KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2024

Ernie Els

Quick Quotes

Harbor Shores

Q. Ernie Els with us now at the 84th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Ernie, 7-under today. How would you summarize your round?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, really enjoyed it. I played really great for 17 fricking holes and just my last hole pulled it left and it went close to the hazard. I made 6 on the 9th hole, my 18th.

I really enjoyed the day the hit it nice and made some putts. All the nice things happened. So hopefully I can continue on doing that for the next round or whatever we're going to have left in the tournament. Seems like we might have another 54-holer. I don't know.

Q. No.

ERNIE ELS: No? You'll play Monday? Let's not go there.

Yeah, I mean, I would like to just keep rolling now. Been working on my swing and my game. Birmingham was pretty good, so nice to get that same kind of play today.

Q. Yesterday kind of fought back after that tough start; today you come out flying. What was the biggest key, five out of six?

ERNIE ELS: Well, it's just momentum, Jeff. I mean, I made a nice six-footer on my first hole for birdie and just kind of felt good. You know, saw the lines better today on the greens and then made some putts. Simple as that.

You know, I was a little off with my swing yesterday morning when we started. Made bogey on the first and second holes, missing the greens with my iron shots.

You know, so it was really a tough battle yesterday just to stay in the thing. Could have easily been 2-, 3-over.

Then, as you say, started off well today and just kept it going.

Q. Ernie, I think you had just made birdie at 15 when the play was suspended.

ERNIE ELS: Yeah.

Q. What was that like to be off for 90 minutes and then again get the momentum going again?

ERNIE ELS: Exactly. It was tough. I sat in my cart. I wasn't sure. I had my own weather map out and looked like the two storms were coming, and I guess they kind of went away a little bit. Looked like we might have been off the golf course for two, three hours.

But, you know, the PGA of America, they made a good decision getting us back into play. Seems like we're all going to finish now.

But it's always a bit awkward when you have it going and then you have to get away for an hour and a half. So it stopped the momentum a little bit.

Q. Was the course different? What way was the wind going, change and everything else?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, the wind changed a bit. Came more out of the south and southeast. Yeah, you know, it's just a little awkward now because it's not a normal round of golf. You're kind of looking at the leaderboard, not sure what's going to happen for the rest of the event, so I was pushing a little bit to make birdies to try and get close to the leaders.

So it was a little awkward, but I'm happy where I'm at.

Q. You excited for the weekend right in the middle of this thing?

ERNIE ELS: I am now, so it's a lot better than where I was yesterday. Even with that bogey on 9, I'm where I want to be. You know, I can kind of be seeing what the leader is doing tomorrow and hopefully I have a good round. He's playing good. All the guys are playing well.

So I think depending on weather, if the weather is good the guys will go low. The course is so good. So we'll see.