PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2020

Matthew Wolff

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

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JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon. Welcome to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Pleased to be joined by Matthew Wolff, who posted a second-round 68 today and is at 3-under here at the halfway point of the championship. Pretty clean scorecard today, strong play, especially on what is the golf course's front side. Maybe talk about your round and kind of what you felt and saw out there.

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, the course was in great shape. The rough is long and greens are firm. It's definitely playing hard out there with the wind.

I hit the ball really well all day really. I drove it really well. Gave myself a lot of shorter clubs from the middle of the fairway, and didn't hit my irons quite how I wanted to, but definitely gave myself a lot of looks and kind of figured something out with the putter on that back nine because I think after the first day I was like second in driving and fifth in approach, and I only made two birdies just because I didn't make any putts. I lost like two strokes putting.

And then today through the front nine, I really didn't make anything, either, and then yeah, just figured something out on the back nine. So it was a nice way to finish, and hopefully a lot of momentum going into the weekend.

Q. It's your first major; did it feel different? There's no fans here, but did it feel different at all from a normal Tour event?

MATTHEW WOLFF: It does. The vibe around here is a little different just because it is a major, and the course is definitely set up harder. I've played hard golf courses before, but you can just tell if you hit it in the rough you're probably going to have to chip out unless you get lucky and get a good lie, little things like that.

But I think part of the -- the biggest thing about a major is the fans, and just like the atmosphere around it, how many more people there are. It's sad to see them not out here, but it's understandable why they can't be, but it is a shame.

Obviously I expected my first major to be a little different, but nonetheless, I'm pretty happy to be here and happy with how I played.

Q. Growing up in southern California did you play a bunch of junior golf up here? Did you play Harding Park before?

MATTHEW WOLFF: I've never played Harding Park before. I've played Poppy Hills for the state championship in high school, and I think I played a couple other -- I know I've played Pebble, Spyglass, but that was more in college. Yeah, I never played here. But I've watched the WGC here or the Match Play tournament that they had here a few years back, and didn't really know the course well coming into it, but felt like I did my work.

It is a really good golf course. It's fair but it's hard, and you can tell by the scores.

Q. With this kind of rough, you're familiar with this I would imagine, right?

MATTHEW WOLFF: The grass, yeah, but the length of it is new. When you come up here and play in the high school state championship they're not going to have five inches of rough. It is a little different. But luckily I've been driving the ball really well, so I have a lot of confidence with my driver, with my ball-striking, and if that keeps up, the putts will keep on dropping and I'll probably be in a really good spot.

Q. Big par save on 9; how big is that for you going into the weekend, not having to try to brood on a bogey for the rest of the day?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, it's huge. Momentum is one of the biggest things, especially in a major championship, to have good momentum. For me it was more the putt because the drive I pulled left, and I've been hitting my driver great all day, so I was a little disappointed that I didn't hit that fairway because it makes one of the hardest holes out here even harder. But to roll in that putt not only gave me a lot of momentum but also a lot of confidence with the putter, knowing that coming down the stretch if I need to make a putt I can look back at that.

Yeah, the course is unbelievable, and the greens are tricky but they're good.

Q. You spoke about the rough and how daunting it is, but yet you only have the two bogeys in two rounds. That must make you feel good. Was that a priority to kind of minimize mistakes, middle of the green? How did you come in here this week attacking the golf course?

MATTHEW WOLFF: Yeah, like I said, this is my first major, but the one thing that I know even not playing in one is just how difficult the pins are, how firm the greens are, how short-siding yourself is just literally almost an automatic bogey most of the time.

Coming into the week I told myself if I can hit a lot of greens, give myself a lot of irons from the fairway, then even if I'm not putting well, which that's not what I told myself, but if I can do those two things, I'll have a good chance, especially with how the golf courses are set up now.

Bethpage Black last year, and then for other major championships like Shinnecock and stuff, it seems like the ball-strikers prevail there, and putting was always a huge thing, to be able to make putts, but you really can't fake your way around any of these championship golf courses.

Yeah, with the two bogeys, I had a couple nice par saves, which is a lot of momentum, but like I said, I'm really putting the ball in the fairway and giving myself iron shots from good spots and making sure to not make stupid mistakes because it's hard to make birdies out here.

JOHN DEVER: Thanks so much for the insights, and really hope you play well this weekend, and good luck going forward.