American Century Championship

Sunday, July 16, 2023

Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA

Edgewood Tahoe

Michael Pena

Quick Quotes


Q. 26 points today, 50 overall. So talk about your round today. So you finished with birdies on three of your last four holes. Just walk me there your round today.

MICHAEL PENA: So I started playing a cut because I was overhooking and overdrawing a bunch of -- almost everything. And I normally play a draw. So I was like, you know, I'm going to play a cut.

I birdied the first one. The putter just felt awesome. I felt like for some reason, I felt like I had the touch. And normally I really, really don't. And I felt like I was touched by an angel, I swear.

Q. Was this -- 26 points. So 2 under. Is that your best round here?

MICHAEL PENA: By far. By far.

Q. Is that one of your best rounds, comparative rounds? Is that one of your best rounds of golf that you've had?

MICHAEL PENA: Yeah. I still haven't broken 70 in a tournament. But this course plays a lot harder. You know what I mean? The pins are at -- I missed a short birdie putt on 12. I had it above the hole, and it was breaking about three foot, and it was a five-foot putt. If I would have made that, I would have shot 69.

Q. So you play golf in Tampa, you also play golf in L.A. This course, is it West Coast golf? Is it different from East Coast golf?

MICHAEL PENA: I think it's Lake Tahoe golf. Because there's Mardy's camp here as well, and it's like -- it's just different because you have fast Poa annua greens. There's trees all over the place. They're really, really tall trees and stuff.

There's no other -- I'm not bull-crapping you, there's really no other course like this. This is the only one that I know like this. So preparing for a course like this is really tough.

Q. So the crowds were you just -- we're going to have record crowds.

MICHAEL PENA: Incredible.

Q. Tell me about the week in general.

MICHAEL PENA: Well, first of all, like I was paired up, you guys were really nice, and I got paired up with a lot of really great people here.

Me being from Mexican descent, being paired up with Canelo was just awesome. You see all these people bringing a lot of people to the game and stuff, and I just -- it was wild. And then with Alfonso Ribeiro, Don Cheadle. David Wells is a buddy of mine as well. Jerry Rice, you know what I mean? Where else am I going to rub elbows with those guys?

Q. Tell me about the fans.

MICHAEL PENA: The fans were awesome. The fans were so cool. A couple times they were like, Dude, you're up there. You're tied for 4th. I was like, Don't, no, I can't -- don't tell me that, man.

But it was cool. I birdied the last two holes, and to creep up there, so it was -- I'm on cloud nine right now. This is awesome. This is going to be the best hamburger I ever had in my life.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
134998-1-1222 2023-07-16 20:50:00 GMT

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