HONDA CLASSIC

February 24, 2022

Aaron Rai

PGA National Resort

Quick Quotes

Q. Aaron, great start on a challenging course; what were the keys for you today?

AARON RAI: Thank you. Played very solidly tee to green. It felt like I hit a lot of fairways, drove it nicely, and then second shots, hit a few shots close, but I think more importantly, hit the green quite a lot, as well, which I think is very important around here. That set me up nicely to kind of not make too many mistakes, which I think is the basis for playing this course well.

Then I made a couple of birdies, as well, a couple of nice approach shots, a couple of nice putts. Yeah, all in all a very solid round.

Q. Do you have previous experience at this golf course?

AARON RAI: No, first time playing it this week. I played it once on Monday and played nine holes in the pro-am yesterday. Yeah, great course. Really, really good.

Q. Obviously it's known to be one of the more challenging courses on the PGA TOUR; you hear that, but going out there and seeing it, what was the reality check there for you?

AARON RAI: The reality was very similar to what you just explained there. It was very firm have Monday through until Wednesday, so coupled with the fact that it gets windy here, there are some long holes, obviously a lot of water, you can see why it's one of the hardest courses on the PGA TOUR. We were fortunate this morning, it was a little bit softer, maybe a little bit more dew on the ground in the morning, so at least you could hold wedge shots, you could hold iron shots, which kind of made a few of the pins a bit more accessible than what they would have felt like played yesterday or Tuesday, but nevertheless it's still a very demanding and challenging course.

Q. Looking at the draw tomorrow, will there be anything that you change about the game plan on the golf course?

AARON RAI: Probably not, no. I think the course will play a little bit differently tomorrow for us. We're playing in the afternoon, so probably will be a little bit firmer. I guess we'll have the wind for all 18 holes. Today was very calm probably the first six or seven holes, so I'm guessing it will play tougher, but the game plan will remain pretty similar, it just depends how well I pull off the shots and execute it.