PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2026

Stephan Jaeger

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Stephan Jaeger is with us now at the 108th PGA Championship. 3-under today. How would you summarize your opening round?

STEPHAN JAEGER: A tale of two nines. I feel like on the front I hit some fairways and made some nice putts. The front is a little more scorable than the back, shorter, a lot of wedges in, two par-5s. So I felt like I took advantage of that.

Yeah, kind of kept it together on the back. I felt like I hit some nice shots on the back, and it's just playing a little harder. I'm definitely happy with the round for sure.

Q. Stephan, can you talk a little bit about that succession there, I mean, the birdies, and how were you feeling at that moment?

STEPHAN JAEGER: Yeah, it's nice. I started off pretty nice, hitting it down the fairway. Hit a wedge to 12, 15 feet and made the putt.

I made a longish putt on the 3rd hole.

Kind of made a longish putt the next hole. It just kind of fed a little bit.

Hit a decent wedge on the next hole, made about a 15-footer. All of a sudden, you look up, and you're 4-under through, I don't know, seven or six.

It's one of those golf courses you can get off on kind of a hot start there, and I did exactly that. Kind of cruised my way in, into the round, and had some cushion for sure.

Q. You're in one of the earliest groups to go off this morning. How did that affect the conditions you played in on that front nine coming off like the overnight rain?

STEPHAN JAEGER: It's kind of hard because you kind of prepare for a certain golf course, and you don't know how much rain the golf course got, how soft it is. So you kind of inch your way the first couple holes with some wedges off fairways and see what the ball's doing on the greens.

But it held up great, honestly. The golf course is in unbelievable shape. Even with the rain, the greens have some bounce to them. You don't have to really worry about ripping it back too much, except for a few holes.

Yeah, the golf course played unbelievable this morning for sure.

Q. You were tied for 4th after the first round at last year's championship. Why do you like PGAs?

STEPHAN JAEGER: I think I got asked that question last year. Yeah, I think the PGA does the best job setting up a hard golf course. They always give you some easy holes. There's always hard holes, depending on where we go.

But I felt that way. I played in Oak Hill. Valhalla, obviously with the rain was pretty easy for a PGA. I feel like they always kind of set it up fair, and depending on what the golf course looks like, it might be kind of playing in my wheelhouse a little bit.

This golf course, the fairways are wide. You can kind of take some bunkers out of play with some longer drives. So I like that kind of golf. I'm aggressive that way off the tee. So I feel comfortable here for sure.

Q. What made you cool off after the hot start on the front nine? Just golf?

STEPHAN JAEGER: Yeah, the front nine, like I said, it's playing a little easier. Then I started missing some fairways on the back, which necessarily -- you know, you kind of got to play a little defense there. Even if it's two, three yards off the fairway, you kind of got to miss on the right side, and you've got to take some 30-, 40-, 50-footers for birdie for sure.

Q. There was a little bit of discussion about some bottlenecks on the golf course. Did you encounter any of that as far as having to wait?

STEPHAN JAEGER: It's a major. It's decently windy. The golf course is not too easy. I'm not expecting to play in under five hours, even though I wish we could. I'm a fast player.

But 9 and 17 there's a little bottleneck. That was not the problem for us. Even 1 and 10 have the same tee box, but they staggered the tee times to the point where we didn't really see that. We were more waiting on the group in front of us, not really between the other tee boxes for sure.

Q. When you woke up early this morning, what would you have thought if somebody had told you you'd shoot a 67 out there today?

STEPHAN JAEGER: I think any time you shoot in the 60s at a major, I think you take it. This golf course, you play a practice round, no wind, and you're like, my God, this is a pretty easy golf course.

Then you played yesterday in the wind, and you're like, oh, my God, I can't break 75 here.

So I think that's a sign of a nice mix of golf holes. And like I said, I would take that for three more days and watch everybody play the weekend for sure.

Q. Specifically you mentioned the breeze. I'm curious how it felt for you on 8 specifically, the par-3 down the hill, and how you managed the wind during the course of the day.

STEPHAN JAEGER: The wind wasn't too bad today. It was like -- it was Monday, Tuesday northwesterly. And then Wednesday, yesterday, it was southwest, which I think we may get on the weekend a little bit.

I wouldn't say it was super in play. 8's a crazy hole. I hit 5-wood on two par-3s today. That one I didn't play well. I kind of hit it out to the right. It's a cool-looking hole. It's probably 30 yards too long today, but it is what it is. I made bogey there.

I think you don't lose too many -- you know, too much spots from making a 4 on that hole for sure.