THE MODERATOR: We're here with Cameron Percy, first round of the 2025 Senior PGA Championship. Cameron, great 5-under on the day. What was working for you out there today?
CAMERON PERCY: Really just trying to keep up with Soren. He started incredible. He started eagle-birdie-birdie, and could have birdied a few more holes and actually did. So really just trying to keep up with him to be honest with you. I didn't have a practice round, so I was still trying to work out where to go on the course and that, so it was pretty tricky.
Q. You came down the stretch pretty strong there, eagle on 6 and birdie on 8. Walk me through that.
CAMERON PERCY: I sort of got lucky on 6. I hit a 3-wood off the tee and then a 4-iron in, and there was a bit of wind I couldn't feel and it drifted to like two feet, so I got lucky there. Then 8, the guy I played with, Eric, he putted on a very similar line, and so I sort of had a read, so that was pretty lucky there, too, I'd imagine.
Q. First of all, we were talking about the first-round lead and how much it really matters. How much does it matter to you?
CAMERON PERCY: Yeah, it really doesn't -- like I said, normally there's a score in kind you have at the end of the week that typically wins, so it doesn't really matter what you shoot the first round. In the weather we had today, I'm pretty happy with a 5-under. It was nasty out there for a while there. I thought they were going to blow the siren, but no, just keep going, and it was pretty tough. You had a lot of water on your ball and all that stuff, so it was really hard to judge.
Q. Why is it you didn't get a practice round in?
CAMERON PERCY: I got here late Monday, and then Tuesday the course was closed for the pro-am, and then yesterday it rained all day. I just figured the wind is going to be different. I hurt my back last week, too, so the physio said don't play Monday and Tuesday.
I played nine holes yesterday and it was just pouring rain. I'm like, this is a waste of time being out here. I just sort of tried to keep it in play and go from there because it was just depending on where the wind was from really.
Q. You pointed to the left side of your back. How is it now?
CAMERON PERCY: It's pretty -- we're all old now, so it's pretty stiff. On Sunday it was so wet and I slipped on a rock and made a mess of myself. I've been in the physio Monday, Tuesday for a good hour, hour and a half and then yesterday for another hour. I'm pretty sore right now.
Q. I wonder if not practicing made you trust your caddie more?
CAMERON PERCY: Well, he rang me Monday, can you get here, can you get here, and it was blowing 30 miles an hour and 80 degrees, I said, it's a waste of time, it's not going to be hot and the wind is going to be the other direction. He goes, these greens are so crazy, you need to see it. I said, look, I'll walk around with you, and we had a look at them and we had to write in where all the slopes were and all that sort of stuff.
But the hard thing today was the ball was spinning back. I wasn't expecting that. We were expecting a five-yard bounce at least, and my first tee shot landed in the hole and spun back like eight feet, and we were like, wow. Then the next shot spun back 20 feet, the next shot spun back 30 feet, and we're like, we weren't expecting this, so we had to adjust and hit it past and spin it back.
Q. Talking about adjustment, you finished 5-under, no?
CAMERON PERCY: Yeah, it was really hard. But like I said, I played with Soren and he made it look really easy, so I was just trying to keep up with him to be honest with you. He started fantastic. Then he missed a few putts -- we were in the last group. The greens aren't going to be perfect. He three-putted a couple of holes coming in.
Q. Do you think you shoot 5-under if you're not playing with Soren?
CAMERON PERCY: No, I don't think so, probably. He sort of dragged me along to start with. He was playing so nicely, it definitely helped. Then the eagle on 6 was a bonus because I hit it way right of where I was trying to hit it to, and I hit it to two feet just over the water.
Q. You mean you were playing golf?
CAMERON PERCY: Right. We couldn't feel the wind back where we were. I got over the hill and it was blowing off the left. It took off nice, and I'm like that's good, and then I'm like, that's too far right, but it was perfect, so I got lucky there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports