Q. Joined by our defending champion Taylor Pendrith here. Welcome to the CJ CUP Byron Nelson. How exciting is it to be back here?
TAYLOR PENDRITH: It's exciting. Exciting to be back. I played nine holes yesterday, just kind of seeing the shots and being on the property and reliving some of the shots I hit. Obviously it was the highlight of my golf career winning last year.
So to be back feels great. Seeing all the familiar faces with all the volunteers, and a lot of people call you champ. It's kind of cool. It feels really, really nice to be back. Hopefully we'll have a good week.
Q. Speaking of a few shots, a year later what memories stand out from that win for you?
TAYLOR PENDRITH: Obviously the 3-footer on the last hole to win the tournament stands out. I just felt in control for most of the tournament.
Then standing on 18, I was trailing by one and thought I needed to make eagle and ended up making birdie, and it was good enough.
Yeah, I'd say there's a lot of really good shots that I hit last year that I can kind of look back on and kind of see the result of it in my head. So a lot of good memories.
Q. Can you talk about the challenge that TPC Craig Ranch presents this week?
TAYLOR PENDRITH: Obviously it's raining pretty good right now, so it will be a little soft, I think. Yesterday the greens were getting kind of firm, and the ball was rolling in a little bit. Could be a different story.
The rough seems to be a little thicker this year. There's some new tee boxes. Some of the fairways are pushed in. So you're going to need to hit the driver well. Some really good holes on the back nine that play long, and if you're coming in from the rough, it's pretty thick in some spots. So you need to be coming in from the fairways.
You play the par-5s well and take care of the long par-4s, I'd say that will probably set you up for success.
Q. Has there been anything cool or different coming back as the defending champion?
TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, I just parked in the general parking lot, and they told me that I have my own parking spot. So that was kind of cool.
Yeah, I'd say just -- I don't know, just when we landed here, we're staying in the same Airbnb we stayed in last year, so we've got a lot of good memories of the week last year. Just trying to do everything the same and see what happens.
Q. The champions gets a cowboy hat when they win. You got one. Have you or your boy worn it anywhere? Or have it in the house somewhere?
TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, it's in the house. He puts it on from time to time. It's a cool little secondary trophy for sure.
Q. I wanted to ask you about Presidents Cup. You were up in Canada with the International Team last year. Geoff Ogilvy just got announced as captain. Your thoughts on that.
TAYLOR PENDRITH: I think Geoff will be a fantastic captain. It's at a course that he kind of helped design a little bit. I'm obviously super excited for him. It's another huge goal of mine to get back on that team.
I think we did a pretty nice job last year, and the team's pretty close to getting a win. I'd love to be a part of that.
Q. What do you think are the qualities that he brings to the team as a captain?
TAYLOR PENDRITH: He's really patient, and just the way he speaks comes across well and everybody listens. I think he's a really good leader and a really good competitor and wants to win. I think he's going to do a phenomenal job.
Q. When you won here last year, it got you to the Masters. That was your first start on the Masters. How did you and Mitch approach that? Just give us an overview of that week.
TAYLOR PENDRITH: It was pretty cool. We came in the week before and played a couple times before all the madness of the week started. It was pretty awesome to be on the grounds and play it for the first time.
We had a rain delay Monday, so I didn't do anything Monday tournament week and tried to prep as much as I could. I feel like it's a course that you need to play a bunch to really appreciate all the different shots coming into the greens and around the greens and where to miss it. So I think Mitch and myself were both feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the information.
There's a couple shots that I hit during the tournament rounds that I think I needed to hit during the tournament rounds to know for next time. So it was a good experience. I didn't play great. I played pretty decent the second day and just didn't really get much out of it.
I definitely learned some stuff, got to play with Freddie Couples, which was awesome, and learn from him. He played awesome the first day. So it was a great week.
Q. The rain delay on Monday, obviously we're on a rain delay here on Wednesday, the Pro-Am day. How does that affect your preparation this week?
TAYLOR PENDRITH: Obviously nobody is really going to get an advantage today, I guess. Everybody's either back at their hotels or waiting around till we get another update.
We did a lot of good stuff yesterday. We had a full day yesterday. The game feels good.
Haven't seen the back nine yet. I know there's a couple changes, but we'll kind of have to see it as we go and just go from there. I played here enough to kind of know the lay of the land. The game feels good. We'll just see what happens.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports