PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2026

Daniel Brown

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Daniel Brown is with us now at the 108th PGA Championship. Daniel, 2-under today. How would you summarize your strong start?

DANIEL BROWN: Interesting. I didn't actually feel -- I didn't feel great, to be honest, out there. I played really nicely in practice, and then this morning was just battling a bit of a cut, bit too much of a cut.

I like seeing it go left-to-right anyway, but it was kind of -- I was overdoing it for certainly the first, kind of, 14, 15 holes.

So, yeah, a bit of a weird one, but I managed to hit enough good shots to where I gave myself chances and holed a few nice putts.

Q. You must be pleased, though, that you can put a round together like that even if you weren't feeling entirely comfortable, right?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, I think that comes down to a little bit of sort of like the game plan and giving this course kind of the respect it deserves. I think some of the flags, and if you short-side yourself around here, it's no man's land. It's pretty much you're looking at dropping a shot or you have to hole a good putt to save par.

I had one on 10 where I was like middle of the fairway. I was aiming 10 yards left of the flag, but I hit such a bad shot that I still managed to short-side myself. I felt like, if I got it inside 10 feet, it was a great shot.

Yeah, there's a few holes like that where you can just get in some sticky positions.

Q. Is playing out here this season good preparation for playing in a major like this?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, definitely. I think, if I came out here in America kind of cold turkey without playing too much golf over here, I think you could potentially struggle. It's just so much firmer and faster around the greens than what it is in Europe really.

Q. This isn't the first time that you start really well at a major. The last time you did this, you finished top 10, no?

DANIEL BROWN: Yes.

Q. This is kind of the same feeling here?

DANIEL BROWN: I'm not too sure really. I kind of -- I try not to put too much emphasis on the majors. Week in and week out, I'm trying to give 100 percent and trying to do the best I can. So I think it's just try and treat it as just another tournament and not put too much emphasis on these four majors.

I'm going to be playing The Open again this year and hopefully the U.S. Open, so I'd like to try to get used to that feeling and try and be as comfortable as possible.

Q. Talking about getting used to that feeling, how different it is to play a major on this side of the Atlantic?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, obviously played a good few PGA TOUR events now. Obviously you get great crowds, great kind of venues. Yeah, it always has just a different feel at a major, and I can't quite put my finger on why.

Yeah, when I came here for first day of practice on Monday, you kind of turn up, and like for whatever reason it's just got a little extra kind of special feeling around the place.

Q. Explain your 11th hole and what your reaction is when you did that?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, I mean obviously it's so uphill you can't see anything, and the green sits like you're obviously quite steep back to front. So I had 106, and normally that would -- I mean, it was downwind. Normally I would have probably been sort of like hitting a little soft 54 in there, but you just can't have any spin on that green. So I went up to a 50 and really kind of chipped one in and just tried to take all the spin off.

We were trying to pitch it 10 short of the number, and I think we were there, thereabouts. Then obviously you can't see anything, and you just -- you try to hit it a little left of the flag because you know it kind of feeds in, and you're just hoping it goes close. Obviously a big bonus, the crowd going wild at the back, and you kind of know it's gone in.