BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 2, 2020

Richy Werenski

Tahoe Mountain Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Richy, the beauty of this format is you can move up very quickly. When you got to 12 tee, knowing there was a number of birdie opportunities coming up, what was your mindset?

RICHY WERENSKI: I mean, I knew standing on 12, it was a par-5, you can get five points, and I wasn't really expecting to make an eagle on 16, but after we just barely missed our eagle on 12, I was like, all right, at least we'll go -- we've got some birdie opportunities, we'll just kind of go do what we can, and it just all happened really quick.

Q. It was a phenomenal shot on 18, taking it up and over the corner of the trees, stopping it over that short-sided bunker. Not many of us have a potential to win a PGA TOUR event. What were your emotions standing over that putt?

RICHY WERENSKI: There was a lot going on, but I really just tried to stay in my pre-shot routine, focus on that as hard as I could and just fall in love with the speed of that putt and just kind of go through the motions. I did a pretty good job of that.

Q. All that being said, performing the way you performed under pressure, what does this do for your career knowing that you can win at the highest level?

RICHY WERENSKI: I mean, it's huge. I've been playing well for I feel like the last couple of months, but to get a win, I mean, that's huge. I got a couple seconds and everything, so it just helps my confidence a lot. Now I know I'm good enough, and now we're going to go make a good move for the FedExCup Playoffs.

Q. Your first PGA TOUR win; how does it feel?

RICHY WERENSKI: It feels pretty incredible. I've been playing well for the last couple of weeks, especially kind of right there. But to get it done, it feels really good. It happened really quick. In this format, the eagle is worth five points and it kind of shot me right up the leaderboard, so I'm pretty excited.

Q. How did you feel knowing that eagle and then the birdie at the end, that was going to be the difference maker?

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, it was tough sitting out -- to make the birdie on 18, I kind of had to wait for Troy to finish, so it was kind of a nail biter, but I've never been in that position before, so it's all just experiences.

Q. You finished second a couple weeks ago. How great does it feel to get the victory this week?

RICHY WERENSKI: It feels really good, just for my confidence. I know there's been a couple times where I haven't played great on Sunday lately, and I feel like I could have won. So to pull it out and make it happen is pretty good.

Q. How do you bring this momentum going into the rest of the season?

RICHY WERENSKI: It's huge. I feel like I've got a ton of momentum going my way. Really the whole beginning of today I wasn't really playing that great, and obviously things changed quickly. But it's nice because I got one or two tournaments left until the Playoffs, so now I'm going to go try to make a good run in the Playoffs, and we'll see what we can do.

Q. What was the mindset just coming into today knowing that you needed a big day in order to come out on top?

RICHY WERENSKI: You know, it was kind of -- like you said, I knew I needed a big day, and then I started off with a bogey, which wasn't good. Just wasn't in a great rhythm early on in the round, but did a good job of just kind of snapping out of it, stopped trying on every shot, stick with my game plan and just try and make as many birdies as we could.

Q. When you made that eagle on 16, was that kind of when you were like, this could be the difference maker?

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, when it went in, I wasn't really thinking about where I was in relation to the leader until then, but when you start kind of doing the math, you're like, I've got three holes left, make a couple birdies and see what we can do. It was pretty cool.