ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 24, 2026

Billy Horschel

Tom Hoge

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Excellent finish there. Billy, if we can get your comments on the round and also the three birdies to close?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I thought today played really tough with this wind. I don't know what the way it was this morning, but it looked like there was a lot of low scores and some good scores in this format for the morning wave. I knew this afternoon was going to play tough.

We got off to a shaky start. Didn't hit the ball as well as I would have liked, but I mean, I think we battled. We made some good pars there on the front to keep it even. I felt like as we were going to the back side, I said we should go play the back side similar to the way we did yesterday. I had a few shots (indiscernible). Not expecting that, but a really solid back nine like we did yesterday, and I think we did that today.

THE MODERATOR: Tom, if you can assess the round.

TOM HOGE: Yeah, it felt like a slow start. I had a few speed issues on the greens there. We three-putted six.

This format is tough. You kind of get a little out of rhythm. I feel like you might not hit an iron shot for four or five holes or not hit a putt for a while, and then you have a really important putt to make, but we just tried to hang in there and then lucky made some putts coming in, so it was a nice way to finish.

THE MODERATOR: Billy, talk about that, when the round is not going the way you want it to go, and in this format how you guys were able to turn it around.

BILLY HORSCHEL: Like Tom said, it's tough to get in a rhythm. Especially if you are off to a slow start and you're not feeling the flow like you would if you were playing your own ball where you could play your way into it.

I wasn't too worried. We both played really well yesterday. I knew we were swinging well, we were doing a lot of good stuff well. Just stay around. Don't try to complicate it. Don't try to make any simple mistakes. Keep those off the card.

Knew we were going to have birdie opportunities. Like I said, the way we played yesterday, I knew we were going to have some birdie opportunities. We did a good job of doing that, and we were rewarded with birdieing really five of the last six holes.

THE MODERATOR: And the game plan tomorrow, Tom?

TOM HOGE: Just go out and keep playing well. You know, the nice thing, we had a couple of three-putts today, but other than that, we've really kept the ball in pretty good spots and limited the stress out there, which is nice in this format especially. Just keep doing more of the same and try and kind of stick around that lead and see what we can do.

THE MODERATOR: I know this tournament means a lot to both of you guys, but especially you, Billy. Just talk a little bit about how much fun this will be going into the weekend right up near the top of the leaderboard.

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, this is where I got my first PGA TOUR victory in 2013. I've been at Zurich Ambassador since 2013. This tournament does mean a lot to me. I've created a lot of special relationships with the fans here, and I've got a lot of close friends.

Coming here I've always felt like it was like a second home to me. I always want to play well, and it's nice that we're in a good position going into the weekend to, you know, do something special and see what happens.