Join us as we explore the emotional rollercoaster of a professional golfer's life- from an exhilarating comeback on the PGA Tour to the unforgettable triumph of a first win.
Join us as we explore the emotional rollercoaster of a professional golfer's life- from an exhilarating comeback on the PGA Tour to the unforgettable triumph of a first win.
This is PGA Tour Countdown, and welcome in everybody, frank Bassett, joining you for another edition of PGA Tour Countdown. What we did the first part of the week is let you hear some of the quick flash interviews, as we call them out, on tour after some of the wins across the different tours the corn fairy tour as well as the PGA Tour, champions as well as the PGA Tour. So here's what we want to do We'd like to play you the full interview from Grayson Murray, corn fairy champion this past week, and also the full interview from PGA Tour winner Sahith Tagala. So, that being said, let's get right to it and then we'll wrap this puppy up when these are over with.
Speaker 2:Good, good, all right, grayson. With your second one here today, you're officially headed back to the PGA Tour. Let's just start there. How does that feel?
Speaker 3:Yeah, amazing To start the year and you know a lot of uncertainties, right, and this is what we live for and I didn't see myself in this position, but you can always work hard and follow your goals and that's what I did. It came to for a four-terition. Sorry, I can't even speak, but yeah, you know, it's just a testament of a lot of hard work.
Speaker 2:What's more exciting right now to you? This win or head back to the PGA Tour.
Speaker 3:This win. Yeah, you know, from being a past champion on the PGA Tour, I've always had a little bit of status. But this win, right now, I'm going to enjoy this one for sure. I didn't come into this event thinking about my PGA Tour card on the line. I just came in here focused on doing what I could, what I could control. And you know, the lowest guy, the lowest score, always wins and that stays true.
Speaker 2:Starting the day, a couple groups back of those leaders. At what point were you like? Okay, this could be mine to take home.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know it started off it was really hard with the win. I think those first five or six holes I played them one over and didn't really feel like I hit many bad shots. And you know, I stayed patient and I didn't look at a leaderboard all day and I asked my caddy I think with five holes to go, if I made three birdies would it be good enough? And he said they'd have to play pretty good to catch you and I ended up making four. So it was. I think that was kind of my mindset going in was to not look at scoreboards today just because it was so bunched up. And yeah, it served me well.
Speaker 2:A lot of crucial birdies there. At the end, Big one. Here we're on 18. Which of those was your favorite and meant the most for today's win?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, 17 was a really good one. Just because how hard that hole is, I felt like 13, 17. I looked at the board on actually on 17 and I had a one shot lead there and to have a two shot lead going to the last hole. I had that same lead in Kansas City and we made it interesting and I kind of played this all smart and I made a nice spot here on 18, which is always fun to do.
Speaker 2:So lots of the tour cards. Still two events to go. What's the goal in the mindset for those next two events?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think the goal is to show up next week, be prepared and go out and take care of business. There's no lighting the pedal. I think the pedal needs to still be still down and I think you can't let your guard down in this game ever, and you got to ride it while you're hot, and that's what I'm going to try to do.
Speaker 2:You FaceTimed your parents there at the end. They were just so proud of you. Can you kind of tell us what they were saying and how much it meant to them to share the moment with them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think they looked at flights to come here and I guess they didn't pull a trigger, but I told them that I would win in front of them soon and I believe it. And they're about biggest supporters and whether I lose or win, they're going to love me just as much and that's crucial to have people like that in your circle, and it takes a lot of pressure off of you for sure.
Speaker 2:And you made a comment, something along the lines if it's not the win, it's who you are that makes it successful. And how much does it mean to hear your parents tell you that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you always want to make your parents proud. I think we all want to live vicariously through them and hopefully they race us right and they have for me and there's been moments in my career where I probably let them down and I was still always their son and they loved me through the bad times. But to act like a professional and to not even win this tournament but just act like a professional, I think makes them proud. I can look in the mirror tonight and be proud of myself for how I behaved out there under the gun and under pressure situations.
