ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 3, 2022

Beau Hossler

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. This is a real mid to long iron course, and you obviously did that well today. Fifth right now strokes gained, approach. Just talk about your round and how proud you are of shooting another one in the 60s around this place.

BEAU HOSSLER: Any time you're under par here, you've done pretty well. I think this is as soft as we'll see the course. The back nine even for us today got firm and fast and dry. To be able to take advantage early, I think was huge.

It's funny you talk about like strokes gained, mid and long iron. A lot of the time you're gaining strokes just by hitting the green. Greens in regulation and fairways hit this week, especially with how it's going to play with it warming up is going to be really important. I think I did that pretty well.

Q. What's been the biggest change in your game from maybe the last couple of years to these last couple of months?

BEAU HOSSLER: My putting has always been strong. It's almost entirely approach play and probably some off the tee as well. It's still not exactly where I want it. But I'd say from 100 to 225 is huge. I really struggled there for the majority of the first part of my time out here.

I put a lot of work in with Dana Dahlquist, and he's helped me out a lot. I'm really thankful for that.

Q. How deep down the swing rabbit holes did you go?

BEAU HOSSLER: As deep as I had to go to continue playing out here. You can't afford to miss greens with short irons and wedges and mid irons. It just doesn't work. I figured that out really quickly. I put seemingly thousands of hours into it.

Fortunately now I'm starting to feel good on the golf course and starting to see some results. It's been a long time coming.

Q. What was the biggest change you and Dana made? We kind of talked a little bit, I think, last year at the Travelers when you guys were just kind of starting to work together. What's the biggest change that maybe we could see with our eyes?

BEAU HOSSLER: With your eyes, you're going to see the club coming down on a much shallower pitch, but that's kind of a result. It's a lot of pressure shifts and tilts. I could go as deep as you want. I don't know how much people understand of it. Yeah, it's really complicated.

The challenging thing, in my opinion, of changing anything in your swing is that, if you change one thing, you have to change the matchup. You can't just change one thing and expect to get results. You have to be able to change multiple things so that they match up. I'm trying to basically just get in a place with my swing that I require less hand action and timing and more just kind of rotation and commitment really.

So with that said, it's a lot of different factors, but kind of the glue is just marrying it all.

Q. Do you notice kind of a difference in maybe self-pressure off that Pebble result? Because you were playing with the status from 126 to 150 from last year. But now, I mean, obviously you're in this event, like you've improved your status. Can you feel that?

BEAU HOSSLER: I would say I'm playing a lot freer, but I don't know if it's a result of me playing so well in the tournament but feeling like I can actually shoot numbers now. Maybe it's a combination of both, but it's certainly nice to be playing a real TOUR schedule when frankly I didn't earn it last year at all.

So I'm grateful that I kind of played well at the right time and have been able to parlay it into a lot of starts that I was not going to get.

Yeah, I'm certainly freed up, having finished high and then played well at Riv minus the final round and played well last week. So the game's in good form. I think -- you know, just feeling confident that I can hit the shots again is kind of the main thing.

Q. Lastly from me, do you prefer this course with the rough kind of grown up around the greens or with some of the runoffs? Because we don't have that anymore behind 6 and left of 15 and things like that.

BEAU HOSSLER: It's really different. I didn't know that was the case until I showed up. Do I prefer it? I think it makes it -- I don't know if it makes it harder or easier.

Q. Just different?

BEAU HOSSLER: It's just different. Certain holes, it definitely makes it easier. Certainly holes, it probably makes it harder. The ball use to be able to end farther away from the hole, but you would have a much better lie. This rough is probably as nasty as you're going to get around the green. You have no idea what it's going to do.

Sometimes having a two to three-yard pitch out of a squirrelly lie is more difficult than having a 15, 20-yard pitch off a good lie. I don't know. I guess time will tell, right? I don't know what the reviews from the other players are, but it's certainly -- I was surprised to see it because I don't think I've ever played it this way.

Q. When you're making the changes and you're trying to put scores together, is it hard to get away from being result oriented and more just, hey, things are feeling good in my swing. I'm starting to see things even if it wasn't a great score?

BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, that's where I've been the past year. I feel I'm like trending, but you get tired of saying you're trending when you're not shooting good scores, and people get tired of hearing it. I'm glad that I'm starting to see them now.

Yeah, like I said, I frankly started from the lowest point of my golf career when I started working with Dana. I wasn't having any fun playing because I didn't feel like I could frankly hit any of the necessary shots. I know a lot of players have been to that point, and it's not enjoyable. I know this is our job technically, but it's also like I enjoy playing well and feel like I'm progressing.

Anybody likes to progress at what they're doing and see some fruits of their labor. For so long, I didn't see it and felt like I didn't have a great direction. Now I feel like I have a really good understanding, most importantly, of kind of how to dig myself out of the tendencies that I'll probably fight likely forever.

Q. Pretty solid. Six birdies, one bogey. You have to be really pleased. I followed you all the way. You played some good golf.

BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, I played well. The course is hard, and it's drying out. I told my caddie it feels like hole by hole the greens get more dry and more quick. Certainly was nice to get off to a pretty good start there on the back nine.

I think throughout the rest of the week you have to play the par-5s well because the par-4s become just trying to hit the green and make par really. I got the ball in play when I needed to. Hit a couple of squirrelly ones and got some fortunate breaks to be able to even hit up by the green because, as you know, some of those spots are chip out and end up in the rough.

Proud of the way I played. Haven't really had a ton of time to do it. You're playing every shot. It's one after another. I think I prefer that way, that you cannot get ahead of yourself out here or it's going to be a really long day. I haven't had too much time to think about it, but all in all, obviously, very pleased with the score.

Q. I followed you earlier this year, and Mark Wilson followed you a little bit last week at the Honda. We both see some good things. You ought to feel the game is rounding into form. And you hit your irons -- you're pretty long with your irons.

BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, I've been working with Dana Dahlquist now for about a year and a half. I was in a pretty dark place when I started working with him on my golf swing. As you know, any time you make significant changes, it takes a period of time to be able to do it in practice, then on the course, then in a tournament, then under the heat in a tournament.

I feel like I'm trending in that direction. I certainly have some things to get better at, but I feel like I have a lot more understanding of what I need to do. When I start seeing some miss, just kind of how to correct them in the heat of battle. I think that's all you can ask for.

I'm starting to see some results starting really from mid last year, not necessarily score, but just comfortability on the course and seeing the patterns that I want to see. Now I feel like I can play for those, and fortunately I'm starting to see the scores.