AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 12, 2022

Peter Malnati

TPC Craig Ranch

Quick Quotes

Q. Peter, bogey-free round. You just said that you've shot a few of those that you can remember the last one. But your two eagles were rather unique. Can you take through each of those?

PETER MALNATI: Sure. I think step up on 9 and was pleasantly surprised to see the tees up a little bit, because that's pretty daunting tee shot from the back tee with this southerly wind.

So with the tees up it made it still a tee shot that you had to hit a good one because it's a little tighter, but I hit a nice one and had a 4-iron into the green. Played a really kind of smart shot with a 4-iron and ended up with a long putt.

Just trying to lag it down there with good speed toward the hole and it just went right in. So that was cool, to make a 3 there.

Then 13, you know, I would imagine -- we'll look at the end of the day -- but I imagine 13 is one of the top three hardest holes on the course would be my guess. I really hit a nice drive and was just really in perfect position.

Still a tough pin to get very close to. Just hit a nice 6-iron that was going right at it. Had to be a big, full, hard 6-iron for me, and we weren't sure it was going to get there, but I knew it was pretty good. They said up by the green it kind of took one hop and trickled in the hole, so that's really cool.

Q. Currently ranked seventh, eagles like yours will skew the numbers.

PETER MALNATI: Yeah, no, I bet by the end the day we'll see -- I bet that's would guess that's top three hardest out here, but I have no idea really.

Q. Overall just the 64, those two holes aside, how was the game shaping up?

PETER MALNATI: Yeah, I been playing so well. You know, last week wasn't a great week to judge the game because the conditions were so tough. I really felt good. Felt like I was playing well. My game for the last couple months has really been feeling very positive.

I played some good rounds and haven't really turned in great scores, even one round like today, or especially not great scores throughout a tournament. But today just felt like kind of a continuation of how I've been playing.

It was really nice to -- made a long putt on 9; made another putt somewhere else. Made a 6-iron. So to post a good score, that's obviously what we're judged on in golf. You're only as good as your score they say.

To post a good score feels really good because it feels like I've been trending in the right direction for a while. Off to a good start this week and hopefully keep it going.

Q. Was there a point late in your round where you might've looked at the scoreboard and you saw Sebastian put the 60 up there. What were you thinking when you saw that?

PETER MALNATI: Not thinking a lot about it. I was pretty impressed obviously. That's a good score.

I guess in way though after I made the eagle on 13 to get to 6-under, when you look at the board and see -- well, I just made a 6-iron on one of the hardest holes, and at that point I was five back. He was at 11-under.

It was like, well, no sense to get complacent. Might as well keep going. So I guess obviously I'm always trying to do the best I can, but may have been motivating to see someone going that low, knowing you could do it, needed to do it on the course. If anything, it was just motivation.

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