Eric Cole reflects on his strong start, highlighting his sharp putting on old-school Bermuda greens and solid wedge play as keys to piling up birdies through 36 holes. He admits that driving hasn’t been perfect but emphasizes learning to miss in the right spots and staying patient. Cole shares insight into the reality of PGA TOUR golf — not every shot is flawless despite what highlights show — and explains why these greens are among his favorites: fast, consistent, and easy to read. With his first TOUR win still in sight, Cole breaks down the mindset and adjustments he’s leaning on to stay in contention.
your most birdies through birdies that are better through 36 holes in PJ tour career. What’s been clicking so well this week so far? Yeah, the putter has been good. You know, I’ve been uh putting well. Uh these greens are great. I love putting them. Uh you know, old school Bermuda, pretty easy to read. Um so yeah, that’s been the biggest thing. Also, pretty good wedge play and iron play. So that’s been nice. But yeah, if I just drove it in the fairway a little more often, I could have a lot of birdies. Did you drive it a little bit better today? Stats kind of say you did. Yeah, I hit, you know, the good ones are good, you know, like I hit plenty of good drives, but the just a few too many wild ones and uh, you know, I today I think I probably missed it in some better spots. So, it wasn’t uh as penalizing as some other as some of the drives yesterday. So, yeah, I mean it it was pretty similar, but yeah, probably just a little bit better today. Still obviously chasing your your your first PJ tour win. What have you kind of learned in some of when you’ve gotten into these situations that you maybe can uh rely on this weekend as as you hope to stay in contention? Yeah, I think uh kind of what I was just mentioning like you don’t have to play perfect. You don’t have to hit every fairway and every shot doesn’t have to be, you know, some great shot, but just uh stay patient and try to improve on what’s not working. So, that’s going to be kind of my goal uh this evening and, you know, when I’m playing tomorrow. Is that kind of like a misnomer a little bit that people media fans don’t get that you guys aren’t playing perfect golf when you’re out there when you’re out there in contention and and winning tournaments. Yeah, I think uh it’s definitely something that that’s the case because uh you know, you see a lot of highlights on the coverage and stuff and it’s these great shots and there’s also a few, you know, squirrely ones in there that maybe they don’t show and uh so yeah, I think I think that’s probably a good generalization is, you know, uh PJ tour players don’t hit all their shots perfect. A lot of the guys have mentioned how good the greens are, but from your perspective, what exactly makes a green or these greens good? Yeah, I think they’re fast. Um, they’re a great speed to putt. Um, you know, downhill they can get away from you, but you know that. Um, and also they’re extremely consistent, so every green is kind of the same speed. Um, which you know that there’s some tournaments where some are faster or slower and you can kind of, you know, one’s a little firmer or softer. So, these are very consistent top to bottom where you’re not really guessing uh the speed as much and that makes them easier to read too. And old school Bermuda. What What do you mean by that? I know like compared to other types of greens. Yeah, it’s just like a it’s probably a pretty old strand of Bermuda. So, uh you know, they can get grainy if they’re longer. Um but these are cut so low that there’s very little grain. And growing up in Florida, it’s just uh I don’t know, a common grass that you put on. So, very familiar with them. Thanks. Yeah. The worst. Yeah. Thank you, viewers.
