SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 14, 2023

Andrew Putnam

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Five straight birdies to close your round. I know you were going early there. What kind of got going after those couple bogeys on the last five holes?

ANDREW PUTNAM: I was playing great. Played great on the front my first nine. Think I was 5-under. Couple loose swings, couple bogeys that I typically don't make, and then the putter heated up.

Made some long putts. Pretty sure my strokes gained putting is pretty high for this round.

Q. Where did you find the conditions today comparative to the last couple days?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Seemed to be a lot easier. Breeze wasn't really up. Yesterday afternoon it was blowing just the normal tradewinds.

Today, yeah, it was gettable, so expecting some good scores.

Q. You make any adjustments with your putting or just found the stroke?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Not really. I was just really rusty. My first nine I was 3-over par and I just putted terribly. Just taking so much time off, had to kind of get back in the mode of playing competitive golf.

Ever since then I've been, what 15-understand, so pretty good since my opening nine.

Q. I would think so. How much time off did you take?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Well, we had what, six, seven weeks off. Being from Washington, didn't play a whole lot. Played a couple times in some warm weather. Yeah, didn't do a whole lot.

Q. Where do you go when you need the warm weather to play golf?

ANDREW PUTNAM: This year we went to Cuba for a week, which was --

Q. Interesting.

ANDREW PUTNAM: -- kind of unusual. We played golf there. Then we were in Phoenix for -- went to Phoenix for like four days. We used to live there, so tried to get some the of the rust off.

Q. What took you to Cuba?

ANDREW PUTNAM: We just have some friends who are helping out some people there. It's my second time there, so got to know some people. Just trying to support. Obviously it's been tough for them with COVID and everything.

So only got one golf course and one nine hole other course, and so, yeah, it was fun going.

Q. Did you bring your clubs?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Yeah, yeah.

Q. You brought your clubs?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Yeah. Got to know some of the people there.

Q. What's the one golf course?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Varadero. A lot of Canadians go there. Obviously it's a little harder to get in the U.S. side.

Q. December or when was it?

ANDREW PUTNAM: December, yeah.

Q. And is it a quality golf course?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Yeah.

Q. Public course?

ANDREW PUTNAM: It's a good course. Unfortunately they had a huge fire and all of the mowers were destroyed, so $7 million worth of damage right before we got there. I think they had one or two mowers on the whole island.

I think they have hand mow all through the night to get the course ready. Pretty sad.

Q. It's a private course?

ANDREW PUTNAM: No, it's public. Yeah, if you stay at the resorts you can play there.

Q. How much play does it get?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Usually quite a bit.

Q. Good.

ANDREW PUTNAM: Obviously with COVID it's been tough.

Q. How many rounds did you play?

ANDREW PUTNAM: We played three rounds.

Q. Did you kill it?

ANDREW PUTNAM: I actually did play pretty good a couple rounds.

Q. (Indiscernible.)

ANDREW PUTNAM: I don't know. They've had a DP World Tour event or something kind of Challenge Tour thing there before.

Q. What did you shoot? Come on.

ANDREW PUTNAM: First round I only played nine holes and I was 7-under. I don't know, it was crazy. It was wild. Yeah, I don't know. It's not too difficult.

Q. Is it mission work your friends are doing?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Yeah, just helping support some of the people they know there, yeah.

Q. How does this year -- we're at the beginning of another year -- differ from any other year for you?

ANDREW PUTNAM: I'm just happy to be in Hawaii to start the year. We always come over a week early with my family, vacation with all our family. It's a great place to start.

Obviously I'm in a really good position starting this swing, and glad to keep the momentum going.

Q. Are we keeping you from football here?

ANDREW PUTNAM: Yeah. I'm hoping to get there, so see my Seahawks. Thank you, guys.

Q. You got to like the second longest cut streak made on tour.

ANDREW PUTNAM: Okay, yeah.

Q. So must be something going on where there is a little consistency.

ANDREW PUTNAM: Yeah, no, it's been good. My uncle was kidding with me because I grew up the mustache out over the off season. He's like, I don't know if you want to screw with your streak with something different.

Luckily I played good yesterday.

Q. Was the mustache in regard to going to Cuba that looked good or what?

ANDREW PUTNAM: I don't know. It just happened. I don't know why or how.

Q. A lot of 'staches out here. Johnson Wagner's got one.

ANDREW PUTNAM: Yeah, he's got a thick one. This is nothing compared to Wagner. His is pretty heavy. I'm going to go catch these Seahawks if you guys let me go.

Q. Is your brother still playing?

ANDREW PUTNAM: A little bit. Just for fun. All right, guys. Go Hawks. Thank you guys.