Speaker 2:I think this year did you, if you had told yourself, hey, you're going to get two wins ahead of the PJ Tour, two events to go, does it have thought and said, and I don't know, just reacted to that news?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean the first one I won in Kansas City. That was the first one in six years. So it's tough to win on any tour in the world. It is very tough to win and there's a very few guys that seem to win more than others and that's what makes them elite. But we play a sport where we lose more than we win. But it's the losses that you learn from and get better at. And you know, like I said, I want to soak this win in as much as possible, but I want to get back to business as well, because this feeling is unlike anything other.
Speaker 2:And the un-golfing you mentioned is the calmness you felt for a win. Talk about why that is and where does that come from.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I met with a mental coach last week. We had two weeks off, obviously from Boise, and I went to Florida, didn't touch a club for nine days, just kind of took a hard reset. And my coach back home, my instructor, knew this guy out in San Diego and thought it'd be good for me and my dad thought it'd be good for me. So I hopped on a plane from Florida and went straight there and it was a two-night trip. It was an exhausting trip but obviously I got a big return on my investment just in one week. And if I can handle myself like this going forward every week and I'm not going to be perfect, but if I can do it, it's good at the job as I can and I think I can be an elite player. What?
Speaker 4:did you learn when you went and did the training?
Speaker 5:Yeah, there was a lot.
Speaker 3:I didn't take everything from it, I took just bits and pieces from it. I had a ball marker made this week there's a company out here making ball markers and I got SOP and WIN stamped on it, which was succeed on purpose and what's important now. And I just kept looking at that ball marker and it never got me looking ahead. It kept me in the moment and we were lucky. We played a game for a living. And it's not the end of the world and everyone always talks about perspective, but it really is perspective.
Speaker 4:Have there been a time in your career where your mind would maybe let you down?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely I've been. If my game is a nine out of 10, my mental game was a one out of 10 for my whole career really, and that's what's kept me from being the player that I could have been coming off of this tour back in 2016,. Being a rookie, and sheer talent got kind of. I got away with it for a little while and I turned 30 in less than a month and I just kind of had a hard talk to myself and realized that I'm getting a second chance and luckily we play a game where we can have careers into our 50s, and so 30 is still young, and I feel like I have a lot of good golf ahead of me.
Speaker 3:And who is your instructor? Techiecom and Raleigh and Raleigh. We're Tech Carolina Country Club. Web Simpson grew up taking lessons from us. I've been working with them since I was nine years old.
Speaker 4:And the guy, the Navy SEAL you worked with. What was his name?
Speaker 3:Tony Blower. So he's a self-defense instructor, one of the best in the world, in the York which he coaches Navy SEALs. He's not actually.
Speaker 3:Navy SEAL, and then he's also a fear management guy and it's crazy how fear is one of those things, that it happens to all of us. We wouldn't be human if we didn't experience fear. And being out here on the golf course trying to win tournaments, there's a lot of things going through your mind and whether you want to call it fear or not I think us men don't like to use that word, but there's a lot of times where, oh, there's water left. You don't want to hit it left. That's a fearful. So it was a great, great session.
Speaker 4:And the next you've won at the Scarlet Course. What do you remember from that one?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was my first win out here on this tour and that's a great course for me and it's a great course for this tour. It's a championship style golf course, just like this one is, and we play a lot of courses where a lot of low scores are, because it just seems to be that way, and I think next week the scores will be kind of like this week, where they won't go too crazy low, and I think that suits me a little better.
Speaker 4:But I think I can play at any course at this moment. And number one out here gets into the players, gets into the US Open and Earth Carolina. Is that been in the back of your mind at all?
Speaker 3:No, not really Coles. He's kind of been up there pretty much the whole year and I just saw him in the locker room and he said welcome to the two club and said let's see who gets the three first, but there's only two left, so we've got to put the pedal down. But yeah, no, I mean obviously number one is huge and yeah, I mean it'd be great to get that, and if not, then I'm still excited with what I have.
Speaker 2:So you get this question a lot. What's the dynamic like between you and Kip out there? What is his? Main role.
