ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 21, 2023

Beau Hossler

Wyndham Clark

TPC Louisiana

Quick Quotes

Q. Bogey free, 5-under 67. Bogey free is always good in this format. Get both of your impressions on the round.

BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, really solid tee to green, to be honest. It was fairly stress-free round. I think the only hole we had remotely any stress was probably 17, which I think every group on the course probably is going to have stress on that hole. With that said, I think we both performed really well. I would say it was a pretty equal effort, to be honest, and with the exception of the long putt on 4, I think we didn't do anything crazy, but we also didn't really make any mistakes. It was a really clean round.

Q. I believe this is your first time playing together in this tournament. How do your games complement each other in best ball?

WYNDHAM CLARK: Well, it's nice, he kind of hits a natural draw, I hit a natural fade. We both putt well and we chip well.

As far as tee shots to green go, I'll hit it pretty far off the tee and then he'll have a wedge and he's been stacking it. It's made it pretty easy.

Then as far as separate from the golf, we have a lot of fun together, and our caddie relationships are really good. We're just having fun, and wherever the chips lay at the end of the week, we're going to accept it and have fun, so we're enjoying it.

Q. How much did the delay affect you? Did it affect you guys in terms of rhythm when you had to abruptly stop the round like that?

BEAU HOSSLER: I was pretty thrilled about it, to be honest. Standing on the 6th tee, it was raining pretty good, and it's probably the most demanding tee shot out here, so I was happy to not have to hit it at that moment.

Then was fortunate enough to come out and it was blowing 20 miles an hour in my face. It turned out to be probably equal, but to be honest, we've had so many delays this year, it's just been unbelievable. If you're not used to it by now, you're never going to get used to it. I think we handled it just fine, just got a little bit of food, but I think we're both looking forward to a nice little break this afternoon and a nice probably early bedtime.

Q. Did the course change at all in terms of how the greens played or anything --

WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah, we had a good look on 6. It was about a 12-, 15-footer, and he hit a great putt, he just left it short because they were probably a foot slower, and then I hit a wedge shot on 8 that I landed maybe two or three paces off where I wanted to land if it was normal conditions how it was earlier, and it just hit and basically stopped. It's a lot softer, greens are slower.

I wouldn't be surprised if it stays like it is today or right now that guys will probably start scoring. But the course is in good shape, so it wasn't too, too different.

Q. With alternate shot being more challenging, how would you say your approach ended up matching up with the results that you got? Did the results match the approach you took?

BEAU HOSSLER: Listen, I think when we play a format like this, if we can play a round the way we did every time, we'd be thrilled. It's just a fairly low stress ball in play off the tee, ball on or around the green in a pretty good spot and either have a legitimate birdie look or a pretty easy par putt.

You know, at the end of the day, like even best ball, yeah, you're maybe a little more aggressive, but I'll tell you what, two decent looks is usually a good spot on any hole, as well. I'd rather have two decent looks than take on unnecessary risk and have a ball out of play.

I think we're in a great spot. I like our mentality. I think we're both starting to -- after these few practice rounds and first two rounds starting to see and get comfortable with the way each other plays, and the more spots that I can put him in that's a green light and vice versa, obviously the better off we're going to be?

Q. How did you guys pair up? How do you know each other?

WYNDHAM CLARK: We've known each other since we were 10. We've been friends for a long time, so that was not an issue. It was more we both didn't have partners going into the LA Open at Riviera, and we were paired together the first two days, and we kind of were talking it through, and by the end of the first two days, we were like, all right, let's play together.

That's pretty much where it stemmed from. Our caddies are also good friends, so it just made a good dynamic that we all kind of get along, which has been great because we've had a lot of fun out here.

This format, sometimes guys get randomly paired together and they can have someone that they maybe don't normally talk to or mesh with, and it can get very awkward and tense at times.

For us, even if a guy hits a bad shot, it's like, whatever, and we move on. It's been good.

Q. How did you meet at that young age?

BEAU HOSSLER: Just junior tournaments. Obviously Wyndham grew up in Denver, I grew up in California, and obviously at that age it would be more of like a regional tournament, and then as we got older it grew into national tournaments, and then us being close to the same age, we played in college together and got on TOUR probably within a year of each other. It feels like we've never not really been playing golf together.

WYNDHAM CLARK: Unfortunately.

Q. New Orleans is known for its food; sounds like you're leaning on Wyndham this week for the recommendations?

BEAU HOSSLER: Yeah, he's been the director of F & B, so he's been taking the reins on that. We've gone to some really good spots. Yeah, to be fair, we've probably hit -- after this --

WYNDHAM CLARK: After tonight.

BEAU HOSSLER: After tonight we'll have hit the best four in town, so it's been really cool. I think he's got a friend that lives in town and kind of gave him some spots that aren't necessarily downtown but are kind of some local favorites, so we've enjoyed it.