FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 9th, 2017

NOTABLE QUOTES: GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP (WEDNESDAY, PRIMETIME)

Notable Quotes – 99th PGA Championship
Golf Central Live From the PGA Championship (Wednesday, Primetime)
August 9, 2017
Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, N.C.

**Golf Central Live From the PGA Championship continues Thursday at 8 a.m. ET on Golf Channel.**

VIDEO: Narrated by Rory McIlroy – “Unforgettable: the Traden Karch Story”
VIDEO: Discussing Spieth’s chances at claiming the career grand slam

On Quail Hollow’s course setup
Brandel Chamblee – “In 2016, this golf course when it was playing much, much shorter was the hardest golf course on the PGA TOUR to hit it close. The greens were softer then, and the golf course was shorter. So now it’s longer, and the greens are firmer. Ordinarily when you listen to the players and they’re complaining about how hard the golf course is, I almost think it’s a strategy on their part to get them to set it up a little easier. But I actually believe them this go-around. I think this is going to be the most formidable challenge.”

David Duval – “It’s kind of the perfect storm for higher scoring, and not what the player wants to see. It makes the golf course play right at that true yardage of 7,600 yards, and it requires that much more precision into the greens. Listening to the players, they’re recognizing that aggressive lines they’ve thought about taking have been removed.”

On Jordan Spieth vying for the career grand slam this week
Duval – “He might not have exactly that same mental fortitude Tiger Woods had, because that was something the game has rarely seen. But he is certainly right now the one who is closest to that. There is a force of will with him, a force of no give up.”

Frank Nobilo – “For 24, he’s remarkably consistent in big events. Like Woods, he constantly puts himself in the middle of the storm. And that’s the calmest place. He is not afraid to put himself in the middle of the heat.”

Chamblee – “He’s the type of player that makes you look backwards for comparisons, but he’s also the type that makes you look forward… Jack made us look at Bobby Jones. Tiger Woods made us look at Jack Nicklaus. Jordan Spieth is an original… Just like Seve, he’s a magician… He’s able to draw a picture that none of us could see. Jordan Spieth is not like Seve, he’s not like Tiger. He’s exactly like Jordan Spieth. He’s an original. Never seen anything like it.”

On Hideki Matsuyama
Nobilo – “He’s a streak player. He went through a run there of seven straight events after his win in Phoenix where he had one finish inside the top-20. If we just go back 12 months, Hideki Matsuyama was the 18th player in the world. That’s six wins now in the past 12 months, and he has won everywhere. He’s a star in Japan, and he’s under more scrutiny than just about anyone else in this field.”

Duval – “The pressure he has, and what he deals with day-in, day-out is unsurpassed by any other player.”

On Brooks Koepka
Chamblee – “He’s this wonderful combination of aggression and temperance. He’s one of the top-three leaders on TOUR in aggressive play – going for greens. But, he also leads the TOUR in the bounce back statistic. What you do after making a bogey. He’s actually a much better player when facing adversity, when he stumbles. That’s a perfect mix. You cannot mess up this guy’s chi.”

Nobilo – “The only real difference between Erin Hills and what we’re going to see this week, is that there was not sub-air at Erin Hills. So you had softer fairways, and softer greens. This is a slightly different situation. Soft fairways… But you are going to get firmer greens. So length is certainly still going to be an advantage. And he’s as long as they come.”

Duval – “He’s comfortable where he is. He knows his golf is plenty good to win the big events like he showed us at Erin Hills. And this is a golf course that if he drives it like that, he’s going to have an incredible chance to win.”

On Sergio Garcia
Duval – “The case for Sergio is that perseverance and not giving up and having no quit in you… That’s the case you make for Sergio going on to win a second major this week.”

-NBC Sports Group-