It’s been a great year. It kind of feels like I’ve taken a lot of steps this season, contending in more Major championships. I finally won a big tournament in the US – Jack Nicklaus’ event at The Memorial – and, honestly after that, I felt like I’ve gotten so much better and it was very pleasing to see.
The last couple of weeks have obviously superseded that. It’s been surreal. You dream about it but these things happen when you don’t expect them to, so it’s just awesome to be sitting here with the FedExCup. There are a lot of big names on the trophy, and it’s hard to win the FedExCup if you haven’t had a great season and you beat the best players. It means a lot to be a part of that group that have won.
With my six-shot lead going into the final round, the game plan was to play as boring golf as possible, just like Tiger Woods back in the day when he would post the 69 or a 70 in a Major championship and walk away with a victory.
It was sweet to make birdie on the first hole and a clutch par save on No. 2. After that, I felt really in control of my game. But even being four-under through six holes, Xander Schauffele just kept pouring it on… What Xander was doing was very special and it certainly made the final day a lot more stressful than I felt like it should have been after the start that I had.
This season, I’ve exuded more overall confidence, and more peace. It helps being able to chip the ball, too. My all-round game feels more complete and I think I’ve amassed good experiences over the last year or so, being in contention, failing in contention, being in contention and succeeding in contention.
When my short game started to come around, I began to believe I have all the shots in my bag. I saw the shots I was able to pull off in tournaments and in highly stressful situations. I coupled that with the course management stuff and the attitude, just handling bad bounces, handling bogeys, handling bad shots. Those three aspects combined, when I started to see that, I wasn’t stressed when I showed up at a golf tournament.
If you want to get to the next level, you have to look introspectively. When I’m in these moments and things are not going my way, I’m maybe reacting a little bit too much to it.
When you try to be honest with yourself and ask yourself, how can I get better, I basically have to force myself to change a couple of these mindset things. To some people, it comes naturally but it hasn’t been natural to me… so that’s something I’ve been working on.
It’s a lot of cash we’re playing for. It’s in the back of your mind. But I live in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and money goes a long way over there. I don’t need a lot to be happy.
It’s nice for my family to have that protection and my, you know, kids that I’ll have in the future. It’s nice to have that, but it’s not something that drives me, it’s not something that gives me meaning. I find meaning in other places.
Fans can watch the PGA Tour live on Mola TV. The Tour begins with the Fortinet Championship on Sept 14.
Embed Instagram
Instagram URL
Viktor Hovland captures Tour Championship, wins first FedExCup
Megan Khang gets long-awaited first LPGA Tour win at Canadian Women’s Open
Join ST’s Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
p.st_telegram_boilerplate:before {
display: inline-block;
content: ” “;
border-radius: 6px;
height: 6px;
width: 6px;
background-color: #12239a;
margin-left: 0px;
margin-right: 13px;
}
a.st_boilerplate {
font-family: “SelaneWebSTForty”, Georgia, “Times New Roman”, Times, serif;
}