Oct. 22, 2006
Recap | Notes | Photo Gallery
Windermere, Fla. -
Clemson's Sam Saunders
On his chip-in from the bunker on No. 18...
"I was just trying to hit a good bunker shot. The fact that it went in was a little lucky, but I hit it just the way I wanted to. That put me at one-over when I made the turn, then I made par at one and two and eagled three to get it to one-under. I kind of struggled coming in and ended up at two-over, but it's a decent round."
On playing in front of his grandfather, Arnold Palmer...
"Whenever he gets the chance (he comes out to watch). It's not as often as either of us would like but whenever he has the opportunity he tries to come out and support me."
On playing at the Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational...
"It's exciting as this is my first college tournament. But I'm looking at this just like all of the other tournaments I've played in the past. I'm just going out there trying to win. And the team aspect is a little different but it's very fun."
Arizona's Creighton Honeck
On Arizona's play Sunday...
"We had a good team meeting last night and talked about how we had a good chance. Coach Rick LaRose set us up really well in the practice round. He had really good course management and told us where to miss it on each hole. We knew 18 pars would definitely get it done."
On his first round...
"Obviously I'm pretty happy with it. I left a couple shots out there, had three bogeys and four birdies. I still wish I came in at a couple lower but definitely happy with a solid one-under."
Florida's Head Coach Buddy Alexander
On his perspective of the course and the first round...
"That's a pretty difficult golf course. It's got a lot of length to it. It just seemed to be tough to get anything going. I had two guys who played really well and two who didn't. But it was a good test of golf today."
On his team's play...
"Well, Toby Ragland played really well in the middle of his round and Manuel Villegas played really well at the end. So those covered up some mistakes by the other guys. Our big dog is Billy Horschel and he had a horrific day, but things like that happen. I'm not worried about him for tomorrow and it's not something he's going to do very often. He has carried us so often so it was nice Toby and Manny picked us up."
On his team's attitude coming into the opening round...
"There wasn't any intimidation for us because these guys aren't scared of much. I think when they play a hard golf course they look forward to it and like that it's a pretty interesting challenge. And this golf course is one of the hardest we play so they look forward to that challenge and see what they can do."
On the fact that there was not one team in red figures...
"Well, if you look at the history of the tournament, the scoring the last two years has not been great. The whole field is not going to play poorly at one time. You know what you are getting into when you come here."
Florida's Toby Ragland - Co-First Round Leader
On seeing his name on top of the leaderboard next to the 18th green...
"Yeah that does look good. I know I have the ability and the chance to win at every event. I haven't been doing that lately. I kind of came close a couple of times last year and played well earlier this year but could not get myself into contention. It's good to get out in front early and try and hang on to that lead and play solidly tomorrow."
On his attitude entering Sunday...
"It was very good, had a good warm-up session on the range, put a new putter in the bag and was really confident with that. I just went out and tried to execute golf shots and stick to my game plan."
On playing at one of the best golf courses in the nation...
"Obviously the prestige of this country club is so far second to none as far as I've seen. Everything around, even the artwork driving down the road, the shape of the golf club, the beautiful homes and it's cool to be at Tiger Woods' place. The lockeroom is pretty cool, too, and I love the half-court basketball court inside the clubhouse."