PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 4, 2020

Abraham Ancer

Harding Park Golf Club

Press Conference

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon again, everybody. Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. We are pleased to be joined by Abraham Ancer, who is playing in his second PGA Championship. Abraham, last year at Bethpage you performed quite well, finishing T16, and I believe that was the first major championship of your career. That's a heck of a way to debut. What are your memories of that week, and for what had to be a really monumental moment in your progression, in your career.

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, it was definitely a tournament that I enjoyed quite a bit. It was tough. It reminded me a lot of golf that I played in college sometimes during some bad weather. Really long golf course, so every hole was definitely a challenge. If you were not in the fairway, it was going to be a very, very tough hole to make par.

But I enjoy that. I enjoy grinding and just knowing that par is a really good score. I think if the weather stays like this this week, it could be somewhat similar, maybe not as long as Bethpage, but still a very demanding golf course, and I enjoy that.

JOHN DEVER: Let's talk about the weather a little bit; have you made any changes, or do you have a math game in your head about how you have to dial things up or change your club selection and how this marine layer could affect your play throughout the week.

ABRAHAM ANCER: Definitely. I haven't really changed any equipment, but I know the ball will not go anywhere close to what it was going, for example, last week. Last week it was hot, and it was flying a little bit longer or definitely a lot longer than what it will here.

But I think we're all used to that. We know whenever it's not cold, the ball is just not going to travel that much, so for me it might be like a club difference if I was back home with normal temperature than when we come here.

JOHN DEVER: Going back to Bethpage last year, the first major of your career, how different was that when you drove on to the grounds that week, and are you getting a similar feel here even without the fans?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I mean, that was probably one of the toughest golf courses I played on a big-time tournament, so that definitely made it seem like, wow, this is a championship golf course. There's obviously a ton of people. The fans there were really into it in New York, which is fun. I enjoyed that, and like I said, I really like a setting that par is a really good score.

I really liked it, and now I'm thinking back on that week, I didn't feel like I was hitting it that well, but I knew I could scramble really good, and that's just what I did. I putted well. I think I chipped really well. Didn't hit it my best, but I just found a way to just shoot around par.

JOHN DEVER: When does the PGA Championship -- we've known for a few months now that it's going to be this week, early August. You're always looking to be in peak for, but when does it kind of enter your mind, hey, the PGA Championship is in three weeks or 10 days or a month? When do you start gearing up for the next major?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Well, with all this going on, with the pandemic, I've been looking forward to it for a long time. I always definitely want to be in peak form every single week, although it's really hard to do that, but I do try to -- now that I can pick and choose the tournaments that I can play, I definitely want to feel mentally and physically ready for big events like this because they're so demanding mentally and physically. You have to be sharp.

So I've been not so much thinking about the tournament but knowing that I have to be in peak form for this week, and been planning all the way since we got the schedule from the PGA TOUR release, so that's when I planned accordingly.

Q. I'm just curious, when you look at the guys at the top of the rankings right now with Justin just having taken over, Rahm having had it for a couple of weeks and Brooks being right there and Rory, who do you kind of look at as the guys to beat right now for yourself and everybody else in the field? Is there a particular one of those guys that you feel is kind of the guy to beat?

ABRAHAM ANCER: Not really. I think anybody can win. I mean, obviously they've been playing some really good golf for a long time, and I don't really focus about anybody or what anybody is doing. I'm trying to do my thing, trying to come up with a plan for every golf course that I play. Just really try to do my best. I've never thought about, oh, I've got to beat this guy, because golf is just so unpredictable. Anybody can win. Focusing on just one guy for me really doesn't do anything.