MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 4, 2023

Patrick Cantlay

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Very pleased to welcome Patrick Cantlay to the interview room.

Patrick, welcome back to the Masters.

PATRICK CANTLAY: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Patrick is currently ranked No. 4 in the world. Actually, for the last four consecutive years, you've been ranked in the top 10 in the world. This is your seventh Masters. You've had some great rounds in the past. How does that prepare you for this week?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Not much new about the golf course this year, 13 and 7 green, so spent a little bit more time on those holes, and golf course seems to be in really good shape. But it looks like it will be soft this year. So should be good.

Q. I think because of your measured demeanor, people think golf-wise you're a tactician, Point A to Point B. Are they right about that, or are they undervaluing your artistry?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure. I don't think about too much. I feel like I try to be pretty aggressive off the tee. Out here that's really not different than anybody else. There's a lot of drivers around this golf course. And then I try to hit smart shots coming into the greens and leave myself good looks, and that's really important here.

I think putting from below the hole is really important here, and leaving yourself in the correct spots when you do miss is really important as well.

Q. What was your pre-Masters preparation? Did you come here ahead of time?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I came about ten days ago and played a couple rounds. It was raining. One of the rounds I played with Adam Scott one day. Watched him make a hole-in-one on No. 6. We had a really nice time.

Q. I've heard you say over the years that you basically treat every tournament the same year; is that fair?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah.

Q. Is that important to you here, practice round ahead of time notwithstanding, to treat this like a normal week, and what do you think that does for you?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think that this golf course changes the most of any golf course year-to-year, and then this week is obviously really busy when we're out here. There's more people out than other practice rounds.

And the week tends to be very long. So opposed to coming in on Sunday and playing then and seeing the changes, I like to see them beforehand. Then once tournament week comes around, have my schedule be the same as any other week.

Q. The first tee, is that about as excitable as you get on the first tee on Thursday as you would be at Pebble, Riviera, wherever?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Maybe a little. Yeah, there's something really special about the tournament and the golf course, considering all the greats that have played here. I think all of us that play the tournament feel that.

Q. Going back to the weekend in '19, 64, 68 on the weekend, in the hunt. When you left here that year, could you not wait to get back? Were you like, okay, this tournament is something I can win?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, definitely. I think I said before that coming back to the same golf course year after year is unique to this tournament as far as majors go. The more good experiences you can have out here, I think benefits you going forward.

And so I definitely try and draw on experiences like that weekend and know that I can do it. So you know, it's also a golf course that I really like so if I can stack up a bunch of good shots over the years, that should only help in the future.

Q. That being the case, what has not happened the last two years here? Is it anything in your game or just you haven't played well on this week?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't think you're going to play well every time you tee it up, and I think you have to accept that.

You know, you try and throw out those years and just remember the good memories and think about more what you want to do, not, you know, what you're worried about not doing.

Q. We heard a lot about the change at 13 this week but haven't heard as much about 7 green. What did you find there?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think 7 got a little more manageable to putt around that green. It was very extreme before. It's still kept a lot of the same slopes but I think softened it a little bit.

So I think you will see balls won't feed back as much to that Sunday hole location on the right, and then also it should be easier to putt from down to the right up to the left. Before, that putt was really tricky because it crested and then went straight downhill. It still does that but is a little less.

Q. Do you find the changes every year, big or subtle, keep players sharp as you come here and rediscover what the new Augusta will be?

PATRICK CANTLAY: We've heard so much about hearing how the putts break over the years and how there was an advantage to the guys seeing the same putt year after year. Since I started playing the tournament, they have redone darn near every green on the golf course in the last ten years. So that is kind of out the window with all the greens that they redo.

So I think you just have to re-learn it and almost try to forget about historical putts on some of the greens. 17, the green is wildly different compared to when I first came to the golf course and played it in 2012. It's hard to see on TV, but you can definitely notice it when you're up there on the green.

Q. As a member of the TOUR's board, you've earned a reputation as driving a pretty hard bargain. How seriously do you take this role in shaping TOUR policy?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I take that role very seriously. I think it's important for the players to do their best to be informed and then also to do their best to serve in that capacity if they are going to take on that role.

So I take it very seriously, and I'm just getting underway. I've had one board meeting so far and a couple more this year, so I'm looking forward to getting more into it.

