MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2026

Brandon Holtz

Quick Quotes

Q. How you feeling right now?

BRANDON HOLTZ: Well, it was tough. I mean, just I got out of position a lot of times today, and that doesn't work out here.

Q. Experience as a whole though?

BRANDON HOLTZ: The experience as a whole is incredible. This is a dream come true really. Definitely not what I wanted to do on the golf course today, but I had a lot of fun.

You know, like I said, I've kind of already won. I'm 39, chasing a dream and here we are. But at the same time I'm not happy with how I played, you know. But we got tomorrow so let's see what happens.

Q. What's it like to tee off there with those guys around you?

BRANDON HOLTZ: Oh, man, the first tee, it was a little jittery for sure. It was fun. Yeah, it was just fun. It was something I've never felt before, that's for sure.

You know, I wouldn't mind feeling it again.

Q. Take us through what happened with your driver.

BRANDON HOLTZ: Yeah, no, I just been struggling with the driver pretty much for the last couple months. Talked to a buddy about maybe getting the old driver back, and the USGA -- actually sent it to the USGA Hall of Fame and they sent it back to me. It arrived this morning.

At that point it was just I didn't feel like it was fair to myself to try to hit it, so I stuck with the original one. You know, I don't do this full time so I'm struggling. But show up tomorrow and see what happens.

Q. Just to be clear you got the driver, but you did not use it today?

BRANDON HOLTZ: I did not use it today, no.

Q. Going to use it tomorrow?

BRANDON HOLTZ: Probably not. I mean, I think -- I mean, doubtful, doubtful.

Q. Things you weren't happy with on the course you mentioned. Off the course, being here at this facility and just hanging out with I guess all the players, tell me a little bit about leading up to getting out on the course.

BRANDON HOLTZ: Yeah, this place is incredible. It's top notch. The patrons are fun. I've created a lot of fans this week, and they've been awesome. Was hoping to, again, show them a little bit more on the golf course.

But Augusta itself, the volunteers, workers, the employees, the pros, I mean, this whole place, again, whatever you think it is, it's multiplied by ten for sure.

Q. Brandon, you punched your ticket for this 204 days ago when you won the U.S. Mid Amateur. Can you compare and contrast the pressure for the final of the U.S. Mid Am versus the first round of the Masters?

BRANDON HOLTZ: Oh, I mean, it wasn't even comparable. The Mid-Am is unique because it's match play. You're just mano-e-mano, out there by yourself. I think we had 100 people out there; definitely not the case here.

So the nerves are definitely different. And match play the mindset is a little different, too, so that made it a little easier out there.

But here, again, this is -- you can't explain it until you feel it. After you feel it it's still hard to explain.

So it's just been great.

Q. Seems like you had 50 people or...

BRANDON HOLTZ: Yeah, no, I got a huge support group. I got family, friends. It's just been incredible. The amount of support that people that I didn't even know were coming were here. So it's an emotional week and fun week at the same time.

Q. Can you just walk us through the few minutes right before teeing off, sharing that with your dad, hitting it right down the middle on one? That first hole was pretty much how you would dream it to be.

BRANDON HOLTZ: Yeah, no, I just kept telling myself just take it back and swing hard. And my dad's advice, again, kind of like the Mid-Am, you've been here before. Didn't really help the nerves settle in at all.

But, no, again, it was a feeling I've never felt before and I'm anxious to feel it again.

Q. Did your dad have any maybe Masters-caddie-rookie moments out there where you're looking over like, come on dad, people are watching?

BRANDON HOLTZ: Yeah, no. All week he kept dropping things every hole I felt like. He was pretty solid today. Had a good time out there today. Conversation was good. Talked me off the ledge a couple times so it was a good day.

Q. How was the Crow's Nest?

BRANDON HOLTZ: It was great. It was great. A lot of history up there. I was up there with another amateur so we got to share our story, how we got there and who we are. Great experience.

Q. You said you don't do this full time. What will it be when you come back into that world with this and you're like...

BRANDON HOLTZ: It'll be hard to go to work next week for sure, but I got kids and a family to feed. A lot of the storytelling I'm sure, but I'm hoping that the game can kind of get in shape for the U.S. Open. You know what? You never know what the heck. We got another day tomorrow. See what happens.