AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 12, 2023

Ryan Palmer

TPC Craig Ranch

Quick Quotes

Q. Ryan, just another solid round for you today. What was working well?

RYAN PALMER: Yeah, it was. It's nice to shoot a good round after a really good round on Thursday. It's hard to do. I hit the ball well today. I really feel like my ball-striking was a little better today than it was yesterday. Never really got in trouble, which was the key. Kept it in the fairway and hit a lot of greens I felt like.

Gave myself the right chances, and I took advantage of them.

Yeah, it's nice to back up a 64 with a 65 for sure. Excited. It's nice to be in a position I hadn't been here in a while, and it feels great.

Q. You make the cut last week, but it's been a little bit of a struggle over the last few months. Do you feel like it's rounding into form here a little bit?

RYAN PALMER: Yeah, I've been working at it. It's been frustrating for me personally. But I've been working at it. I haven't -- I've been very, very patient. I keep telling myself, it's a very patient season right now.

The work I've been putting into it, it showed last week for the first time in a long time. It wasn't the finish you'd want, but when I look back at 35th last week, okay, it's a start and we're getting closer, and it's carried over and is showing right now.

Q. You have known Scottie a long time. Both of you are up there at the top of the leaderboard. When was the first time that you remember meeting him?

RYAN PALMER: Back in high school. We both have the same coach, Randy Smith, and I remember him not as big as he is today and hitting balls with him on the range, and then he'd come back from college when he was at Texas and just knew him through those years, and then all of a sudden when he got here, knew he was going to be a pretty good player. Of course he's a great player, obviously.

It's fun. We have a lot of great times together practicing. We work out together with Dr. Troy Van Biezen in Dallas. We knew each other a lot. It would be fun to get paired with him tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

Q. You've played with him at Zurich in the past and you mentioned you practiced with him, as well. Because you've known him through every step of the way, just in this last year and a half, anything that you've seen from the outside that he's really taken to another level or something you attribute to him really stepping on it here?

RYAN PALMER: He hasn't changed at all. The way he just -- his short game I think is what I've seen the most, I guess you could say. He's one of the best wedge players and short games I've seen. I watched it during Zurich and just watched him on TV, as well. But the best thing about Scottie is he's the same person. He hasn't changed one bit. That's fun to be around and see.

Q. Two good rounds for you now. What's it take to put two more of those together?

RYAN PALMER: Two more of those for sure.

I've just got to keep the gas pedal down. I think we're going to get a lot of rain tomorrow it sounds like and possibly Sunday, so it could be a very patient weekend.

The golf course is already soft as it is, but as long as the winds blow, it'll kind of keep guys in check a little bit, and hopefully I can use that to my advantage and hopefully have a good weekend.

Q. You mentioned that it's tough to follow a good Thursday round with a good Friday round sometimes. Why do you think that is?

RYAN PALMER: Almost you expect it, I guess you could say. You do but you don't. You probably come out a little more looser and lackadaisical I would say and you don't really put the focus in, maybe start hitting some wayward shots that start getting away from you and then start pressing to get them back. If you take it and kind of relax and let the golf course come to you, I guess, and just keep hitting the shots and let them come to you.

Q. You mentioned maybe the earliest wake-up call of your career. What time was it?

RYAN PALMER: 3:50 this morning. I live in Colleyville and it's about a 40-minute drive. I've never woken up before 4:00 on TOUR in 20 years. It was an early one.

Q. You would be eligible for the PGA with a win. What's a bigger deal to you, being able to get into that or just winning this tournament?

RYAN PALMER: I'd win this tournament and stay home next week, to be honest with you. That means more to me. If I get in next week, great, but winning on TOUR, it's the hardest thing to do. But winning at home, winning in town, winning in front of the Salesmanship Club here in Dallas, my family, I mean, it's that one next stop toward 70 to get to the Playoffs this year.

Yeah, I wouldn't have a problem winning and staying home and celebrating.

Q. If you had to pick between winning Colonial or winning here --

RYAN PALMER: Oh, you can't do that to me. Not right now.

Q. Sorry, I couldn't help it.

RYAN PALMER: We'll talk about that one afterwards. This week, and then we'll talk about Colonial when it's here.