Media Center Interviews
April 2, 2023
Final Round Interview with Sam Ryder
Q. Sam, 66, nice final round. Just talk a little bit about your day.
SAM RYDER: Yeah, I had a kind of not the best warmup ever honestly and been trending in the right direction lately. But yeah, all I think about is I made an all-world par on No. 2. I hit my drive in the tree cactus area, tried to hit one out, caught grass. It could have started getting away from me quickly. I hit a 5-wood to 20 feet and made it, then birdied the next.
So it just changed the whole flow of the day. I felt like I stole a couple there. Then just played solid. I drove it a lot better, hit a couple iffy ones at the end, but just the three-putt on whatever the par 3, No. 12, 13, whatever it was, and bogey on the back nine. But, you know, I wish I would have made birdie on the par 5 after that on 14. But all in all, I mean, you're always going to leave a couple out there, but I made a lot of putts this week so it was a good week.
Q. Were you keeping your eye on the board of what Corey and those guys were doing?
SAM RYDER: Yeah, I was. I knew I was going to have to try and apply some kind of pressure. I just knew that there was -- there's too many players right there, someone was going to play well. The holes, they reward good shots, so someone's bound to hit some good shots and make some putts. It blew hard today so it played a little tough, but some of the pins were somewhat accessible and the greens never got super crazy firm. Yeah, I was watching it. Went backwards there for a second, but was proud of the way I battled.
Q. What does this week do for you in terms of state of your game and going forward here?
SAM RYDER: Yeah, well, I've had a lot of success by my standards to start the year. Leading the majority of the tournament at Torrey Pines was a newer experience for me. Backed it up with some good weeks at Riv and Waste Management and kind of battled through maybe not my best stuff the last couple weeks, but got some decent results.
This week I just managed my expectations and I think you don't expect to maybe be in contention every single week, then all of a sudden you're there and you just kind of embrace it. Yeah, it gives me some confidence knowing that even if I don't feel like my game is like perfect, I can still go out there and get in contention on the back nine of a PGA TOUR event.
