SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 15, 2022

Kevin Kisner

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about your round today. Obviously you're in contention here.

KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, it was a solid round. Kept the momentum going from yesterday evening. Making some long putts there, keeping the round going, and kind of lost my way there last three our four holes, but was able to birdie the last and get back to where I think I needed to be to have a chance.

Q. Talk the first round. You had a 68. You kind of feel like you're battling back and your confidence is there now?

KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, the first round was probably the best ball striking round. I hit it really close a lot and didn't make a lot of putts. Putter got hot yesterday afternoon and kind of stayed that way today, so hopefully it gets really hot tomorrow.

Q. How are were the greens today? There was some overnight rains, so were they nice and soft?

KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, they're super soft. Other than the hole number I don't even talk about where else to land it. That's not very often on tour we get to do that.

Q. You had a 60 on this course in 2017. You feel really confident you can post really nice scores round after round?

KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, I do. I feel comfortable here. I love the golf course. I feel like it fits my game well and I feel like can go low if I can get off to a good start and keep it rolling.

Q. Now, the ten Georgia Bulldogs all made the cut in the tournament. Talk about the program there and how good they are at developing golfers.

KEVIN KISNER: We call it the UGA Tour. Ten guys out here, ten guys making the cut, one guy leading right now. Heck of a program to produce that much talent and continue to do it. Guys continuing to come out here year after year and pretty it's impressive.

Q. You had nine people watching the national title game at the hotel. Wasn't everybody there except for Kirk?

KEVIN KISNER: Kirk and B Todd. They stayed at their house. They were staying pretty far away so they didn't make the journey.

Q. Talk about that experience, bonding with the golfers watching a football game.

KEVIN KISNER: We all have a text thread that we send various things to, so I send them a message, and Jay and the TOUR and everybody with the TOUR associated helped us get a safe room for all of us hang out in. It was really cool. Send out a text and everybody replied they were coming, so it was a lot of fun.

Q. There was pick six late in the ballgame. How loud did the room get?

KEVIN KISNER: I think everybody in the hotel heard it. It was quite an epic video taken with people jumping around trying to see the TV. We only had one TV with about 15, 20 people. It was pretty fun.

Q. Talk about Russell Henley. He is the overnight leader and he is having a really good tournament. Just talk about his game.

KEVIN KISNER: Russell seems to be the guy, when he gets out in front and is playing well and confident, he seems to rise to the occasion. I think he's going to be a tough competitor to try to beat.

Q. All the Bulldogs made the cut this week and they had a big celebration in Athens earlier today. Some of the former head coaches came back. Got their picture together. I know it would've been nice to be there, but you've got a chance to win a golf tournament.

KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, we all got together and watched the game and went ten for ten, so they must all be riding the same high as the football team. Congrats to Kirby and the whole staff and everybody associated with the program. Hell of a season, hell of a win.