COGNIZANT CLASSIC

February 29, 2024

Austin Eckroat

PGA National Champion Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Austin, strong start. I think people would say this course fits your game. Talk about the day so far.

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah, really all around good playing. Drove it great and hit the irons pretty great, outside of one shot on 16. But the putter was good. The course suits my eye, and the game was solid all around.

Q. Did you play down here for AJGA?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah.

Q. What was the furthest you went in match play here?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: I don't know, not far enough to make it memorable. I made match play, but -- was it all match play? I can't remember. I definitely made match play, but I'm not sure how far I made it. I was a little kid back then, so...

Q. You've made four or five cuts this year, but you look at the FedExCup standings and not playing in the Signature Events, there's not a lot of points to play for. How do you stay in a positive mindset knowing that I'm playing well, making cuts, but I still have a lot of ground to make up?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah, the golf game has been really close. Four or five cuts is always great. You like those top finishes, though, are what you need. The 25th to 35th place finish doesn't do a whole lot for you.

The game has been close. There's always been one piece missing every week, but so far this week seems like all the categories are working.

Q. What's been the part of your game that you've diagnosed recently, like I have the most ground to make up, where if I do that, then I'll have the top 10s and the contentions?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: What's kind of funny is it's been different each week. It's been short game in the past and then that saved me last week. I think I finished fourth in strokes gained around the greens last week and I struggled with the driver. But the weeks before that I was driving it great. It's funny because it's kind of swapped. There hasn't been one clear area where I've really felt like I needed to make an improvement on to make the next step.

I'm just happy that all the categories were going well today.

Q. Running in the Oklahoma City, Stillwater, Edmond circles, have you come across Anthony Kim in the last decade? Have you seen him or played with him?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: No, I haven't played with him. He plays out of Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, which I don't play very often. Occasionally. But no, I haven't seen seen him in 12 years. It's one of those names that you kept hearing about but you weren't sure. I knew where he lived, and I knew someone that lived in the house before him whenever he purchased it.

No, I haven't seen him since.