AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 11, 2025

Joe Pavelski

Edgewood Tahoe

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have our tournament leader after the first round. Joe Pavelski with 23 points today. Great round. Take us through it.

JOE PAVELSKI: The round was good. Obviously first tee, first round, excitement was there. Nerves were there. Hit a good one out, hit it to 12, 15 feet; missed the putt. Hit a decent little putt. It didn't go in. Anything I hit close today within 10, 12 feet, I didn't make. Made around three of them that were around 20, 25 feet. Made it on 5 and 6, I think it was, and then kind of got one on 10 and went from there.

I think the biggest thing that I'd like back from it is the par-5s. Made three pars and a bogey. It was a chance to be really good, but the leader in the clubhouse, not going to complain a whole lot.

Q. Looks like you've got a lot of good players at the top nipping at your heels that have been in the hunt before in this event. Obviously you've got Steph. You have Vinny. So the competition's going to be coming at you. You've been here now for a number of years. You've been getting better and better every year, finishing higher and higher every year. You seem to be playing with a lot more confidence.

JOE PAVELSKI: I think it's year nine, actually. Played with Vinny a day or two when he won it. Got to see what kind of he was doing. Played with Steph. Play with some of these guys that have won it, try to get there.

You definitely understand the competitors that are out there and the golfers and their skill level that they can turn it on, especially with the Stableford deal. So you've got keep hitting shots, stay committed to the hole you're playing. Hit those shots. When you get those looks -- like, I had enough looks today, I should have got another one or two. That's the greedy part of you as an athlete and competitor, is you always want a little bit more and want to try to create as much as you can, as much gap. But in a really good spot.

Q. It's been a few years since we've had a hockey player win this. What would it mean to you to keep that, raise that flag?

JOE PAVELSKI: It would be good. I got a few texts from the hockey guys, Quinny, who 's won it five times. He is ready for another hockey guy to win it, that's for sure.

So there's a few guys that are kind of in our corner. It's always great. There's not a lot of us out here, but we have a great time when we are.

Been in contention enough. I look to kind of just keep my head forward and just moving and hit the shots and come up with a few big kind of moments along the way and hopefully be there at the end.

Q. The hockey guys are always the kind of quiet guys. What's it feel like underneath for you? You show calm and cool when you're coming down the fairways, when you're in the hunt, but what's it feel like?

JOE PAVELSKI: Fired up when the putt's going in. First tee shot, the nerves are there, which is awesome. You're building them up on the putting green today. It's like, it feels great to have this feeling again, get through that and get going.

But there was a stretch, I think throughout, coming down the last four or five holes, we had a couple little just waits and started to not lose the swing, but you kind of get out of rhythm a little bit, lose your couple swing thoughts. Try to jump back into it. Did a good job, had it a few good shots in there along the way. Didn't cash in on the putts. But overall, there's a lot of competitive juices going on, that's for sure.

Q. How does it feel to play now that you didn't have to go through your NHL season and get all banged and bruised?

JOE PAVELSKI: It feels great. I think the best part about it is I've been able to play more golf back home. You're not waiting to -- an NHL season would end and it was kind of the shock or disappointment from the season, and then you spend four or five days to a week packing up the house and making plans, are the kids still in school or not. You get back a couple weeks later to the summer home in Wisconsin, and then you feel like you're catching your breath and start playing.

Now you're just looking for any sort of nice weather to get out and play in Wisconsin early on. There's definitely been a lot more golf.

Q. When in Wisconsin are you able to start playing golf?

JOE PAVELSKI: I'm trying to think when it was. Probably May, end of April. Kind of the end of April, May, but it's definitely cold out there and the greens aren't great.

When you're playing golf and the greens are slow, they're protecting them in that weather, it's not as much fun as when they're rolling like they are here.

Q. Curious how you developed a golf swing while you were playing hockey, and is it easier or more difficult comparing a golf swing to a slap shot?

JOE PAVELSKI: I haven't really compared it a whole lot. Obviously the impact position is similar. I think just growing up, it was a sport, dad got us into some of the public junior lessons, the Friday three-hole junior deals, just learned to love to play the game then. Get your membership and mom would drop you off at the course and play a lot.

I think one of the greatest things with hockey, if you do love the game, like the offseason's line up great; you're home for summer and you get your training in and then you can go out and play.

I was always able to kind of get my game to a pretty respectful level in the summers, and then you'd go back for the season and try to play when you could, especially being in San Jose.

Then in Dallas, there were some days where we had some decent weather.