THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 23, 2021

Richy Werenski

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Quick Quotes

Q. 7-under on the day, taking advantage of the moving day. What was so good for you out there?

RICHY WERENSKI: It was just really solid overall. Been hitting the ball really well for the last couple of weeks and today I finally started seeing some putts drop and I think that was kind of the big difference. I've been hitting it about like I have hit it today, I mean I might have hit it a little better off the tee today than I have been, but I've been giving myself plenty of looks and just haven't been converting them and today I finally made some. So I think we're kind of turning the corner.

Q. Since your win at Barracuda would you say that the putting is what's kind of kept you back from increasing your momentum?

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, I think so. I always kind of figure out how to get the ball around the golf course, off the tee into the greens, but you can try to make more putts. So if I'm putting well I'll probably play good.

Q. What's something you learned from your close call at Minnesota and your win at Barracuda that's going to help you tomorrow?

RICHY WERENSKI: Probably you just don't have to be perfect tomorrow. I haven't been perfect all week and us just got to keep giving yourself chances, play smart, at the end of the day somebody's going to win.

Q. Did you realize you hadn't made a bogey?

RICHY WERENSKI: Oh, yeah, I knew it. Yeah, that was the first thing I said to my caddie, Spencer, I was like, Dang, man, we just made our first bogey. So we knew about it. But it was solid.

Q. I think I saw it is your longest streak on the PGA TOUR.

RICHY WERENSKI: Probably, I'm not sure. I think I've had a couple of bogey-free rounds but I think that was definitely my longest. I know in amateur golf I went like 69 or 70 holes or something like that in a tournament without making a bogey, but, yeah, longest streak out here, I think.

Q. Did you feel like this is a golf course suited for your game coming into this week?

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, I've always liked this place. I've never finished really, really high here, but I've always known that I could play really good. It just fits my eye and there's a lot of places around the greens where you can miss, you just got to play it smart, if you don't have your best stuff you can still kind of compete out here.

Q. I was going to say, you do have a tie for 9th here about four years ago, I think, and he then you've got a couple of missed cuts recently. But you don't feel like the golf courses aren't suitable for you?

RICHY WERENSKI: No, I like this place a lot. I always have. I think usually just it's -- normally this is where I think the last two years I've started, this has been my first event back and it's always, I always struggle a little bit coming off of the break, so I've had Tournament of Champions and Hawaii last week and so this is my third week in a row so it's a little different than the last couple years.

Q. And no La Quinta Country Club.

RICHY WERENSKI: And no La Quinta.

Q. How did you spend your off-season?

RICHY WERENSKI: I got married, that took up, that was December 5th, so we were kind of busy with that. And then we were hanging out at the farm, just kind of hanging with our dog. We didn't do much, we took it pretty easy.

Q. Hanging out at the farm? You have a farm?

RICHY WERENSKI: No, her parents own a farm in South Carolina, got some land, just kind of get out in nature a little bit out there.

Q. Is it Jordan?

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah. Um-hum.

Q. What was the best shot you hit today?

RICHY WERENSKI: Probably the one on 17. I think the tee shot on 17. That was pretty good.

Q. What club was it?

RICHY WERENSKI: It was an 8-iron, a little bit off of it. I wanted to hit 9, but thought if it was blowing in it wasn't going to get there, so, yeah.

Q. Great round of golf, 7-under 65, 14-under and I'm looking at the second in strokes gained approaching the green. I'm guessing the iron play was pretty strong today?

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, the iron play was pretty good. The last couple of days the iron play wasn't as tight as it was today, still hit a lot of good shots the last couple days, but today I hit a lot more in that 10, 15 foot range. I was able to convert a few of those, so much better today.

Q. 17, toughest hole on the back nine, you make birdie, take us through the tee shot, what did you see and obviously you make the putt.

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, I think it was like, I think we were trying to hit is 152, it was 145 pin -- or 150 pin, I think, we were trying to hit like two yards past. Thought that was pretty safe. And we weren't really positive what the wind was doing, it was kind of been going a little bit back and forth on that side. So I wanted to hit 9, I know 9 I could get real close to that pin because I could put some more spin on it. But we didn't trust that it would cover if there was a little bit of a gust or something.

So we hit a little sawed off 8-iron and I just hit it perfect and that was probably the best shot of the day.

Q. Thoughts on tomorrow? Obviously you'll be in the mix to win a golf tournament.

RICHY WERENSKI: Yeah, you know that was the goal coming into this week, I've always liked it out here, I have felt real good this week, I stayed real patient, I think that's what I got to go do tomorrow, keep making some putts with the putter and play smart golf and see how it ends up.

Q. You're a newlywed, I guess, that's what I heard in the last interview. Has that changed your perspective on life in any way, shape or form?

RICHY WERENSKI: A little bit, maybe. It's just -- I got that win, after the Barracuda win it's just been a little bit, I just feel, you know, a little bit more at ease with everything. Now I'm married, it's like not the end of the world if you play a bad round of golf, you know what I mean, you got some other stuff going on. So it's been good, we're excited, everything's been going real good.