PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2020

Lanto Griffin

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

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JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship. We're pleased to be joined by Lanto Griffin. Lanto posted a second consecutive 68 today. He's 4-under here at the halfway point of the championship.

Lanto, I'm looking at your scorecard here today. You've got a couple spurts of a few birdies but then ended, if you will, by a bogey. But overall a solid round. Maybe talk about your play and how you kind of measure yourself here 36 holes into the event.

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, I got off to a good start and birdied 10 and 11 and obviously No. 12 is the toughest hole on the course and made bogey there, so that one didn't sting too bad.

I felt like -- I birdied 16, and then 17 and 18 and 1 I hit three really good putts that lipped out on the high side, and that hurt a little bit, but it also gave me some confidence. I knew I was playing well. I made a good par on 3 and then birdied 4 and 5, and that's kind of when I felt really comfortable both days, but that was a nice little stretch, and obviously finishing on 8 and 9 is -- if you play them even par, it's like gaining a shot, shot and a half on the field.

Really happy with the whole day. Golf course is playing incredible. Best greens I've ever seen in the state of California, hands down, and I just love the golf course and the feel and everything about it.

I'm excited about playing on the weekend and keeping the good mojo going.

Q. You were born in northern California, like the northernest portion of northern California. Have you played a lot in this region? I know you moved east at some point.

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, I moved to Virginia when I was five, but when people say you were born in northern California, they think San Francisco, where it's actually a good five or six hours north near the Oregon border.

No, but I played Korn Ferry, we had a couple events out here and played in Oregon and then on the PGA TOUR we've had four or five events every year out here. I played well at Torrey a couple years ago, and I played well at Pebble this year, so I'm comfortable playing on this type of grass, and when I got here and saw the greens were bentgrass; it was a surprise, because I don't mind poa annua, but these greens are incredible.

It's just a fun golf course, man. It's not overly tight, but you have to hit it straight at the same time. It's a fun course.

Q. Two parts: What's been really good in your game the last couple of days? You got off to such a great start this season and then you had the pause. What's it been like to try to rebuild momentum?

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, the pause was tough for me. I had a lot of momentum going, and I got a lot out of the quarantine, three months off, and then towards the end I tore my QL, a little strain there, and it was about 10 days before Colonial, and I haven't been the same since then.

But last week at Barracuda, I've been doing all the rehab I can. Unfortunately it just hasn't been cooperating, and last week it started feeling really good.

First six or seven days in a row where I haven't had any pain. I'm not making an excuse for it, but it's nice playing golf pain-free. So my body feels really good now, and I've been putting some good work in with my coaches, and the swing feels good.

I've kind of done everything fairly well this week. I haven't done anything incredible, but I think today I hit my irons better than yesterday, and yesterday I drove it pretty well, and I've putted fairly consistent both days, and my game plan, I'm thinking well, and I feel really comfortable on this golf course.

Nothing incredible, but real solid.

Q. I want to ask you about Todd Anderson, your coach. Maybe describe your relationship with him but also what you guys kind of honed in or the most important aspects you wanted to peak coming into this major?

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, Todd Anderson and Steve Prater. Steve Prater is a PGA pro up in Blacksburg, Virginia, and I work with both of them.

Last week, it was on Monday morning I had a lesson with Todd back in Jacksonville, and my takeaway has been getting a little outside and kind of rounded off and I've been getting stuck. I looked at some older swings and saw my takeaway was a little bit more inside and then a little steeper hinge going back.

So I went into the lesson and it was kind of like TA has been getting me to do, but sometimes it just takes a player to see an old swing and for it to be his idea. We worked on it last Monday morning, and I wasn't sure if I was going to play Barracuda or not, but after that lesson my body felt good and my swing felt good.

So I went and played Barracuda, and my finish wasn't great last week, but it gave me a lot of confidence because you never know how a swing change is going to work and I didn't want to go into a major with two weeks off with a swing change. Last week at Barracuda gave me a lot of confidence that it works.

And T.A. is here this week, and we haven't really worked that much, we're just working on tempo and rhythm now once I got that takeaway down.

Yesterday after the round, Todd came to the range and said everything looks good, and I'm a little different than some players. Once I get a feel I like to stick with it and just work on tempo and rhythm. So it's great having Todd out here, just having that common influence, and it's been fun.

Q. You grew up playing on a golf course called The Hill back in Blacksburg. You're competing in your first PGA Championship this week at a municipal course. What's it mean to be competing on a course like this considering how you grew up and putting yourself into contention on the weekend?

LANTO GRIFFIN: Yeah, well, this golf course is a little different than The Hill. Yeah, The Hill was a 2,800-yard, par-35, nine-hole track. It's really cool being back at a muni, though, even if they feel a lot different. Just the fact that anybody can come out and play it. The course might not be in the most pristine shape always, but they've got it perfect this week, and I love it.

It's just a really fun course, and being able to play on a golf course where the average Joe can come out and play next week, it's kind of special, not being on a country club.

The clubhouse here and the drive in, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but they have an incredible layout and the course is awesome. It's a lot of fun to play.