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THE HONDA CLASSIC

February 22, 2018

Morgan Hoffmann

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Q. Birdie on the last hole, you had a good round going but nice way to finish it up.
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It's awesome. Always good to finish with a birdie with that taste in your mouth. I had a great day today. The wind is tough. The greens, not much grass on them and going on forward the rest of the week it's going to just get tougher. Really happy to get a solid round.

Q. Early tee time, was that an advantage?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It was windy but less than this for sure. It was tough in the morning also. We got good greens which is really nice.

Q. Talk about the greens, because they are firm, fast. They have kind of a brown look to them. Do you like them like that?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: I love fast greens but they are pretty dicey in some spots, like a lot of dirt, but they are in really good condition for what they have here. They are rolling pretty well. The wind is definitely a factor on the putting green.

Q. Long way to go, but you've got to be looking at the scoreboard, there's a lot of guys over par. This is a heck of a round you shot?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Thank you. It's probably the toughest we play all year. Luckily it's in my backyard, so I know it pretty well.

Q. How much did it help, what you did last year?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It always helps to play well, and looking back on it, having positive energy and good shots to have in the memory bank, it's always a positive.

Q. You call this the toughest track of the year. What do you find the biggest challenge?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Usually it's the rough. The rough isn't that bad this year. It's still definitely a factor but the greens are a lot tougher because there's less grass on them, so the wind, you have to play some wind.

Q. What do you have to do differently now than a year ago in terms of preparation because of what you're dealing with?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: I mean, it's just staying on top of it. My diet is extremely strict. I feel really good. I have a lot of energy. I've been working on my game a lot. My coach is here this week and the work is paying off I think. So hopefully we can keep grinding along the rest of the week.

Q. As a local here now, do you come over and play at all recreationally or is there just not enough time?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: A couple guys have before but I don't find it useful because it's so different than it is this week. It's really, really soft. The greens don't run out at all. So I know the course from the last five years during tournament week and I think that's what's important.

Q. What's been the mental challenge of your diagnosis in November, and what was the reaction?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Well, it's obviously tough to deal with because health is probably the most important thing in my life. I'd like to think that I'm a healthy person, working out, I love eating healthy. It was tough to hear that but I think we're going to do a lot of really good things with the charity that I'm starting. Hopefully find a cure. It looks really positive going forward. Big charity event August 20 up in Jersey, so I'm really pumped about that. Just going forward, just trying to look positive.

Q. What's the reaction you've had since running that piece as you're out playing?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It was unbelievable. It was so humbling. I can't tell you how many people that I didn't expect to reach out, did, and people that I had no idea even existed and told me their stories, and whether it was good or bad, they always had an uplifting conclusion at the end. It was really cool and I'm trying to house that energy and move forward.

Q. I know you don't want to be a sympathetic figure, so how do you react to people when you feel like they are kind of really worrying about your future and your health?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Well, the thing is, nobody really knows what to say. I've tried to put myself in my own shoes and it's tough. Like what are you going to say to someone? Just, sorry, and it means so much to me when people come up and say, sorry, I read your article. That's really, really cool. You don't have to do that. Takes ten minutes to read that thing. It's kind of long. Just knowing that I even have it, or was diagnosed, I think it says a lot about respect that that person has.

Q. Do you know a lot more now than you knew in November?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Yeah, absolutely. I've done so many studies. I'm finally seeing a doctor that I've been housing down for a few months and I'm seeing him next week. It's a holistic guy over in Tampa, actually. I'm really, really excited about it. I hope that we can move forward and get things rolling.

Q. Some success stories with him?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Yeah, he's cured a lot of people with cancer, like stage four brain cancer and gets rid of it in like four weeks, it's insane. It's all done by food and putting on specific diets and doing like these cleanses. It's really cool.

Q. You talked about your diet. What about your golf game? What do you have to do now?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Well, the last like five -- I missed the last five cuts in a row, and I've been working really hard on my swing and I've got new irons, put them in the bag a couple weeks ago. They are incredible.

