FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2024

Chris Kirk

TPC Southwind

Quick Quotes

Q. You were trying to play even keeled kind of golf until something happened at 14. Can you give us the club and the yardage?

CHRIS KIRK: Sure. The adjusted number I think was 200 or 201. We had it a little bit down the hill, just a breath of breeze off the right, and 6-iron for me, which was, in this heat, it's a perfect number. I'm usually around 196 or 197 with a 6-iron. Everything is going a couple yards further with the heat this week. Great number. I was looking a little further left than that with water on the right, but as soon as I hit it, I hit it just how I wanted to contact-wise, looked up, saw it started a touch right but was drawing right back to it. Yeah, nice bonus.

Q. Can you talk about the rest of the round? It was obviously very good other than I know you're disappointed in 18.

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I hit a lot of good shots coming in and just didn't quite -- I would have loved to have gotten one on 16 and at least made a par on 18. That tee shot on 18 is so hard. I played with Pendy who that 315 cover on the left is no problem for him, but I don't have that. I can fly it 300, 305. I'm trying to fit a 3-wood in there on that right side and hit one five or eight yards right of where I was looking and got a firm kick to the right and ended up in a bad spot in that bunker, and it is what it is. Yeah, it can be a little bit difficult sometimes. After my little even-keeled boring golf that I was just cruising along and then you make a hole-in-one on a hole like that especially, it just kind of can be a little bit of a challenge to get back down to the ground and get back into your process.

I did the best I could, and overall really solid day.

Q. How many have you had?

CHRIS KIRK: I think nine. I need to go back and -- I remember the first few really well and then there's some that I have to kind of be reminded of a little bit of where I made them. But I'm pretty sure that's the right number, nine.

Q. After your win earlier this season, it's been kind of an up-and-down season. Do you think you've found something out here today?

CHRIS KIRK: I just feel really physically good and rested. I've had five of the last six weeks off, which for me after playing a lot this summer -- I'm getting old. I need my best. I was able to spend a lot of time at home with my family, which was fantastic, and able to get in the gym and get back to the weight that I like to be at. So I feel rested, I feel physically good, I feel mentally excited to be here. That's obviously really important for me.

Q. This is your sixth tournament here but your best round so far. How were you able to build off the success of previous years at this course and put that into today's round?

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I definitely like -- there's a lot of things that I like about playing here. The Bermuda greens are always kind of my best surface, so I feel confident in my putting coming in here. I've had a tendency to play well in really warm temperatures, too. Not exactly sure why that is. My back hurts a lot less; I know that.

Just being in the south, from Georgia, I'm just comfortable here, and a golf course that I really like.

Q. You said you enjoy the putting surfaces here. I spoke with Michael earlier and he said he surprised you with a new putter this week. How is that going for you?

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, I like it. The putter I'm using was something that Michael, my caddie -- it was kind of his idea, along with Cody Hale, the Odyssey rep that we work with, and they kind of got together and talked about something that they thought I would like, had some similarities to one that I've had some success with in the past, but a little bit kind of added stability versus the one that I was putting with, that I used at the U.S. Open and through the British Open. It was a putter that I got 10 plus years ago. So just kind of an updated technology version of that.

But yeah, it feels great. Michael is doing a really good job with AimPoint, which is kind of new for us. So yeah, people watching on TV at home at The Open were kind of laughing because they see me -- Michael is reading the putt, I don't like for him to hold the flag while he's doing it because I feel like it might mess up his balance a little bit, so I'm off to the side holding the flag looking in the crowd or whatever, just waiting for him to point at where he wants me to line the line up.

It's gone really well. It mentally has been very freeing for me because I can just focus on hitting a good putt down that line and watching that line spiral. I've really enjoyed the change, and today was certainly a good day for it.

Q. What's the putter model?

CHRIS KIRK: It's the Chris Kirk model, I guess. No, it's a variation of a No. 7 with a like a custom neck and a custom paint job on it a little bit. But Odyssey No. 7 is what it started with.

Q. Chris Kirk No. 7?

CHRIS KIRK: It's the Chris Kirk No. 7.

Q. Being a Georgia boy, you've got a few more Saturdays before you guys kick off --

CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, two weeks.

Q. I know you guys are excited. Do you think the newcomers are ready for big boy football in the SEC?

CHRIS KIRK: I think some of them are, yeah. I think Texas is a pretty legit team. They showed that last year. But yeah, I think it will be very interesting to see how they react to a full SEC schedule. That's kind of a different animal a little bit where you don't have -- we obviously schedule some out-of-conference kind of easier games, but you play a game against Kentucky or Mississippi State or a team like that, then you think, oh, I'm just going to go walk all over these guys, and they'll beat you if you're not ready for it.

I'm as excited to watch as everybody else is.