TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 3, 2021

Patrick Cantlay

East Lake Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you compare yesterday's round to today's round?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I thought the two rounds were very similar, mostly mistake-free, both rounds, and I hit the ball pretty well, kept the ball in control, fat side mostly, and had really nice speed on the greens and just didn't make very much.

But that can kind of be this golf course because of the degree of slope they put the pins on is very extreme. So you have putts and you might be 10, 12 feet, but you almost have to be a little defensive or at least you have to be careful because the pins are on so much slope. But I thought it was a good start. I'm playing really well and I think I'm playing the golf course the right way.

Q. Having the speed you like, but maybe not making the putts, are you happy with how your patience has been the first two days knowing that the birdies will come if you keep playing the way you are?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, definitely. I thought today was a good example of that. I played well all day, but didn't really get the most I could have out of my round, but then birdied the last couple holes, made a couple nice putts. So I think that's kind of this golf course. You don't ever really want to press because it's that classic golf course where you don't want to short side yourself, you don't want to hit it over greens, so staying really diligent and hitting the ball to the fat side I think is a good recipe for success around this place.

Q. I don't want to put too much emphasis on this and I probably should, but did this feel like a normal Thursday and Friday rounds on the PGA TOUR event to you or does it feel ratcheted up?

PATRICK CANTLAY: It doesn't, but I'm doing my best to make it feel like that. I think everything that I'm telling myself is just to stay totally present and shoot the lowest score I can every day and not get ahead of myself. Sunday will feel like a normal Sunday, I'm sure, but until then, I think it's really important to stay present and I've done a good job of that so far.

Q. How important was that last birdie putt on 18 going into the weekend still in the lead?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, definitely. I think I've gotten all the par-5s so far, four birdies on the four par-5s I've played, and it's important around this golf course because the 5s are gettable. But every putt out there is important and I know they will be important when I get there later on the weekend.

So, yeah, it was nice to finish with a couple birdies and kind of validate the patience that I had all day.