PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 16, 2026

Kristoffer Reitan

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Kristoffer Reitan joins us now at the 108th PGA Championship. Kristoffer, what can you tell us about your 65 today?

KRISTOFFER REITAN: It was good. Came off to a little bit of a slow start. Again, it's been a little bit slow for me this week, but got it rolling a little bit on the back nine, so that felt good. Yeah, two eagles helped for sure.

Q. I was wondering the mental process going through 11, 12, 13, and what's going on here, I mean recovering again and having another eagle after.

KRISTOFFER REITAN: Yeah, I didn't really think too much about it. I was like, yes, finally, I dropped a putt. It was just a good feeling to hit some good golf shots, but also hole a few putts. Yeah, I haven't really been doing enough of that the first couple of days.

I even changed my putter going into this round, just to get a different feel. I felt like that worked out a bit and was evident on the back nine at least.

Q. What were your thoughts entering the day? One of the last things McIlroy said last night was if the conditions are calm, you can go out and a lot of wedges and get it on the front nine. He didn't say that you could get it on the back nine. How do you explain going out in 35, but 30 on the back? The eagles help clearly, but...

KRISTOFFER REITAN: Yeah, clearly, but I thought the front nine was gettable today. That's why I was a little bit frustrated that I wasn't able to take care of any of those chances.

Yeah, it can be gettable on the back nine, too. You have a drivable par-4. You have a par-5. If you hit a good drive, you can reach it fairly easily, especially with today's wind.

Yeah, overall I think the pins today were a little bit more forgiving or they weren't as perhaps crazy as they were a little bit the first few days where they were sitting on top of the ridges a lot. So I felt like the birdie tries that you did have didn't necessarily have like a fall-off right behind the hole. So it was a little bit easier to be a little bit more aggressive with the putts.

Yeah, it is somewhat gettable on the back nine, too, if you hit some good shots. For me, holing some putts was crucial, because I haven't really been taking care of many opportunities the first couple of days.

Q. How common is it for you to make a putter change mid-tournament? Is it one that you've played around with recently? Was it pretty foreign to you coming into this week? What was the thought process there?

KRISTOFFER REITAN: I mean, I've had that putter for 2 1/2 years. Then I changed before last week and putted well with it, but I don't know, just something about the feel of it that, yeah, just didn't really work.

It could have been my fault too easily, but it was an easy choice to give the old putter a new go today, and I'm happy that I did. It's a little bit different and it feels like I can be a little bit more positive with it because the insert is really, really soft.

That was actually a good feeling to be able to actually put a proper stroke on it and not being afraid it's going to run away from you, if you know what I mean.

Q. Just on the easier scoring we're seeing so far today, how much of that is the wind being down and how much of that is the pins being a little bit more accessible?

KRISTOFFER REITAN: I think mainly -- I think they're probably halfway responsible, both of those two factors. At least I found the pins to be a little bit more accessible today, but obviously just when I was about to finish, the wind started to pump pretty hard and even swirling quite a bit.

So I don't know how it's going to look like this afternoon, but happy to get out early and try to take -- or take advantage of the early morning conditions.

Q. What's this week been like for you kind of bigger picture? I know you're used to playing a lot of back-to-back golf tournaments, but this one must feel a little bit different coming off such a big week last week?

KRISTOFFER REITAN: A hundred percent. I mean, playing after a win, and especially on the PGA TOUR, is something completely new to me. So I've been trying my absolute hardest to just reset. It's a difficult thing to do.

Yeah, I just -- it's also been my ninth tournament in ten weeks, so I feel a little bit drained at this point in time. But it's still a major, so that gives you a little bit of extra energy. Hoping I can kind of try to keep going.

Yeah, I'll have a couple of weeks off after this tournament is finished. It's difficult to reset for sure, but I'm going to try my hardest, and hopefully I can be reset at this point and try to play some good golf tomorrow as well.