COGNIZANT CLASSIC

February 26, 2026

Michael Brennan

PGA National Champion Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Really good round, especially once conditions got a little hairy out there. Just talk us through the day.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, first couple holes the wind was down but then it really picked up. I feel like we got a pretty good experience of what the Bear Trap was like for my first time going through it in this tournament, and it's tough. But yeah, really the whole course, there's not many gimme holes. It's a good test out there.

Q. Would you consider yourself kind of a good player in conditions like this? How do you feel about your game when the winds pick up?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, I like how I fare in the windy conditions. You've got to be able to hit the ball solid, but I feel like most guys would say the same thing. But it just takes a few different shots, maybe shape it a little bit more. It's an extra thing to play and judge. It's tougher because the wind is a little inconsistent.

I felt like with the south-southeast wind today, we had a lot of crosswinds. I didn't think many of the holes were kind of straight down, straight into, so it was really challenging trying to judge whether it was a little down off the right, a little into off the right because I felt like a lot of times it was really just straight off the right or straight off the left.

Q. Your driver is such a weapon. When it gets really windy like this, are you trying to shape the ball or do you try to take anything off of it? What's your approach on the tee?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, it kind of depends. I really love the wind off the right with driver because I'm maybe a natural cutter of the ball.

But on 18 today, wind was really hard off the right. The hole goes right to left, so I tried to use it to the best of my ability so I'm not really fighting it up into the wind and almost using it to get a little extra distance.

But it kind of depends on what the hole is asking.

Q. What's your experience like with Florida golf, courses like this, and do you like playing this style of golf?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, it's great. This golf course is amazing. It's in amazing shape right now, too. Greens are really pure, fairways are great. Rough is pretty thick around the greens in spots, so it's a really good test.

Yeah, we played a lot of college golf down here in Florida. I think some of the golf courses are really great.