THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 20, 2022

Patrick Cantlay

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about your round today.

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I got off to a roll at the start and kind of made a bunch of putts and then I kind of lagged on the way coming in. But I was happy with everything, I thought I did everything well and it's a golf course I really like, it's in perfect shape and so if you get the ball rolling on line it should go in.

Q. You have experience shooting a 60 on the TOUR, when you're 7-under through 7 do you start, did any of that number start working around in your head?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I just tried to keep making as many birdies as I could and like I said I stalled out a little bit. This golf course definitely every hole is a birdie hole, especially if you drive it in the fairway and like I said it's in such good shape that if you start to read the greens really well it's easy to make a bunch.

Q. Given the history of this course and how historically easy it is score-wise, do you see it as a little bit more of an advantage to start here first and put a number on the board like have you now?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure if it's an advantage to go here first. I think it's supposed to blow pretty good, 15 or 20 miles an hour on Saturday, I'm supposed to play Stadium that day, so that's probably the course you would want least when it's blowing.

But definitely this course when you do play you need to take advantage of it and I think I'm off to a great start.

Q. How would you compare today's round to last year's final round?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Last year's final round was really special. Like I said, I got a bunch of good breaks that day as well as playing really well. Today this golf course is more, it's more gettable. So I played very nicely today but I maybe didn't, I didn't chip in or do anything crazy. If you play really well around this golf course you can shoot 8, 9, 10-under.

Q. What's it like when you're grooving out there, obviously you got a share of the lead, you were 10-under through 13, just kind of black out or what's going through the head?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, it's great. I have a bunch of support, I grew up a couple hours away and so there are a bunch of friendly faces in the crowd and so it's really fun, I mean it's the best part of what I do is when you get on a roll like that and you're making a bunch of birdies.

Q. How do you carry that into tomorrow and then Saturday when you got Stadium and it's expected to blow a little bit?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, Nicklaus Tournament is another easy golf course, it's usually the easiest, easier between Stadium and Nicklaus, but last year the greens were so firm that Nicklaus I think played a little tougher.

So we'll see how firm the greens are and that will really decide how low we can go out there.

Q. When I talked to you yesterday you touched on La Quinta as your favorite of the three. Other than playing like you did today, just maybe can you elaborate on why that is?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, the golf course is probably the best-conditioned golf course on TOUR. It's in amazing shape every time I've ever been here and so it's really fun to play a golf course that's in perfect shape.

Q. Can you go through a couple of your longest putts, what did you hit in when you made eagle, some details.

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure what my longest putt was. I made a really nice putt on I think 7, the par-3 that maybe was a bonus, it was maybe 30 feet or. And I hit 6-iron in on the par-5 and made a, like a 30- or 35-footer.