SHRINERS CHILDREN'S OPEN

October 7, 2021

Charley Hoffman

TPC Summerlin

Quick Quotes

Q. 8-under par 63. Those are always nice on day one. Get some comments on your day.

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, it was one of those rounds where my good shots turned out pretty good and my bad shots I got away with a couple good bounces from errant tee shots that weren't really good that bounced back in the fairway then I made some good mid-range putts and I made all my shots that I hit pretty close. So it was one of those rounds that I don't know if I could have really shot much lower, there was I made a sloppy bogey on the drivable 15th, but besides that, I mean I really couldn't shave too much more off the round. I'm happy with what I did and I got the afternoon to figure out some ball striking things that I want to improve on.

Q. Not your first rodeo around here, condition-wise it was gettable out there, wasn't it?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, no wind, which as I say in Las Vegas you get no wind you can start attacking this golf course. It starts blowing 15 to 20 it's a different animal. You got to hit the fairways, I was able to hit a few fairways and I was able to attack on those holes and I've been out here, I went to college out here in '95, so this is not my first time around this golf course and the greens were somewhat receptive and rolling smooth this morning so I was able to make some birdies.

Q. You mentioned a minute ago you're not out here just to collect paycheck, talk about this season, your goals, what you would like to achieve?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, came up a little short for the TOUR Championship last year, which was a goal. Obviously winning a golf tournaments is the major goal. I'm not here to make cuts and make paycheck, I want to win. It's been a few years since I've won, San Antonio, the Texas Open, and there's no better spot than my hometown where I went to college here and I have got a lot of work in front of me, but my goal this year is to get a W and get back in that winner's circle and get back to Kapalua.

Q. Being a Vegas guy, how many times would you estimate you've played this course over the years?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: You start doing the math, in college for four years, probably played it a couple times a month, that's a hundred something rounds there. Then, I mean, I've been on TOUR, this is my 16th year, I don't think I've missed it and obviously I missed cuts and all that, but you got practice rounds on top of that, more than hundreds, I mean a lot of times around this golf course. But they have made improvements and changes throughout the years, but it's still the same bones that I started playing early on.

Q. What is your relationship with Vegas now? You're not living here anymore?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: No, my relationship is that I watch from afar and I'm rooting from San Diego. So I lived out here 20 something years and when my kids started school I was fortunate with family with my parents and her parents and brothers and sisters, a lot better in San Diego, as much as I'm on the road. I hated leaving Las Vegas because me as a family and my wife and I loved it here and unfortunately we don't call it home anymore, but we call San Diego home where I grew up, but it's a place that we love to come to visit and support and pull for all the athletics and teams that come through here now.

Q. You left it after it became a sports town.

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: It's a sports town. San Diego doesn't have a ton of sports, so I'm still a Las Vegas sports fan.

Q. Talk about goals about getting another W, what about a goal of making a Presidents Cup or a Ryder Cup again?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, as I tell people, that's always a goal, but the W's take care of that. You got to win to get on those teams. So you got to go with my first goal is to win and then you start assessing those Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams. So obviously those are great events, we got a great young core now, I would assume I would have to win a couple times at my age to even get on that team. So it's one of those that you got to win that first one before you win the second one so I'm trying to win here, it's early on the 2021-2022 season, but I'm carrying over some momentum from last year and I want to get that W.

Q. When do you start thinking W in a tournament after a good start today?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Well, I mean, when I was preparing I was thinking W. I come here to win golf tournaments and that's why we show up, it's not just to like I said collect another paycheck. So I was thinking W early on, but obviously shooting first round that I did is a great start to that process to get there, but until the back nine on Sunday in that last putt on 18 goes on the 72nd hole, it's never over.

Q. What's the 7-under cut last year, how low do you think you need to go to get a W here?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: You got to get in the 20s for sure. I don't know what it ended up last year.

Q. 23 last year.

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: 23. So you got to be on that back nine close to 20 to have a chance. So you always got to be on the accelerator out here.