ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 23, 2021

Viktor Hovland

Kris Ventura

TPC Louisiana

Quick Quotes

Q. Viktor, outside of 16, is that as stress-free as an alternate-shot round can be?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I'd say so, especially with these conditions. I mean, it's whipping pretty hard out there. The greens are getting really firm and fast. I hit some really nice iron shots that just happened to roll 100 feet, and you're kind of scrambling from there.

Yeah, I thought we did a really good job. Kris is driving it on a string and really far, as well, so that makes it easier for me with hitting some iron shots in there. I can be a bit more aggressive, and we managed to birdie a couple of really tough holes out there. It was a good day?

Q. Kris, your first time in this event, but you seem very comfortable. Why do you think that is?

KRIS VENTURA: I think just playing with Viktor, just having fun, and obviously we don't get to do this very often. I think obviously we're playing some good golf, and the course we both like, so it's just one of those things where we're comfortable playing out here.

Q. Viktor, you mentioned his driving; what do you think has been the strongest part of your game this week?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: That's a good question. I mean, I've hit some really good iron shots. Don't really feel like anything has been amazing, it's just all kind of been solid. Hit some really nice short game shots around the greens to make a couple of nice saves.

It's funny, I'm trying just to think whether or not I putted well today. I didn't feel like I really had any putts today, so that was nice. But I didn't miss any short ones.

I just felt like the game is pretty solid?

Q. What happened on the second shot at 16?

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, so pin is left. It's kind of a tough second shot. That bunker was filled with a lot of sand, so I knew that there's a chance I might not get great contact out of that bunker, so I made sure I was going to aim pretty far right and try and shut the face a little bit and try and hit a little draw up against the wind, but if I hit the sand first, which I did, I was going to make sure I left myself with a 40-yard wedge shot from the fairway, and then we're at worst making bogey. Must have just shut the club head a little too much and it just came out soft and left and ended up in the water, so yeah, that wasn't great.

KRIS VENTURA: It was my fault. (Laughing.) We tried to hit the fairway with an iron and I hit it in that bunker. I wasn't the best teammate.

Q. Well, you turn it around after that and then you take off.

VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, we just kind of trusted our games. We played really solid yesterday, and we knew, okay, one bad hole, we can birdie the rest of the holes, and we managed to birdie five from there, which was really good today.

Q. Anything you'll change from yesterday's strategy to tomorrow going back to the best ball format?

KRIS VENTURA: No, just keep making birdies. It's pretty simple. You just have to out here, especially in the best ball. It'll just be fun to play this weekend.