Speaker 3:I mean, has he been a lot of reads for you? Is it keeping you mentally there?
Speaker 2:What does he do for you at the course?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's a huge cheerleader. He keeps him very positive, he tells me how good I am and he helps me read greens when I call him in. We do a very good job of reading together and, yeah, I mean we are growing together. We weren't perfect, even my first win.
Speaker 3:We probably could have played that 18th hole a little better and we talk about it. We try to get better as a team and that's important. I don't think any team out here is going to be perfect from the start. It's always kind of a growing process and we're starting to really mesh well out there.
Speaker 4:And your high school teammate, Carter Deccan. He finished that game. What impresses you about his game and just what memories you have of playing in your high school golf?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we played high school golf. We won a state championship together. We practiced all the time together and I always knew he had the game and he took a little longer to get out here, but that doesn't matter, he's out here and he's doing well and I hope he can get his car as well. And yeah, I mean, carter's a great kid and comes from a great family and I'm excited at it. No, it came in second, but I'm very excited that the two Raleigh boys are on top of the leaderboard.
Speaker 2:Awesome, that's it.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. I'm going to ask, did you?
Speaker 2:want to get some.
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Speaker 7:Good evening everyone. We would like to welcome the 2023 Fortinet Championship winner, Saul Figala. Saul, congratulations on earning your first PGA Tour victory. We're going to start off with some opening comments on what it was like to get that first win on tour.
Speaker 8:Yeah, it's crazy, crazy, just can't believe it happened and just a lot of work that was put in and a lot of people that were were behind this. It's just golf is really really hard and you never know when you're gonna find a little hot streak or when you're gonna go on a cold streak. And you know, I'm just taking it all in as games, been feeling good and putting the work, and but yeah, my first thought is just like it feels like such a team win. It doesn't feel like a win just for myself, it's for everyone that supported me and kind of got me where I am today. But a lot of really really good golf the last four days just gives me so much confidence that I kind of went out there and got it. Got it today I didn't, you know, really just kind of leaked my way in. I really felt like I kept the pedal down and that's kind of what I was missing and the first few times I was in contention.
Speaker 7:And how special is it that your first win came in your native home state here in California, with over 40 family and friends following along all week.
Speaker 8:Yeah, it's the best I mean to be able to share. You know, such a I don't want to say once in a lifetime moment, but it really is a once in a lifetime moment. You only win once and you never even know if you're ever going to win right? So to be able to share this moment with all of them is is really special and something that I'll I'll never forget and and even you know, through the highs and the lows this week, they're, they're cheering me on and supporting me, and they've been that way since I've started my pro career. So, you know, I just want them to know hopefully, you know, want them to know that I have their back too, and it's awesome. It's awesome to win in my home state and have so many people come up and just be able to come up and watch.
Speaker 7:Perfect, with that we'll open up to the media. If you guys have a question, we'll get a microphone over to you, but we'll open up here with Ron.
Speaker 9:Thank you, congrats. You mentioned the gallery. How much bigger was it? Today? It sounds like people sort of joined knowing you had a chance, and how did that? I mean, a couple times they started chanting your name. You look a little sheepish, what was that like? Just sort of as you're trying to, you know, stay focused and navigate your way through the 18 holes to have that sort of vocal support.
Speaker 8:Yeah, yeah, watching golf and playing golf is so different. I feel like, personally for me, watching golf I get way more nervous than playing golf, so I know what it's like to be in their shoes and watching and I know you get definitely more on the highs and more on the lows watching too, whereas I feel like I've always been pretty steady on the golf course and I'll wear my emotions on my sleeve but for the most part I won't get too low or too high. So I've told my family and friends that I love their cheering and I acknowledge it. But you know, during the moment if I make a birdie, I'm just trying to, you know, keep my heart rate down out there and not get too excited and and just kind of keep playing, because I learned the hard way a couple times. You just have to go and get it.
Speaker 8:You know I did look at the leaderboards on the back nine especially, and I saw I had four or five, four or five shot lead, most of that back nine, but just the finishing stretch and these guys are so good. So I knew I just had to stay as focused as I can and and just try and play my best golf coming in. But it's awesome. Especially at 17 and 18 I just kind of soaked in it a little bit and sure enough I tried to. I soaked in on 18 and made it probably the hit through the worst outside at all weeks. So but yeah, it was. It's awesome just hearing the chance, every single hole and and it definitely gave me a lot of energy we have Paul back here in the white hat hey, saw it, we've talked all week kind of about you trying to hit more fairways and put yourself in in, you know in some prime positions today.
Speaker 5:You know you're in the trees a couple times in the rough. Does that kind of just embody kind of your game, the shot making that it allows, and you know, to be able to win that way?
Speaker 8:yeah, yeah, I don't know what the stats for. I did feel like I drove it better today, but I probably hit six fairways. That's just how it always seems to work for me. But I feel like I hit the fairways or the intermediate or just off-fairway today were on the drives I needed it the most. And I, you know, fully understand that my long game or my especially off the T's not my strength and and believe it or not, it's gotten a lot, lot better last couple years.
Speaker 8:You know, right out of college I probably would have been 200s or seeing off the T. In the last couple years I think I've been just over a hundred, which I've been making progress and I always joke that. You know hitting it that bad for a lot of my life off the T is helped me just be really creative and just find a find a way to get the ball in the hole and score and hit all these crazy shots and do whatever it takes to get it in the hole. And you know, I feel like hitting fairways is a bonus and I'm you know I don't get too stressed out if I hit it offline. I will say I feel like I miss it on the correct side.
Speaker 8:Pretty much every time it might be really far away from the fairway, but it is at least the side that's, you know, in balance or in play and have a recovery shot. So good at that, I guess. But, um, yeah, I just I don't let it stress me out too much and you know, me and my coach have been working on this forever and we're making progress and that's all I can, I can ask for. I still feel like I work probably work the hardest on my short game and just want that to keep betting getting better and better and I'm getting more and more confident that, you know, it's the strongest part of my game and and I can rely more and more on it as I move forward is there something that clicks with you when you put yourself in those scenarios kind of back against the wall?
Speaker 5:you got a, you see a narrow window.
Speaker 8:Something about that kind of like sparks that creativity in your game, that shot making ability yeah, yeah, just growing up as a kid on the range, one of the things I did a lot with my coach and even my dad is kind of I'll be on a flat range, but I'm like, how many times you actually hitting a dead flat shot, hitting a dead stock shot into into a hole at a tournament?
Speaker 8:It's literally never. So I would always envision I have a tree in front of me and hit every kind of shot around the tree. I've did the, you know, the classic tic-tac-toe, and I just love working the ball and also, jokingly, I was like I'm not good enough to hit a straight shot, like I don't want to aim at the flag and expect to hit a straight one, like I just don't think I, you know my swing's built for that. So just kind of combination of that and and definitely seeing you know, small windows and tighter targets is something I've been really working on. So when I'm forced, when I have I don't have an option, I just have the tight window. I feel like I go ahead and pull it off. So more often than not it's bit me in the butt a few times. But, um, yeah, I definitely think I'd like to have that focus on every shot, you know, but I know that's not how golf works we have Marty here in the very congratulations.
Speaker 10:So so I thank you, martin. You have mentioned Zach Sims a number of times this week in his family and the fact that they have welcomed you into their home. How much of a comfort zone was that for you this week. Driving over to Silverado today with Zach, he told, talking to me this morning about how he said you know he could feel you know good things were about to happen today, but how much does Tom and Jennifer and Zach and the Sims family mean to you?
Speaker 8:yeah, they, they mean so much to me. You know, zach's truly become one of my best friends over the last three years. He he catty for me on my sponsor invites out of college and on the cornfairy and he catty for me here in 21. He was supposed to catty for me in 2020. That's another funny story, but yeah, he just. You know he actually just came back from European Q school so he didn't wasn't able to get here till last night, but even having him out today and his girlfriend Becca, but just it was awesome having him out he's just nothing. He's he's legit one of the nicest person I know on this planet, the most optimistic guy and and you know, traveling on the road with him for a year rubbed off on me a little bit.
