BLACK DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP

October 10, 2024

Zac Blair

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you assess the day?

ZAC BLAIR: It was awesome having a bunch of people out there, and hopefully it turns out to be a good week.

Q. What was the course like in competition?

ZAC BLAIR: It's pretty soft. It was really soft Monday. It's gotten a little firmer by today. But greens got pretty tough to putt out there towards the end, and honestly, the wind got blowing really hard on 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, which it was like perfect weather until then, like hardly any wind, very scorable. It was too bad to catch that bit of wind towards the end of the round. But the course was good. A lot of birdie opportunities if you keep it in grass. We'll see how it goes the rest of the week.

Q. You had a lot of shape on your card, up and down. Ended up being 34 front, 34 back. But those holes on the back, was it the wind that made the difference there for you?

ZAC BLAIR: You know, 15 I tried to just kind of hold one up against the wind and just get one pin high right and just kind of lost it up with the wind. Again, it was blowing pretty hard. I should have maybe just aimed at the left edge of the green and kind of let it take it.

Then on the next hole, on 16, I thought I hit a really good one kind of again, just tried to play pretty safe, get it on the front corner of the green, and the wind kind of ate that one up and kicked it right and got a tough kick. Just wish I would have maybe played a little bit more aggressive on both shots.

Q. Going back to your amateur days, you played a lot and won a lot in this town. Is there a comfort level with that for you?

ZAC BLAIR: Yeah, it's always nice coming down here. My dad lives down here. He has for a long time. Golf is always fun down here. Hopefully can go rally for the next couple days and get another one.

Q. What would you like to see the future of this event become? Would you like this to be in the spring, or what would you like to see out of this TOUR stop?

ZAC BLAIR: I mean, fall is pretty incredible down here. It doesn't get much better. It's a little unusually hot right now, which is better than cold, but I think this is a perfect kind of fall stop.

Q. What does it feel like compared to other PGA TOUR events?

ZAC BLAIR: New. Everyone trying to kind of figure out what's going on. Everyone is trying to figure out the golf course.

Again, it was really cool kind of seeing so many people out there. You've got a bunch of people volunteering, a bunch of people from Utah and other places coming to help out and come and watch. They love golf down here, and they love golf in Utah. It's fun to see all the faces out here.

Q. How many times have you played this course, and what's your familiarity with it?

ZAC BLAIR: Monday was my first time. It just kind of never really worked out to get down here. Just so busy all the time and traveling everywhere. I live about four hours away, so it's close but kind of like rather hang out with my kids.

Q. Are you playing a full season this year?

ZAC BLAIR: Yeah, so I don't know, I've probably played 24 events or something like that.

Q. A full season in, after the major medical, how is your shoulder?

ZAC BLAIR: Actually last week was kind of the first time that it was really not great. I had to go get an MRI this week on Tuesday, and it came back okay for my labrum. But we'll see. It was really the first time last week in Jackson where it was like, it doesn't feel awesome.

Q. Is it pain?

ZAC BLAIR: I don't really know what it is. I went in to see if it was a torn labrum because it kind of felt like that's what it was, but they said it wasn't, which there were some other things they said that maybe I'll go get it checked out after Vegas next week. But overall it feels good. It was kind of one of those things where it was hurting for a few days, went and got that done, and found out it wasn't a torn labrum again and was like, oh, my shoulder is better. It was a little sore out there the last few days.