SHRINERS CHILDREN'S OPEN

October 7, 2022

Kevin Streelman

TPC Summerlin

Quick Quotes

Q. Kevin, great playing. 9-under through two rounds. If we could get a comment on your play.

KEVIN STREELMAN: Today was very solid. I didn't feel like I holed a ton of putts, but I didn't need to as well. I did what I was supposed to on most of the par-5s and had a few other good birdies.

Just haven't made many mistakes. My short game has been on point. If I can get the putter going like I did last week in Jackson, I think I'll have a good chance this weekend.

The weather is beautiful. The course is great. My family's here. It's just kind of a fun week.

Q. You mentioned a good week in Jackson. Did you feel a week like this coming on where you could play -- continue that solid playing?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Last week I didn't feel like I hit it as well. These last two days, I did feel like I hit it well. The putter was just on fire last week. I felt like I should have finished actually higher than 24th.

When my short game clicks and my putting clicks, my driver and ball striking is definitely my strong suit, so I always count on that being pretty steady.

So just need to kind of trust some reads out here. It gets a little tricky with some valley pull and some pull to the strip down there. You've just got to trust it and see what happens.

Q. Kevin, I think you had like a second place finish here a few years back.

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, to Ben Martin in '14.

Q. Then a lot of years of just kind of being middle of the pack. What's different this week for you?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Nothing really jumped out at me. I guess part of me -- this is my 16th season out here, which is just -- like it's crazy to step back and for me to think about that. I just feel really fortunate for that.

So trying to keep my body in good shape and trying to enjoy these opportunities still. I'll be 44 here in a couple weeks and still feeling like I'm playing at a really high level is just really fun.

I think I'm just enjoying the process and the opportunity, and when opportunities come, like they did last year at Kentucky, I've just got to go for it.

You're not going to get a ton of those in your mid-40s out here. Whether I shoot 80 or 60, it kind of doesn't matter a ton to me, but I'm going to give it my all and see what we can do.

Q. Having played this course for a dozen years or more, what's changed through the years, and what's different this year?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Well, you never know conditions year to year. Clearly things change. This year they resodded everything. I actually think the fairways and the chipping areas are cleaner. They're a little healthier. Last year they were tricky. When you get a really tight, thin Bermuda, no one likes chipping off that too much.

This week we feel like we can actually hit the shots we know we can around the greens. At the same time, when greens are kind of newly sodded, they're not necessarily settled. So sometimes the reads aren't quite as consistent as you feel they should be.

It's just kind of part of where we're all playing the same course. So you just kind of stay patient and try and hit great putts and see what happens.

Q. Wanted to ask you, as a player who's been involved in the advisory council and things through the years, the schedule change, how do you think that is going to impact things like this, the fall events?

KEVIN STREELMAN: The TOUR hasn't officially told us what's going to happen next fall as of yet. I think they're going to be vital next season -- or the end of this upcoming season as far as guys from 50 to --

Q. Trying to keep their card.

KEVIN STREELMAN: -- to 125, there's going to be good story lines there. So there will be exciting finishes to tournaments with people trying to keep their jobs.

This is like, I've come here 13 of my 16 years. It's close to where I live in Phoenix, and it's an important tournament to me. What the Shriners do for children, as the father of an 8-year-old and 6-year-old, it means a lot.

So I really hope we can continue to come back here and support Shriners and support the TOUR and this great city of Las Vegas we all have a great time coming to for many more years to come.

Q. As someone so involved in the whole organization of the TOUR, what's your overall impression of all the turmoil going on in golf? From a player's standpoint, how does it feel?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I tell people I don't -- I understand from an individual basis, guys taking life changing amounts of money to make career changes. I felt fortunate at this stage of my career there wasn't a decision to be made. I got an e-mail, but I didn't even pursue it.

The PGA TOUR, I feel loyal to them. I feel indebted to them. I look at what they've done for daycare, for an example, what they've done for our retirement situation, what they've done for the ability to travel the world and chase our dreams. Like I just feel loyal to that.

When I'm not good enough to play on the PGA TOUR, I will take some time off and wait for hopefully an opportunity on the Champions Tour. So to me, it was just -- it was always my dream to get out here. So it wasn't much of a decision. But I can't blame an individual for going for opportunities if they felt their game was starting to taper off a little bit. So be it, you know. It is what it is.

I'm surprised some younger great players making that decision, but who knows, three, four years down the road, I don't think there's any guarantee of what's going to happen on that Tour. If my odds were in Vegas, I'd put my bet on the PGA TOUR for the long run for sure.

Q. I was curious, while you have the 36-hole lead for now, there's still golf to play this afternoon. That may change. Does your mindset change? As you go to sleep tonight, maybe a little tossing and turning? Or you've been around long enough, you're kind of even keel.

KEVIN STREELMAN: I'm just excited. My kids came in on Wednesday. They've been watching YouTube Michael Jackson videos, because we're going to the Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson show tonight. We're going to Joe's Stone Crab, which is like our family tradition, and we're going to see that Cirque du Soleil show tonight. They're so fired up. It's kind of family time for me now.

I do have to do the Visa stuff for the Tokyo trip. I'll go and do the COVID test and download some app, the international transportation requirements. I've got to do that for the next hour or so.

Like I said, I'm excited for the weekend. Probably won't be leading when I tee off tomorrow. Guys from the morning will get out and go high. The number 20-under is in the back of your mind here. 2- or 3-under each nine is a good goal. It's got to be at least 20- to 25-under to have a chance here. You've got to keep your foot on the pedal going forward.

Q. You mentioned the trip in terms of a show. Play the games at all, blackjack guy?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I play a little bit. I get nervous if it's too much.

Q. Do you have a game of choice?

KEVIN STREELMAN: We stay at the Red Rocks. It's nice because it's off the strip, but you get a feel of being on the strip. There's all the games you want to do. There's also an arcade and a good pool for the kids and stuff. I like to play a little bit of blackjack.

The Wheel of Fortune machine, when that wheel gets going, I start running around and having a good time with that. I always lose money on that, but I kind of have fun doing that as well. I never go into it thinking I'm going to make too much.

Q. You mentioned the Duke-Kansas game. Can you get into a little bit more of that? Would you ever imagine those two teams undefeated meeting like this?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Kansas has GameDay tomorrow, I think, as well. That's pretty cool. Of course, Gary Woodland let me know all about them sneaking up. Duke only lost by seven or eight. It was a pretty good game.

So for Duke to have a chance -- any time we can go to a bowl game, that's a pretty good year. I think we're 4-1 right now. So it's a good start.