In this candid press conference, Eric Cole shares insights on his round marked by a career-best 10 birdies, a couple of tough breaks, and strong putting. He reflects on the challenges of the course, the mental toll of a late double bogey, and how experience on familiar greens helped him score. Cole also opens up about his year so far — balancing highs and lows — and how he’s been spending downtime after the playoffs. Honest, grounded, and focused on growth, Eric gives fans a real look inside his game.
a lot of birdies out there today. Uh just a couple drop shots as well. How would you kind of characterize the round? Yeah, I’d say uh that was pretty much it. I did a lot of stuff. Well, uh a few times I didn’t get away with some bad shots. Uh I made a bogey and a double, so that wasn’t good. But yeah, putting was great and uh when I did miss, other than those two holes, I got away with it and kind of scored well today. How would you kind like how would you kind of sum up the year so far for you? Yeah, I’ve had some good stuff in there for sure. Um, also haven’t played my best at times. So, uh, it’s kind of been a little bit hit or miss. So, there’s definitely some signs I’m going in the right direction and then I would kind of drop off a little bit. So, uh, there’s good and bad, I’d say. Since the since your the playoffs ended, what what did your kind of year kind of look like? You know, what kind of last like month kind of look like for you? Yeah, I’ve been relaxing at home a lot. Uh, played Napa, which was, uh, you know, I we always love that tournament. So, uh, and then, yeah, just kind of been hanging out at home and getting as much time there as I can because I play a lot during the year. So, uh, doing a little bit of practice and playing at home with my buddies and stuff. So, yeah, just trying to take it easy. What makes um, it’s a good question. And I’d say, you know, it’s a it’s a tough T- shot uh with water all down the left and uh you know, you don’t really want to blow it too far through the fairway right just because of the angle. Um but yeah, it’s it’s a hard T- shot and then uh you know, it’s still a demanding second shot. So, um whereas a lot of the holes out here, you kind of have a little bit more room to work with if you do hit one offline. So, it’s kind of one of the maybe two or three T- shots where you’re kind of pinched in. And then when all the other ones are open, I think it almost makes that one feel a little bit tighter. Mentally, you recover from both, but what’s harder mentally? I’d say probably a double late. Uh, you know, I mean, it hurts your scorecard a lot more. Um, and also I felt like I had a lot of good momentum um there and you know, it was great to bounce back uh birding 17 and 18, but it definitely can uh you know, when you go from seven under to five under, that’s a big difference. So, uh, yeah, definitely the double. Eric, this is your fourth start here, and you’ve improved your position each time in each of the first three. What is it about this golf course that you’ve learned maybe each time you come here? Um, well, I these are great greens, some of the best greens we play on tour. Um, but for some reason reading them, I kind of struggled with in the past. Uh, so I remember last year I was really paying attention to a lot of the reads and kind of remembered them into this year. And uh I think that definitely helped today cuz um just having that memory versus just seeing it for the you know first or second time. So that’s probably the biggest thing. 10 birdies in a round is a career best for you. Is that something that you kind of pay attention to, take pride from when you achieve little little records like that for yourself? Uh not particularly, but it’s always good to hear something like that. Um you know, I think uh you know, I’m trying to birdie every hole I’m I’m playing, so to birdie more than half them is great. So yeah, it’s it’s a cool little stat. I like it. Thank you. Yeah, it works. Yeah. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.
