HONDA CLASSIC

February 24, 2022

Rory Sabbatini

PGA National Resort

Quick Quotes

Q. How did you think the course played today?

RORY SABBATINI: You know what, I'm actually quite thankful that they might have overdried out the greens earlier in the week so they had to put a lot of water on them. The greens were receptive today, which is unusual for this golf course. Normally if you miss the fairway right on 11 you have no chance of hitting that green, and I was able to stop it on that green today, which I was very surprised.

No, the course is very receptive. It's going to be a challenge for them going down the week with the wind. They're going to have to take close care on what happens with the greens drying out.

Q. Minus 5, currently one back, do you think that's a score that's going to position you pretty well into the weekend?

RORY SABBATINI: You know what, between now and Sunday is a long way. The way I played today, I got very lucky. Every time I missed, I missed it in the right spot, so I kept the stress to a minimum. But this golf course isn't going to let you get away with three more rounds like that, so I've got a lot of cleaning up between today and tomorrow and going forward.

Q. Where is the silver medal?

RORY SABBATINI: The silver medal is somewhere safe.

Q. Are you aware that this is your first round that you did not make a bogey here?

RORY SABBATINI: On this golf course, yes, I'm very well aware of it. I said it to my caddie walking up 18 to the green. I said it to my caddie walking up to the 18 green today.

Q. What was the key for you doing that?

RORY SABBATINI: As I said, when I did miss it today, I actually missed it in the right spots. Other than 4, which there's no good spot to miss it on 4, unfortunately, but the rest of the round I actually missed it in good spots that it was pretty easy and pretty straightforward up-and-downs, so I managed to save pars with very little stress.

Q. What's the biggest change between you now and when you won this tournament?

RORY SABBATINI: Well, I'm a lot older for one. Secondly, I'm getting to that point in my game where I think I've gotten past where I feel like, I hate to say it, truly competitive out here. There's too many guys out here that have much more firepower, so I've just got to kind of pick and choose my way around the golf course, so to me it's become more of a chess game and less about throwing some darts out there. I think I've just learned to maximize what my abilities are and stay away from my inabilities.

Q. When did you actually recognize that?

RORY SABBATINI: It's been quite a rapid transition over the last two years. When you're playing with guys -- when you play with two guys in their group and their combined age is less than yours, you're thinking, wow, this is not my sport anymore.

Q. Obviously with the silver medal, do you feel like that reinvigorated you, changed your mindset on how you can compete out here? What did it do for you?

RORY SABBATINI: To me that was like putting the sprinkles on top of the ice cream. It was that little added bonus at the end.

Yeah, when I'm out here I'll keep running the course as long as I can, but it's kind of like it's getting to that time where it's getting close to me being bucked off, and got to go find something else to do.

Q. Do you feel like -- you talked about becoming a chess player, so to speak. Isn't this place kind of made for chess players? No one is going to come out and --

RORY SABBATINI: Well, this is a golf course that in effect, even though it's not necessarily a short golf course, but it definitely puts a premium on controlling the golf ball, not necessarily on power or an accuracy. It's just controlling your misses and controlling your distances more than anything.