What they said: Ernie Els

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Q. Obviously not the way you wanted to finish the round, but all in all you've got to be happy with a 68.

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. I mean, a little windy out there. The greens are firm, as we said. The 18th hole is never the easiest to finish on, but I hit a bad tee shot there.

I felt like I played pretty well. Kept the ball in play most of the day and didn't do anything silly or stupid, and putted quite nicely for a change. So nice start.

Q. We talked about the greens yesterday. How different are they from last year to this year?

ELS: Totally different. Last year the ball was plugging with a 3-wood into the greens, and this year the grass is different. If you miss a fairway you've really got some issues out of the Bermuda rough. The ball comes out with no spin, so you can't really control the ball.

You've really got to hit the fairways, but the surfaces are great. If you get it on the greens, you can make some putts.

Q. In the long run, do you think that's a great call for them to change the grass to Bermuda?

ELS: Yeah, it's a natural grass that grows in this area. If you make them bent it's going to die on you, so this is a natural grass that grows here. It's an easier way to maintain the golf course.

Q. Do you feel a little bit rested compared to everybody else? I mean, you're perhaps a little fresher than at least a third of this field.

ELS: Yeah, definitely. Obviously they've got their games, but mentally they might get a little bit tired as the week goes on. They had a great week but a tough week last week.

Yeah, I mean, I've had ten days at home, and I've had some nice work to work on. You know, I went to Callaway to work on my putting and they kind of got me sorted out alignment-wise, so I've had a couple of nice things to work on. So yeah, I guess I'm fresh.

Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports.