MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 5, 2021

Patrick Cantlay

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Very pleased to have Patrick Cantlay join us in the interview room today. And, Patrick, welcome to your fifth Masters. You've gotten off to a pretty nice start this year. You had a second-place finish at the American Express. You had a tie for third at Pebble Beach at the AT&T. What have you been doing to get your game in shape for this week?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I feel -- it feels like just the continuation of a really long season. It feels like we were here not too long ago. I was up last week. I played Wednesday, Thursday up here with a friend of mine, and it was fantastic.

So just getting acclimated with the place. It's nice to see it firm and fast. I think we're going to have a firm and fast week. Just really looking forward to it. It's nice being here, and it's nice being here in the spring.

THE MODERATOR: Well, you've, over the past couple Masters, shown some excellent play, three rounds in the 60s, had a 66 in the second round just back in November. What do you take from those last two tournaments here, and how do you approach this week given the experiences you've had?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think the more -- just the more I play this place, the more I get comfortable with the shots, and I think I've tried to draw a lot on Fred Couples' knowledge and some of the other guys' knowledge, and just little things, picking even just the shot they might play on a certain hole or how they see it. Fred and I played today, and we beat up on Xander and Max Homa. Not surprising Fred birdied 16 and 18. We had a great time.

Just feeling comfortable with the place and really picturing -- getting a good picture in your head when you have to hit those certain shots, and I think confidence builds on itself around here. You hit those shots really well a few times in pressure situations, and that builds that picture and reinforces it even better, and you just take that every year going forward.

Q. Can you give us an example of shots that made you uncomfortable when you first got here and how you are now comfortable with them, if you are?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think the way I think about some of the tee shots, the 10th hole, I used to think I wanted to hit a driver like way down the first time I saw it as an amateur and get a short club in there, but a 3-wood goes almost to the same spot and it's so much easier to hit in the fairway.

The tee shot on 7 is kind of tough. The hole looks like a fade to me, but whenever I try and hit the fade, I always pull it in the left trees, so I just try and hit a draw down there, my normal swing.

I noticed a lot of shots around here, I almost imagined being a shot-maker almost too much, and so now just getting comfortable with more my stock shot wherever it fits. And the golf course is so big that there's a lot of space for your stock shot. You can get trapped into thinking you need to play a fade in the 13th fairway. But with the ball being above your feet, it's more side-hill, up top and above your feet, it's hard to hit a fade. So even though the shot going into the green looks like you think you would want it.

So just really realizing that you don't need to curve the ball as much as you would imagine growing up watching it on TV.

Q. What would you consider the single greatest piece of advice Fred has given you, and did he complete the sentence when he gave it to you?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I think Fred is really good at hitting his shots at the right weight, and where does that talent come, from it's a good question. I've been talking with him about that lately. We've played a few rounds in the last month together, and I think he instinctively picks the right shot a lot and he'll pick the right club more often than other people.

So he thinks about picking the right club, where if I leave it out there, it's in a decent spot, and if I pull it a little bit, I can hit this as hard as I want and maybe it will go ten feet past.

So really seeing how much more cerebral he is than maybe you would imagine. I mean, people think, oh, he's a freak, he just hits it close because he can feel it from 175. But it's not as much that. I think instinctively he picks the right shot a lot, either a draw or a fade, and then he puts the right input into his brain where I can swing this really full and free and I've got the right club, so at worst it's going to go 10 or 12 feet past. And he ends up hitting -- even when he's hitting 4- or 5-irons, he hits it pin-high a lot, which is impressive.

Q. Playing this specific golf course when you try to come up with places to miss, is this the one golf course where you would consider those options on most greens where maybe other golf courses you're not looking at those?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I said before, I think this place is a series of red, yellow and green lights. Not as many yellows as red or greens, but when you do get on a red hole location, which would be like a back left hole location on the sixth hole, guys just aren't making birdie to the back left hole location on the sixth hole, especially if it's firm.

So it frees yourself up trying to hit it to that bottom left section and leave yourself 35 feet up the hill or 40 feet up the hill. So that would be a situation where you're leaving it in the correct spot. And maybe you make a 40-footer, but knowing that you're trying to hit it to 40 feet, because this is what the hole requires for playing it good every time you play, almost frees you up for the 40-footer.

Now all of a sudden you don't get the 40-footer and think, you know, I didn't get it up on that top shelf. You were expecting 40 feet.

I think thinking about this golf course more and more, that's how I've leaned towards or gone towards, almost accepting that when it's back left on 6, I mean, 40 feet up the hill is exactly where I should be.

Q. Guys have talked about this before, I know COVID testing has become second nature, but heading into an event like this or other majors, is it a bit more nervy waiting for the results?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Not really. It sounds silly, but I've tested negative almost every time, so, you know, I haven't missed a tournament. It feels like I've gone 20 tournaments or 25, and we're pretty safe. I don't -- I would be surprised if I tested positive this week, so I wasn't too worried.

Q. You obviously had a chance to win here in 2019. Curious which round, whether it was regular PGA TOUR event or major championship, do you think has proved most valuable to you in terms of just like a learning experience?

PATRICK CANTLAY: That's a good question. I can't -- I can't pin it on a particular round. But being able to play all the tournaments and knowing the courses that I like and knowing how to play those golf courses is by far the biggest difference the last couple years, opposed to the years before that.

