THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 20, 2022

Sam Ryder

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Six birdies and an eagle, just the one bogey. Pretty good conditions out there today, wasn't it?

SAM RYDER: Yeah, it's always gorgeous this time of year typically. I think this is my fifth time coming and there's only been one year where we had weird, funky weather, but, yeah, I love coming here, it's just really nice way to start the year, you can kind of focus on your game and kind of just sharpen your skills a little bit and nice to get off to a good start.

Q. Challenge with three courses, you've been here enough so you probably don't spend a lot of time at each place. How much of a challenge is it for you to prepare yourself once the tournament starts?

SAM RYDER: Yeah, I played Hawaii last week, so taking a red eye out on Sunday, it's pretty light, it's nice. Like, I think my rookie year I came out early and played them before Hawaii, but, yeah, it's really, I played a practice round out here and kind of raced around La Quinta and kind of just looked at Nicklaus. So being familiar with it definitely helps and it's definitely a different format and I think it's definitely an advantage for someone like myself or even the guys that have been around longer than I have to be familiar with these courses, but it's a little bit more of a challenge for some of the rookies, but, yeah, it's all pretty straightforward, you just got to hit good shots and you're rewarded for good shots.

Q. With some forecasted strong winds maybe over the next couple rounds how important is it to post that 7-under on the Stadium Course?

SAM RYDER: Yeah, I feel good about it. You know that this is the course that typically plays the hardest. So typically you just kind of think something under par, 2-, 3-, 4-under is typically a good score on this course and try and get off to a blazing start on La Quinta or Nicklaus.

But yeah, it's, I haven't shot a score that low on this course, so it's nice to get off to a good start and it kind of frees me up a little bit at the other courses.