TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 29, 2026

Ryan Gerard

East Lake Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. That day go about the way you expected it?

RYAN GERARD: It's never as you expect it. Kind of just roll with it sometimes.

Q. What was the challenge of the day, in your mind? Pins or anything like that?

RYAN GERARD: I think it was just the course setup was extremely fair. It was kind of giving you pins that you could take on, but there was some risk. There were bogeys lurking if you mis-hit it to kind of some of these tucked pins.

Just really trying to stay patient until you found like you had a number or an angle or something that you felt really comfortable with. Then when you do get that, kind of try to take advantage and step on the gas there a little bit.

Yeah, just really stay patient, grind hard. It's hot, the last of a long stretch for some of us. So just keeping your mental game as strong as possible and kind of riding it through the finish.

Q. With the way it looks on the board being so bunched, what would you hope to see tomorrow? Not so much from your game, but from a setup standpoint.

RYAN GERARD: I hope it's just more of the same, maybe a little bit -- there's only so many pins that you really can put out on some of these greens with how slopey they are after the renovation. So just more of the same, make it interesting.

Keep the tee up on 8, push the tee back on 15, give guys some chances to go out and execute some really good golf shots. If you do that, I think someone will separate themselves, and hopefully my game will keep me there.

Q. Saves on 14, 15, 17. Talk about that stretch and the importance of holing those for par.

RYAN GERARD: Yeah, just a couple weird -- just weird, weird shots between 14, having to hit like a little like trap draw in there from 65 yards just to kind of get it to bounce through the grain.

15, just never really had a club that I liked, had to take one more and just kind of tugged it.

Then 17, trying to protect against the long on the left in that shot and just kind of just came out of it a hair.

Really happy with the saves. I think that's kind of indicative of how this week's going. It's just you've got to grind it out. It's never going to be that easy.

Yeah, you want to give yourself looks coming down the stretch, but happy with the fight and happy with the shots on 18 to kind of close it out.

Q. Why is your putting so much better this year compared to the last two?

RYAN GERARD: That's a really good question. I spent a lot of time -- I should say I felt like I was a really good putter growing up, and I felt like when I got maybe to the PGA TOUR initially, maybe had access to too many toys to tinker with, both equipment, technology, coaches, all that stuff.

Tried to get maybe a little bit too technical, a little bit too perfect. I've been a feel player my entire life, and I feel like I've been someone that just kind of trusts their eyes and goes out and relies on instinct a lot, and I was getting away from that.

I went and started working with a guy named Joey Farrow last year. He was at Scotty Cameron, so I knew him really well with Scotty Cameron. Him and the guys at Scotty Cameron have worked really well with me to try and find something that I'm super comfortable, that feels familiar to what I grew up playing but really fits what I'm trying to do, which is be more athletic and hit quality putts and not get too technical with it.

Sometimes I get a little cutty in the stroke, but kind of the stuff that we've worked on has allowed the face to stay pretty square. If that happens, the ball tends to still kind of come out online.

Been working on a lot of stuff this year just kind of technology-wise to try to get the ball rolling as consistently as possible from a speed perspective, and I think my speed's been way better this year than the last few years. When your speed tightens up, then your line starts to tighten up. Once you kind of get those things figured out, they tend to go in hopefully.

Q. Did you play here in college, East Lake?

RYAN GERARD: No, first time I've seen the course.

Q. Lastly, what did you hit on 9? What club?

RYAN GERARD: I hit a 4-iron. I just bailed on it.