ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 23, 2026

Zach Bauchou

Sam Stevens

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

Q. Excellent round. 60 out there today. Zach, we'll start with you. Boy, you had the putter going. If we can get some comments on your round.

ZACH BAUCHOU: Yeah, the putting was great. Rarely do you make three off the green, which I did today. Obviously it's a little bit of luck, but it's really nice when it happens, and it was good for the team.

Q. Take us through those three that you remember off the green.

ZACH BAUCHOU: The first one, we were both in the same spot. Is that, I don't know even the holes.

SAM STEVENS: Yeah, number six.

ZACH BAUCHOU: We were putting down the hill, and you are just trying to get it close, and it happens to go in. Then we make the turn on ten, and I had a terrible wedge shot, missed the green and made a 40-footer up the hill from off the green and did the same thing on 11. It was pretty nice.

SAM STEVENS: I was also kind of mad he didn't make the one on 12 off the green (laughing).

Q. Sam, talk about the day as a whole and what you thought of Zach's play.

SAM STEVENS: Yeah, it was great. This is a format where you can play really freely, and any time you can do that, good things can happen. We kind of got on the right side of moment early in the round with a couple of nice birdies early. Yeah, you can just kind of ride the wave, and that's exactly what we did today.

We were both getting the ball in play. Both had a good amount of birdie looks, which kind of keeps that freedom. Yeah, it was nice to finish with a couple of birdies on 17 and 18 too.

Q. Each of you has gone on and played rounds where you have had runs. You make a bunch of birdies in a row, you start feeling a low score coming on. When you are playing with a teammate, does it change how you sort of mentally go about that? Is there some way that it would be different playing with a teammate going, hey, we've made four birdies, five birdies, with a couple of eagles. How does it change the way you handle a low round?

SAM STEVENS: I mean, I think you can kind of, like I said, just play with a lot of freedom. A lot of times if you are playing well, or for me anyway, if you get a low round going, you feel a little pressure to keep it going, but when you have that with a teammate, it's, like, oh, yeah, we'll keep this rolling. We have two looks at it on every hole.

Like I said, I think that in the four ball format -- not so much in the foursomes format, but in the four ball format you can play with a lot of freedom and keep it rolling a lot easier than you can on your own ball.

ZACH BAUCHOU: Yeah, it was fun playing with Sam. We've been good buddies for a long time. This is my first year out here. First year playing this event. I was really excited to play this event with Sam, so it was nice to get off to a good start.

Q. How much do you think success tomorrow when we're going back to alternate shot relies on chemistry, and how much of it relies on sort of matching up and complementing what your partners do well and putting them in good positions?

ZACH BAUCHOU: If it relies on chemistry, we'll play really well (laughing).

SAM STEVENS: Yeah. No, I mean, at the end of the day it's just golf, but being comfortable and not being afraid to mess up is part of what makes alternate shot a challenge, and I think that as long as we kind of just keep it rolling and keep having a good time, that will make it easier.

Q. Did you guys in college used to play Ryder Cup matches against, like, Chris and Viktor? Was it any of that foursomes where you play alternate shot against them?

ZACH BAUCHOU: We would play a little bit against Chris and Viktor. I remember one day where we had them a couple down, and Viktor finished birdie-birdie-eagle to beat us.

SAM STEVENS: They won a lot. We would never play alternate shot against them. That would have been bad, because I'd have been putting Zach in the trash on every hole. Yeah, we did a lot of team games. It was fun.

Q. Were you guys roommates at all? What was your guys' relationship in college? Compare that now to you guys are both grown adults with kids and all that.

SAM STEVENS: Well, when he got to school, I really didn't like him that much, but we ended up we were roommates, the two of us, and then Chris and Viktor roomed together our senior year. Then Zach ended up being the best man at my wedding, just because there were no better options (laughing).

No, we've been really good friends for a long time. Yeah, it's a blessing just to be out here playing with him. It's a lot of fun.

Q. Then, Zach, the putter, has it been something that you've been using a while, or have you made a switch? What in the last six months, year, what's that look like?

ZACH BAUCHOU: I used broomstick for a little bit, but have been coming up on about a year with the short putter now and started with this this one at Sony this year and got it cut down way shorter, because with broomstick I found that I just like to bend over way more when I putt. Not to have it against my chest, but just to get my right hand really low.

I think it's like 33 inches now, so it's really short. I feel pretty comfortable with it. Can start on long pretty easy with it.

Q. Is it a mallet or a blade.

ZACH BAUCHOU: It's a blade.

Q. So you haven't been tempted the join the mallet gang yet.

ZACH BAUCHOU: Oh, we've had temptation.

Q. Not after today.

Q. I know y'all are college teammates, but I was wondering what the specific process was for teaming up together, who reached out to who and that kind of thing?

SAM STEVENS: I think right when Zach got his card, I just figured we would play together. I don't know if there was anything official.

ZACH BAUCHOU: Yeah.

SAM STEVENS: We both showed up here on Monday, and we were both here.

ZACH BAUCHOU: Yeah, I didn't have any better options, I guess.

SAM STEVENS: That's right.

ZACH BAUCHOU: Scottie didn't want to play (laughing).

SAM STEVENS: No, there was nothing specific. Just it was kind of, you know, once he got his card, I was, like, all right, we're going to New Orleans.

Q. Speaking of New Orleans, have you guys had any fun at night or any team dinners or anything?

SAM STEVENS: Not yet. Zach's family is here, so he's got a couple of little kids, but we might check some things out this afternoon, try the local cuisine.

ZACH BAUCHOU: Yeah.

SAM STEVENS: We'll see.