SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 12, 2023

Brendon Todd

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Brendon, just to start, sounded like the putter was going well for you today. Can you talk on that?

BRENDON TODD: Yeah, made a nice comeback on my first hole, on 10. Rolled it about four feet by, hit a great putt, and that kind of calmed me down and got the putter off to a good start.

And then, let's see, I holed really nice putts. That par save on 17 was pretty huge. And then that long one I made on 4 was maybe 50 feet, so good to see that one go in.

Then I made a nice slick little six-footer for birdie on No. 6. Had two, two-putt birdies, which are always helpful, and two tap-ins when I hit short irons close.

Q. We've heard players say the rough is up, it's playing firm and fast.

BRENDON TODD: Right.

Q. Can you speak to the conditions and the golf course in general?

BRENDON TODD: Yeah, it's fantastic for a shorter hitter like me, for anybody really, but this is a dream setup where the fairways are running as fast as we've ever seen. We were seeing some drives going through 30, 40 yards out there.

And then, yeah, deep rough keeps everybody honest. You've got to be in the fairway to attack. If you're off the fairway, you have no idea how to get the ball close to the hole. So pretty much just playing for position at that point.

So greens are healthy. I think it's really set up well.

Q. Did you feel good about your game coming into this week?

BRENDON TODD: You know, at home in Georgia we had a lot of cold weather in early December, so only got maybe six or seven good days to practice before I came here. I felt pretty good. I haven't had to make too many changes in the last couple years. Everything has been pretty steady.

And then prep here has gone really well. I really feel like I worked hard on my short game. Feel good around the greens chipping. Have a great feeling with my putting stroke.

I'm still ironing out the ball striking a little bit, but I hit some really good shots out there.

Q. Lastly, do you look at leaderboards on Thursday?

BRENDON TODD: Yeah, it's really impossible out here not to look. The boards are everywhere and they're huge. You know, I got my best friend, Chris Kirk, up there at the top.

Before I play I like to kind of peek to see where guys are making birdies, how long some of the holes are playing, where some of the tee shots are going. So I think a lot of us have to use it for information.

But when I'm out there I try not to pay too much attention to it because I really just try and stay even keel and give a best effort on every shot and try and keep the pressure low.