What they said: Vaughn Taylor

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MORE INTERVIEWS: The 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer transcript archive

JOE CHEMYCZ: Vaughn, we got some reporters in here want to ask you a couple questions real quick.

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Okay.

JOE CHEMYCZ: First of all, congratulations on a nice round today, 63, maybe just a couple of comments about how you played and we go from there.

TAYLOR: Yeah, I played solid today. I got off to a good start and I made some pars there and I made the turn and kind of got it going. And I played solid.

Q. You've your crafting a pretty good record here at the Hope. Tie for 8th last year, made the cut the year before that, and you start with 63, you obviously must feel pretty comfortable in the desert?

TAYLOR: Yeah, I like it here. The weather is great, the courses are in great condition, so it's a good way to start off the condition.

And I'm just looking forward to working on my game out here.

Q. Is it just at the Hope or it doesn't matter if the 63 leads the first round, because there's a chance you might not lead today.

TAYLOR: Yeah, you know, there's five rounds, there's a long way to go. It's a good start and any time you shoot a 63 it's a good round.

But you got to take the positives and keep going, you have four more rounds to go.

Q. What did you have working today? Everything?

TAYLOR: Yeah, I think I played solid. I putted well on the back nine or my front nine, I guess. And I did everything really well today.

Just all around my game is in good shape.

Q. You played this tournament the last two years, but Bermuda wasn't in the rotation last year, did you, you played there the one year before that, do you feel a little like you are still getting to know that course?

TAYLOR: Not really. I played a few practice rounds on it and a couple tournament rounds now. But I think the grain is the toughest. You got to, even though the greens are overseeded, there's still some grain under there and there's some tricky putts out there. So I think reading the greens is the toughest part.

Q. What was your, when did you get into town and what was your practice rounds like? Did you try and get all, to all four courses?

TAYLOR: I did. I got in, I missed the cut at Sony and I came in Saturday night. And I had a good three days to tee off on three courses. I actually played, I played the other three and just rode around and putted on Bermuda Dunes.

Q. At the moment there are 40 players or more 5-under or better, with the elimination of the The Classic Club this year and subbing in Bermuda Dunes and the Nicklaus Private do you think the scores will be a lot lower and back to the way they used to be?

TAYLOR: Yeah, I think they will. The weather obviously dictates a lot of that. But the The Classic Club, you know, the wind tends to blow over there and that made it even tougher. But the wind is a lot of it. And these are courses where if you drive it well, you just have to learn how to read the greens and it should be pretty consistent scoring.

Q. Anything spectacular for you today?

TAYLOR: Nothing spectacular, I would say. I putted well. I rolled it really good. I left some putts short early and I kind of got the speed down.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of getting off to good starts, not only early in this tournament, but early in the season and how that is critical for your year?

TAYLOR: You know, it's, you always want to get off to a good start and it alleviates a lot of pressure. If you're struggling early in the year you start putting pressure on yourself and you feel like you're getting lapped by everybody else.

But it's always important to get off to a good start and get some momentum going more than anything. I just need to keep playing solid and have some good tournaments here.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Okay, Vaughn, we appreciate it. Thank you and play well the rest of the week.

TAYLOR: Thank you very much.

Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports.