MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2025

Davis Riley

Quick Quotes

Q. Davis, emotions heading into the 1st tee shot?

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, it was super exciting. I was super excited to get under way. Thought I handled my nerves very well. Got started out and got off to a decent start.

Kind of stumbled coming in, but I was pretty excited to get started. It was a dream come true.

Q. Did you do anything different to prepare for that shot? I know the practice area over there kind of simulates that 1st tee shot. Did you go over to that right side?

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, my last tee shot was down that right side that simulates 1. I hit a pretty good one and just tried to step up on the 1st tee and emulate that.

Kind of hit it a little left but made a nice par and settled into my round nicely after that.

Q. How long have you been thinking about this Masters debut? I didn't realize it was your first one because you had obviously won Zurich. I guess that didn't...

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, this was the first one. Yeah, this is one that I've had marked on the calendar for a long time, ever since winning Colonial.

Yeah, I was super excited to play my first one. It's a dream come true, like I said.

Q. Talk about how you've turned your game around. I think you WD'd from your first start of the year. Talk about what you were feeling then to now how you turned things around.

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, I was sick that first week. I had a WD late in the tournament. I've just historically never really played well on the West Coast, so I didn't really fret too much about it.

I just kind of kept chopping away and doing -- I wish I could say there was some magic pill I took or something, but I just kept plugging away and doing my process. Historically I've had a lot more success when I get towards the East Coast and playing Florida.

Yeah, I just kept plugging away and trusting the people around me. Stacked together a couple of nice weeks here recently.

Q. Did you change swing coaches in the last year or so?

DAVIS RILEY: Yes, I did. I made a switch beginning of last year.

Q. Who are you working with now?

DAVIS RILEY: Jeff Smith.

Q. What's been his, I guess -- what's been his kind of mantra to you? What do you always kind of hear from him in the back of your head when you're out there playing?

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, just simplifying things a little bit. It's pretty easy, just a little bit on my takeaway where the domino effect can get a little off.

I'm keeping it very simple, and I think for me simplicity goes a long ways. Then when I'm out here, I just don't really like to think about my swing. When I play, I like to be on autopilot. That's when I feel I play my best.

I feel like I'm kind of in that groove right now. Unfortunately, I didn't score well today. I had a chance to put together a really nice round. I just made some sloppy bogeys. But my game's there, and I'm excited to get going tomorrow.

Q. What is it about getting everything out of the round you want. Is it where you missed it? Just not understanding sometimes how to play the hole? How was it?

DAVIS RILEY: I made two bogeys coming in, missed some short putts. 17, I had a pretty easy two-putt from behind it, and that green was a little quicker than some of the others.

I knocked it four feet by and it was a really fast putt and tough putt coming back. Made a sloppy three-putt there from just off the fringe.

18, I was on that front right section. It was a tough little putt because it was like up and over and then down. It wasn't as quick as I thought. Just hit a bad four-footer from there.

Then just one or two bad tee shots. Just a culmination of things.

Q. You've mentioned the fact that you changed swing coaches about a year or so ago. What made you make that decision, first of all? Second of all, how do you make the decision on who to actually go to?

DAVIS RILEY: I've had some previous history with Jeff. I've worked with him for a handful of years up until when I made the switch. Yeah, we were familiar with each other. He knew a little of my swing DNA. He'd watched me play a lot of good golf, especially my rookie year.

So trying to get a little bit back to that form honestly. My ball striking was really good my rookie year. So I'm just trying to get back to some of those -- kind of that swing pattern I was making then, and I feel like we're right there.

My swing is in about as good a spot as I could ask for now. I just have to get out here and put together some good scores.

Q. Why did you leave Jeff then?

DAVIS RILEY: We went through a little rough patch, and we spent time together, and I wanted a fresh set of eyes and a second opinion. It worked out pretty good there for a little bit.

Then I was like, well, things aren't quite feeling right for me. So I went back to Jeff because we have a lot of history together. I think it was just really familiar for me.

Q. How do you keep from losing confidence when things aren't going well?

DAVIS RILEY: Honestly, it's hard -- I lost a lot of confidence when I was struggling. You've got to pull confidence from something.

At the end of the day, you can say results don't matter, but you can't just pull confidence out of thin air.

I was at a loss for confidence, and then you just kind of keep plugging away. Then you have a good round, and you're like, okay, now I've got a little bit of confidence. Yeah, that's just putting together good rounds.

After the West Coast, I put some good rounds together. I feel like I've got a ton of confidence. I was worries that the nerves might get the best of me starting out early.

Honestly, I felt incredible. I was ready to go and attack from the 1st hole. So I was really proud of the way I was able to show up in this atmosphere that's new for me, first time playing. I was ready to compete and ready to go put up a really good number.

Unfortunately, I stumbled a little bit and I was pretty sloppy. Overall, not a horrible day. It will be another chance tomorrow.