PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 15, 2025

Eric Cole

Quail Hollow Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You don't have to buy drinks for everybody, do you?

ERIC COLE: No, I put my caddie in charge of getting some beers for the caddies and maybe some of you media guys, you never know.

Q. What was the yardage and what did you hit?

ERIC COLE: It was 184, I think, and it was a 7-iron. It was kind of like right on the edge whether it was enough club or not, so kind of hit a little bigger draw with the wind than I normally do. I was concerned it might be a touch short, but then when I saw it land, figured it was going to be pretty good.

Q. People always ask, in competition -- you play so many tours. How many is this for you in competition?

ERIC COLE: I was thinking about it, I don't think I have any mini-tour hole-in-ones. I think I have two on Korn Ferry TOUR and this is my second on the PGA TOUR.

Q. When did you make the other one?

ERIC COLE: It was two years ago in New Orleans was my other one on the PGA TOUR.

Q. Did you finished 70?

ERIC COLE: Yeah, 1-under today. It was a tough course. The greens -- we kind of know it was going to happen, but it's still a little surprising with how wet everything is and how much rain we got to see the greens be that firm. But yeah, it was a very difficult course. Anything under par is good.

Q. Where did the dryness, firmness of the greens, good, bad, was it surprising and are you going in with more club?

ERIC COLE: Yeah, it's surprising if you -- I had played here before a few times in the tournament. Obviously this is a major, the PGA, and that's kind of a staple of this course is firm greens. I kind of figured it was going to happen. But it's still a little bit shocking when you see in the first couple holes the ball bouncing up in the air and everywhere else is so soft. It's still surprising, but we kind of knew it was coming.

Q. Did you do a good job of getting it in the fairway today?

ERIC COLE: Yeah, definitely. I did a decent job of it. A couple wild drives that I'd like to clean up. But overall it was not too bad.

Q. I know in the morning there were a few mud balls for a few players but maybe if they weren't so notable people wouldn't make a big deal of it?

ERIC COLE: I think it was right on the edge of whether they should have played it up or not. I think it was very subjective because we got a decent amount of mud on some shots and then we also had some that didn't. My opinion on whether we should have played it up or not is probably I think either way would have been -- I think you could have done it either way.

You're going to have mud balls if you play it down, but then you didn't necessarily have to play it up, either. It wasn't that bad. It was right on the edge.