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SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 13, 2018

Patton Kizzire

Honolulu, Hawaii

PATTON KIZZIRE: My caddie Joe settled me in, and I was able to bounce back and got hot there in the middle. That really just settled me down. I calmed down and started playing a little more patiently and turned out to be a good solid day.

THE MODERATOR: It appears now you will not be in the lead going into tomorrow. Talk about your mindset, especially having won at Mayakoba, and how you'll rely on that tomorrow to help.

PATTON KIZZIRE: The win at Mayakoba just gives me the confidence I can win. It just -- it helps to know that you can hold that trophy at the end of the day and come out on top. There's so many good players out here, it's tough to win, but I know I can do it, and I can use that confidence tomorrow.

Q. One difference, it would seem, from Mayakoba -- I wouldn't call it a two-man race with you and Rickie, but this looks like about a 12-man race. How do you deal with that?
PATTON KIZZIRE: There's a lot of birdies out there. You just have to make the most. I think it's going to be a shootout. There's a lot of opportunities on those par 5s and the par 4s. If you hit good shots, you can make birdies on almost every hole. But if you're in the rough or out of position, you're really scrambling for par.

So I think there's a lot of guys that are going to be making birdies. I just got to keep the pedal down and try to make a bunch.

Q. Even if it's a shootout, there's some guys that may not have won before, do you feel like you have an advantage over them, having won before? Maybe they'll be feeling a bit edgier coming down the stretch?
PATTON KIZZIRE: Maybe. It certainly helps to already have that win under my belt. Maybe not feel those nerves quite as much as the other guys. Yeah, that's a big advantage. I think there are going to be some guys in contention that have more wins than me. So I'm trying to change that, and we'll see what we can do tomorrow.

Q. This may be a multi-parter here, but you shot 64 today with a double on the 1st hole. Do you think that will help you tomorrow? In the fact that, if you don't make birdies in the first five or six holes and you're all of a sudden three behind, you don't lose your mind?
PATTON KIZZIRE: Yeah, that's huge. I just want to stay patient until I get hot. That's what I say at home. That's what I say to my caddie. I told him, after I made double on the 1st hole, I said, well, I'm not trying to not mess up anymore. Sometimes you go out there, and you're just trying not to mess up, which is a terrible mindset, but guys do it. So I went ahead and messed up and took advantage of the free wheeling after that. But I know I can make a good round of it even with a slow start.

Q. And then the kind of quasi follow to that, when you said Joe helped settle you down, do you have a temper? Are you likely to implode quietly? Or what do you mean by that, calming you down?
PATTON KIZZIRE: No, he just reassured --

Q. I'm trying to find out if you throw your club. That's what I'm getting at.
PATTON KIZZIRE: Hey, I've fought that my whole life. There's not many things that can get me worked up, but golf is one of them. So I fought that my whole life. But I've turned it into a positive. I've got a lot of fire in me. I may not look like I'm churning from the outside, but inside I'm churning pretty good. I've been able to cope with that and turn it into a positive, and it was nice to hear that from my caddie on the 1st hole.

Q. Forgive me for this one. I know it's only January and you've got a lot of points to bank already. But how cool is it to get even more points and potentially bank your trip to the playoffs early?
PATTON KIZZIRE: The FedExCup is something that guys -- the focus has started to move towards the FedExCup. Guys are really focusing on that and to get a leg up and kind of get a fast start. I'm chasing that trophy. Everybody wants to be No. 1 at the end of the year and to play well coming down the stretch at the TOUR Championship. That's a goal of mine, and I'm looking forward to that.

Q. You didn't panic when Perez overtook you last week?
PATTON KIZZIRE: No, I imagine there will be some jockeying the whole year. So as long as I'm out front at the end of the year, that's the goal.

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