This week they are finally clicking. It's going to be a really good thing going forward because my iron play hasn't been that good. So now, with these, it adds another confidence level.

Q. Same distances?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Same distance, but actually a little bit shorter, a little more spin. So just more control coming into the greens.

Q. You haven't really in this stretch put a couple of rounds together. I think Torrey you were decent the first day and you slipped a little bit. How important would it be tomorrow to kind of back this thing up and play the weekend and get some reward for what you've been working on?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: All you can do is look at your stats and your rounds and learn from them. Obviously my track record the last five events hasn't been that good, but I know I've been working on things, and it's really been just one or two holes. I feel really solid going into the rest of the week.

Q. I know you've taken this on as a mission, but you're a great athlete all-around, you're in great shape. There's got to be some element of why me?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Yeah, of course. The first probably six months of it was like that. But it didn't keep me from doing everything that I love to do. It doesn't keep me from treating people the way they should be treated.

As I've said before, I could become a recluse and feel bad for myself, but what's that going to do? I love being out here and I love playing on the PGA TOUR and that's my dream, and to help people ultimately is my goal. I think I can do really special things with this platform.

Q. What day were you actually given the diagnosis?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It was like November 2016.

Q. And what's your reaction when that guy says those two words?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: The thing is, the doctor wasn't nice. He was just like, yeah, you have it. I went, well, all right, I'm speechless, first of all, and then what can I do. He's like, there's no cure, and he basically hung up. That I was pretty pissed off.

Q. Sounds clichÃ© but when you have a run of missed cuts like you have, is it a different feeling than it would have been two years ago?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: No, I mean, I've lost a lot of speed in my swing but my swing is still there. I'm on plane. It's not like it's really killing my golf game. This isn't the reason for the last missed cuts. I've been working on a lot of things.

Q. Mentally, are you not as hard on yourself?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Definitely a lot happier and more mellow for sure. I'm still playing on the PGA TOUR with a disease, and it's pretty cool. I'm very lucky.

Q. Where do you play?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Bear's Club and Dye Preserve.

Q. Still flying a lot?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Yeah, Piper got lucky enough to make a partnership with them. It's amazing. It's an aircraft company and they are redoing my plane as we speak.

Q. What do you have?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It's a Piper Mirage.

Q. Do you own your own?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Yeah.

Q. How long have you had that?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: I've had this one for like six months but I've been playing for seven years.

Q. Arnold took it up because he was afraid of flying. What made you start to fly?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: No, I love flying. I love being in control. My whole family is kind of into aviation.

Q. 3-under 67, one of the first ones out there today, how would you describe your round?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It was great. Really solid. I had one 3-putt which is really my only mistake, and really pumped about my iron play lately. Excited to get that round in early.

Q. I read that earlier in the year you had said that you weren't really expecting great results this year. Did you expect this great round today?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Well, I mean, I'm always trying for it and that's my goal. But my expectations I'm just trying to have fun out here and really work on my game and I think if I do everything that I need to, then the golf will come in place, and today it did.

Q. How has your life changed since announcing to the world that you have muscular dystrophy?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It's changed a lot from different diet, being very disciplined, and I think it's going to change a lot more. It kind of makes me more focused. Definitely nothing lasts forever. So I'm out here just trying my heart out.

Q. And how has the world reached out to you when they heard the news?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: It's incredible. The response has been unprecedented in my life. It's really cool, from all aspects of life, reaching out and telling their story, whether it's good or bad, and their condolences. It's really special.

Q. Can you describe the process of a year ago, when you were trying to figure out, what was going on, and then finally getting the diagnosis?
MORGAN HOFFMANN: Yeah, I mean, I went through five or six years of going through a lot of doctors, and having no idea what it was, from the nerve conduction tests, EMGs, probably over a dozen MRIs. Just got to be a pain.

But finally I have a diagnosis which isn't ideal but it's better than something that's terminal. So I'm still here and living.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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