THE MODERATOR: All right, we'll get started. Like to welcome Zac Blair to the interview room at the 2025 Bank of Utah Championship. I guess we'll just open it up. Get some opening remarks on when you're looking forward to this week playing in the home state.
ZAC BLAIR: Yeah, I mean, any time you're playing at home it's obviously a fun feeling. A lot of familiar faces and everything like that. My dad lives down here in St. George, so, you know, spent a bunch of time down here through college and right when I turned pro.
You know, played last year here, which was great. I mean, the course, the tournament, everything was a really fun week, so hopefully can have a good one.
Q. Last year's tournament here was the first time in a very long time with TOUR being back in Utah. Looking back, what are some good memories that you have?
ZAC BLAIR: Obviously any time you make the cut it's a decent week, so that was nice, to be able to play four rounds.
Again, just having my family here. I think my mom, my dad, my wife, all my kids were out, which it's an easy week to do that. The place is set up pretty awesome to have that kind of atmosphere, which is great.
Q. It's always kind of a double-edged sword to play at home. It's great and yet there is a lot going on, a lot of distractions. You're trying to have a good week to perhaps keep your card. How are you keeping all that together in your mind and preparing properly?
ZAC BLAIR: I mean, for me, it's pretty -- you know, it's not like I have a ton of obligations to go do a bunch of things. Obviously have something like this today or play in the pro-am, but that's pretty basic stuff. Any time your family is here I think it adds another layer to what is going on.
But at the end of the day it's always better I think when they're there to be able to hang out with after a round, good or bad.
I'm just trying to go have a good week, like you said. I'm in kind of an interesting position, like 170th or something like that on the FedExCup, so need a good week.
But I've always kind of found a way I feel like to get it done. We'll see if I can have a nice few weeks and start it off here.
Q. What do you need to do I guess maybe better this week than you have been?
ZAC BLAIR: Honestly, I felt like for the last couple years I've actually played really well for like three rounds. You know, it seems like every week when I've made the cut, it's falling asleep for four or five holes and kind of ruining the week, or when I'm missing the cut maybe I have a bad stretch in there as well.
I feel confident that if I can throw four rounds together I can be in had contention and have a nice week.
Q. I wanted to ask how is your driver situation? And in a follow up, this summer the undercover driver fitting, what was the reaction from that? What's been any of the follow up? I think that was a fun story. Did you get some momentum out of that?
ZAC BLAIR: Yeah, it was a kind of -- it was something that I had joked around with my friends wanting to do for a long time, mainly just because of I guess the type of person I am. You know, it's not like I'm some superstar that a lot of the people would recognize. I'm just a short little kid that doesn't look like, you know, I'm going to be a professional golfer or professional athlete.
So I've always wanted to do something like that. It just happened to work out. The course was closed that Wednesday up at the 3M and we were staying right next to that store. I thought it was pretty fun.
It was interesting to see some of negative reactions to it, which is always hard. But I think I knew what the intension was. Everyone there knew the intention. All my people that are my fans that know who I am knew what the idea behind it was.
I think it just really goes to show there is always going to be people that can find a negative in anything. You could put a pile of money out there and tell everybody, hey, come take this money. It's free. People would tell you it's not enough.
So it just comes I guess with the territory, especially being in the kind of day and age of social media and there is a ton of people out there that literally don't know me or have never met me that have a perception based on a video or something they were told, just a clip of it or whatever it may be, but it was pretty fun.
The employee came out and watched us that week. I thought it was all a good story.
Q. Would you do it again?
ZAC BLAIR: Yeah, I mean, I would. I think we actually have tried it one more time and it didn't really work, so...
Q. If you had to describe this golf course and the best strategy you need to have here, what would you say?
ZAC BLAIR: I mean, it's the same as every other week: shoot the lowest score. It's obviously a fairly penal golf course once you miss the fairway. Most of the holes are pretty generous off the tee. It's not like there is a ton of holes out there where it's like impossible to keep it in the short grass off the tee.
Once you get off of the fairway it's virtually lost ball in a lot of scenarios. I think last year I saw the stat of the most, you know, most penalty shots or most, you know, whatever it was, that was the event here.
So obviously people found their way off the fairway. But when I hit the driver well or I'm having a good week off the tee, I feel like I'm a pretty accurate player. I just think you got to keep it in the fairway and out of the lava for sure all week.
Q. How much pride do you take that not only this golf course but this region is being showcased here this week?
ZAC BLAIR: Yeah, being from it Utah I think it's amazing. After last year's event I would say almost every week somebody came up that either played the event or didn't play the event and saw it on TV just saying how cool it looked how they might at it to the schedule.
I saw Jason Day was here this week and saying he saw it on TV and wanted to come check it out. It was a very regular thing that I saw last year of people saying how cool it was or how nice the area was, now nice the people were. You know, how cool the golf course looked on TV.
It's a pretty like outrageous visual when you're watching on TV. So, yeah, definitely take a lot pride. It's really cool that everyone is liking it as much as we do. (Smiling.)
Q. The conditions are a little bit different. Pushed to the end of the month as opposed to the beginning of October last year. It's been cloudy, a little bit of rain. How do you feel the course will play now knowing that weather is a little bit different?
ZAC BLAIR: Last year was I would say a little unseasonably hot for that time of year. It's certainly cooler maybe a little windier right now.
So I mean the temperatures will obviously play a role. Any time you're at elevation the ball kind of is a little bit dependant to go the correct distances. Like when it gets hotter starts to go further.
So I think it will play a little different. It's basically perfect weather for this grass to kind of stress it out and get it where they want it to be. So if the clouds stay away and it gets windy, I think it could get firmer possibly than last year.
Q. Easier to land the approach shots?
ZAC BLAIR: Not if it gets firmer, but this year I would say it's pretty similar to last year in terms of kind of like the receptiveness around the greens.
Q. Last week there was of big football game with BYU-Utah. Thoughts? Did you watch the game? Did you go to it? Outlook for the rest of the season for the Cougars?
ZAC BLAIR: Yeah, obviously a big game every year. I think they played the last three years and there was a big kind of stretch where they hadn't played it, but Utah had definitely whipped up on BYU for a long time. We've kind of snuck out a few close ones the last few years.
I think if you talked to any BYU or Utah fan, that's the one that's circled on the schedule. No matter how the rest of the season goes, you always get to hold that over your friends that are fans of the other team.
BYU has been really good the last few years and kind of snuck into that top 25 a few times. Hopefully they can go kind of -- run the table the rest of the year. They always seem to have a couple this maybe get away from them and you're like, man, I wish they could have got that win. We'll see.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports