THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2023

Aaron Rai

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. A kind of a ho-hum round, right?

AARON RAI: Yeah (laughing).

Q. Could you talk about those last four holes, especially the ace.

AARON RAI: Yeah, played pretty solidly on the back nine. Made a lot of pars to start with, and 16 is a good opportunity if you get your tee shot away and hit a very nice tee shot down there and a great second shot to create the birdie chance.

17 fell at a very good number with my gap wedge. Hit it great, looked great in the air and very pleased to see it go in. That was an incredible moment. And very pleased of the way that I played 18 as well on the back end of that. It can be quite tricky to compose myself after a situation like that, so to hit a great tee shot, to hit a great second shot and to make birdie was a very pleasing way to finish.

Q. Do you know how many aces you've had in competition?

AARON RAI: That's number 3. Lucky number 3, I guess.

Q. Can you describe just what's going through your kind of your body in that moment with that crowd going crazy and watching it go in? Is it an out-of-body experience type thing?

AARON RAI: I would say so, yeah. It was a little bit of a blur. I saw it go in and then I looked to the left to almost see, is it real and I saw almost the crowd's hands in the air.

In the second after that, I looked to the right towards my caddie and he came running at me. So it happened very fast, but it feels very vivid now that I'm even talking about it and remembering some of those images. So I couldn't quite believe that it happened, but very, very special. Very special. Something I'll always remember.

Q. When you were out there earlier this week, did you give any thought to the possibility you might jar one on 17?

AARON RAI: Not particularly, no. 17 has a huge amount of history, but it's just a very tricky golf hole. The mindset towards that in practice was just to really respect it and to try and think about the best area to play it to for all of those pins. Very rarely does that mean actually going for the pin. So it didn't really cross my mind. I just tried to prepare for it and be as smart on that hole as I could in preparation.

Q. What was it like hitting the tee shot on 18 after that moment with the adrenaline rush and all of that?

AARON RAI: Yeah, the walk probably from 17 to 18 I thought was crucial, just in really trying to calm myself down and get very grounded, in the present. Over the tee shot of 18, I felt pretty clear and pretty calm in my process, which was great. I hit a great tee shot down there. So, yeah, it was almost as pleasing as the tee shot on 17 really to be able to kind of ground myself, control myself and hit a good tee shot down there.

Q. Did you think that that approach on 18 had a chance of going in? What was your angle from that? Because it looked close on TV.

AARON RAI: Yeah, it was quite hard to see. The green had quite a lot of glare on there from where we were at in the fairway. It looked like it pitched great and obviously came spinning across. So it looked like it could go in, but, yeah, it was a great shot.

Q. You've got a couple of victories over on the DP World Tour, and right now as it stands you're going to be very much in the hunt tomorrow. What do you think it's going to be like with a chance at getting your first PGA TOUR win at this particular event?

AARON RAI: I think every situation is slightly different, and to be part of THE PLAYERS Championship, to be here at Sawgrass and to have possibly a chance tomorrow is an amazing opportunity. I'm sure I will feel a little bit of nerves and a little bit of apprehension, but I'm looking forward to it. It's an amazing opportunity.

It's my first time here. It's great to be here. I'll do my best tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

Q. Had you ever played this course before this week and what were your perceptions of the tournament compared to maybe how it's played out?

AARON RAI: It's a great question. So last season was my first year on the PGA TOUR and I decided that this would be kind of the base that I come back to and practice at. It's a phenomenal golf course, the facilities are second to none, everyone is very friendly here. So it was a no-brainer for me to kind of gravitate back towards Sawgrass last year during all of my weeks away from tournaments. And I've actually recently moved to the area as well, so this is almost like a home away from home for me. So it's great to be here.

The second part of your question, I spoke to my caddie a lot about this at the start of the week. I played the course a lot and that can be very helpful in a lot of ways with seeing sight lines, with seeing the course playing in different winds. But at the same time it's a completely different golf course when it's set up for this tournament. The rough is thicker, the greens were a lot firmer on the first couple of days, pin positions are a lot harder, greens are faster. So it's a real balance between bringing a little bit of knowledge from kind of tee to green, but not getting too stuck in my way of how I would normally play the course because it's a completely different challenge this week.

So I think we've done a good job of that so far where I haven't drifted too far away from what I normally do, but I haven't played so aggressively like I would normally play around this course because you just, you can't do that in a tournament with the way that it's set up.

Q. A few weeks ago you made the decision to go watch Tiger in the pro-am in L.A. Did you feel like some good karma was coming your way because you did that?

AARON RAI: I have no idea. I thought it was a great opportunity to be able to walk with him, to see him close and see how he plays certain shots around the greens, to see how he prepares, to see the ball flights that he uses. So that was my reasoning for watching him on that Wednesday, just to try and learn as much as possible because I haven't had the opportunity to watch him in practice like that.

So, yeah, I was just grateful to be able to see him and also meet him, which was incredible, a real gentleman.

Q. You just closed on your house a couple weeks ago. First of the week you told us that you're sleeping in it now. I guess that's pretty comfortable, right?

AARON RAI: Yeah, it's really cool. It's nice to be able to wake up in a bed that is getting familiar now. I would say it's familiar. And to be five minutes away from the course just feels very easy and convenient. And, yeah, it's obviously been a great week so far.

Q. You said that you were respecting the hole. Did you take a more aggressive line today, and if so, why, or was it just a mis-hit that went in?

AARON RAI: Really for those front pins -- we had a front right on Thursday and obviously front left today. The plan was to aim just for the middle of the green, and the wind was into out of the right. It was mainly out of the right today. So a shot that hits the middle of the green with falling off the wind is always spinning back towards the pin. So it felt like a safe shot where I'm playing to the biggest margin but also gives an opportunity to get close. So that was pretty much my plan for both front pins really to kind of pitch it middle and let it just spin back to kind of front middle. So there's always a little bit of luck involved with making a shot like that, but, yeah, it was a good shot as well.

Q. And as someone who has played a lot on the DP World Tour, what can you tell us about Min Woo Lee?

AARON RAI: He's a really good player. He's a great, great player. Great attitude, as well, which I think is just as powerful as his game. He doesn't have a weakness. I think he's going to be a star out here on the PGA TOUR in the coming years.