THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the winner of the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge, Davis Riley, to the interview room.
Davis, congratulations. What a show you put on this week. If we can get your thoughts on winning for the second time on the PGA TOUR and the first time by yourself.
DAVIS RILEY: For sure. No, it's super special to get my second win and obviously being so close to where I live now here in Dallas-Fort Worth area, super special having countless number of friends and family and obviously winning at such a prestigious event like the Charles Schwab Challenge is truly an honor and I'm stoked.
THE MODERATOR: You move into both of the remaining Signature Events, you move up to No. 55 in the FedExCup standings. Just talk a little bit about how much this changes the rest of your season.
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, like you said, I've been kind of looking to try to get some momentum this year. It's been a slower start to the year than I've been wanting and obviously this helps a lot, catapulting me in the right direction, and like you said, being in the field for the remaining two Signature Events will be huge and hopefully I'm looking forward to those as good opportunities to make a push towards the TOUR Championship and, yeah, I'm over the moon and excited for the rest of the season.
THE MODERATOR: Then your thoughts also on winning at this club, Colonial Country Club, one of our best on the TOUR with the deep tradition. Just talk a little bit about what that means to you.
DAVIS RILEY: For sure. Obviously you see the name winners here are incredible guys, people that I've looked up to my whole life and watched them winning this tournament when I was growing up. Yeah, you see that plaque out there right beside 1 tee, seeing all the unreal golfers, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Spieth, unreal golfers and just to etch my name along with those people is pretty special and it will be pretty cool to see my name there.
THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll start with questions.
Q. Two questions. First one is real quick. What club are you playing out of right now in Dallas?
DAVIS RILEY: I'm playing out of Maridoe Golf Club in Addison, Texas.
Q. Second one is, how did the neurohacks work this week?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, the neurohacks. Yeah, my swing coach, Jeff Smith, we've been doing a lot of work. I feel like physically I've had it going for a little bit and I feel like kind of just staying in own lane and kind of controlling what's going on upstairs has been a huge help and I think a big reason why I was able to get in contention and win this week.
But yeah, the neurohacks to, when it feels like there's some turbulence going on in the round, those certainly help and, yeah, that's been a good addition for me and my team.
Q. Your coach said that those were working -- they were on full display yesterday, especially. When you look back at all four rounds, how important was that round three?
DAVIS RILEY: Oh, a hundred percent. Round three was -- yeah, it was amazing. I got off to that really hot start, and then that last hour and a half, two hours on the golf course the wind picked up, it was gusty, having to back off shots, 3-footers felt a lot harder than they should be.
So, yeah, to fight through that final nine holes and obviously to snag a birdie on 16 coming in, I don't remember what it was, I either finished even or 1-over on my last 10 holes and it was certainly a grind. To shoot whatever it was, a 4-under round yesterday was huge.
Q. Can you talk about, obviously No. 2 you had the bogey and you're playing with Scheffler who obviously wants to put pressure on, but what did it say for you to get the birdie at 4 and just did you feel much pressure today or did you feel like you kind of had things under control?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, it was certainly nice to start out with a cushion of I believe, yeah, four shots, but like you said, you got the No. 1 player in the world breathing down your neck, not really any shot lead is too comfortable. I knew at some point today he was going to make a push and I expected that and, honestly, I tried to treat today as if we both started tied and I just tried to win the day.
But, yeah, that too, and I really felt like I just stayed in my own bubble and just got really -- I told my caddie before the round, I just want to be -- I want to get lost in the process of it, I want to just be so focused on what I'm doing, the process I'm going through, picking targets, being really detailed-oriented. I just wanted to get lost in that and then show up on 16 and 17 and be right where I wanted to be.
Q. Was there a certain point where you felt like, okay, it's done, I just have to finish it?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, I saw a leaderboard on, I believe it was 13 -- yeah, I believe it was 13. Yeah, I saw the leaderboard. I saw Keegan Bradley was at 9, Scottie was at 8 at the time, and he had a good look for birdie on 13. So I knew I had a 4- or 5-shot lead at the time. But yeah, with the wind the way it was, the firmness of the greens, how it was picking up, I knew it was going to be a tough finish, and Scottie, he was starting to hit some really good golf shots and I knew he could make a push, so I just tried to wear out the fairways and greens and try to get a couple opportunities and roll some good putts and if they went in, great, if not, I knew pars were good coming in.
