ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 26, 2024

Adam Hadwin

Nick Taylor

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

Q. Great round today. Just give me a recap of what went well.

NICK TAYLOR: We got off to a really nice start, which I think was pretty key in the wind. I expected bogeys out there with the difficulty of the wind.

I was maybe a little cautious on the par-3s. They can kind of bite you in this format. Adam did a good job when I kind of got outside of position on those par-3s and we were able to save a couple of pars.

I felt like we took advantage of a lot of the wedge holes, and we had those shots in and rolled some nice putts in. Overall it was a really good day.

Q. You did have a couple of hiccups on this back nine here. How did you get that momentum back?

ADAM HADWIN: I mean, they're difficult holes. They're not easy. I would have loved to hit a couple of better chip shots there. That was not giving him an easy putt for par.

I hit what I thought was a good shot on 5. It just took off as a flyer and went over, but his short game has been one of the better ones I've seen over the last couple of years. He chipped it to tap in there on 5 to kind of settle.

I think it kind of settled us down a little bit there. I hit a good drive on 6, and then yeah, picking up two on 7 and 8 was big.

Q. To my understanding you have known each other since you were 12 years old. You teamed up for the first time last year. How did this team come about, and how did we pair up again for this year?

NICK TAYLOR: We played together at the World Cup in 2018, I believe, and did well in Australia. I think we finished tied for fourth.

I felt like the first five or six years when this event had changed, our schedules kind of didn't really line up a couple of years. I remember I had a really good friend's wedding, so I couldn't come to this event.

Came together last year, and we played great. So we decided to run it back, which is fun.

Q. How would you say this format is complementary to your games?

ADAM HADWIN: I think that Nick and I play very similar games. Keep it in play, hit lots of greens. We're both very good putters.

Yeah, best-ball format we have usually two balls in play and two chances for birdie every hole, which I think takes pressure off one guy. Then in this alternate-shot format, again, we keep it in play, nothing too crazy, limit mistakes.

If we are out of position, we're very smart about the next shot and trying to set up a chance to get up and down. So, yeah, hopefully -- we have two more days -- we have a chance.

Q. You were in contention last year, so what does this do for your confidence heading into the weekend?

NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, a lot. I think we kind of road the momentum after probably Sunday's round last year. We were a little behind starting Sunday and made a great push there. So after two days we were awfully in better position.

The forecast has for a lot of wind, which it kind of was today, so I guess we'll be used to it, but it will be a little bit tougher. Hopefully tomorrow we can get a good one there and hold on for dear life, I guess, Sunday.

Q. Given the wind for tomorrow, do you guys talk strategy throughout, or are you going to meet tonight to talk about it? What's that like?

ADAM HADWIN: We'll meet tonight, but I don't think we'll be concerned with what happens tomorrow. We'll watch the hockey game tonight, hang out, have some fun. We'll see what tomorrow brings. We got two cracks at every hole. Yeah, just keep getting ourselves birdie chances.

Again, I love our games in this alternate-shot format. Just steady, don't make a lot of mistakes, both putt very well. I think tomorrow is more of a let's make sure we're in a position that we're right there, and if we are, I like our chances.

NICK TAYLOR: Yeah.