Denny McCarthy, who has lost twice in playoffs and is winless on the PGA TOUR, was aided by a fast start that included five straight birdies at Nos. 11-15. He opened his inward nine with back-to-back birdies and added two more for a satisfying, but not surprising to him, opening round of 62 – good for second place heading into Friday.
You just looked up there. What do you think when you see it? Um, it’s cool. I always like watching myself make putts. It’s uh it’s good mojo. Good uh osmosis, I guess. Um yeah, it’s you know, it was a good day. So, obviously I like watching myself do good things. So, what was really working for you today? Um a little bit of everything. Um, I’ve been feeling pretty comfortable. I felt comfortable today with with everything. Um, you know, the golf course was somewhat receptive. Um, and there wasn’t much wind. So, kind of figured early on once we got through a few holes that there was going to be some low scores today and um, you know, I played really freely, really committed um, like liked how my mindset was and um, you know, produced a good result. Did you have a specific uh plan of attack going out and did you stick with it or was it just kind of not not really? Um I guess off the tea a little bit. There’s there’s a handful of bunkers that are right in my range of can I cover, can I not cover? Um and if you can cover, it’s it’s it’s a little bit of an advantage. Um I’ve been I haven’t actively tried to pick up speed. I’ve done things to take care of my body and I have picked up some speed and um I’ve been fast a few different times on the range this week. So, I’ve been, you know, kind of the thought of, oh, I can carry that bunker and so I’ve I swung pretty freely and aggressive at the driver today, which um gave me some good wedge and short iron opportunities. So, um more of that. How do you kind of build on this, especially with the possible cold weather and rain coming in tomorrow? Yeah, I mean, I’ve played in plenty of cold weather and and rain before being from Maryland. Um, cold weather’s no no surprise to me. Um, played in plenty of rain before, too. It’s just kind of the nature of the business. Um, yeah. I mean, it it it might soften the golf course up. It might play a little longer. Um, but I still have a pretty good idea of how I want to play the golf course. Any of this I mean it’s pretty great score. I mean, is it does that even when you look at it, are you kind of like surprised at all or do you feel like you had it in you? I’ve been playing really well lately, so it doesn’t really surprise me. Um, yeah. I mean, there’s still a lot of golf left. This is a really nice start, but um, you know, I’m I’m excited. Uh, I’m excited for how my game is has been trending lately. There are a lot of low scores today. Is there anything the way the course is playing that distribut? Like I said, I think um, just the Greens being receptive, not much wind, um, new venue and and so I think they might have been cautious on a few pin locations. Um, and so, you know, when you when we have short irons and wedges with not much wind, um, you know, we’re looking to attack and it seems like a lot of guys have done that today. You were saying that being from Maryland, you’re familiar where does that give you some advantage over guys who aren’t as familiar with it and don’t play this kind of course as much? Maybe. I I I don’t know. I I you know, this is really similar to Baltimore Country Club, which is also at Tilling. My brother’s a member at BCC and um you know a lot of holes out here remind me of holes at BCC. I’ve played Baltimore Country Club a number of times and I really like that place. Um and so when I come here I see a lot of similar visuals off the tea and how how the greens are and so um I have a pretty good feel and idea of how um you know the course plays and and how how the greens can tilt and how they can break and stuff. So I feel pretty comfortable. you’ve come close to a couple of big wins, right? You’ve had a couple playoff losses, right? Uh is that something you do you really is it easy for you to go into each into each event with a clean slate or do things like that do you start to think about things like Yeah, I don’t really think about that too much. I just I always try and worry about getting better and that’s all I try and you know, there’s a lot of golf left. I shot a great round today. Um I don’t know if I’m going to be leading or not. some guys might pass me. Um, this is a good start. There’s 72 whole golf tournaments a long way. Um, so yeah, I don’t really think about it too much. I always just try and figure out try and try and figure out how to how to get better basically. Little ways to get better and that’s all I ever try and do and um, my game has really gotten better over the last few years. Um, and I feel like I’m I’m making the necessary steps to continue to improve my game. There have been some talk about this kind of being a bombers’s paradise and just hitting as far as you can. What was your kind of plan of attack on certain holes and deciding when to just hit driver and when to kind of lay back? Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, I mean there there are some bunkers that are I think it’s worth trying to hit driver over if you can cover bunkers because um the rough’s thick in some areas, but for the most part it’s you can get some some decent lies to play it up near the green. Um especially there’s not too many long par4s. So, even if you bomb it over and it’s in the rough, you’re going to have a short iron or a wedge. Um, and there’s been a few bunkers that are kind of can I cover it, can I not? Um, and so I’ve been teeing it up a little higher and swinging a little harder, being a little, you know, pretty aggressive with the driver and I was able to cover some of those bunkers today and get myself some good opportunities. What What did you feel was your shot of the day? Um, I made five birdies in a row and then I made a 20footer 22footer for par on 16. So, I’m going to say that I kind of kept the momentum going a little bit. I was looking at making a bogey and made a really nice stroke on a par putt on 16 right here. And um, so I’m gonna say that. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.
