SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 13, 2022

Russell Henley

Waialae Country Club

Press Conference

Q. 62, take us through the day?

RUSSELL HENLEY: Yeah, really just started out hitting a lot of fairways. Hit a good tee shot on 1 and hit a really solid ball and just give me some momentum to keep believing that the work I put in with the driver is kind of giving me some confidence. I hit a lot of fairways and from there, I could attack.

Q. Talk about how good it is to shoot this in an opening round; no wind, but the rough it up this week. Trading obstacles there?

RUSSELL HENLEY: Any time you shoot 62 the first round, it's great. I don't know if I've ever done it the first round. Maybe I'm wrong. I played solid and felt calm and comfortable out there. Doing that for four straight days is the key.

Q. Does this take any pressure off tomorrow or do you still be aggressive the second round?

RUSSELL HENLEY: I think you have to take what the course gives you. If I hit it in the rough all day tomorrow, I'm going to have to change my game plan and play a little more defensively. I think you have to just go one shot at a time.

Q. Your tour debut with a victory; any flashbacks today, or will that be on Sunday if you're still in contention?

RUSSELL HENLEY: Yeah, I mean, gosh, I think that was ten years ago.

Q. Almost.

RUSSELL HENLEY: I definitely think about it. It's a sweet place, just beautiful and a fun course to play, and I have a lot of great memories from coming back every year. Definitely I guess that year I proved that I can do it. It is possible, and it's just so hard to beat these guys, so I'm going to give it my best shot.

Q. But you're one of those guys. Here if you have an opening round in the afternoon you and do as well as you did, it might almost be like an advantage depending what happens with the wind, right, we're always at the mercy of the wind does. It feel extra special to shoot a 62 in the afternoon more than in the morning?

RUSSELL HENLEY: I thought the wind was not blowing too hard out there but definitely I thought it changed directions a few times. It was a little bit tricky. Yeah, any time you shoot it in the afternoon here with the possibility of wind is definitely a bonus.

Q. I don't know if you noticed or not, three of you guys at the top of the leaderboard all former champions?

RUSSELL HENLEY: Oh, really? I know Kevin was playing well but I haven't looked too much today. Just kind of keeping my head down. That's cool.