Speaker 8:I was always a little bit pessimistic about stuff, but yeah, it's a man. I can't thank Tom and Jennifer enough to froze to me. This is my. I don't remember if I stayed with them in 2020. I think I did. I think this is four years in a row staying with them. It truly feels like a home game. They've cooked me up some really, really nice meals over the last three years. I think they're cooking some nice stuff tonight. I might go back there and eat there, but yeah.
Speaker 8:I just feel like I'm one of their kids, feels like a second home to me up here. First tournament that I've played, four times I've probably played this golf course outside of the tournament. I've probably played it 10, 15 times. I played the Napa Open, which is sponsored by Zach's company, peerfect, and yeah, he's just one of my best friends and for him to be here and saw him and we got a picture with the trophy after it, it means a lot to me.
Speaker 7:And we're going to get a microphone over to Michael.
Speaker 11:Hey say congratulations. My question is when you shanked your drive on six into the ninth fairway when you were coming out. When you hit out, did you hit the lip of the bunker or did you hit a tree?
Speaker 8:I didn't do either. Actually I chunked it Both times. Both times I hit in a fairway bunker today. I needed to hit like a chippy hook and both times I just got under. I just dumped it and chunked it both times. So I just chunked it. I saw it hit the tree softly and I was like, oh boy, I probably just hit it right behind that group of oaks there and I got lucky I had a little opening behind the trees in the bark. But yeah, just flat out chunked it. And I knew right when I hit that tee shot on six, I was literally hit it right of the cart path, maybe onto the other hole, and I was just really hoping it wasn't in that bunker, because that's probably the bunker with the biggest lip on property. And yeah, just chunked it. I was happy to walk away with five there.
Speaker 11:You were talking all week about playing more loose, because it's not the first tournament of the year. Every time you got in trouble today with a bogey or something, a couple holes later you bounced right back. How important was that for you to shake those bad holes off and get right back on track.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I feel like that's been a strength of my game for so long. I feel like my bounce back stats are really good. I have a pretty short memory On and off the golf course. I don't remember a lot of things. You can ask my girlfriend back there. I really don't remember that well, but it works out well in golf. It works out well in golf.
Speaker 8:I have a short memory, for sure, and I just feel like you definitely have a vibe at the beginning of the week whether you're playing well or not, and when you're in the heat of the moment you don't really think of that. But this week I just felt so relaxed and felt like my game was in a really good place. I probably practiced more than most of the guys in this field leading up. Just because I was so fared up about not making East Lake. I was disappointed and I had a hard time putting the sticks away for a bit. But, yeah, I just kept reminding myself that I'm playing really well and my caddy Carl does an incredible job of making a bogey. And our conversation from the last fairway won't change. We hardly talk about golf, to be honest. We talk about basketball, sports, cars, life, you name it. So just him keeping kind of a consistent vibe throughout was also really helped after a bad hole.
Speaker 7:We have Ron again, then up to Art.
Speaker 9:You've talked in the past about your pride and your Indian heritage. I'm curious how much this win, especially on the heels of Akshay winning early this summer I mean, there's a lot of people in India. How much can this mean for golf in India, do you think, and how much does that matter to you? Obviously you were born and raised here.
Speaker 8:I understand, but with that sort of background and the family connection, it means a lot to me because a lot of my family is still back in India and I'm very proud of my Indian heritage. I just love seeing other Indians rise to the occasion. In sports, neeraj winning a couple gold medals is huge. I think it was the first gold medal in track and field for Javelin. That's huge for the country and I was really lucky to play with Shabankar at the Open and to practice around and meet his whole team and his dad and his coach and he had a great show in there.
Speaker 8:I was pulling for him so hard, one of the nicest guys I've ever met and I think he finished seventh there. He's been having a nice little resurgence season kind of, and I know Anirban texts me all the time and he's always been great for the Indian game too and obviously with Akshay winning and I think Aaron and I just finished second at BMW. So a lot of really cool kind of role models and people to look up to for the Indian people and hopefully we're breaking some stereotypes about athleticism and competing in sport and all that and it means a lot to me for sure. You know there's a lot of things I do in daily life where that stems from my culture and my heritage and my parents are the first ones from their family to be in the state. So, yeah, it means a lot and I think hopefully this is the start of something really good for Indian sports.
