ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 21, 2026

Michael Brennan

Johnny Keefer

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Michael Brennan and Johnny Keefer here to the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Michael, we'll start with you. Talk a little bit about the team here and how it came about.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I was literally saying to some buddies yesterday, I think Sunday night of Utah last fall when I won, Johnny texted me and said, So Zurich partners? We pretty much locked it in then, so we kind of knew we were going to be partners for a while now.

JOHNNY KEEFER: I'm going to pitch in here, and I'm going to say I did send a congratulations first, but then I sent a scheduled text later so I didn't get filtered down all the way in the messages. I said, Zurich, question mark, quite a few hours later.

I was pretty stoked for him. It was really cool to see. I was even more excited to see he was going to join me on the PGA TOUR.

Q. What is it about Michael's game that you are looking forward to this week?

JOHNNY KEEFER: I'm going to be playing from a different ZIP Code. He hits it far, which is great. I think that's something that -- I don't necessarily hit it short, but it's going to be nice to kind of play in spots that he puts me. He drives the ball great, hits it really straight, and putts the crap out of it. So I'm really excited to team up with him and see if we can make a ton of birdies.

Q. Likewise, Michael, what are you looking forward to with playing with Johnny with what he brings to the game?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I don't know. He just texted me first. Really nothing (smiling).

JOHNNY KEEFER: He couldn't say no.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Johnny has been a stud for a while, and we've been buddies. We played on the Americas Tour in '24 together. It's just going to be a great week, but all around, really solid player.

Q. How excited are you guys for a different format this week than what you have week in and week out on tour?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I'm pumped.

JOHNNY KEEFER: Yeah.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I mean, I'm really excited. It will be fun. Definitely a different vibe than most weeks. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.

JOHNNY KEEFER: Yeah, I mean, I think the most important part about this week is kind of our team chemistry and how much fun we have out there. Obviously birdies are fun, but you kind of want to get out there and just kind of enjoy the time. Know that, one, you're not by yourself the entire time, and two, you know, we can kind of rely on each other a little bit to kind of if we hit a bad shot, pick each other up or if we make a ton of birdies, keep it rolling with each other, and it's going to be a really cool thing.

I don't think I've done this since Arnold Palmer, and he was on the team as well. I think it's going to be a great format.

Q. Johnny, just talk a little bit about your season up to this point. Just a few weeks ago you had the top 10 in Houston, but how is your game trending?

JOHNNY KEEFER: Yeah, no, I think the game is trending really well. You know, the results haven't quite shown it consistently yet, but the PGA TOUR is hard. So you've got to understand that you're going to hit some really good shots, get a little unlucky, and that's kind of what's been happening, but this week is going to change everything because we're going to be hitting great shots, and it's going to be getting really lucky.

No, it's been awesome. I've enjoyed the experience. I've learned a lot, but yeah, the game is definitely trending. I'm looking forward to this week.

Q. Michael, talk a little bit about the state of your game. A top-25 finish a couple of weeks ago at the Masters. Talk a little bit about that specifically, and then also the state of your game.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, the Masters was an unreal experience are. My game, it's in a good spot right now. I played solid there at Augusta. Finished with a couple of bogeys. Could have been a lot better than 24, which is what I finished.

Then even last week I played a good Thursday, Friday, and then really struggled on the weekend. There's been some spurts of really good golf in there and trying to just look back on that and continue some of that good golf into this week.

Q. As for New Orleans, Michael with Brennans, that's a pretty famous name around New Orleans for restaurants and stuff. Do you have any restaurants you're going to or any night life that you're going to get into it?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I know nothing about New Orleans, and I have no restaurants, yeah.

JOHNNY KEEFER: I went to Chophouse two nights ago. That was a good spot. I don't know. We'll figure out some other places to eat and probably get some beignets. I'm sure there's good food here. I know that for a fact, so we'll have some good dinners where.

Q. What cut did you have at the Chophouse?

JOHNNY KEEFER: I went for a fillet, but I went cajun-style. That was a treat. It was really good.

Q. Players here are often asked about one buy might play a different ball or another. Is that the case for you guys? How do you decide?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: We play a Pro V1. I play a 1, AND Johnny plays an X.

Q. To an average golfer, it doesn't seem like a big difference. What does it mean to you guys?

JOHNNY KEEFER: I told him last week it didn't really matter for me. I'm cool with whatever. I'm pretty flexible. I've chipped and putted with the Pro V1 a little bit, but we're going to kind of still go with the flow and understand that, you know, some tee shots we may want the most predictability out of our own ball, and some iron shots are more demanding than others. So we might kind of figure it out and get the strategy down.

For the most part, you hit it out of the center, it's most likely going to do pretty close to what you want it to do.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, I played in the Grand Thornton last winter with Charley, and she made a TaylorMade ball. We tried to just work it to where the most important shot on the hole, whether that be an iron or something, you're playing with the ball that you're most familiar with or a distance wedge or something like that.

I felt like that worked pretty well for us, so we're probably going to do something similar this week.

JOHNNY KEEFER: Yeah.

Q. Have you been out on the course yet this week?

JOHNNY KEEFER: Not yet, no.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: No.

Q. Michael, he mentioned the Brennan family is very famous in New Orleans.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I didn't know that.

Q. Lots of restaurants, and one played quarterback for LSU. I remember the family played a few years ago. No chance you're inheriting a restaurants or anything like that, as far as you know?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: No, our Brennan is from Ireland. I don't know. That's interesting. I didn't think the French -- I don't know why Brennan would be big in New Orleans, but...

Q. There's a lot of Irish.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Is there? Yeah, but, no, nothing related to New Orleans down here.

Q. If you guys win on Sunday night, we've got a restaurant for you.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Sounds like we may have to go to Brennan's place or whatever it's called, yeah.