Max Homa, Austin Eckroat, Doug Ghim react to John Deere Round 1 lows | Golf Central | Golf Channel

Hear from Max Homa, Austin Eckroat and Doug Ghim after posting the three lowest scores in the opening round of the John Deere Classic. #Golf #GolfChannel #PGATour #JohnDeereClassic
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Max Homa, Austin Eckroat, Doug Ghim react to John Deere Round 1 lows | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Chrome Tour golf ball from Callaway. Max, can you talk about the round and how good it feels to uh to have gotten off this this particular start?
Yeah. Uh I just did everything really solid. I made a ton of putts. Uh kept the driver uh in in good spots. I got to take advantage of my iron play, uh my wedge play. So, it just uh yeah, always for me uh this season started from the tea and uh it was plenty good enough today and uh the rest of my game I think got to show how it’s felt the last few months without any good results. So, it just always feels good to get off to a good start when you’re struggling. That’s for sure.
Does it feel sustainable? Do you feel like you you I I don’t you don’t want to say you got it, but
does it feel I mean I don’t see why not, but I’m not I guess worried about it being it’s not really going to be my lasting thought as I leave here today. You know, I played a good run of golf. Every day is different. Um but I do feel like we found a little something with the driver and
uh or you know, all the long clubs and it was nice to do that for 18 full holes. I didn’t hit one like crazy shot today, so that was cool. Uh, did you feed off your group kind of had it going for a while? Did you feed off Ricky a little bit and vice versa? Um, yeah. I mean, I would think so. We just like I’m super lucky to have a group like that. I mean, two of my closest buddies out here. Uh, I’ve known Rick forever. I know Jake forever. So, it’s just a fun vibe. You get three SoCal guys in the same group. Uh, everyone just started making a lot of birdies. So, that was fun.
Obviously, uh, the number is going to be 20 something. Uh, so obviously one day doesn’t doesn’t get it done, but did you how’s your approach for the rest of the week? Just keep your head down.
Yeah, you just have to keep playing. You know, still patience is very important even when scores are really low. Uh, you look at a round like Ricky played today. Uh, he had a couple uh blips early and then, you know, found his swing again and he shot a really low number. So, uh, as much as it always feels like a track meet in your head, uh, you look at things like that and, uh, it’s important to kind of stay within yourself, stay patient, cuz you can birdie any hole out here.
Was there one thing you worked on on the range that this week that you felt might have been key today?
They’re just my sequencing’s been off. So, uh, found a little something to hopefully slow down my legs, but uh, yeah, it’s always, uh, it’s just been off all season. So, uh, hopefully this little change is gonna kind of continue to work, but didn’t find it till late last uh yesterday afternoon. So, uh I’m in the early days of it, so I think I’m in the honeymoon phase for a little while. Austin, great opening round. Uh clean card. What if you can think about it? What would what was working really well for you today?
Yeah. Um was nice to have a great round. Uh it’s been two in the last, you know, three weeks where I’ve really got things going and um it’s just great to have a little confidence on the golf course. say that’s the big thing for the most part is just confidence level is high, but the um the ball striking was great today. Um hold one out, you know, hit some close and uh was solid over the putter. I didn’t make a whole whole lot of outside putts, but you know, the game was good and it’s just fun to be in that position.
How did that start kind of kickstart you? I mean, you eagle two and then you out for on five for your five under all of a sudden. How did that get get you going? Yeah, I mean that can do one of two things. it can get you, you know, thinking too far ahead, but luckily I I didn’t get too far ahead of myself. And um, you know, I I knew the game was good going into the week. You know, I felt confident, but then to actually go out and, you know, be 300 under through two is a is a is a huge boost. You know, you know, it’s kind of gets you ahead of the field early, which was great.
What was the reaction that shot on five? Yeah, it was a little too early to go, you know, nuts, but it was still uh, you know, threw my hands up in the air, had fun, but, you know, it was if it was late on Sunday, you know, probably been more of a reaction for sure.
Uh, great opening round. You mentioned, you know, you know, you have to go low. Uh, what’s the mentality heading into tomorrow? How do you keep this thing going now for three more rounds?