Q. Your coach at Alabama texted me and one of the lines that he used beyond being very proud and Roll Tied was that -- he said something like you've been through a lot lately and that you never lost your belief. Can you elaborate on what he might have meant?
DAVIS RILEY: For sure. Yeah, I think he's talking about recently, honestly, the last six months I've kind of -- I've struggled. I'll be honest, I've struggled with, like, the just the golf part. My life's great. I've got an amazing wife, an amazing team who pushes me to be the best I can and I'm very fortunate for them.
But yeah, just golf has been extremely hard. I feel like I'm doing all the -- as of recently, I felt like I had been doing all the right things, putting in the hard work, and that's how it is. Hard work is just hard work sometimes, and you're just waiting for that time where the fruits of the labor are there and you get in contention and have a chance to win. So, yeah, golf had just -- I was in a pretty low spot the start of the season, end of last year a little bit, and, yeah, I'm just proud of the way that my team put all their energy and effort into me and I felt like I put some good work in and I'm just super grateful for the people around me that pushed me through that hard time.
Q. Talk about the differences between the old course and this new renovated course and anything in particular that struck you as being totally different than before?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. It was definitely a learning curve Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, a lot of changes on and around the greens. The green complexes changed quite a bit. Chipping around, it was just a little different. Obviously with the -- all the par-3s changed. So getting your sight lines, kind of finding out where the center of the green was was certainly a learning curve early. But yeah, most of the changes are done on and around the greens with the exception of a couple par-3s and one or two moved back tee boxes. So, yeah, certainly put a lot of work in Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on and around the greens.
Q. Saw that Nick Hardy was out there to see you. What is that like having him out there and talk about your guys' friendship?
DAVIS RILEY: We've got a special friendship and obviously having our maiden PGA TOUR win together was certainly special. Nick is somebody who I've known throughout my entire golf career and he's just -- he's one of my best friends out here. We actually played the first two days together this week. So there's definitely a level of comfort there. Probably a big reason why I got off to a good start because there was definitely a level of comfort there. We just love spending time with each other and it meant the world for me to have him hang around and congratulate me and it just shows how special of a dude he is.
THE MODERATOR: Before we go, I have to ask you about the car. How do you plan on using that? Tell us about having that in your garage.
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, that will be a cool one to drive around. It was funny. I got in there, all of the stuff, the keys and the speedometer and all that, that was a little before my time, so I'll probably have to get in there and try to learn some of the, how to learn my way around it. But, no, that's super special of Charles Schwab to put that together for us and be, along with this amazing trophy and jacket, I'm certainly looking forward to driving that thing around.
Q. You shared down at the trophy ceremony a little bit not having your parents down there because they were kind of with your sister. Just kind of what was going on with your sister this past week?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. Like you said, unfortunately, they weren't able to be here. Yeah, my sister it was kind of a crazy turn of events. She was at work one day, had a seizure. I got a call, I was actually out practicing. Whenever somebody close to you is suffering or you hear something like that you kind of hit the panic button. Then, yeah, it escalated to her getting CT scans, a lot of blood work, and they found a brain tumor on her brain. So, less than 24 hours from the seizure she got pulled in for surgery. Yeah, when you have somebody that close to you, all the worst-case scenarios are going through your head. It was certainly a scary feeling thinking about how you could lose your sister. But, thankfully, she was, my parents were up there, she was around some amazing doctors, and they took good care of her. We actually got some great news early this week. She, they had a successful surgery, removed the brain tumor, sent it off for a pathology report, and it came back non-cancerous, which was amazing, a big sigh of relief. Obviously hearing that news last week I didn't even know if I was going to be able to play this week. Honestly, I was a little beside myself for most of the week last week, but my parents told me that my sister wanted me to go out there and play and compete and do what I love and that meant the world to me. I'm just very fortunate and excited that she was in really good hands and everything is in the right direction.
THE MODERATOR: Her name?
DAVIS RILEY: Caroline. She is 28.
Q. Is she older than you?
DAVIS RILEY: She is. She is one year older than me, yeah.
THE MODERATOR: All right, I think that does it. Davis, congratulations once again, 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge winner.
DAVIS RILEY: Thank you.
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