SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 17, 2026

Davis Riley

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Davis, something kind of click the last six, seven holes with those four birdies?

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. I definitely started feeling it with the swing. Early on got off to a slow start and definitely wasn't an ideal start. In those conditions you want to get off to a fast start, especially the first couple holes. You get some pars on those first five holes you feel like you can put together a pretty good rounds coming in.

Yeah, I just started feeling really good with the swing and I was hitting my start lines. That's the biggest thing in this wind, is hit your start lines and control the curvature, and I felt like I was hitting some really good hold shots against the wind and hitting my start lines.

Yeah, I mean, priority No. 1 was hitting the fairway. Feel like when I'm hitting the fairway around here my irons feel pretty good, so I feel like that opens up the rest of my game.

Q. What did you tell yourself on the fourth tee box after the rough start? Was there any moment where you said, okay, just got to keep grinding?

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. I could feel myself a little tense or trying to force it a little early just because we're coming off the offseason. We hadn't had really any competitive juices like this in a couple months. I definitely felt like I was forcing it a little bit early and trying to be a little perfect and I just felt a little tense.

I think the slow start settled me in and I started really getting detailed on my targets, seeing start lines and curvature. Yeah, I defensively settled in nicely and I started to just free up my swing a little bit.

Q. Another wonderful putting day for you today. Just does the hole look big right now with the way you feel over your putts?

DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, I've got this new putter in the bag and the way it's coming off the face, I mean, the best way to describe it is the stroke I'm making is just matching perfectly the speed and start line I'm seeing.

Whenever you have that, I just feel really comfortable on the greens and I feel like I've got a good bearing for how to play a lot of these winds on the greens.

That's the biggest thing, is putting is so hard when you get in these windy conditions because not only do you have the slow break, you've got to take into account how much wind affect there is going to be.

There is a lot of guesswork going on on that front and I feel like got a good feel of how to play these winds and play these crosswind and downwind and into-the-wind putts.

Q. What's the biggest thing you bring to the golf course tomorrow in hopes of hoisting the trophy at the end of the day?

DAVIS RILEY: For the golf for me tomorrow is try to do what I did on the back nine today. After the slow start I told myself to keep playing. I've hit plenty of sloppy shots the first three day, but I've just stayed in and recovered when I'm out of position, and then I've really just capitalized when I've been in position.

So it's tough. There is wind. There is going to be bad shots. You got to make some gritty pars in these conditions and just try to make some putts on these fast greens in crosswinds in tough putting conditions when you have a chance.