PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 15, 2025

Stephan Jaeger

Quail Hollow Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Stephan Jaeger is with us now at the 107th PGA Championship.

Stephan, a 67 for you to start things off. How would you summarize your day?

STEPHAN JAEGER: It was a solid day. I drove it nicely. Made some nice putts, momentum putts. Some of the par putts went in, and made a couple birdies on the back nine. Obviously a few in the front. Super happy with my day for sure.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about those birdies, especially the first three?

STEPHAN JAEGER: I had a nice 7-iron into 4 behind the hole, uphill putt. Pretty easy putt. That was the first putt I saw go in on the day, which was nice, and then stuck it pretty close on the next hole.

And then that following hole, I really had a good up-and-down, kind of back left of the green. Had like 90 feet for birdie.

To get that up-and-down in two was nice. Had a good drive on 7, which, you know, always makes that hole a little easier. I hit it just in that back left bunker. It was a pretty simple bunker shot.

You know, had I great chance on 8. That front part is pretty slopey. Misread that a little bit. But yeah, I kept the momentum going with a nice up-and-down on 9.

Hit it in a good spot in two on 10 and hit it pretty close. That was pretty easy birdies.

And then 11, 12, I had to kind of work a little bit for some pars, I guess -- yeah, 12 I made bogey. So 13 was a really good par save for me and made a couple birdies on those short -- the par 4 and the par 5.

Q. If you have to compare the conditions today to when you played here before in a regular TOUR event, what would you say?

STEPHAN JAEGER: The conditions are about as same. It's just not as firm. Normally we get a little lucky with the weather. Fairways bounce a little bit more normally than they do this week. It pretty much plugs every tee shot, for me anyways.

But that SubAir is going and the greens are going to get firmer and faster as the week goes on. They were manageable today. I felt like you could spin some and stop a mid-iron, but I know the weather looks pretty hot for the weekend. So it's going to be baked out by Sunday for sure.

Q. Congrats on an impressive round. If I told you when you woke up you would shoot 4-under par, what would you have said?

STEPHAN JAEGER: I would have taken it. I would have sat in the locker room and watched the guys play. This golf course is hard, it's long and plays even longer this week because it's wet. You have to be able to hit it in the fairways and decently long in the fairways so you can hold the greens with mid-irons rather than long irons.

Every time we play the championship we play here, Truist Championship now, it's less rough. Greens may be a little firmer. Like I said, they are going to get firm on the weekend. 4-under around this track, I'm always happy for sure.

Q. You keep being in contention in this event. There's something about the PGA Championship and you. What is it?

STEPHAN JAEGER: I was a little -- not disappointed, but I was a little surprised we played it down today. But normally I feel like the PGA does a really good job with setup. It's always fair. If they have the right golf courses, it's fair and hard.

Valhalla was soft, it was kind of a shootout last year, but that's just how it played.

I always feel like they set it up not ridiculously hard. They always give you a chance somewhere. You know, some golf courses, Oak Hill played really, really hard the first couple rounds until we had some rain.

But you know, this place, obviously, if it's firm and fast, this place is hard, too. I just like the way they set it up. Like I said, I was a little surprised we played it down. We had a bunch of mud balls out there. It is what it is.

It's a major championship. You kind of know going in that if there's any chance to play it down, we're going to play it down. We all get pretty decent at judging some of the mud stuff, but you're still hitting 215- to 220-yard 5-irons that you're trying to figure out the mud, right. It's hard enough as it is.

Long story short, I like the way they set it up. They always do a good job of making it fair but hard.