TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 23, 2022

Charles Howell

TPC River Highlands

Quick Quotes

Q. Just kind of assess the round out there today.

CHARLES HOWELL III: It was good. I was kind of hoping for 18 holes and not much wind and all that, and it kind of picked up a little bit, but yeah, it was good. A little soft on the greens from the rain. You just know around here that you need to make birdies. There's so many risk-reward holes and opportunities, it was good. It was good to get in under par.

Q. When people play a golf course that's known to be especially tough or have a challenging setup, I would assume that makes you feel pressured to play well there. When you come to a golf course like this where it's par-70 on the card but you know you need to do significantly better than that, is it a different kind of pressure? Do you feel like sometimes when you make a string of war --

CHARLES HOWELL III: Yes, 100 percent. As you watch the leaderboard and you just see your name just fall off a cliff with any type of mistake, yeah, for sure it does. With some reachable par-5s it puts pressure on the tee ball to get that away.

15 is another hole where it's a drivable par-4 but there's quite a bit of trouble around it so you get this disparity of birdies and bogeys, which is great, which is why players love it here. It's why they speak highly of it.

Yeah, it's a great golf course of risk-reward, some corner flags and just over some shelves where you can be aggressive, but a mistake is a tough up-and-down.

I think it's why you see scores on both sides of it here.

Q. Could you talk real quick about what makes you decide what club to hit on 15? You can obviously get there. With the pin front, pin back, what is the thought process?

CHARLES HOWELL III: You know, for me personally, the front pins, I've always wanted to miss short. The back flags, actually long isn't bad. It's also a bit of a function of the wind and how firm it gets in the front. We've seen a lot of balls end up hitting short and just springboard right over the back. A bit of firmness and whatnot, but I've always thought that the back flag, long is okay and is not an issue.

Q. What's your favorite drivable par-4 that we see week in and week out on the PGA TOUR?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Well, this one is right up there at the top. I like 10 at Riviera, maybe 15, 20 years ago before the green got so severe and crazy. Yeah, I would say this one has got to be right up there, no question.

Q. As we're going later in the year, how would you characterize how your year or season has gone?

CHARLES HOWELL III: You know, the year has been fine actually. I haven't played as much the last couple years as I used to. That's a function of being 43 years old and a family and kids and a son I'm chasing around the golf course and caddying for and whatnot.

Yeah, I'm happy and content with it. I looked the other day, this is my 609th golf tournament. Oddly enough I actually turned pro here at this tournament in 2000. Prior to that they gave me a sponsor invite, so I played here when I was 17. To think I played here when I was 17 and now 43, it goes fast.

Yeah, I'll continue to play a little bit less than I normally do, but hey, listen, this TOUR has been great to me and I love it. But I do enjoy spending some time with the kids and my son, helping him with his game.

Q. Does that give you a different perspective helping your son with his game?

CHARLES HOWELL III: Well, it's actually given me a lot more incentive and a bit of a second wind, if you will, because we're playing and practicing all day, and I'm practicing when he's in school. When he gets out, we're back out at the golf course until dark and whatnot. I want them to see what I do and what I have done, et cetera, and hey, listen, he takes this game really seriously, as well.

It's given me a lot of incentive and a lot of motivation.