Q. Just a quick follow-up on that. What are your feelings about opposite events? Do you think they dilute the TOUR product in any way?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure. I do know the TOUR has a lot of events, and you know, it seems like there's a tournament almost every week. I'm not sure about opposite events. I don't think I've spent too much time thinking about that in particular. I'm more focused on the recent months, the changes that you saw maybe a month or two ago.

Q. So following up on what you said on what has been a longer week, the weather is going to be there and it's going to be tough, so everybody talks about patience, but I wonder what that patience means to you, and if you can give me examples of what you do this week on and off the course to stay patient?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think it will be a long week. Usually when there's weather, the rounds drag on and it looks like there may be some delays as well. I imagine the golf course will play particularly long this year. And so I don't think that you'll see guys go for as many of the par 5s as usually see. Like if we play 13 or 15 with any type of rain, I doubt very many guys will go for those greens.

So I think not forcing the issue all week will be really important and kind of relying on your wedge game on the par 5s and not trying to take on more than you can when the conditions are less than ideal.

Q. Two things. There's been two references already today about your reputation or how the public perceives you. How do you think they should perceive you? What do you think your reputation should be? Work with me a bit on this.

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure it's my place to decide what people perceive me as. I try to be as genuinely myself as possible. I think those that know me, I keep a pretty tight circle, and in general, you know, the people that are closest to me are the people that I trust and then I kind of let my guard down.

But for most other people, I have a pretty decent guard up, and that's just kind of how I've always been. I don't worry too much about how people are perceiving me.

Q. Secondly, a bad follow-up, but I wonder if you can kind of elaborate on some of your thoughts on the USGA proposal on the golf ball. What do you anticipate happening by the end of the year, by August, on the modified local rule?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure what will happen. There's a decent chunk of time between now and when they are proposing to implement. So I'm not sure, and we haven't had a board meeting since they came out with this proposal.

I see a lot more problems with it than I see good that will come out of it. It's a rule that to me seems to primarily affect professional golfers, and I don't see any positives for professional golfers if this rule were to be implemented. So I'm not sure how it will turn out. But there's a decent, like I said, amount of time between now and when the proposal would go into effect.

Q. What would be your biggest argument against?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I think I have a few. But I don't see how it's reasonable to have the manufacturers spend tens of millions of dollars on creating a golf ball for people whose livelihood depends on the golf ball being as good as it could be and then have zero ROI on that golf ball. It just doesn't make any sort of sense to me, and I think that's the worst -- I think that's the worst part about it.

And not only that, but if you're not going to make it for everybody; so it would be such a bad idea for the amateur golfer to do it, that then it's definitely a bad idea for the pros. It's hard for me to imagine that people that are thinking about this rule say golf is in such a good spot right now, we can't touch it for the amateurs, but we are going to do it for the pros? I mean, I think it's a very small amount of golf courses that the pros play and play tournaments on.

And then for them to come out and say, you know, the game is under threat because guys are hitting it too far, I think, that's, you know, searching for a problem more than identifying a big problem for the game of golf. And bifurcation I don't think is good for anybody that plays the game.

Q. Why do you think they did it then?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure. I mean, I haven't heard the USGA in person tell me different reasons. It seems to me that they have an obsession with par, and it seems like they will do anything to get a golf tournament back to par. And we have seen that through setups, setups that have been messed up to be honest. And it seems like now they are trying to maybe go at it from a different angle and just have the guys hit it shorter.

Q. And you're No. 4 in the world, but the guys ahead of you, there's been some talk of like a big three or those guys that are really playing at a high level. Does that motivate you at all?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I don't think much about it but definitely when I see other people win golf tournaments, it makes me hungrier to go out and win golf tournaments.

Those three have played exceptionally well the last couple years and they have won a lot of big tournaments. So I think it's rightfully so and understandable that people refer to them that way.

Q. We've asked you before about your relationship with Xander, being able to share time and travel with a fellow competitor, what are the advantages, and is there any disadvantages?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I don't think there's many disadvantages. We've played a couple tournaments last year on Sunday where we were both in contention, and he got me once and I got him once.

You know, I think there's a lot of advantages. I think playing together as much as we do is good because he's one of the best players in the world, and the more you can expose yourself to players that are playing really good golf, I think it normalizes it is for you.

But more than that having, a friend out here, we are out 22, 23 weeks out of the year, away from home, so having someone to go out to dinner with and play practice rounds with has been really great for me.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time, Patrick, we wish you the very best this week.