Speaker 7:And we have art in the very front.
Speaker 6:You're going to have to go at Scottsdale. You come so close and today you come out of the gate like nobody's going to touch me. Were you thinking like that? I'm just going to go out and grab this thing.
Speaker 8:I think that's the last 54 hole I've only had. This might have been my third, but I vividly remember I got this weird feeling on hole five today. I was in that green side bunker and I looked over at the leaderboard, kind of on accident, I saw a three shot lead and I remember making a putt on hole five last year on it waste management, to have a two or maybe at least a two shot lead and I just remember thinking today it's like I want way more than that. I want to just keep playing how I've been playing the whole week and see how far ahead I can get. Whereas I remember at waste management I remember thinking I got a couple of tough holes coming up. I want to hold in there and stay around the lead and it was nice to be able to draw back on that and I hit that bunker shot to a foot, which is really nice.
Speaker 8:And yeah, I was so, so much calmer today at waste. I was just kind of thrown in with all the top guys in the world and this might have been my tenth PGA tour start that year on a sponsor invite and yeah, a lot much calmer and chill atmosphere this week and I think that helped. But just drawing off of that experience was big because I just remember how much that hurt I'm such a competitor and that one really, really hurt. I thought I did it all to put myself in a position to win and to not come away without. It hurt but it was such a good learning experience, knowing that it's legitimately not done to the last putt drops it's not done. So I definitely drawn that one and at Sanderson Farms my first year too. I draw on those two experiences a lot and now I'm glad I have one where I get the job done to draw on two.
Speaker 7:Nick's on the left.
Speaker 3:I said, can you speak to you about your father and the inspiration he was when you were growing up? And I believe he also encouraged other family members, young family members, to get out on the course with you.
Speaker 8:Oh yeah, my dad's the reason I'm here today. I mean he introduced me to all sports, most specifically basketball and golf. Just love watching it on TV with him. All he knew when he came from India is academics and his study. And him and my mom did such a good job of just kind of learning how to almost hybrid parent between this Indian culture and American culture. And let me play sports, let me spend a lot of time on sports. My mom drove me to basketball club and my mom drove me to so many practices when my dad was still at work and just the combined efforts of them to kind of understand that this was my dream and my passion and for it to become their dream and their passion. Especially my dad. My dad just he just loves sports and he's a competitor too.
Speaker 8:I know he's never really really played sports, but yeah, I think at first it was hard for maybe some of my family and even friends to understand why I was trying to chase playing professional golf. It seems like kind of a pipe dream. But my dad had my back the whole time. He just believed in me from the start and knew that this could be a thing. So it's tough not to get emotional just thinking about everything he's done and he's always had my back and even through my wrist surgery in 2018, 2019 thinking I might never play again. Him just having my back and keep on pushing me.
Speaker 8:He also did such a good job of. He was really hard on me, but also one of my best friends and always told me to have fun and the main thing was to just enjoy it, because if you don't enjoy it, then there's no purpose in doing it. Life's too short. So, yeah, he's just such a right combination. Now he's the happiest person I know. Zach's the most optimistic person I know my dad's right there with him. So, yeah, he means the world to me and my mother keeps him in check. For sure, my mom keeps him in check. Sometimes he loses touch real reality a little bit, but they make a good duo.
Speaker 7:Time for Pima to go on the right, and then we'll have Mike go on the back.
Speaker 12:Congratulations on that great win. This week you shared with us that you're really comfortable with the Silverado North course. How did that affect your strategy going out there with the lead on the final round?
