ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 26, 2026

Alex Smalley

Hayden Springer

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Guys, that was interesting there down the stretch. From each of you, just thoughts on getting very close to what could have been a really, really special day.

HAYDEN SPRINGER: It was fun, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I think we both played solid and gave ourselves a chance. I mean, obviously hitting the shot on 18 really close out of the bunker was great to kind of finish and beat us by one, but yeah, I mean, it was fun.

ALEX SMALLEY: I would agree. If you would have told us we would have finished tied for second at the beginning of the week, we probably would have taken it and not chosen to play, but I don't think this start the first couple of holes was the start we had kind of envisioned.

A little bit of a difficult start, but we hung in there. We played really well once we -- I think from seven onward we played really well. We had a lot of really good birdie looks. Hayden made a lot of really good putts.

Then Hayden hit a great shot into 14, the par 3, and I happened to look up at the leaderboard, and I saw the Fitzpatricks were at 33-under, and then a couple of seconds later it flipped to 31. It kind of changed our perspective a little bit of what was going on.

I felt like I hit a lot of good putts coming down the stretch. On 14 just lipped out a little bit. Then the putt on 17 was just close. That's just a difficult hole.

I was joking with Hayden in scoring that I left him with a lot of long putts the last three holes. Yeah, we're thrilled with how this week went, and tough to beat that bunker shot that Matthew hit on 18. Kudos to him.

Q. Hayden, for a guy who has played mostly on the Korn Ferry Tour, this is a big week. What did you learn from this experience, and do plans change a little bit now after this T-2?

HAYDEN SPRINGER: Yeah, I don't know what it means for me. Like, I don't know how it changes what it looks like. I'll kind of have to see if it opens up some opportunities for me to play out here more the rest of the year or not. I don't know.

Yeah, it at least gives me the opportunity to hopefully. Maybe a chance. Yeah, I mean, I'm very happy to at least be there.