SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 14, 2023

Chris Kirk

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Chris, how would you describe that round? Looked like you had a tough start but you actually pulled it together; had a pretty decent round.

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I played all right. Would've loved to have played better. Would've love to have not hit my tee shot out of bounds on the first hole to start my day, but definitely did a lot of good things at times.

Hit some really nice shots. Made some really good swings. So I'm hoping tomorrow I can go into it and just sort of try to -- I'll go back and revisit some of the holes I played really well today and try to think what kind of mindset was I in, what was my strategy on these kind of holes, and just go into it tomorrow.

But I've played this course so many times that it's definitely a place where I'm very comfortable. You know, being right around the lead on Sunday is never an incredibly comfortable feeling, but something that I love. That's kind of why we do this, to have a chance to win on Sunday.

I'm really excited to have another shot at it.

Q. You've actually gotten it done out here and a lot of the guys who are right up there on this leaderboard haven't.

CHRIS KIRK: Uh-huh.

Q. Do you look at that sometimes and say, well, I should have a little bit of a leg up on some of those guys because I know what it takes?

CHRIS KIRK: I don't know. Probably not. If I had won three weeks ago maybe, but it's been a little while. I definitely know what it takes, but also know it's not easy to do.

But I definitely like where I'm at. I like the way my golf game feels. Obviously am very comfortable and love this place, so I'm excited for the opportunity against these guys that haven't won. Most of them are probably 15 years I younger than me.

Q. You mentioned the tough start. You must have known what you did because didn't look like you hit anything else bad all day, certainly not off the tee.

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I think it's just -- I just made a bad swing when it comes down to it really. I made a lot of really good swings with the driver, too. Like you said...

Q. My point was it was an outlier.

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah. Somebody in the group in front of us had to come back and re-hit, and I didn't do a good job of adjusting to -- typically if you see somebody tee off you have about ten minutes or so, and then you tee it off.

And then all of a sudden they announced my name and I was like, whoa, okay, we're going. So I didn't do a good job adjusting to the different cadence of teeing off.

I think that's all it was really.

Q. Couple of T2s here, a T2 and a 2. I think that speaks to your comfort level on the golf course. What is it about Waialae that just seems comfortable?

CHRIS KIRK: I'm not really sure, to be honest. I think that for some reason I would say here and Colonial are two of my favorites courses on TOUR and they're very similar golf courses. The fairways play well firm and fast. Rough very tricky. Requires some pretty good short game shots around the greens if you miss greens. And not necessarily ones where you need to bomb it.

I hit it further than I did earlier in my career, but still not considered somebody that bombs it. Yeah, just I haven't really read into it that much, but just a place that I like.

Q. I don't know if you're proud of yourself or happy about it, but I guess how do you feel about how you came back from a tough start? That's not easy to do. It's part of that mental challenge you talked about I think a little bit yesterday.

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I think I said it yesterday. The psychology of high-level tournament golf is the ultimate challenge. It's so, so difficult, and that's why the guys that make it are successful on the PGA TOUR. That's why they do it. They're better mentally.

So it's something that I'm just always working on. I feel like earlier in my career probably came easier than it does now. I just love that side of the game, that it is so challenging and that so few people can do it just right.

You know, even when you feel like you're doing it just right you still might hit 130 yards right out of bounds on the first tee. You never know. It's a game where every time you think you've got it, you don't.

Yeah, I mean, going into tomorrow I just feel like I'm still learning and trying to see how my body reacts to certain things. That was a great feeling today to do that and have it not worry me at all.