ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 23, 2026

Michael Brennan

Johnny Keefer

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Johnny and Michael join us after a 61 today. Nice going, guys. Johnny, we'll start with you. If you can just comment on your play?

JOHNNY KEEFER: Yeah, I mean, I'm glad I could help out on a few holes, but Mike was just striping it, so I felt like I was just sitting back and just watching some great golf. I'm glad I could kind of feed off of that and, you know, chip in when I could.

THE MODERATOR: Michael, talk a little bit about your play as well.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, I felt like I played solid. It was nice seeing a bomb go in on the second for eagle. That got things off to a really nice start. I think we both had mediocre wedges into the first, and then to just kind of get a little momentum early was huge.

After that, I felt like we played really solid. On most holes we had looks for birdie. We converted a pretty good number of them, which was nice. It's good when you feel like you get some good stuff out of the round and you don't feel like you leave too many out there.

It was solid golf. Tomorrow is going to be fun. It will be different, unique, but really fun.

THE MODERATOR: You mentioned your eagle. Johnny, you had one on number seven. It you can take us through that hole.

JOHNNY KEEFER: Yeah, no, Mike was a solid little 15 yards by me. I was kind of sitting there and had a perfect number if I just got the wind at the right time. It was nice to hit a really, really good shot into that front right pin and have it kind of stay on that front part.

You know, I knew Mike was in for bird, so I could kind of give it a nice free roll, and it was perfect. It just went right in.

THE MODERATOR: You guys, your chemistry is evident. Talk a little bit about how much fun you're having out there.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, it's great. It's a fun week. We both have come off of two, like, you know, tiring, stressful weeks. Masters was stressful. It feels like a little bit of a breather.

Not that we're taking it any less seriously, but it's still -- I feel like if you are grinding out here, your partner can feel that a little bit, so you're trying to be light not only for yourself, but for the team. It's been really fun.

JOHNNY KEEFER: Yeah.

Q. Have you ever gone viral before, Mike?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I don't think so.

JOHNNY KEEFER: He's about to.

Q. No, he already has. What was the closest you think you've came to going viral before?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I have no idea (laughing). I don't know if I've been very close. When we were at school a couple of my teammates had a video that blew up on our Wake Instagram, but I wasn't in the video, so I really have no idea. Maybe that by association, but...

JOHNNY KEEFER: He might get a few DMs.

Q. Johnny, you obviously had a front row seat to Michael. What was the most impressive part about that kind of situation and the water? He kept his pants awful clean considering.

JOHNNY KEEFER: No, he went into the locker room, cleaned himself up a little bit more. No, I mean, I just think that that's kind of part of this event. I feel like usually if we were just playing this in a practice round, he probably would have just picked up.

Just him to have my back and everything like that and just willing to even do that and even just to put a smile on my face, I mean, that's massive. So it's just kind of the team chemistry that we have regardless of whether we're in a hazard or not.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, I was dropping it if I was just playing in a normal tournament, but Johnny had a birdie putt on the green. So I was, like, well, I guess we can try it, but, yeah, it was fun.

Q. This format kind of lends itself to being a little bit more aggressive. Johnny, what do you think was the biggest risk you took out there today shot-wise that you may not have done otherwise?

JOHNNY KEEFER: To be completely honest with you, I don't think there were many. I think both him and I are on the same page. I think once you get on the green and once you have two birdie putts is when you can kind of get a little bit more aggressive if you want to.

I'm not going to want to leave a 15-, 20-footer short any time, but I probably am less likely in this format if he's already in for par or anything. I don't really think there are many lines, many shots that we wouldn't have done if it weren't just a regular strict play event.

Q. I think everyone is looking forward to seeing what you can do in foursomes, considering, Michael, your length, and Johnny is obviously one of the best wedge players on tour. Do you guys feel the same going into tomorrow foursomes-wise?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, Johnny doesn't hit the ball short either, so I feel like we play pretty similar games. Like he was saying, our strategy today was we just try to treat it like we were playing our own ball and ignore what the other person was doing, but then fist-pump them at the end of the hole.