PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 15, 2026

Ben Kern

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Ben, quite the day for you. How would you summarize your second round?

BEN KERN: Ball striking felt a little better off the tee. Yesterday I kind of felt like I was -- I wouldn't call it guiding it around but fighting a few things. I felt a lot more freed up today. Put the ball in the right spots, and the flat stick was hot.

THE MODERATOR: Perfect. We'll take some questions.

Q. When you look back 2018 was a really good year for you. What happened in the last eight years, and what brought you here today?

BEN KERN: Yeah, PGA Championship in 2018 was my first ever anything on the big stage. And the game was pretty sharp that week. Yeah, I just have been working. Been working at my club. I've been in Ohio now for four years. I'm in a great place, Hickory Hills outside of Columbus. I'm the GM there. So yeah, just section tournaments and work.

Q. So GM of your club, I understand you -- tell us about your caddie, that would be easier.

BEN KERN: Yes, my caddie is a good friend of mine, Randy Wachtel, member of my club but also club president. It's the reason why I got off work to be here.

Q. Do you play Hickory Hills a lot to prepare for something like this, or are you not able to from a time standpoint, I guess?

BEN KERN: I have a really good staff around me at my club. I got a great head pro, Chris Muse. I've got a great superintendent, Brian Martin. We have a small F and B operation, so when things are clicking, I have the ability to play golf.

I always set a goal, I try to play golf once a week with my members. So I get out once a week. We have a great range that I don't spend enough time on, but I play golf once a week.

Q. How did you end up in Ohio from I think you were in Austin maybe, Texas?

BEN KERN: Yeah, I grew up in Tucson, but prior to Ohio I was in Texas for 10 years. But my wife is from Ohio. She wanted to get back up there. I've only before that, before I moved, I've only been there a couple times, but I love the golf up there.

Growing up around desert golf in Texas, and I was all about going to wall-to-wall grass and bentgrass greens and big trees.

Q. How crucial is the birdie at 5 when you -- basically you birdied, what, 4 of 5 holes starting at 17 and then made a bogey. Was that kind of nice to just get that one back at 5?

BEN KERN: Yeah, I think any birdie around this place, I don't care what hole it is, it's nice. But to go on that run, 1, 2, 3, slip up a little bit on 4, and then get right back on track on 5 allowed me to just keep cruising to finish my round.

Q. When you got here the other day and had a few practice rounds here, was there any part of you that said, okay, I'm comfortable here? Especially when it started blowing and got a little cold, did you feel comfortable on this golf course?

BEN KERN: I do, I do, yeah. Arizona kid, I mean, I hit the ball to the moon. I got recruited to play golf at Kansas State, and that was a big shock. So I had to learn pretty quick in college how to maneuver, how to control your golf ball. Honestly, it really helped develop another part of my game.

I like going low, going high, left, both directions. I have fun kind of picking apart the wind and hitting golf shots.

Q. In 2018 I'm sure you learned something that week, maybe about yourself or about the game or whatever. Is there anything that you kind of took from that week that you still think about that when you arrive here eight years later?

BEN KERN: Yeah, it just tells me, it shows me, it proves to myself that I can hang with these guys when I'm playing solid, and it was really nice. I felt good yesterday, didn't put up a good score, but the game's -- I hung my head high yesterday, and I had a goal today and I surpassed it.

Q. Does that imply that there is some point in the last eight years where you felt further from those guys, the guys atop the sport?

BEN KERN: It's not that I ever felt further away, it's just that I spent a good amount of time five, six years after college chasing it, Q-School, mini-tours, and then got married and got in the business. Once I did that, I'm pretty happy with it.

I am not one to want to practice all the time, so the week in, week out grind doesn't really appeal to me anymore. So I'm very happy with what I'm doing.

Q. I know there's a lot more golf to be played today, but if I told you at the time of this interview you lead the PGA Championship field in birdies made, what would you say to that?

BEN KERN: It's wild. That's wild. Pretty wild. Very cool.

Q. Would you mind just running through starting at 17, run through those birdies with what club you hit, maybe how difficult the shot was, and how difficult the putt was, which is probably as tough as the shot in.

BEN KERN: Yeah, 17, I think it was a 218 number. I just tried to hit a controlled 4-iron. I wanted to start it at the flag. Wind will take it to the middle of the green. Started it a little right of the flag and caught a piece of the green but had a big spine, I had to putt up-and-down.

As soon as I hit it, I started walking over to the line because I knew it was going to be probably going by a good amount, six, seven, eight feet, but the hole was right there to swallow it up.

Q. How long was that, would you estimate?

BEN KERN: 35, 40 feet.

Q. Can you go ahead 1, 2, 3?

BEN KERN: Oh, yeah, 1 hit a great drive up the left side, had what I felt like a little flip wedge. Hit it to what felt like nothing. Tapped it in for birdie.

2, got myself into trouble off the tee, pulled a drive into the bunker, 155 yards in, had an 8-iron. I told my caddie that essentially if I hit this like I want to, it's going to catch the wind, go to the front of the green, a little two-putt for par. But I caught it just a hair thin and bowled it through the wind and got it there past pin high, which is not something you want to do to that pin. Took advantage of that situation and where I put myself, birdie there.

3, pulled it in the left rough again, but I drew a lot more -- my manageable lies out there. Had a decent lie on 3. Was able to hit a pretty stock wedge out of the rough. Hit it pin high to probably 18 feet or so. Downhill left-to-right, I rolled it in there. Russell Henley was right on my line, so I got to see a ball roll right in front of me on, so that was nice.

5, hit a great 8-iron on 5. Started the right side of the green, let the wind take it over and landed just short of the pin. It rolled 10, 12 feet past it and yeah, saw the line and made it.

Q. I understand you keep your handicap at home for matches with members. What does today's round do to that handicap?

BEN KERN: I have no idea what the course rating is around this place, but I probably assume it's kind of high. So it's going to absolutely destroy my handicap. But that's okay. That's what it's for.

Q. (No Microphone.)

BEN KERN: I think the handicap is sitting right around plus 6. So I got to give up a few shots to the members back home.

Q. It's going to 9 now.

BEN KERN: No, it's not going to 9. I hope not.