THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 14, 2026

Sudarshan Yellamaraju

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about your day today and what was working for you out there. Awesome round.

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: Early it was pretty solid, to be honest. Like I was saying, like so far this year, and just this round or this tournament, I've been kind of playing so-so golf, I should say. I knew my good game had not come yet. I knew I had to stay patient. Today kind of finally it came and hopefully that will carry over to tomorrow.

Q. What was working for you best today?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: Like I said, everything was pretty good. I feel like this course it's like everything has to be good. I drove it well, hit irons well to spots. Even when I missed the greens I hit a lot of good shots, I got up-and-down. Made a few putts when I needed to. Everything was just solid. That's kind of the golf course really, just everything needs to be really good to be able to score.

Q. Did you expect TPC Sawgrass to be a course that suits your game, with it being such a shot maker's course?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: At each course I go to I don't really think, Oh, this course suits me. I just find a way to adjust to it. This course, with the firm greens, the doglegs and the trees and stuff like that, yeah, you got to shape it a bit, and I know I like to shape it a bit because that's kind of what I like to do. I like to feel it out. But, you know, it's not an easy golf course, simply put. So, if it suits my game, I still got to go play really good.

Q. You got your card from KFT, number 19, snuck in the door there. You just really fought to make cuts this year getting the start here. Can you talk about what it's like to be on the edge of that all season and now to be competing at THE PLAYERS Championship?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: Yeah, obviously it's not a position I want to be in, to be grinding for cuts. But at least I'm making cuts. A lot of them I had a pretty poor first round and I had to shoot a really good second round. Or I had, even like this week, I think I made three birdies in the last five to make the cut. Same thing a couple weeks ago at Cognizant. Making cuts is pretty important out here, because from there you just never know what you can do on the weekend. Like at Cognizant I finished pretty decent. So, I mean, it's obviously, like I said, I want to contend and win, that's the next thing, but got to start somewhere, so making cuts is a good start.

Q. Seems like the world has kind of getting to learn your name the last couple weeks, and this week especially. Tell us what you like to do for fun outside the golf course.

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: I like to cook, listen to podcasts, I watch YouTube, those kind of things. I'm so, so into my golf, to be honest, so I'm doing fitness or recovery stuff outside of it, sleep, eat, so those kind of things. But, yeah, listen to podcast, cooking, and watching YouTube that's kind of what do I when I have some time.

Q. What kind of podcasts do you like?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: There's a, I watch soccer, or football as they call it in Europe. So there's a few podcasts, like, Stick to Football, The Rest is Football, those podcasts. I watch soccer, so they kind of have these legends of the game that are talking just about various things, you know, various, the games that soccer is at currently or in the past, or whoever, so, yeah, it's pretty cool.

Q. Who is your soccer team?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: Manchester United.

Q. Do you get to enjoy the city much when you're at these tournaments or is it pretty strict schedule for you?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: Yeah, to be honest, I don't really get much time to go out. I guess that's more by choice, because it is long weeks, you get tired. Especially when it's hot and stuff like that. For me, I like to kind of, off the golf course, just kind of wind down and just kind of relax. So that's me, I know other people obviously like to travel, but that's just me.

Q. Is there anything in specific today that changed for you that might not have been there the past couple of days?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: Just, I mean I stayed patient and I just actually just played the good golf that I know I can play. I didn't change anything. My mindset didn't change. I just executed shots a little better. Maybe got a couple good breaks or whatever it was, because that's how this course is. If you're one or two yards off here or there it's a completely different shot. So I didn't feel like I changed anything, I just played better shots.

Q. Is your dad out here this week?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: My parents are, but they're kind of just hanging around at the apartment. So we'll see if they come out one of the days or tomorrow, we'll see.

Q. Got to come out tomorrow, right?

SUDARSHAN YELLAMARAJU: Yeah, that would be nice.