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SONY OPEN IN HAWAIIJanuary 14, 2015Blayne BarberHONOLULU, HAWAII JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Blayne Barber into the interview room here at the Sony Open in Hawai'i, making his sixth start of the year, and he's coming off a couple top‑10 finishes. Blayne, if we can just get some comments on how your rookie season is going. BLAYNE BARBER: Yeah, it's exciting to be out here, obviously, and to be able to get off to a good start in the fall was a great way to get the year rolling and kind of improve my number a little bit and get a little bit of confidence. It was a busy last half of the year last year coming off the Web.com TOUR finals and then playing the five TOUR events in the fall. I was excited for the break, took some time off, and I feel like I'm refreshed and ready to go again. JOHN BUSH: Talk about what fans can expect from your game, long hitter or‑‑ BLAYNE BARBER: I'm pretty boring and average. All my numbers are pretty average. When I get on the TrackMan, I'm pretty neutral with anything. I don't feel like I'm too flashy. I just try to do what I do well and be consistent and keep it in the fairway and make a lot of putts inside 10 feet. Q. It's taken a little bit longer to get out here than you probably thought. How much were you itching to get out here the past couple years and how much has it been nice to be able to take advantage of it? BLAYNE BARBER: Yeah, from all that happened, I was like 22, I guess, and I've had to constantly remind myself that I'm on the PGA TOUR and I'm only 25. It's easy to get caught up in what Jordan is doing or Rory or Rickie, guys like that, but to be on the PGA TOUR at 25 is just a huge blessing, and it's cool. I mean, I've gone through a lot. It's taken a little bit longer than I thought to get here, I guess, but I'm just excited to be here, and it's cool to finally reach this goal. You never know if you can make it until you do, and so to finally be here, I almost feel like a lot of stress is just off. I feel like I'm where I want to be, and I can just go play golf. Q. You had a good career at Auburn. In any other sport you're going to step out a first‑round draft pick and go into the pros. Here you have to earn your way in. What's that like when you know you belong somewhere but you're not quite getting there? BLAYNE BARBER: It's tough, yeah. It's different in golf than other sports. There's no guarantees and stuff. It's weird, you have, I think, you want to have a level of self‑confidence and believe you can do it, but people ask a question sometimes when did you know you could make it, and you don't know until you do make it. It's just believing, just continuing, staying committed to the process and just doing what you can do to get better. It's easy to get sucked into what's going on around you, but if you can stay in your own bubble and make yourself as good as you can be, that helps a lot. Q. You see a lot of rookies when they get out here are kind of lonely, traveling, coming to all these new courses for the first time. Curious what that's been like for you and what your traveling team is like. BLAYNE BARBER: Yeah, I'm in a good position. I'm thankful I have a lot of good friends, and I try to cling to those guys as much as I can, play practice rounds with guys that I know are willing to do that and try to learn from them, whether it's logistical things like where to stay, where to eat, how to get to the course, etcetera, or tricks about the course, whatever. I have a lot of friends who already got through the Web.com TOUR and got out here on the PGA TOUR, so I can rely on them a little bit for their expertise and what they've learned in their short time out here, and then also just playing practice rounds with guys like Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, Davis Love, played nine holes with Jeff Overton yesterday, just trying to soak up as much as I can. My wife travels with me, as well, which is great. From a loneliness aspect, I think I'm grateful to have good people around me that kind of keep me from being too lonely. Q. Are there some perks to going through the Web.com TOUR in terms of it seems like an aggressive brand of play out there. Some guys jump right out here, but to play there and know how low you have to go to do well and how high you have to finish, what's that done for you mentally? BLAYNE BARBER: Yeah, I think it was really good. I remember just relating to that, right when I turned pro I started playing on the Hooters Tour the NGA Tour, and I remember just talking to buddies in college, how in the world do they shoot 25‑under every week. I've shot 10‑ or 12‑under a couple times. And like my fourth week as a pro I shot 23‑under or something, and so I think you just kind of‑‑ you just kind of grow to the level of play you're playing against, and you adapt and change. It is great. I think just the whole atmosphere of what they're trying to do at the Web.com TOUR and preparing us for this kind of lifestyle is just excellent. As soon as it transitioned to Fall Series, it didn't feel any different. The stage was bigger and stuff, but I felt ready to play golf. Q. I think we're all pretty aware of what you went through at Q‑school and disqualifying yourself. I'm wondering, do you think that in some ways make you a stronger player because that's a little bit of adversity that you had to basically impose on yourself. BLAYNE BARBER: Absolutely. My wife and I have talked about that a few times, and just‑‑ I mean, would it have been great to get on the PGA TOUR right away, yes, and