MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2026

Michael Brennan

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about your day, early week here, Masters. How was your experience today? Walk me through it.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Great. Got to the gym this morning, worked out with my trainer a little bit and didn't really have any plans on playing with anyone, and then ended up playing with Chris and Akshay, so we had a really great group. Course is looking really good.

It's just been incredible. It's fun having so many people here on practice round days. I think that's really cool. The tournament does such a good job of -- they're so present, and so no one is distracting or anything. They're all paying attention. So it's really special. Really special.

Q. What has surprised you the most? We all follow golf and know so much Masters history. Anything just stood out that you wouldn't know until you get into those shoes being in the field?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah. I just think the volunteers and the staff have kind of blown me away. You see so much on the golf course growing up. But the staff you walk into a building, how are you doing, Mr. Brennan, good morning Mr. Brennan. Like stuff like that, it's really cool.

Q. What was the preparation and leadup? Was it intense or were you trying to take a little time off? What was kind of the mindset coming in?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah. So I didn't play last week. Went home, back to Jacksonville. Easter weekend, I actually got confirmed last weekend at the Easter vigil Saturday night. So I had some friends and family in town.

I practiced, but really, it wasn't a crazy grind session or anything like that.

Q. You were just heckled by your Zurich partner, Johnny Keefer. What is it like just for you both to be here this week just kind of sharing this experience together? I know you're going to play a TOUR event together, but when you both can embrace this together, what is that like for you?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: It's so cool. We both were in the Palmer Cup in '22 together and that's when we first started hanging out in Switzerland. And it was fun playing with him for a little bit on the Americas tour. Unfortunately I had to do another year. But it ended up working out, and it was a great experience, and I really enjoyed playing out there.

But it's good to kind of be back out with Johnny. This week is such a cool week to share, and the Zurich is going to be awesome. I'm really looking forward to it.

Q. If you can, maybe pinpoint something from college or your amateur career that you feel has helped you get your professional career off to such a great start, maybe the teammates or the structure?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah. I don't know. I just think that the reps are important. It's hard to simulate feeling nervous. It's basically impossible. And so just I remember our first event I played in was Florida State's event at Watersound, I believe. And our team was like had a couple shot lead with a few holes left, and I doubled 17 and bogeyed 18, and I was so nervous.

And like just kind of experiences like that that I was playing pretty well as an individual, but I wasn't going to win. And so I wouldn't have been very nervous if I knew our team wasn't leading. And I mean, I totally blew it. But I felt like those are kind of experiences that you build on and learn from.

Q. How is the Amen Corner that you grew up watching on TV compare to the real thing?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: 13 seems longer. I kind of healed a drive today and I was in the right rough and had 25 in and I feel like I grew up watching guys hit eight irons into that green. And I tried to hit like a chippy cut hybrid. So that was definitely an adjustment.

11 is also a beast. I mean, it's a really tough stretch of golf. 13 you can hit some good shots and be rewarded, but 11 is brutal. 12 the green is skinny. It's easy to make a bogey out there.

Q. Putting aside all the challenges and the guesswork with the wind and all that, just walking those fairways and those three holes, what kind of feeling came over you when you did it for the first time?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: It's cool. It wasn't a religious experience or anything like that. Just they're great golf holes.

I had played a couple times prior to this week. So it wasn't my first time seeing the holes. But it's a really cool stretch of golf.

Q. Did you get any tips from any of your playing partners, either today or yesterday, about how to tackle like 12, for instance, and what the wind does, the tee shot versus the second on 11? Anything that you sort of picked up just playing with some of the pros who have done this before?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Not really.

Q. Play well.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Thank you.