I've said it before, but I think that gets overlooked, which makes it impressive that the young guys lately have been playing so well coming out.

Q. You said playing up here last week, you enjoyed the fact it was firm and fast, and I think you said after the final round last year, you weren't surprised somebody shot 20-under. Did you miss the challenge of the firm and fast, and how do you expect the course to play this year?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Looking at the forecast, I think it will definitely be firmer and faster.

The November one I kind of set aside. I thought it was fantastic that we were able to just get the event in that year, and I think Dustin's 20-under record will be pretty safe for many years to come.

So this week, I expect it to get really firm and fast, and I think that's when this golf course shines. I mean, everyone loves seeing the chips and putts that seem to trickle out forever and take forever to get to the hole, and that really brings out the great design that the golf course is.

And so I'm looking forward to the challenge that that is, and it puts a premium even more on controlling your golf ball, which I think is one of my strengths.

Q. On the stock shot, was that something that someone gave you or you kind of came to your own conclusion, and when did you kind of come to that conclusion?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I don't think I really got it from anybody. Just like I said, I think I -- I think growing up, I imagined trying to hit the shot that fit the hole perfect on every hole, and this golf course, because I've seen it so much on TV, maybe I had more of an idea of what I should do when I got here even the first time.

So when you're out there, it really is a big ballpark, so the really only closet tee shot might be the 18th hole where it feels like you've really got to hit your line. But other than that you can hit almost whatever shape off the tee you want. You hear a lot about guys saying you need to turn it right-to-left, but there's been plenty of guys that have hit it left-to-right and played just fine here and won.

So I think that's just because it's such a big golf course you can hit whatever shot you want. The ball doesn't curve as much as it used to, and guys are hitting it higher and straighter now more than ever.

Stock shot for me is whatever shot I'm most comfortable with that day that I know I can pull off the most amount of times. And so, I mean, it makes sense. The more often I can hit that shot in general, the better I should play.

Q. What was the genesis of the relationship with Freddie, and did you grow up much of a fan of his?

PATRICK CANTLAY: For sure. He's always been one of the coolest golfers maybe all time. Growing up watching Shell's Wonderful World of Golf, I think he won almost every one he played, except maybe one against Phil, and I think he played more than anybody else. I watched those growing up.

And he's been in Newport Beach now for a while, and I lived there before I moved to Florida. We played a lot, especially when I was getting back right before I came back, and then that first couple years we played almost every Sunday when I was home.

And he's just always been really kind, and he's awesome to hang with. And so it's been really cool to grow up watching him and then meet him and he's everything you would imagine and everything you would want and more because he's such a nice, smart, cool guy.

And he really does -- it's funny, I feel like when we were at Presidents Cup in Melbourne, I remember sitting in the team room when everybody was in there for a meeting or dinner or something, and I thought, if Tiger wasn't here, and everyone put away their ego, even Tiger; if everyone was picking, if I could go to dinner with one guy in the room, it would be Fred, and you could feel that.

He's just great.

Q. Georgia is having a debate on this new elections law, and you probably saw baseball intervene on Friday, and there are calls for golf to get involved. Do you think it should?

PATRICK CANTLAY: You know, I don't know enough about that. I do know that this tournament in particular does a ton for the community; so that's obvious and important for the folks around here.

I know the tournament is big into doing great things for Augusta, and I think it's a net positive for sure that we're playing and the fact that they do so much for the surrounding area and for growing the game.

I mean, First Tee and everything has been a massive success -- or I should say Drive, Chip & Putt. Drive, Chip & Putt has been a massive success. And watching it yesterday, it's cool to see all of them come around and be able to experience the joy of this place.

Q. What does it mean to have the Patrons back?

PATRICK CANTLAY: They are great here. I think the no cell phones is amazing. It's so refreshing. Everyone is way more interactive and polite as far as the Patrons as a whole compared to other tournaments. It just is a great atmosphere. I know we are only at a limited capacity, but these are the best fans or Patrons of the year.

So it's nice to have them back, at least a little bit, and can't wait until they can get back 100 percent.

Q. You played the first two, I think the first three days with DJ last year. Just watching him pick it apart, what did you learn from that experience?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I think he played great, obviously. We were tied or maybe I was one back after 36 holes, and then Saturday morning he just came out and I think he birdied maybe four of the first six or four of the first seven or something like that. That was impressive because the course was playing more difficult that day. It was a little windier.

I think he did a good job of -- he drove the ball really well and he would kind of do what I said. He didn't try and ever turn it over right-to-left. He always hit that little cut that he plays all the time, and he either played a smaller one that was a little low, like he would hit that off the 17th hole or he would air it out on some of the other holes.

I think -- I didn't see him play Sunday, but the way he played the first three days, how well he drove it, it's no surprise that he was able to shoot a low score.

Q. Why is this a good venue for you to win?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I think premium on controlling your golf ball and playing smart, which I think are some of my strengths.

And then I love fast, old-school putting greens. And so this is the, you know, apex of that. It's the most undulated, in general, fastest greens we play all year. It feels easier for me to make putts when it's like that, and I look forward to that every time I come here.

THE MODERATOR: On that note, we appreciate your time today and wish you the very best this week.