THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2021

Cam Davis

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. So you missed two cuts in your last 14 starts. Which tournament result made you believe your game was good enough for the PGA TOUR?

CAM DAVIS: In the last 14? I would say I felt like it's been good enough for -- when I first got out here and I first saw it, I was obviously trying very hard, but I had results during the first six events here. Just being on the range and hitting balls next to everyone is enough to feel like I have what it takes. But in terms of winning a tournament, I think the AmEx was the closest I've obviously been and the best that I've played coming down the stretch. So it was nice to have that a few weeks back.

Q. You've been a roll, with everything but a win. Do you feel like you now belong at this level and do you feel like you're close to getting over that hump?

CAM DAVIS: I feel like I'm comfortable enough out here to not being as worried about making cuts anymore. I mean obviously last week was a little bit of a blip, I just didn't have my best stuff on a difficult golf course and it was a little difficult to get over the line in tough conditions when you're going backwards on a course like that.

But in terms of the general sort of feel of where my game's at, yeah, I'm just comfortable now, where I feel like my good golf is good enough. It's just about playing really good golf on the right week and if two guys play even better then that's okay. I feel like that good golf is good enough to win tournaments.

Q. There's been a lot of young Australians turn pro the last few weeks. Given your own rapid rise, what advice would you give to those guys about making a successful transition to the PGA TOUR?

CAM DAVIS: I think it's just playing the golf over here. I think going to TOUR school over here and seeing, first of all, what that's like, what sort of competition you're playing against. But I think to get over here I felt like for me the best plan of attack was just to get over into the PGA TOUR sort of cycle, get to the Mackenzie Tour and work my way up and just experience golf over here. It is a different style of golf, so I'm really happy I did it that way. Going through Europe, you just kind of have to make your plan, what are you going to do, what's your plan to get to the PGA TOUR, and then just stick to it and work really hard on that. Because it's not just going to happen, you need to work your way through. If you did really well you might have the option of trying to get those seven PGA TOUR starts and it's great to take a few of those, but I feel like it's better to keep on working up through the stages. So I like kind of starting at the bottom and then just pushing as hard as you can.

Q. How is your comfort levels on Sunday changed this year given you have been at the pointy end of the leaderboard the last couple months?

CAM DAVIS: I think, the more you're up there, the more comfortable it gets. I know I've had really good results from a long way back on Sunday, that's how I've won the professional tournaments that I've won, coming from a long way back on Sunday and just going for it. The difference would be I haven't experienced being in the lead going into Sunday, so that's an experience that, once I get there I'll -- I would love to have that experience and soon -- but I feel like I'm able to put it all in its place a lot better now. When I stand on the tee on Sunday if I'm in contention, I'm figuring out what works for me better, which is more to not worry about what everyone else is doing and just kind of be as present as I possibly can in my own little bubble, and the better I do that, the better I play.

Q. To that end, do you feel like your first TOUR victory is close? Do you feel like you're kind of nipping at the heels of that and what else extra do you think you may have to do to get there?

CAM DAVIS: I mean, it's just, for me, it's just a matter of consistency, just keeping on doing the things that have been working. I haven't had a week where everything worked really well for the entire four days, I think it's always been something that's been holding me back, but the harder you try at that probably the worst it will be. If you start being really nit picky about how perfect your golf game is to be able to win a golf tournament it's probably going to go the other way. I just need to keep concentrating well through every single shot. You got to hear it enough times now that you just got to play one shot at a time and just be really focused on each individual shot. It's very easy to get distracted. Especially now that we got the crowds back, there's a lot more noise this week as well, last week was there as well, but this week's obviously going to be even more people out here. So you just got to be really diligent and making sure that you got a routine that you can stick to and you're actually concentrating through every step of it.

Q. Given what you've do not last couple months have you had a chance to sit back and kind of reflect on kind of the performances you've put together and have you done anything to insure that you take that next step and build off of what you've done in the past?

CAM DAVIS: I've got great team around me, we're all sort of constantly looking for things to improve and if something was holding me back, getting on top of it quickly. It's not just me that's part of this process of getting better, so I've got a lot of help and I kind of lean on everyone on my team to kind of make sure I'm working on the right things and getting better and there's still lots of areas that I can improve and lots of areas that go well. And then you stop thinking about it for a little while and then it starts dropping off again. So that's made a difference in being able to maintain a good level, but there's still improvement and you can still find things that we need to -- not new things, but we're moving on from some things to kind of different things in order to keep on improving.

Q. Is the Australian connection stronger at an event like this, like THE PLAYERS? Do you guys get around each other much or is it kind of everybody in their own world?

CAM DAVIS: I mean, I'm not sure I've seen another Aussie player. I've seen a couple of the caddies, but I'm not sure I've seen the other guys, I'm not sure when they're out here. I'm sure -- all those guys really want to do well themselves, I'm sure they play practice rounds together and they're all doing their own thing and in their personal bubble. And it helps having been out here a bit more often, having played here five plus times, it's less about learning the golf course and more about just being competitive, so there might be some competitive games going on in the week. But everyone has their own way to prepare.

Q. You played it five times, do you feel like a course that you've seen a lot on TV helps you or hurt you or do you feel like it doesn't really matter to you because you have had a chance to kind of get familiar with Sawgrass?

CAM DAVIS: It always helps to play a golf course multiple times. It's more playing the golf course in a tournament versus a practice round. I mean, you can play this course 10 times in just a practice round setting or just a casual round setting and it will be nothing like playing it during a tournament. It's just a different mindset, the more anxiety you experience, the more pumped up you get. The clubs you hit during the tournament will be completely different to what you hit during the practice rounds, because there will be a lot more adrenaline going, and it's more experiencing what it's like playing the golf course when you're under those circumstances that is really valuable. So having played a tournament here before would make a big difference, but at the same time I've been here since Sunday, I played 18 Monday, I played nine yesterday and I'll play nine today. I mean, that's as much as I want to do without exhausting myself. And I'll know every hole, I'll have a pretty good idea where to hit it, but have to see what it is like on Thursday.

Q. 17, so far, how have you done?

CAM DAVIS: I've been fine on 17.

Q. You've hit it every time?

CAM DAVIS: I only played it twice and both times I hit the green, so. It's not that long a shot. If it's windy like this it can be very tricky because it's kind of protected a little bit by the grandstands. And you just got to hit a quality shot there. It's still a large target, it's just where the pins are on that green is three really obvious sections. And when it comes down to it, the green looks big, but those sections end up being quite small, especially the firmer it gets, the more precise you need to be if you actually want to get it near the hole.

So we'll see what it's like on Thursday onwards, but I'm looking forward to the challenge of it.