By PGATOUR.COM
JOHN BUSH: We’d like to welcome Scott Piercy into the interview room, 6‑under par 64, Scott, not a bad way to start the week, if we can get your comments on the day.
SCOTT PIERCY: Just the wind wasn’t even blowing today compared to last week. You know, I just played solid today, hit it in a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens, made two fairly key putts and took care of the par‑5s. I hit a really good shot into 11, which got me to 5‑under and made birdie there. I hit it about 18 inches. So that was a really good one.
Q. What club did you hit there?
SCOTT PIERCY: I hit 5‑iron.
Q. Take us through last week, what that sort of did to you mentally, physically, and then your goals for this week?
SCOTT PIERCY: You know, last week was tiring even before we started playing because you mentally prepare yourself. I know the first‑‑ what is it, the first three, four days‑‑ three days, I think I was almost as tired those days as I was after the 36‑hole day. Just more mentally tired than‑‑ I was physically more tired after the 36th hole. But I did a lot of good things. I struck the ball well last week. I didn’t feel like I rolled the ball well putting, made a couple little changes and felt like I rolled it better today, even though I left a few out there.
Q. This course when you’re hitting it as solid as you were, how do you get on a run on these greens?
SCOTT PIERCY: You know, I’ve played here quite a bit, so I understand where they break, like certain greens do funny things that don’t look that way. I think it’s just a little bit of course knowledge and obviously the closer you hit it, the better, because then you’re not dealing with multiple grain angles and stuff like that.
Just kind of knowing the golf course helps a lot.
Q. From what you were saying about how last week was a little crazy, today getting back to kind of a routine of going out and playing golf, playing well, having fun?
SCOTT PIERCY: Yeah, it was fun not having to battle the wind. Last week there wasn’t one shot where you just kind of got up there and you’re like, oh, it’s just an 8‑iron. It’s like, no, it’s 100 yards, do I cut a 6, do I hook an 8. Here it’s just I’ve got 130, little wind, all right, hit a 125 shot. So the mental beat‑down of the wind wasn’t there, so it made it more fun.
Q. There’s a sense out on TOUR that guys think they make it when they first get their card and then you sort of have to back that up by keeping your card, then you back it up by winning and then winning again. You’ve now done that. What’s the next stage for you?
SCOTT PIERCY: Win more. You always want to win. I think in my mind for it to be a good year, I think I have to win more than once. Obviously a major is a goal. If you’ve looked at sort of my last two, three years, I went from is he going to keep his card to he won in Reno, which is a smaller event; okay, there’s a platform. Okay, he played well, he played well, he won in Canada, now he’s had another platform, and that platform allowed me to make the step to the next platform I feel like. Then I got in some WGC events. I finished, I think, 18th or 19th at the Firestone, and I finished second in China at the WGC.
So the platform is set for me to go win a WGC, to go win a major, to go win multiple times I feel. So I feel like I’m in a spot where I can‑‑ like when you’re first out here you feel like you’re always on the defensive so you don’t lose your card, where now it’s like‑‑ I feel like I can be aggressive to see how good I really can be.
Q. With the wrap‑around season beginning next season, what do you think the future holds for Hawai’i golf?
SCOTT PIERCY: Well, I’ll be back.
You know what, it’s really hard to say what’s going to happen. I still think the start of next year this year, I think those tournaments will still be a little bit weaker, kind of how they are, and‑‑ compared to say like a normal full field event. But I do think you’ll start to get a handful of guys each year that’ll add those in just to get a head start and maybe take some time off, go to Hawai’i and maybe start the West Coast. For me being in Malaysia and China, being in those events, Vegas was the week before, so I’d play three out of the four or five‑‑ I don’t know how many there are, six maybe, and then a lot of guys go overseas at that time. So it’s hard to‑‑ you might get a handful of guys that want to stay in the States, and then you might get a lot of the bigger name guys that are still going overseas.
But when it comes to Hawai’i, I know everybody likes coming here, so it’s just a matter of fitting it in their schedule and all that fun stuff.
JOHN BUSH: Scott, thank you, sir.