Yeah, I mean, honestly, anytime you can get to 20 under or better is you’re going to have a chance. Last week the scoring was really low as well and 22 ended up being the winner. After the first day it looked like, you know, 29 under could be the winner. But um it’s still golf. It’s still, you know, a challenge. You you have to hit fairways. I hit a lot of them today. And uh just just trying to shoot four to six under every day and see where that puts me.
Seemed like a lot of things were working for you. Uh maybe the putter was maybe a little bit one of the issues. Was just looking at your stats, I didn’t get to see what everything, but what was working really well for you today, I guess?
Yeah, I mean I hit it close. I I hit a lot of fairways. I didn’t miss many greens. Um I had to chip it off a green on on 17. So it probably hurt the stats. I didn’t get it up and down. Um because I had to come over the corner of the bunker. So obviously statistically it’ll look worse than probably it was. But um honestly hit it so close all day. I probably didn’t gain much anytime I tapped in for birdie. Honestly, I two putted for birdie a couple of times and and uh that’s just the way the stats go sometimes. But uh I hit it really well. Uh hold out a wedge. Um, and uh, yeah, I mean, honestly, uh, anytime you can shoot nine under and not really make a put is is always a good good sign.
Doug, you mentioned a little bit about patience on the radio. Uh, has that been an acquired trait for you and and you come to a track meet like this, is it hard to stay patient? Yeah, I mean you learn uh there are times like earlier in my career that you try to go out and try to shoot a 62 and and not to say that we’re not trying to shoot 62 every day, but um you kind of have to let it come to you. Um I mean obviously on Sunday if you’re behind the pack, you’re going to have to try to um but on a Thursday you’re just trying to keep yourself in it. you know that if you shoot five under, even if someone shoots the 59 today, you know that if you shoot another 500 tomorrow, you’ll be somewhere along the pack. So, um you’re just trying to keep yourself in it and then when you have your run, hopefully it’s at the right time and you might win. But, uh putting yourself in the pack is the most important thing and and uh today was a good start for that. When did that lesson really come to mind for you when you really catch on to that?
Yeah, I mean I think it comes and goes. Obviously, there are certain times where I I do it really well and I I I would speak for the rest of the field and and just any professional golfer. Some at sometimes it comes easy. You’re hitting your shots. I mean, Scotty Sheffller’s making it look really easy right now. Uh but, uh like in Vegas last year, played really well. Um and almost won and was patient all week. Didn’t really try to knock the grass off the course the entire week and almost won that week. And um sometimes it’s just a little harder and you see guys shooting eight under, nine under every day and you try to keep keep up, but really you’re just trying to kind of stay in your own bubble. And I think that’s something that every year I’ve gotten a little bit better at. And uh yeah, hopefully uh hopefully we learned a lesson before this week starts so that you know we’ll have a chance at the end. Doug, you made it look easy today. Can you talk about the characteristics of this course? Everyone comes here this time of year, they know they’ve got to score low, but if you’re not playing well, you get found out quick, too, don’t you?
Yeah. I mean, they’re still challenging T- balls. It’s still golf. It’s still an outdoor sport. Um, you could hit the fairway, be in a divot, and uh have to manage that. So, um, you still have to play very good golf. There’s long par threes. There’s, uh, there’s some challenging T- balls and and even the scoring holes. You could easily end up with a with a five, six foot for par. Uh, 14’s a drivable hole today. Okay. And the group in front of us, all of them had to have about 4 and 1/2 ft to to 6 feet for par. And uh that’s how quickly it could happen.
What goes through a player’s mind, in particular yours, because you can speak to that when you see guys shoot the way you did today, but you’re struggling out here with black numbers. Uh just Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think at the end of the day it’s always tough when you’re not having a great start, but um you know, you have to keep telling yourself that first of all, one over is better than two over when you’re finishing your round because the next day you could shoot 59. And uh you don’t want to be four over and shoot 59 and barely make the cut. So um you’re just trying to play your best as always. Uh it’s like a swimmer. You’re just trying to swim as fast as you can and you spend time looking at the other swimmers. you’re not going to swim as well. You’re not going to swim as fast. So, uh you’re just trying to stay in your own bubble and and uh obviously if you’re shooting over par on a day like today, that’s tough. Uh you’re going to have to do some herculean effort like speed did I think in 2015 and uh you know, you’re just going to have to go really low from there on out.