Former Georgia golfer Harris English won his first PGA Tour tournament title when he held off several golfers, including Phil Mickelson, to win the St. Jude Classic on Sunday.
English, 23, is in his second year on the Tour and is now in good position to attempt to return to Georgia, where he grew up, for the Tour Championship at East Lake in September.
With the win in Memphis, English rocketed up the FedEx Cup points standings to 13th, one behind another former Georgia player, Russell Henley. The top 30 players in the standings qualify for the Tour Championship.
English took a few minutes on Tuesday to talk about Henley, living near other pros at Sea Island, the U.S. Open and his prediction on how the Bulldogs will do in football this season. Some questions and answers have been condensed or paraphrased.
Q: Living in Sea Island, do you see the other PGA players who live there. Do you and Matt Kuchar ever get together to talk some Georgia/Georgia Tech smack?
A: We’ve played a couple of times. We played two weeks ago at Ocean Forest. It was almost like British open weather. He said, let’s go have a match. He beat me by a couple of strokes. He’s very open to answer any question and I can feel free to talk to him about anything.
The island is so small, you see people all the time.
When everyone’s in town, which is rare, we get groups together to play. There are 15 guys who can play really, really top golf.
Q: What’s the biggest nassau y’all play?
A: They don’t get crazy. I don’t really know what Kuch, Davis (Love III), Brandt (Snedeker) or Zach (Johnson) do…they don’t put up a lot of money against us.
Q: You can do that now. With the win, which came with a check for more than $1 million, how are you planning to treat yourself?
A: I’m not really sure. I’ve been looking at buying a truck for the past couple of months. The truck doesn’t come out until 2014. But I may go put a down payment on it. Looking at a new Ford Atlas. I’ve always been a truck guy. I’ve never had one. I’ve always had my dad’s old cars growing up. That’s going to be my next purchase. Probably silver.
Q: Like Georgia’s silver britches?
A: Oh, yeah.
Q: What is your prediction for Georgia football this year?
A: I think we are going to sneak up on some people this year. People are talking about how our defense is going to be weaker. But I think we are going to be good. They will be smaller and faster.
With the offensive firepower coming back, Aaron Murray, Malcolm Mitchell and the entire offensive line, I think we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Q: Did Henley’s win (at the Sony Open) make you feel like it was a matter of time for you?
A: I didn’t feel any pressure at all. With Russell winning, it showed me it can be done. We’ve had a really good friendship over the past 11-12 years. We’ve really competed against each other. When I won the state am, he won right after me. When I won in college, he won right after me.
We fed off each other.
Seeing him win like that, it told me that if Russell can do it, I can do it. He’s an unbelievable player and we bounce stuff off each other a lot.
Q: How are you different now as a golfer than when you turned pro?
A: A lot has to do with the comfort level, especially on Sunday with all the people and all the cameras. It’s a lot of different than my rookie year on tour. It’s taken me a little while to get comfortable in that situation and on the weekend when the heat turns up a little bit.
I played with Rory (McIlory) in the final round of the Honda when he won last year. I didn’t have a good round. I got a little fast.
I learned from it, and bounced stuff off of Davis, Kuchar… that’s what’s so good about living at Sea Island. I can talk to those guys and get little tips that will help me along the way.
Q: What was the best tip you used on Sunday?
A: Brandt sent me a text before the round: you’ve got all the tools, all the skills, just go out and stay calm and know the tournament is always within your reach. I made a couple of bad bogeys on 8 and 9. But I stayed calm and knew that if I played quality golf on the back nine I could have a chance at winning.
Q: Any perks you’ve noticed now that you’ve won?
A: I wasn’t thinking about everything that came with winning. I was staying focused on trying to win.
Playing in the Masters is my favorite. Growing up in Georgia, that was always the key event. Every Masters week, I would be glued to the TV, watching it.
I’m going to be so excited to get that invitation in the mail. To play that tournament has been one of my dreams. I’m going to get to live it out.
Q: How many times have you played the course?
A: Five times.
Q: Best score?
A: 68, my junior year in college.
Q: You post four 68s and you are going to be in contention.
A: That would be pretty good.
Q: Coolest moment of congratulations?
A: Russell was there after I won. He was in the scoring area. He said ‘Enjoy it. It gives me chills to see you win.’
He just did the same thing six months ago.
People from all over were giving me a lot of congratulations: Moultrie, Thomasville, Chattanooga, Athens and Sea Island.
Lot of people support me. The win was for them.
Q: Do you think you should be in this week’s U.S. Open?
A: I don’t think so, rules are the rules.
The British Open has the rule that the John Deere winner gets an invitation, but the U.S. Open doesn’t have that and it’s fine. I knew going in I wasn’t going to play. The rules shouldn’t change.
Q: It may actually work out. You will have time to decompress after the win.
A: I’m going to take some time off in Sea Island, let it sink in and then get right back into it at the Travelers Championship.
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