THE MODERATOR: Brian Gay joins us now at the 2026 Senior PGA Championship. Brian, a great start for you. 6-under 66. What went well out there for you?
BRIAN GAY: Putted nicely. For the most part stayed out of a lot of the trouble out there. Only hit I think one tee ball out of play. Made one nice chip-in. Just a combination of some good stuff.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. You did it twice today. You had three birdies in a row, two times, the front and the back. I wonder what goes through your mind when that's happening and that roll is going.
BRIAN GAY: You don't really think about it too much. I made some nice saves early and then got on that little run on the front there. I hit, I don't know, 4, 5 feet on five. Hit a really nice 7-iron on the par-3, like, 4 feet. Really good shot there. Good up-and-down on the par-5 for those three in a row.
What else was it? Where did I birdie three in a row?
Q. 15, 16, 17, and then five, six, seven.
BRIAN GAY: 15 was my chip-in. Ball ran just through the green a little long there. Chipped it in coming back. 16 was the best putt of the day kind of over the ridge probably 25 feet. 17 was a two-putt off the fringe, so it was getting dark pretty quick (smiling).
Q. Brian, just talk a little bit about this late a tee time. What do you when you tee off at 2:47? And about the conditions, it was getting dark, but there was almost no wind out there whatsoever.
BRIAN GAY: Well, you know, I thought normally you think late in the day it would die down, but when we made the turn, it was probably blowing harder than it did all day. I noticed on the coverage this morning the flags weren't moving at all, so I'm, like, well, I don't think I'm going to get the best of it.
It's just a long day. Slept in. Just laid around the room for a while, but I'm not an early, early guy anyway. I'm a bit of a night owl, and I tend to sleep in. So it's not as bad for me as some maybe.
Q. The last three birdies and then you almost birdied a fourth out there just a second ago. Did something click with your putting late in the round or...
BRIAN GAY: I putted good all day, honestly. Made a lot of good putts. A couple of nice par saves early and then a couple longer birdie putts on the back. I read the greens pretty good, and speed was good.
Q. Is it different to read the greens when it is as late as it is now? We're past shadows, so...
BRIAN GAY: Yeah, I struggled honestly. 17 the sun was right here dead in our eyes. Somehow I flushed a perfect drive. Then I couldn't really see with my sunglasses on or off. The sun was right in my eyes.
The first putt off the fringe on 17 I hit way too hard, but 18 I have no idea how I did that. It was maybe the hardest putt on the course and almost made it and had a tap-in, so I was pleased with that, because I couldn't really see.
Q. When you go on the course, you see Allan, Langer, Jimenez up there. Do you look at it and say, I can't catch these guys, or do you do your own thing, or both?
BRIAN GAY: You try to do your own thing. You hope you see the good scores, and you think that, okay, they're out there. Hopefully won't get too much wind late. I thought they had really good conditions this morning. You can't, like, try to chase that soon, so you just kind of do your thing and try to play well.
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