SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 13, 2023

Blaze Akana

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Blaze, obviously coming into the week, just the feelings, we talked about it, but to put the two rounds together that you did -- you missed the cut -- but what was your overall takeaway from the game from the two rounds?

BLAZE AKANA: These guys are good. Like you really can't make too many big mistakes out there. I had no doubles out there. Pretty happy with the way I performed.

Just shows what I need to work on. I was pretty happy with the way I stuck to my game plan this week. Just a little too many bogeys this week.

Q. Four years in the making to get to this point. What are you biggest takeaways from the golf side of things that you'll remember about this week?

BLAZE AKANA: Just the local support around here. On the first tee, one of the biggest crowds I've ever played in front of, the biggest crowd. It was just pretty surreal having to hit that tee shot. Took me five holes to make my first PGA TOUR birdie and I'll remember that for a lifetime.

Q. How now does this kind of fuel you to not rest on this, to get better?

BLAZE AKANA: Yeah, we go into one of the strongest college events in a couple weeks, and it won't compare to this. I'm pretty excited for this next spring season in college. My game should be even better than it was before, so I'm excited to see where I go with it.

Q. I'm sure you saw some of your teammates out on the course following you along. What did that do for you the last two days to see them behind the ropes? And then on the flip side, what does that do for them to see you kind of do your thing out here in a PGA TOUR event, a hometown event?

BLAZE AKANA: Yeah, it's awesome seeing my teammates come out to support. Scott, great coach. Built a great team at UH, and we have a pretty good team chemistry out there.

For them, I'm sure they're very proud of the way I represented the school, the team, just carried myself with confidence and stuck to my own game.

It's big for all of us.

Q. And what did that mean to represent UH and also to represent the state out here as one of four local players in the field this year?

BLAZE AKANA: Yeah, it's always been one of my goals, like I've said. I hope to be back next year. I mean, I'll be around. I have one more year at UH until I graduate. Hopefully I can come back again.