 special round. At what point did you kind of realize you were?

Speaker 8: 9:36

close, I don't really know. I mean, I knew obviously I had it going really early but at the same time that can happen and then it can kind of fizzle out pretty quick. So I thought I did a good job of just trying to focus on shot by shot and not letting what happened or what could happen affect anything. And then, once I made the long putt on 15, it was like, oh okay, like now, this is, you know, kind of here, but you know, at the same time didn't let it affect game plan or anything like that Tried to hit an aggressive shot into 16, 17, and 18. And you know, just tried to. I knew I was hitting it well, so I tried to just kind of birdie everything today.

Speaker 2: 10:14

Did you know what you needed on 18?

Speaker 8: 10:16

Yeah for sure. Yeah, I knew par was 71. I saw the leaderboard that I was at 10 when I walked up to 15 green and then made that putt and knew where I stood. So it would have been nice to make the one in 18, but happy with it overall.

Speaker 4: 10:34

Jake, what's it like playing 18, knowing that you could be part of history?

Speaker 8: 10:40

You know, I didn't really think about it. To be honest with you, I think if you start thinking about it too much, it's just going to add pressure to something that's very unnecessary at the same time. I mean, if it was Sunday and the tournament was coming down the line, maybe it would be different, but at the same time it's Thursday morning and I'm doing my best to just put myself in position going into the weekend. So I tried to just focus on the shot at hand and trust what I was doing all day.

Speaker 4: 11:04

Jake, could you see anything like this coming? I know you've played a lot and you played last week in Mexico. I heard you said that you played well. Your best finish is Genesis. Did you feel anything coming in?

Speaker 8: 11:16

Yeah, I think I've been trending pretty well, honestly, over the last, you know, just since the start of the season. I mean it's not like I've played really well and then really bad. I think it's just slowly gotten better since the start of the year. You know played okay at Genesis last week. You know played okay at Genesis last week. You know had a tough day on Friday and then came back on the weekend and struck the ball great. I think I was first in approach on Sunday. So I mean I was pretty aware coming into this week that my game's trending in the right way. You know it's just at the same time it's just golf, you know. I mean it's one of those things where you can be hitting it really well and not scoring. You can be hitting it bad and scoring. So I mean just doing my best right now to get the scores down a little bit, but overall I feel like I've been playing a lot better.

Speaker 4: 11:56

And also, with that being said, when you feel that way and you start five under after five, does that just enhance the feeling?

Speaker 8: 12:03

Yeah, a little bit. I mean I played well here last year as well. So I mean I like this golf course, I'm comfortable on it. When the wind was down I knew that it was going to be gettable, and when this place gets windy it can get really challenging. So it's one of those where you know you have to play pretty aggressive when it's not windy. So I just did my best to do that and you know, the first hole I hit right over top of the flag and I hit a bad shot on two. And then after that I hit good shots everywhere other than seven. But I mean you know, two and seven or six were really my only kind of poor swings of the day, but other than that everything was kind of going where I wanted it to.

Speaker 5: 12:38

I wanted to ask you about that as well. You shot 66 here twice last year.

Speaker 8: 12:46

What is it about PGA National? That just seems to work for you. I just think it's a course that doesn't have there's no real goofiness to it or anything like that. It's very just, kind of right in front of you. It's very execution based. You just have to hit the shots that the hole kind of calls for. So you know, it's not a course where you can overpower it either. So, um, you know, I don't don't hit a lot of drivers out here. It's more of a positional golf course for me. And just try to make sure that from nine or from pitching wedge to six iron, I'm hitting the ball well and should take care of the rest.

Speaker 5: 13:13

And how do you, I guess how do you manage the emotions of the next 24 hours where you play tomorrow? You, you shot 59.

Speaker 8: 13:19

Yeah.

Speaker 5: 13:21

You were thinking 58. I know, and then you just shot the round of your life, but it could have been better. How do you marry all of these things into just showing up and playing good golf again tomorrow?

Speaker 8: 13:31

I think that's just the nature of what we do, whether I shot 89 or 59, I'm going to come back out and do my job tomorrow. I feel like over the last couple of weeks I started to get into a better headspace of just kind of trusting the stuff I've been working on and that it's going to keep getting better. And, um, you know, come out tomorrow and just try to keep doing it and the putt.

Speaker 5: 13:49

I want to ask you specifically about the putt on 15.

Speaker 8: 13:52

It there was a lot, of, a lot of break to it is that kind of when you knew you were going at that point, but you know you were really going when, because that was in the whole way it looked like yeah, I mean I feel like I honestly had it going like well before then, like I didn't really make many putts today, if I'm being honest, like I just hit it really close and it was. You know, I made a lot of kind of 8 to 12-footers but nothing of great length, and to shoot a score like that usually you do. So, yeah, I mean on 15, I got a really good read off Tom. He was putting from, you know, eight feet left to me on similar length, so I got to watch his go in dead center. So it gave me somewhat of an idea of the pace and all that. And Halfway I knew it was on a pretty good line and you know it didn't have a ton of movement. But I mean, yeah, it just kind of just cozy right in there.