Speaker 8:Yeah, it actually affected it quite a bit. I'm realizing how awesome it is to come back to a golf course over and over. I was lucky enough to come back to a lot of courses for the second time this year and coming back here for the fourth time, it felt like I've played here a million times, especially at tournament conditions, because it's tough to replicate tournament conditions. You could play golf course, for example, lacc I've played 40, 50 times, but to play in the tournament was totally different To play this golf course with so many rounds. There's just certain holes where hitting driver on four is kind of an intuitive thing where I feel comfortable doing that because I know exactly where the lines are and where the little branches are, that it could hit Just a little stuff like that and it definitely helped me out.
Speaker 8:On the greens, there's a lot of greens that are really really tough reads but because I've hit those putts or similar putts before I had again, it's a little bit intuitive just seeing some of the breaks better. There's a couple holes out here which I think is big, where the short side is actually better. When you leave it long side on some of these holes, you have a really really tough two putt and it's almost better just firing out the pins. I was a little more aggressive with my iron game, especially on the par three's. Yeah, just a combination of everything. I'm a West Coast guy so I always feel like I do really well on Kukui and Poa, and these greens shout out to the grounds crew they kept them really, really pure. It's hard to keep Poa up here in the afternoons, but they're rolling true.
Speaker 7:Bring it on to the back with Matt and Taylor.
Speaker 13:It feels like we've seen you grow a bunch in a myriad of ways over these last couple of years, but I've heard you talk quite a few times about your body and some of the work you've done with Josh. What are you able to do, or what has that made you able to do that maybe you weren't before, and how has that changed you as a player?
Speaker 8:Yeah, I feel like I've said a few things are the most important thing to me, but really we only have one body and I've learned throughout the years that I just want to be healthy, whether that's putting more work in on the gym or taking more rest days. Me and Josh just figured out I just need to be healthy and I've kind of had a new commitment to the gym, probably started later, late in college. My trainer at college was pretty hard on me too, but I was already working with Josh, which was great, and the strides we've made the last few years has been incredible. Strength wise, I'm really not a whole lot stronger. I definitely am stronger, but my flexibility is way better. My mobility is better. My stamina is really good. I never get off a golf course tired anymore, which is awesome. My back and wrists have been two big things that we've really worked hard to keep healthy and, knock on wood, I've been healthy since my surgery. I haven't missed a single event because of injury in four plus years. So it's tough.
Speaker 8:This game is so taxing. Especially. I love the game and I play a lot, so it's very taxing, but I feel like we're on a really good path and he definitely knows what he's doing and he knows my body really well. We have another. We just sat down. Last week I was down in LA, went to see him in the gym and we kind of set out a plan for what we want to improve on this year and what we did well last year One of the big things. Also, I asked a bunch of guys my rookie year about. Hey, is there just like one overarching piece of advice that you'd say and a lot of them said just take care of your body from an early stage. I completely understand why so many guys spend so much time and money on recovery and training and doing all that, because you just have your one body and you need to be close to as 100% as you can be weekend and week out to be consistent, and I'm definitely taking that more seriously.
Speaker 13:And secondly, do you have a primary swing thought or is there anything that you consistently go to?
Speaker 8:Yes, I have. It changes from week to week, but I've based my whole game kind of around the anti-left. My whole life I've taken the left side of the golf course out of play, whether that be aiming way right and slinging it left or aiming left and working off the trouble. And whenever I get a little bit wayward I just go back to a lot of this. It starts from my setup.
Speaker 8:But the one kind of swing thought and key that I have to kind of take the left side of golf course also is just turn my body a hair more through impact and swing just a touch more left. I mean me and my coach, rick, have been working so hard on set up, take away rhythm and all that. We don't really mess with my positions or swing much, but I think we're on the same page about taking the left side of the golf course out of play. And today I hit a couple left with the three iron and I know I had a pretty nice lead but 16. That three iron I hit on 16 kind of, was the one where I took the left side of play and just kind of leaned on her to hair and hit a really nice cut in there after missing a couple, three irons left. So that's kind of the overarching one. I'd say that I have pretty consistently.
Speaker 2:Taking final few, taylor, when you won last December at QBE, you said that your dreams didn't get past getting your tour card. What do those dreams look like now for you?
