FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 7th, 2018

NOTABLE QUOTES: “GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP” (MONDAY)

Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, Mo.
Monday, August 6

Below is a collection of notes and quotes from Monday night’s Golf Central Live From the PGA Championship. Coverage of Golf Central Live From the PGA Championship continues Tuesday from Bellerive Country Club throughout the day on Golf Channel (and in primetime), culminating with Vantage Point with Mike Tirico, premiering at 9 p.m. ET.

*Media also can access notable quotes via @GolfChannelPR on Twitter or by visiting www.nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com*

VIDEO: Bellerive’s Director of Agronomy overviews course setup

VIDEO: Lewis: Due to conditions, PGA of America not cutting greens as short as usual

VIDEO: Duval: Bellerive setup ‘will be as perfect as it can be’

VIDEO: Players offer strategies for how to get around Bellerive

VIDEO: Tucker brothers share lasting bond at Bellerive

VIDEO: Block makes homecoming at Bellerive with son’s help

VIDEO: Players assess conditions of Bellerive’s greens

On Bellerive Country Club
Brandel Chamblee – “I know one thing for sure. Robert Trent Jones liked to hit a hook. Maybe he had Kenny Perry in his infancy come out and help design this golf course with him. I’ve never seen a golf course with so many predominantly from sharp, to general dogleg lefts.”
David Duval – “You can play this golf course with a cut and succeed. You’ve just got to be standing on the other side of the golf ball. A la Phil Mickelson. A la Bubba Watson.”
Duval – “I think you’re going to have a golf course that’s as perfect as it can be given the weather conditions they’ve been dealing with for 10-12 weeks here in the Midwest… Whether the golf course is exactly how they want it or not, there’s going to be a major champion at the end of the this week.”
Chamblee – “Somehow some way these best players will make the necessary changes to their equipment or to their setup to negate whatever inconveniences they’ll be in the consistency of the greens.”

Carlos Arraya (Director of Agronomy, Bellerive Country Club) on how he expects the course to play
Carlos Arraya – “We faced a lot of challenges since May 1, without having any kind of spring. We went from the second-coldest April right into the hottest May. And then the hottest and driest June since 1953… We focused on the things we could control and we felt we’ve done a really good job.”

On the PGA Championship’s final year being contested in August
Frank Nobilo – “In some respects when Sunday comes, there’s going to be a little bit of sadness… I think it’ll be tremendous when it moves to a new date. This was always the major that often determined who the player of the year was. It always seemed to determine a lot of things.”

On Justin Thomas’ chances to defend his 2017 title this week
Chamblee – “We’ve really changed the way we view him from a streaky player to now a dominant player. In baseball they call his like a five-tool player. He may well be the Mike Trout of the PGA TOUR… And he is capable of winning in bunches. You’d be very hard pressed not to look at him.”
Duval – “He hasn’t won as many times this year, but I think he’s become a better player. I think you’re seeing a young man mature into greatness.”
Nobilo – “I thought – for the first year or so [on the PGA TOUR] – if anything one of the weaknesses of Justin Thomas was the fact that I thought he was a very average putter on quick greens. If you gave him slow-to-medium speed he was tremendous.”

-NBC Sports Group-