TNT’s Round Two coverage of the PGA Championship continues Fri., August 9 from 1 p.m. – 7 p.m. ET.
Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Ian Baker-Finch, Billy Kratzert and Vince Cellini
Baker-Finch on the East Course at Oak Hill Country Club: “It’s a great golf course and it has major championship DNA…the towering trees frame these holes so beautifully so you must shape the ball on every hole. You’ve got to hit it one way or another. This course tells you where to hit it; you don’t decide yourself.”
Baker-Finch on Marcus Fraser (-3): “He’s a very good player. He’s a very straight driver of the ball. He doesn’t hit it very far but I’m not surprised to see him up there [on the leaderboard].”
TNT’s Vince Cellini interviewed Jim Furyk (-5) following his first round:
Furyk on his first round: “It’s the first day so I’m just trying to be positive. I tried to get my feet under me after the first few holes. It felt good to birdie the first hole right off the bat…I calmed down and settled into my game. Early on, I knocked a couple of putts past the hole but I knocked in a bunch of six-footers, got a lot of confidence going and from there, I putted beautifully the rest of the day.”
Baker-Finch on Miguel Angel Jimenez (-2): “He just seems to find another gear in the majors and the Ryder Cup.”
Baker-Finch on Tiger Woods’ (+1) first round decision-making: “He started off nicely…with birdies at 13 and 15. But the damage was done with the poor third shot on [4]. He made six [shots] there and then exacerbated that poor finish with the poor decision to go for the green at 9 with his second [shot] and made double-bogey. He should’ve pitched it out and made four the hard way.”
Baker-Finch on Phil Mickelson (+3): “Phil always goes for it and that’s what makes him exciting. He works so hard on different types of shots.”
Baker-Finch on Nicolas Colsaerts (+1): “He hits the ball so far with a slow, easy rhythm.”
Baker-Finch on Adam Scott (-5): “Adam Scott is a major player now. The last two years, he’s there [on the
leaderboard] every time.”
Baker-Finch on shaping a shot: “The straight hitters can hit the driver. They can shape [the shot] like [Jim] Furyk does. But the guys who are a bit more risky with the big stick will go back to the three wood. It’s easier to shape a club with more loft.”
Baker-Finch on the thick rough at Oak Hill Country Club: “It’s so thick. It’s like Donald Trump’s hair. It’s unbelievable trying to get through that stuff.”
Baker-Finch on the first round: “We’ve seen a lot of birdies out there today…a lot more than I was expecting to see at Oak Hill. This is a tough golf course.”
TNT’s Vince Cellini interviewed Lee Westwood (-4) following his first round:
Westwood on his first round: “It was a good start. Obviously, I didn’t make a bogey so that’s going to help any day. But I’ve been playing well, especially in the big tournaments this year. I continued to do so today, hitting the ball really well and giving myself some good chances.”
Westwood on the pressure to win a major tournament: “I pay little attention to it really. I go out there and try to do my best, improve my weaknesses all the time and keep my strengths to a certain level. I’m lucky. I get to play golf every day so very rarely do I get stressed.”
TNT’s Vince Cellini interviewed Rory McIlroy (-1) following his first round:
McIlroy on his first round: “The last four-hole stretch is tough and I didn’t play it the way I wanted to but, all things considered, one under par isn’t a bad score.”
McIlroy on the confidence he gets from playing in the PGA Championship: “Of all the majors, this is the one that I perform the best…coming back here, it gives me some confidence knowing that I’ve done well in this tournament before.”
TNT’s Vince Cellini interviewed Adam Scott (-5) following his first round:
Scott on his five straight birdies in the first round: “I just got on a bit of a roll and I got my shots close so I didn’t have to do much putting. It was just clean-up work. You have to take advantage of that when it happens because it doesn’t happen too often at majors.”
Scott on performing well in major tournaments: “I’ve put a lot into my game in the last few years and I focus on big tournaments. Everyone around me has had that focus as well and we come here to do the business. I think we all carry ourselves accordingly.”
Baker-Finch on Phil Mickelson’s (+1) early struggles in the first round: “Early on, it looked like he couldn’t find [his game]. He looked a little shocked at some of the shots he hit but he gradually found it again.”
Baker-Finch’s overall impressions of the first round: “The scoring was better than I expected coming in. The rain overnight softened the greens enough. There wasn’t too much breeze before the storm blew in. They didn’t have to suffer too much. The course is tough enough without the conditions making it worse.”
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