ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 24, 2026

Alex Smalley

Hayden Springer

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: 2-under on the day. Different format today, just alternate shot. Talk about what was working for you guys out there to hold onto this lead.

HAYDEN SPRINGER: I mean, again, I think we scrambled pretty well and hung in there. You know, just I feel like we kind of picked each other up where we needed to and made the putt where we needed to.

Definitely I think for me on 18 it was huge for Alex to make that putt and save par there after my tee shot and just kind of keep us going and not really lose a ton of momentum. I think we're working well together, yeah.

ALEX SMALLEY: I don't know if Hayden missed a putt inside of 10 feet all day, so that was huge. The wind picked up a little bit this afternoon, and it was just difficult to get close to the hole. The greens were kind of baked out a little bit. They were getting a little crispy in spots.

So to have him hit as many putts as he could was kind of the key going throughout the day with how well he was stroking it. You know, looking forward to best ball again tomorrow, and then we'll kind of go from there.

THE MODERATOR: Hayden, incredible bunker shot on two. Can you talk just us through that hole?

HAYDEN SPRINGER: Yeah, I feel like you actually can get a bunch of those lies out here. The bunkers are pretty small, and the lips are kind of high on them, so you can find yourself against the edges with weird stances. That's the first one that we've had.

But, yeah, the only option was to get down on one knee and then just kind of all arms and hit it and hope. It came out nice.

THE MODERATOR: Springer, this is your second start of the season. What is being in the lead after two rounds do for your confidence as you guys head into the weekend?

HAYDEN SPRINGER: Yeah, I mean, I think we showed up to be in this position, so it's great for me to be here and to have this opportunity. I'm very grateful for it. To be able to pair up with up with Alex have that opportunity is awesome for me.

THE MODERATOR: Alex, back to foursomes tomorrow. Can you just talk about what the game plan is for you guys?

ALEX SMALLEY: I don't think we should deviate from our game plan from Thursday, because it seemed like it worked pretty well. Just try to get as many balls in play off the tee as we can, get as many birdie looks as we can and just kind of go from there.

I mean, I think we did a pretty good job yesterday of doing that. I think today we did as well. Like I mentioned, there were just some difficult iron shots out there, and the wind kind of grabbed a couple of them, and they led to missed greens. Yeah, looking forward to getting as many birdie chances as we can tomorrow.

Q. Hayden, you've made eight starts on Korn Ferry Tour this year, right? This is your second on the PGA TOUR. You've kind of gotten used to this nomadic lifestyle where you are bouncing around, looking for starts, waiting on ranges, all that. For those who don't know, just how difficult is that having a family and a couple of kids and not knowing exactly where you're going to play, I guess?

HAYDEN SPRINGER: It's interesting to kind of be on that bubble. I've been first alternate three times this year while I've been at a Korn Ferry event and ultimately not gotten in. I've stayed at the Korn Ferry event.

It's a little tough. You don't get to really plan and know exactly what you're doing, but yeah, I kind of found myself in that spot the last few years. I'm hoping that I can play a little bit better and get out of that position, but it's just part of it.

I'm still getting to have opportunities to play, and I think that's ultimately just keep giving yourself chances, keep playing, and it will work out.

Q. How many family members are here this week for you?

HAYDEN SPRINGER: I've got my wife, my daughters, my dad, and father-in-law are here.

Q. That's kind of a regular occurrence, right? They make it pretty much anywhere?

HAYDEN SPRINGER: Yeah, I mean, my family has been with me at pretty much every event for the last couple of years. Then my dad is pretty flexible at work, so he's out here pretty much every week as well.

Q. Then, Alex, I'm sorry if you answered this yesterday, but how did this partnership come about, because I understand that you guys didn't know a whole lot about each other before this, but what ultimately made you decide to pick Hayden as your partner?

ALEX SMALLEY: I was fairly familiar with Hayden before this. We go back to college. I think we were around the same year in college. I think we both graduated -- did you graduate in 2019? Yeah, we both graduated in 2019.

So we played together in amateur tournaments. There's one in particular, maybe the Trans-Miss, going back a few years was the first time we kind of played together. Very familiar with him.

But my caddie now used to work for Hayden for three, four years maybe.

HAYDEN SPRINGER: Yeah.

ALEX SMALLEY: And they're still really good friends. Michael kind of mentioned it. Our personalities are pretty similar, so he thought it would be a good kind of mesh between two people. Like I said, Hayden and I go back to 2017, 2018.

Yeah, I don't think there was a whole lot of thought going into what Michael kind of mentioned.

Q. He was obviously right, though, that you guys would make --

ALEX SMALLEY: So far at least (laughing). We're both pretty light, and then Hayden's caddie, Rusty, now is a funny guy. We've been trying to keep it as light as we can out there and try to have a good time.