TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 2026

Eric Cole

TPC River Highlands

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Bogey-free heading into the weekend. How are you feeling?

ERIC COLE: Yeah, feeling good. Definitely wasn't the simplest the last five holes, but started the day off playing really well.

Yeah, just kind of got on a little bit of a bad run there with some poor shots. Hopefully less of that and more of the front nine type of golf tomorrow and the weekend.

Q. What do you think was going on the last couple of holes?

ERIC COLE: Yeah, I don't know. I missed kind of a short birdie putt that I thought I made on 12, and then 13, made kind of a really messy par. Should have chipped that one closer. Then 14, misjudged the wind. 15, hit a bad shot in the water. Lucky to make par. Then the drives on 17 and 18 were pretty bad.

So probably a mix of, you know, maybe just being tired or something and making some tired swings. But yeah, just got to get that cleaned up for the weekend.

Q. Second shot on 17, can you run me through that one?

ERIC COLE: Yeah, it was extreme side-hill slope. The one thing I did have was a really good lie, so I felt like I could hit the ball cleanly. There wasn't any real rough, because the slope is so severe. There wasn't any rough growing there.

In my mind I thought that I was always going to get it over the water. So once I kind of determined that, I felt like, while there was some risk, I felt confident that I was going to not hit it in the water.

Then those chips from over the green would have been difficult, but doable. So yeah, I think it was well thought out, but it definitely turned out great. I was happy to see it on the green.

Q. Just curious how you view a 65 on a day when the scoring average is 67, there's a bunch of sub-62 numbers today?

ERIC COLE: Yeah, I think for me it's kind of easy to be a little bit frustrated with the way I finished, but I've got to just remember I played really, really solid golf the first 12 holes or whatever it was. I felt, like, in control of my game.

Every little aspect felt good. Driver, irons, putting all felt really solid. So I'm just going to try and focus on that and bring that type of game and that start to tomorrow.

Q. I believe this will be your best position heading into the weekend at a signature event on the PGA TOUR. Just curious how much you're relishing the opportunity to test yourself against the best players in the world?

ERIC COLE: For sure. Yeah, no, this is the type of tournaments that we all want to play and where we want to be. Last couple of groups on the weekend is where you want to be.

Yeah, I'm just trying to do everything I can to put myself in that position more often and, you know, see what happens this weekend.