Speaker 5: 14:41

What do you do tonight?

Speaker 8: 14:42

Just kind of the same old. Do uh work out this afternoon, go get some rest, and it was an early morning this morning so maybe take a little nap this afternoon jake.

Speaker 2: 14:50

Uh, if I'm not mistaken, new putter in the bag recently. What kind of went into that change for you?

Speaker 8: 14:56

um, just felt like I needed to feel something a little different. Whether it's for a, you know, in my head sometimes it's for like a couple days or a couple weeks or whatever it might be. But you know it was more like strategic, based on how I feel like my misses have been lately with the putter. I don't think I've been putting terribly just something feel-wise that. I just felt like I needed to feel something different.

Speaker 2: 15:17

Did you test a bunch of different things or was it kind of one thing and you found it quick?

Speaker 8: 15:20

Not a ton. To be honest, I've always kind of fluctuated, or I've always stayed with the same head shape for the most part and then I just changed kind of between that plumber's neck and then a double bend, so a little bit of toe hang versus face balance. But yeah, just something that kind of felt right for me and worked on it the last couple days and worked pretty well today.

Speaker 2: 15:37

Is this first tournament.

Speaker 8: 15:38

You've used it or do you use it? Yeah, yeah, first tournament.

Speaker 7: 15:42

So good, first round, jake. Last question for me. You mentioned to Damon that there was a little disappointment with the approach shot at 16. It looked like that on the television. I want to know how you felt at 17, knowing that if you make that putt you know you come to the last hole.

Speaker 8: 16:01

You got a little bit of breathing room. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I wasn't thinking about it. I mean I was just trying to make bird's. Like I'll still think tonight about how it should have been 58 or 57 or 56. So, you know, 59 is great but, like you, always could technically do better, but it could always be worse. So I mean, I wasn't too worried about breathing room because I mean, if I, you know, if I got to 18 and you know I was already at 1,200 par par, I was going to play the hole the exact same way. So I, you know, I, yeah, I felt like I wanted to make it, just because I wanted to make it, to be honest um, last thing.

Speaker 7: 16:33

I just need you if you could just run through, run through the holes. Just what you hit, don't worry about yada, just what club you hit on each hole, on each hole.

Speaker 8: 16:41

That was yeah um from one to 18 yep um the transcript. Number one hit four iron, then hit pitching wedge, made the putt. Number two hit three wood, blocked the nine iron and then chipped in from the fairway in the front um. Next hole hit. Or number three hit driver hit five iron to kind of the front third of the green and then two putted. Next hole hit three wood, then a pitching wedge and then made like a 10-footer the par three hit six iron, pretty close, probably like three feet three and a half feet. Next hole hit driver down the middle hit a bad 7-iron out to the right was able to get up and down.

Speaker 8: 17:30

Number 7, hit a 4-iron to like pin high right 17, 25, somewhere in there feet-wise and then flipped out that putt. And then number 8, hit 3-wood, hit 9-iron. Don't remember if I birdied 8. I don't think I did, can't remember to be honest. Yeah, I have to look at that. You didn't birdie, I did not birdie it, so I missed that. And then, number nine Hit three wood. I Don't even remember what club I hit. I hit pitching wedge. I think I hit pitching wedge to like three feet. Number 10, hit driver, then hit five wood two putted. Number 11, hit three wood, then gap wedge made the putt Number 12, hit driver, then pitching wedge missed it. Next hole hit 3-wood, 56-degree, made it. We'll be on 14 now. 14 hit driver, 9-iron pretty close. Made it. Next hole hit 8-iron to left side of the green made a long one, 16 hit, three wood, pitching wedge and then just missed that one. 17 hit, eight iron, just missed. And then 18 driver, six iron and two putt perfect. Thank you appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 18:59

Thank you, guys. So there you have it. You've heard from billy horschel, jordan spieth and Jake Knapp. Let's wish them the best. It's going to be a great tournament. It's going to be a great weekend down in South Florida, the Palm Beaches area, and then we move on to you-know-where and we'll have those interviews too, from Bay Hill and then we'll jump up to the Players' Championship and then we'll head over to Tampaa of the tampa area and dennisbrook. It's going to be a fun swing. Get the popcorn strap on your seat belt and let's look at, look out for some great golf in florida for the florida swing. I'm frank bassett, thanking each and every one of you for listening and it's been a long day, can you you tell? Anyway, thanks for listening and please check out our sponsors, Invited Clubs, invitedcom and PXG For the whole team. I am out.

Speaker 5: 19:55

Thank you.