Speaker 8:Yeah, I think I'm going to have to do a little re-evaluation. I really don't know. I've never been super result or goal oriented in my golf. I just I'm. You guys are probably sick of hearing me say this, but I'm just trying to make progress and stick to the process and just try and get.0001% better. Even that much better is good enough for me. Obviously I'm going to try and get the most out of it, but yeah, I never.
Speaker 8:My dream was always to get my tour card. Did I think I was going to get it? Yes, I didn't know when I knew I was going to work my butt off to try and get it and it really didn't go further than that. My dad's always had the belief in me that I could come out here and compete and win, but as a player, I feel like you don't have that belief till you do it necessarily, and you know it's now. I do have that belief because it actually happened.
Speaker 8:But yeah, I don't even know what my dreams are going on from here. I think it's just to keep giving it all I have and, you know, doing it for my friends and family and everyone that supports me and just seeing how far I can go in this game Just trying to get better. I really am addicted to just seeing how much better I can be and you know, being around some of the top players in the game a lot more recently has fired me up even more Just to see if I can be in the mix as kind of one of those guys. So yeah, I guess I'm just going to keep sticking to what I've been doing. I think it would probably be easy to get sucked into certain things or looking at stuff in different ways, but I'm going to keep looking at it the same way I have been and just do my thing.
Speaker 7:This is the final question from Paul.
Speaker 5:You've talked about all week, kind of, or just going back that you're not someone who thinks about winning. It's not something that you're constantly. You just want to get in contention is what you said. Is there a point today where you really let yourself think about a win and what it would mean?
Speaker 8:Yeah, there was a point and it was after I hit the T-shirt on 17. But yeah, I just I really, you know, again I've been lucky enough to kind of win at the junior collegiate and I should say pro. But like the mini tour level, I just I can't stress enough how good the game like, how good golf is right now. I mean, the guys on the mini tour level, the level of golf they're playing is pretty crazy. I think a lot of people don't realize how high of a level of golf even those guys are playing. I mean, they're just a few weeks away from being on the PGA tour and they can compete and there's been a lot of examples of it. You know actually being one of them. You know, ryan Gerard, there's a lot of guys that kind of had no status and played their way on. So I know how hard it is to win and to compete on a weekly basis. So that's why I feel like I don't think about winning that much.
Speaker 8:Again, I've just been lucky to win at every level and that's kind of been my, my way of going about it Just put yourself in contention as many times as possible, because that means means that there's a little more consistency to my game, which is a kind of always what I've leaned on. I haven't been a guy that gets extremely, extremely hot and then goes extremely cold for a long time. I kind of just, you know, have a high floor, I feel like, and I'm trying to expand that ceiling, get that ceiling higher. But yeah, I just the whole time today I just wanted to keep the pedal down, really tried to not look at the leaderboards at all in the front College Limps on five, but I didn't even really have a target score in mind. I just knew that if I put in the right positions I can, I can go low out here.
Speaker 8:I think the greens were. I thought there would be a touch firmer today, but they were probably the same as yesterday. So I was able to get aggressive with some iron shots and and yeah, I didn't think about winning till 17. I hit the tee shot and I wish I did a little better on the last hole, but I really wanted to go for it. I'll put that on. Carl Carl Strokeskin cadding this week was through the roof. He caddied like a. Actually for the year it's been incredible. It's better than all my stats combined. But I'll give him a minus one Strokeskin cadding on 18. I wanted to go for it, just blasted by the green, but he wanted me to lay up and I laid up. Just terrible layup shot in the rough. But it's all good, I guess wins a win.
Speaker 7:Perfect. That's all the questions we have. Soth again, congrats on that first win. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.
Speaker 8:Thank you, hilly, thank you guys.
Speaker 1:So there you go. There are the interviews, the full interviews. We'll have more from you, from you, from you, from me, from us here at PGHater countdown. It's going to be a good week. We are counting down to the Ryder Cup and, as we all know, it is going to be exciting. But there's more stuff going on than just the Ryder Cup coming up, and let's keep you informed. Okay, thanks for listening to PGHater countdown. We'll see you next week.