SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 12, 2024

Blaze Akana

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Much better round today. Talk about the conditions were better and your confidence as well.

BLAZE AKANA: Yeah, conditions were a lot better, a little easier this morning. Finished up my first round, three holes left, not the greatest way to finish the round, but told myself, new 18 and tried to regroup.

Q. Did you re-setup between rounds and refocus?

BLAZE AKANA: Yes, exactly. Went in for some breakfast, hit a few putts, back out to the first tee. Felt pretty refreshed. New mindset and new 18.

Played a little better this second round.

Q. Double on 13. Talk about the trouble on that particular hole.

BLAZE AKANA: Yeah, kind of in between clubs. I was in the fairway bunker, right fairway bunker, and decided to take the lower lofted club. I thinned it a little and clipped the lip.

Then left it in the rough. Hacked it out and didn't get up and down for bogey, so easy double there.

Q. Now you've played in this tournament two years in a row. Talk about what it's like to go from playing in this tournament to college golf against basically your peers.

BLAZE AKANA: Yeah, every time I get to step foot in a PGA TOUR event is a great experience. I try to use it as a confidence going forward just knowing that I'm able to hit some shots under this amount of pressure with the big crowds watching.

Doesn't compare to college. If I can do it here you can do it in college as well.

Q. Just talk about I saw your family following you around pretty much the entire round. I think I saw some teammates and UH golfers on the course. Talk about that support.

BLAZE AKANA: Yeah, the support was great this year. Pretty much all my teammates came out; bunch of my family members came out to watch basically the whole 18.

Yeah, having a gallery like that follow me around definitely encouraged me to keep my head up and just keep grinding and try to finish as best I could.