PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 9, 2020

J.J. Jakovac

Harding Park Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. It was a near perfect round of golf.

J.J. JAKOVAC: Yeah, I don't ever think you'd say a round of golf is perfect. He missed some shots, but he just played one shot at a time, stayed in his process. It was super impressive, obviously, but yeah, the putter, man, he just felt really comfortable all week with the putter, and it showed. Hit some great putts.

Q. I heard you on the radio the week after you guys won, and you said on weeks when he's hot with the putter, he's going to be right in the mix.

J.J. JAKOVAC: Yeah, if he putts like that, it's really hard to beat him because he just hits his irons that well and he's always in the fairway. So yeah, it's a process, but he's obviously putted well this week.

Q. You've seen a lot of players out here for a lot of years. He's got such a maturity.

J.J. JAKOVAC: It's unbelievable. It really is. I'm in awe still watching him play. All my caddie friends say the same thing. They're like, I just cannot get over how mature your guy is. He's like an old soul or something. He's just plodding along and he just knows what he needs to do. The confidence is a quiet confidence but it's super confident, you know.

Q. Anything earlier that the week that really got you guys going, any stretch?

J.J. JAKOVAC: Honestly, it's so fresh right now, I'm like spinning, but not really. He played pretty solid. He got it going in the second round and then finished with some bogeys to shoot 1-under, but you still feel like we're right there, and then starting out in the third round he was 3-under early, so that right there was probably a good momentum thing, to get that going early, to stay within earshot of the lead, you know.

Q. Today there's so many guys in that pack; what did it do for you guys to chip in at 14 and keep the momentum?

J.J. JAKOVAC: It was huge. We got a great break off the tee. I don't know if you saw that, landed in the right rough and kicked straight left into the fairway, and he hit a marginal shot at best in there. But it's into the wind and he had a perfect lie and it's a little bit of an up slope, so it's very doable, and I walked up there, and I'm like, "You can make this." He hit a great shot and made it, so that's huge, obviously.

And then the shot of the tournament was the tee shot on 16 because it's like, all right, we're 1-up at that point but we have to make a birdie still. It's not like we're going to lay it up.

Q. He had a good yardage.

J.J. JAKOVAC: Yeah, at Workday they put the tee up on 14 at Muirfield a bunch of days, and he hit three great drives right in the middle of the green there. I was like, just hit it just like that one, and he hit a beautiful drive, got a straight kick, and it was obviously stiff.

Q. With what you see all the time, it's not really too soon, is it?

J.J. JAKOVAC: No, not really. It is a major and it's a big deal, but I think that's what he believes he should be doing right now. Like in his heart, he knows that he's one of the best players in the world, and why not kind of thing, you know?