What they said: John Merrick

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Q. General comments on your day?

JOHN MERRICK: I felt great today. I don't know exactly what my stats were but I hit the majority of fairways and greens, and made the majority of my putts. I didn't miss anything inside of five or six feet. So I was really happy about that.

It was just a solid day, solid golf. I feel comfortable on this course. I've played a lot of golf here. I was at UCLA and I've played the last two years, so I feel like I know what's going on. It was a good day.

Q. Is it an added element of comfort being familiar?

JOHN MERRICK: I think so. I've played a lot of rounds out here and I've been to the tournament before as a college player coming out and watching and as a junior golfer, so I feel like it's one of the courses on TOUR where maybe I have a little home-course advantage.

Q. What were the conditions like today?

JOHN MERRICK: They were perfect. No real wind. It was sunny, just typical California day.

Q. And the greens?

JOHN MERRICK: The greens were okay. They don't feel like they were as fast as they have been. Maybe just because of the rain or something like that. I feel like some were usually a little quicker.

Riviera has some of the best poa annua greens you can find anywhere. They were okay but they were not as good as I've seen them.

Q. As far as your position?

JOHN MERRICK: Yeah, it's the first day and there's three more days and a bunch of golf left. I'm just going to try to do what I did today. I got off to a good start, birdied two out of the first three holes. My attitude was good, stayed patient and try to do the best I can.

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