BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2023

Chris Kirk

Olympia Fields Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Good playing. How would you characterize what was working well for you today?

CHRIS KIRK: I would say everything was very solid. I had a little bit of a run in the middle of the round where I missed a few fairways, but apart from that, drove the ball well, hit a lot of really nice iron shots, putter felt solid. All in all, just a good steady day.

Q. How do you explain the level of play and what it takes to make it here, that only 50 players get here and what that says about the level of a player.

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, obviously this is the top of our game, so I'm honored to be a part of it. I'm very thankful, feel very blessed that I've had such a good year, and it's just been a blast.

I'm also very thankful to feel like I'm playing some pretty decent golf at the moment, too. I wouldn't say that our Playoffs are not quite like in other sports where guys feel like they can just step up their game when it matters most. Golf is a little more fickle than that, I think.

I'm just thankful to be here and to have had a good solid day today.

Q. Having that success, you've had some success in the FedExCup Playoffs. You've won a Playoffs event, finished second in the FedExCup. Does that help you at all with confidence in these, knowing that you've contended and been right there or is it such an ebb and flow?

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, you never know what's going to happen. That's one thing about this game. You never certainly -- whenever you think you have it figured out, you don't, and whenever you think you're lost and clueless, you're maybe a day away from playing great.

Yeah, I've tried to kind of give up on expectations a long time ago and just go play. Try to enjoy it.

Q. Along those lines of golf being you never know what can happen, Lucas Glover the last couple weeks it's been such a cool story to see and it's resonated with a lot of people. From your perspective and knowing him through the years, why do you think it is resonating so much, and what does it say about him to be able to do this?

CHRIS KIRK: Yes, absolutely. First of all, he's a really great guy. Lucas and Davis Love are kind of my two biggest mentors when I turned pro and was getting started doing this for a living.

I know very well how great of a person he is and how talented of a player he has been for a long time.

But I think when people see somebody really struggle like he did with his putting for a number of years and then all of a sudden you're able to see him kind of freed up and making putts and having fun and shooting low scores every day, yeah, I think it brings a smile to my face just talking about it because I know how hard he's worked. I know -- somebody that's played on TOUR and won as many times as he has, he didn't have to keep fighting and didn't have to keep grinding it out and working at it, but he did.

To see him have that kind of success is awesome.

Q. You mentioned him being a mentor to you. Did that start after college down in Sea Island?

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, when I moved to Sea Island, he was living there at the time, as well. So yeah, it was during my three years on the Korn Ferry TOUR. We played a lot of golf together, and he and Davis were kind of the two guys that I went to for advice about anything, then especially once I got out my rookie year on the PGA TOUR, what tournaments should I play, where should I stay, what's a good restaurant here, all of that, as well as playing practice rounds and that kind of thing. The two of those guys were definitely the most influential and the people that I could trust and knew were there for me.

Q. This course in particular, what does it take to succeed here? Any parts of your game --

CHRIS KIRK: Everything. This golf course is a fantastic test of every aspect of the game. It's a long golf course. Obviously you've got to drive it straight because the rough and the fairway bunkers are very penal. Then the greens are -- it's a great variation of guys. There's some really small ones out there and some really big ones and some that are relatively subtle, some that have a ton of slope.

But yeah, there's nothing easy about it. It's certainly going to test every aspect of your game.

Q. Rory only hit three fairways and shot bogey-free 5-under. It seems pretty wild --

CHRIS KIRK: That seems very unlikely and very wild. But yeah, I guess if you're flying it 330 into the rough and then he's hitting a wedge out and the greens are soft and receptive still. Yeah, that certainly seems unlikely, but if anybody in the world is going to do that, it would be him.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you've learned from Lucas or advice from him or something about him that you try to emulate?

CHRIS KIRK: I think I could speak to that with him and Davis, as well, just I certainly learned by example from both of them what it means to be and how to be a professional golfer. Basically how to act and how to -- what to do in almost every situation, whether you're at a corporate outing or how do you respect your peers in the right way, how do you bring the right level of competitiveness. Just what it means to be a consummate professional.

Those guys were two great examples for me.