PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2022

Will Zalatoris

Southern Hills Country Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to the 2022 PGA Championship here at Southern Hills. We are joined by Will Zalatoris, who just put forth a 4-under par 66. Impressive number. Came in with a couple long putts. That must give you a little bit of a momentum push here to close out your morning and afternoon.

WILL ZALATORIS: Yeah. It's super fun whenever you have days like that. I think I either made four or five 25-footers. It was kind of a bizarre day. I didn't drive it great early and then drove it nicely at the end, but I think all six of my birdies came from the rough today, which is just very bizarre.

I'm very pleased with today, obviously. Anytime you can put up a 66 in a major, you're obviously happy.

Q. We're watching guys come through one birdie, two birdies. To make six out there, what kind of a bonus is that on this golf course?

WILL ZALATORIS: Yeah, it's huge. Like I said, I can't remember if I made four or five 20-plus-footers today. Yeah, take those and run with them.

Q. Putter just felt really great today?

WILL ZALATORIS: Yeah, I had a pretty rough week last week, was pretty frustrated, and Josh and I kind of had to dig it out of the dirt over the weekend after I missed the cut at home. The beauty of it is it's just never as far off as you feel.

Obviously even in prep the last few days, I was pretty frustrated still, and it just kind of clicked last night. Better late than never.

Q. What were you trying to fix over the last few days with the putting, and it feels like over the last few weeks you've been saying I've been putting better, I've been putting better. I guess the micro sense what you've been working on and then the macro.

WILL ZALATORIS: Yeah, honestly I got into some bad habits. I tend to tilt too far kind of towards my back foot and start seeing my lines right, which is just for some reason I've just always done that. I do it in my full swing, I do it in my short game, I do it in my putting.

Sometimes it's kind of looking at video is actually a little bit better than just digging it out of the dirt and banging your head against the wall.

I grinded pretty hard the last three, four days, but I think it was more the talks than anything that I would probably attribute to a day like today.

Q. I know 18 was a hole that jumped up and bit you in the middle of a good round today. What do you see as the biggest challenge on that hole and what kind of a finishing hole do you think it will be on Sunday?

WILL ZALATORIS: Yeah, it was 490 uphill into the wind. That's all you want. On top of that, it's the toughest green on the golf course.

You want to be able to go into that hole on Sunday, whoever is going to win this tournament, you want to have a cushion. We're supposed to get a north wind, I guess, which is pretty weird for this time of year, but that hole is just a beating no matter what. Even for me being one of the top 25, 30 longest guys out here, I still hit driver, 5-iron in today.

Q. Looking at your previous majors, more often than not you finish top 10 more than anything else. I know everyone wants to play well in majors, but what about these events kind of raises your game and what about them promotes that kind of play for you?

WILL ZALATORIS: Yeah, they're just hard. You've got to ball strike your way around them no matter which major it is. Even at Augusta where the greens are incredibly undulating, you can put yourself in some pretty good spots, and that's where you're going to get your best looks.

I thought being the ball striker I am, obviously it's shown in the first six or so majors of my career, but on top of that, I think it's the attitude of this is what I've wanted to achieve basically since I was a little kid, and it's kind of freeing in a way.

Obviously it's Thursday. My mind is nowhere near going to be meandering towards that, but that's kind of my general attitude is you get four of these a year, they're special, and I don't want to leave anything to chance.