THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 18, 2025

Sepp Straka

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Back-to-back 64s here at La Quinta. How was this round different from Stadium yesterday?

SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, it was very different. Honestly, off the tee it's a little more, I guess, a little tighter. It's not as much penalty areas out here as there is at Stadium, but you still have to drive it really well. I did that great today. Iron play was not as good today as yesterday, had to make a lot of putts, fortunately the putter was really hot, especially early in the round.

Q. You kept it bogey-free for 54 holes, you came to that last hole and hit it left off the tee. Describe that last hole.

SEPP STRAKA: Pulled my 3-wood a little bit. It's one of those great holes out here at LaQuinta where it kind of pinches in, and the further up you try to push it, the tighter it gets. I tried to hit a 3-wood down there and just pulled it a hair, and, yeah, didn't really have anything from there. Hit a pretty good shot just to get it 10 yards short of the green. Yeah, hit a really nice wedge shot in there, so that was nice to see to finish the day.

Q. Just talk about going into tomorrow, looks like you might have a 3-, 4-shot lead. Got a couple of guys chasing you that are hungry as well, some interesting guys, all got stories, what do you look for to tomorrow to battle it out with these guys?

SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, I think Stadium's the type of course where no lead's safe. I think my first win I got at Honda it's a very similar golf course, and there I think five shots back at the start of the day. So there's no lead is safe, you just got to keep hitting your spots, and you really got to strike the ball well out there, so that's really what I'm looking for tomorrow is just a good solid ball-striking round.

Q. When you look at the guys near the lead, Charley Hoffman, who won here in his first start, 15, 16 years ago, whatever it was, a long time ago, and he's looking to capture that again, he's right there. You got Jason Day who is having a resurgence. Justin Lower who is looking for his first win. What is that like when you're competing against guys like that when you're already a two-time winner?

SEPP STRAKA: It's amazing, it's a very fun leaderboard to look at. I played with Charley last week, yeah, he said he's feeling good, so any time his body's feeling good he's kind of dangerous. Yeah, it's a great leaderboard, a lot of great players, it's just such a, it's a deep, deep tour, and so many good players out there and yeah, it will be, should be a fun Sunday.

Q. Just a bit of fun too finally, you got a new look going, a few people have commented on it, what's the story?

SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, no, I was kind of losing my hair, so I figured I would get in front of it, so yeah, just go ahead and shaved it off.

Q. Played with Brian Harman today, did he give you any advice?

SEPP STRAKA: He was actually one of the guys that kind of convinced me. He kept telling me for years, he said, It's going to go at some point, and once I realized that he was right I figured I might as well just go ahead and bite the bullet and shave it off.

Q. What's the plan for tonight?

SEPP STRAKA: I'll head back over to Stadium and get some physio work done, then just go back to the house, there's some football on tonight, and a couple of guys that I'm staying with will be fun to watch it with.