would I have been successful? Maybe, I don't know. But I think having to go through‑‑ it's fun for us just to reflect over the last two or three years, and we've played mini‑Tour golf where you play for nothing, we've played through the Web.com TOUR the year I didn't have status, I had a full year out there, now we're on the PGA TOUR. It gives us a sense of gratitude to look back and reflect on those moments where we were staying in a hotel middle of nowhere and playing for 1,200 bucks. It's fun to look back and see that, and it really makes you appreciative of being here. Q. Bobby Jones once said that getting credit for calling a penalty on yourself, you might as well give him credit for not robbing a bank or for larceny. Do you find yourself feeling the same way, that it really isn't that big of a deal because that's what you should do, that's part of the game. BLAYNE BARBER: Yeah, absolutely. I just did what I felt like was right. I mean, I wouldn't change anything. I've learned so much through it and I've grown so much through it, and like we just said, it just makes me appreciative to be here. That's just my story, and that's a piece of the story, and I'm grateful for it. Q. What exactly was the lesson that you learned? BLAYNE BARBER: Just be patient on the timing. Like I wanted to be on the PGA TOUR then. I want it now. I'm a very impatient person and I want it now. So just learning to be patient and say‑‑ I mean, it's so cliché to say stay in the process, but you really have to. If you try to be what you're not, then you're just going to be chasing your tail. Q. So many guys, especially your age, coming up through junior golf, college, high school, never really fail, I guess, or never really come up short. Is that kind of the first time that happened to you? BLAYNE BARBER: Well, I mean, I wasn't necessarily like a top‑tier junior player. I had a successful college career but I only won twice, I think. I was very consistent, had a lot of high finishes, but I didn't win very much. So I was never that guy, whatever. So I definitely had my share of struggles, had a little inconsistent junior golf. I'd win a couple tournaments and then not even contend for a year or whatever. I don't feel like that's who I am, but here we are. JOHN BUSH: This golf course annually gets rave reviews from players. Give us your thoughts on what you've seen so far. BLAYNE BARBER: Yeah, it's great. It's a little abnormal. I've never been here before. This is my first time to Hawai'i. It's been so calm the last few days. The wind hasn't blown at all it seems like, so I'm expecting it to blow at some point this week. But it's tight, you've got to work the ball both ways. You've kind of got to keep it on certain halves of a few fairways so you can have a clear shot into the green. The course is in good shape, and it's fun. I think there's a good mixture of short and long holes. You only have two par‑5s, so you've got to take advantage of that, but I love it. I think it's a great track. Q. What part of your game was pretty sharp in the fall? BLAYNE BARBER: I putted really well. I switched putters through two rounds at Sanderson Farms. I used putter I used all year on Thursday and Friday and I just needed a switch, so I switched Saturday and then had a great week and finished top 10 and used the same putter the following week in México and top‑tenned there, as well. So I'll probably really love it. I think for the Web.com TOUR graduates going straight into the Fall Series is almost an advantage if you're not burned out physically. I think that you can just keep playing golf and roll right into it. You're not waiting a month to go to Hawai'i or whatever and just kind of go play golf. In some ways I think it's good, that change. Q. How much did you play the Web.com last season? BLAYNE BARBER: I think it was like 15 out of 19 or 18. I mean, it was a lot. I know it was like 10 out of the last 12 Web.coms and then the five PGA TOUR events. I didn't touch a club for a while. Q. I'm just curious why a putter change sometimes seems to click for a guy? BLAYNE BARBER: I think‑‑ actually it was two completely different styles of putter. So I went from a face balanced to heel‑toe balanced where the face rotates a little bit more, so that just a lot freed me up I think a little bit. I was tentative to do it for a long time. And then secondly, when you're looking at something new missed a putt you kind of have confidence in this. I think sometimes it's good kind of give your mind a different look and it frees you up sometimes. I think when you don't putt well you're tight and trying too hard. Q. Is it a Scotty Cameron putter? BLAYNE BARBER: It is, yeah, it's a Scotty Cameron. I just switched from a fat back style to a Newport 2, more of a blade. Q. When you come out as a rookie and you talk about playing with a lot of veterans, I'm guessing guys older that you ahead of time, but I'm curious how much those guys seem to know about you. How much can they rattle off where you're from, where you went to school and that stuff, or is it kind of like I'm Blayne, you might not have heard of me? BLAYNE BARBER: I definitely approach it as I'm Blayne, you've probably never heard of me. I just want to introduce myself. I don't know how much those guys keep up with what's going on on the Web.com or college or whatever. I definitely just try to introduce myself to everyone and try to just develop those relationships and learn as much as I can. JOHN BUSH: Blayne Barber, thank you, sir. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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