PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2024

Austin Eckroat

Valhalla Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Austin Eckroat is with us here at the 106th PGA Championship. 4-under today. How do you feel about your second round?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah, I played really well. We battled conditions a little bit, but it was actually pretty favorable in the morning with the light rain and the wind was down. Just played solid. Nothing special. But played really well.

Q. Can you take us through the eagle and then the birdie run that you had? Once the rain stepped aside did it feel like you could go on offense?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah, obviously the eagle on 18 was a great way to finish, two of my best swings of the day and then had 15 feet for eagle. I hit 4-iron in there.

Then that stretch on the front nine, there were some scorable holes towards the end of that back nine, once you get to 7, 8, 9, and I carried it over to hole 10, which was great. Like you were saying, I think if the rain stays away, the golf course is soft today, and I think there will be some good scores.

Q. How does the reality compare to your vision of what your first PGA Championship would be?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah, this is kind of, I think, the perfect PGA Championship, where scoring is a little bit more favorable than some of the other majors, but it's fun that way. People like to see birdies.

But fantastic golf course. Fantastic venue. It's really been a blast.

Q. Obviously this morning, tragic and unfortunate, the events. I wonder what your experience was like getting into the course this morning in terms of what time you arrived, how long it took to get in, et cetera.

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah, obviously that's terrible what happened this morning. It was a weird morning because we woke up and I was already on my way out here when we received the text that there was a delay. I got to the golf course, two miles away, and it took me about 30 minutes. I ended up getting out of my car and walking a mile and a half and having my wife drive the car in. It was a weird morning. Something I've never experienced. It was a tragedy followed by a weird incident. It was interesting, but luckily it didn't affect my play too bad.

Q. What was your reaction when you heard about Scottie?

AUSTIN ECKROAT: Yeah, it was weird. I was checking. I was wondering how bad the incident was because the traffic was so bad, we were in a standstill, so I pulled up the local news station trying to figure out what was going on, and the first thing I saw was Scottie had been put in handcuffs, and I was like, what in the world is going on. It was a weird morning.