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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 16, 2015

Brian Gaffney

Kohler, Wisconsin, USA

Q. (No Microphone.)
BRIAN GAFFNEY: I tried to get as much out of it as I could. They were cheering and no one ever cheers for me, so it just felt great. And I thought, well, I'll get them riled up, because they got me riled up.

Q. I think there are a lot of people cheering for you. How many fist pumps did you count out there?
BRIAN GAFFNEY: I don't know, I lost count. I kept seeing my arm going and I said, let's just stop, that looks goofy. But I don't get to experience this very often, so it was great.

Q. From an emotional standpoint, seeing your wife and finishing up, tell me about that.
BRIAN GAFFNEY: Yeah, surprising, I mean, it's just golf. But as a player you just try and trust all your feelings and your emotions, and towards the end they just, you can't hold it in. It's exciting.

Q. Where does this rank with all your golf accomplishments?
BRIAN GAFFNEY: I don't know. I've been really fortunate. I had some people help me along the way, and I won tournaments that were big tournaments, but I don't know that they -- they all mean something, but this one right now feels like it means a lot.

Q. If you had a message for the 312 club pros that tee it up, what would it be?
BRIAN GAFFNEY: It would be believe in yourself. You can do this. We're good enough players. And I proved to myself that I don't have to play like amazing golf to be here. We're all good enough, we just never get the opportunity.

In that third round, I just had a train wreck in the middle of the round that I just couldn't slow down. And outside of that, I think the rest of the tournament, although I made some big mistakes, I feel like I just kept this one window of time where the more experience and the more time you take to slow everything down, get back to your routine, those are things that I struggled with.

But to the 312, do it, practice. I'm the guy who got all the attention this week, but every -- there's so many of those guys that are good enough, if not better than me, to be in this position and it's worth the sacrifice.

Q. Obviously your dad is here, a lot of proud family members, a moment to remember.
BRIAN GAFFNEY: It's kind of strange to think that this sort of brings us together, but there's been a lot of text messages. And I tried to stay off the phone and pretend like it's not that big of a deal in my head, but it really is. And I just know they love me and that's great. I love them. So, we'll all get together and it's going to be great.

Q. Where do you go from walking down the 72nd hole, the gallery screaming, when do you show up for work again? What's that going to be like?
BRIAN GAFFNEY: Tuesday morning, first thing. It's going to be great, I would imagine. I think I sent this in an e-mail to somebody, that the reentry is going to be a little bit difficult. Because I want to tell every person every story. I know there's work that I have to do and there's going to be a lot of e-mails and getting back to things. But I've got an awesome staff back home and they cover for me. So, thank you, guys, for taking care of me. But it's going to be awesome going back home and reconnecting with everybody. I've got some things for the kids back home and it's going to be great.

Q. Do you feel like you won the Major?
BRIAN GAFFNEY: I don't feel like I've won, the competitor in me, I needed to finish 54th or better to get into the Cup matches. And when I had that trouble on the third round, I could feel that slipping away. And I thought if I could shoot even 1-under on the weekend, which I know I'm capable of, I could do that. I could finish in that Top-54. So, that's a bit of a heartbreak, but I've got plenty of things that are positives to take with me.

Q. When we were over there, you and your wife stopped me so you could say hi to somebody. Who was that?
BRIAN GAFFNEY: He's one of my buddies right here, Dan Pasternack and Scott Kmiec, these two guys have helped shape my career. Scott's been my executive, he was my Executive Director in New Jersey for a long time. He moved on to the PGA of America. And Dan Pasternack, we were roommates a long time ago, and he's helped guide me in my career and he's now part of the PGA of America and their board. There's nothing better than connecting with people who know you before, not that before anything, but who knew me when, and we get to celebrate together and that's a special moment.

Q. Explain a little bit about the fact that we can do it, to your fellow members. Because they come in here tight, as you probably know, and they're playing great golf before they come here, it seems like the front nine, the first day and Thursday, there was trouble.
BRIAN GAFFNEY: You mean the PGA club pros?

Q. Yeah, just to get the confidence back?
BRIAN GAFFNEY: I almost think, and I thought this before, that we should get -- the PGA of America should get players who are more experienced to help the other players who are less experienced coming into this event and just advise them on what's coming your way, which is the attention, the equipment, that I shouldn't change things, that you need to relax and not -- you want to soak in as much as you can. But at the same time, you shouldn't overexert yourself for the week. And I've done that on a few times along the way, where I have worn myself out. And this time was the first time that I didn't do that. I went away from the golf course, I got to my on space with my family and obviously it must have helped.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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