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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

August 10, 2016

Daniel Summerhays

Silvis, Illinois

AMANDA HERRINGTON: We'd like to welcome Daniel Summerhays to the interview room here at the John Deere Classic. Great success this year in the majors, specifically two top 10s, coming off a 3rd at the PGA and then T11 last week in Connecticut. Welcome back to the John Deere Classic where you've had success, finishing two top tens, including last year. How does it feel?

DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Oh, this is a staple on the schedule. It seems there's always a good vibe when I come here to the Quad Cities area, and I love this golf course. I've never -- you don't see turf like this very often. The greens are perfect. The course is in perfect condition. Really looking forward to a good week.

AMANDA HERRINGTON: What would you say you credit the success to specifically in those major championships this year?

DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: A lot of hard work. I think a lot of it is just a culmination of years and years of steady improvement. I started last year, I started working with my brother Boyd, Boyd Summerhays. He also coaches Tony Finau, and he's helped a lot of other guys off and on. But honestly, I just keep getting a little bit better every year. Seems like every -- in my 10 years now as pro, seems like I keep getting a little better every year, and I think it was just a matter of time before I kind of broke the ceiling on it.

The U.S. Open was a big deal, finishing eighth there, and I think that gave me a lot of confidence to come to Baltusrol and be in that same situation again and to finish even stronger than I did at Oakmont.

Q. Coming off of two majors and last week, coming to a course you've played well recently, what is the confidence level coming in?
DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah, I don't think I've been as high ranked -- I think I'm the third highest ranked player here this week, and just knowing that kind of gives you confidence, like hey, not that you should win or compete, but it gives you the excitement that, hey, if you do the right things how you're supposed to, you're going to have a really good chance come Sunday.

Ever since my rookie year, I've always played well at this course. I think it fits a draw, to my eye. The greens, I see the greens really well. I just love this place. I really have played well here, even in years where I haven't played as well coming into this event. I seem to always get it done here, and not that that's going to be the case this year, but I definitely still feel very confident in my game. I feel like I've gotten better in every aspect of it, from driving to bunker play, short game. My putting has always been a constant. So I'm really looking forward to a good week.

Q. Do you keep track of where you are in terms of Ryder Cup points?
DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah, I'm a firm 19 right now, so I definitely know where I'm at. Nobody -- I wasn't on anybody's raid or, I'm sure, except for my own. Watching the last Ryder Cup, watching Jimmy and Rickie and Patrick, all these guys competing for our country, man, it made me want to be at Hazeltine. I played the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine, and I know the course. I'd love to go back there. I need to golf my ball here in these next few weeks to do that, probably win.

But to be able to compete for your country, you know, I'm watching the Olympics this week, and it's like, man, that would -- that would be so cool to have that flag. I'm very, very proud of my country, and to be able to represent it in a team format like that would be a dream come true, and it has been on my goal list. To be even within shouting distance at this point of the season, I'm really excited for the opportunity.

Q. 54-hole lead here in the past; where does that fit into your progression and where your game is now? How does that experience help you?
DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: You know, Jordan probably won't say it, but I kind of gave a kick-start to his career, you know. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't be Jordan Spieth. (Laughter.)

No, but I had a great chance. Jordan chipped in from the same bunker that my ball plugged in in that final round, and I had no shot. So I made bogey on that last hole. I was sitting in the middle of the fairway with a chance to birdie and win the golf tournament, pushed the shot a little bit, plugs in the bunker, and yeah, I had no chance, really. I had to leave it in the bunker and then try and make that to get into that playoff.

The experience I've had here, coming down on 18, I'm already looking forward -- I know Zach is going to be there at the end of this week. That's a given. Strick, there are guys who are just going to be there at the end of the week, and I hope I'm one of those guys with a chance to win on that 18th hole this year.

Q. What does it take to win? You know you've got to know low, you know there's a number out there. What do you think you need to do to win?
DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: You know, seems like every year when I come here, you know it's going to be a low shootout. Kind of the motto I've kind of come up with here is 30 birdies. If you can make around -- you're going to have to be 22 -- depending what the weather does, you're going to have to be 22, 21, 23 under par, and if you can kind of shoot for between 25 and 30 birdies throughout the week, I think that's a good mind September. You don't let up on the gas. That's going to definitely be -- if you start in the afternoon, guys may already about 7-, 8-under par, but the attitude is, hey, it's my turn now. It's not like, oh, my gosh, I'm already eight behind. It's my turn to go make some birdies. That's the mindset. It's not an Oakmont or a Baltusrol setup where you're like, I can make some pars out there, maybe squeeze a bogey in, maybe some more pars, maybe a birdie. But yeah, I think a good, aggressive, forward mindset for sure this week.

Q. This course has been known for first-time winners coming here. Considering the year you've had, what would a win mean to you?
DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: It would be icing on the cake for sure. I already feel like I've -- even without a win, I feel like this has been a breakout summer, a breakout year. I think we put a lot of emphasis on winning, maybe too much sometimes. After Baltusrol a lot of people, so many texts and emails and phone calls came flooding in saying, hey, you're doing great, you're going to break through here soon, and I'm thinking to myself, well, I feel like I already have. Third in a major solo felt like a win for me, an invite to the Masters, all the World Ranking points, the FedExCup points. It felt like a win.

I think we put a lot of emphasis on it, and sometimes in my own mind I put too much emphasis on it, where I should just be excited to compete at such a high level. You have to have a lot of things go right for you to win. You think of greats in sports who haven't won a championship. Coming from Utah, Carl Malone and John Stockton, they are not failures by any means, two of the greatest of all time, yet they didn't win a championship.

So I think we put a lot of emphasis on it, and it sometimes doesn't need to be that way.

I feel very satisfied. I'm not complacent, but I'm satisfied. I think you can have that, where you're satisfied with your accomplishments but you're not complacent, meaning you don't stop grinding and working toward getting better.

Q. I see you love ping-pong. Who do you like to play, who do you beat, and (inaudible)?
DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: You know, basketball has always been a love of mine growing up, probably my second favorite sport besides golf, but vertically challenged and a little too dangerous for me right now. All it takes is a swipe down on the ball, a thumb, a finger. So I kind of have taken up a little more of the racquet sports. I really enjoy ping-pong, pickleball. I don't know if you guys have heard of pickleball. I've been playing that a lot at home with some of my friends and I've met a lot more friends through that. Tennis, I'm really enjoying tennis, things like that. I'm going to start traveling with my backpack with my tennis racquet, pickleball paddle and ping-pong racquet in a bag. But it's a fun kind of cross-training thing. You do a lot of plyometric moves in all those sports. Even ping-pong, me and my brother were playing at the PGA Championship down in the basement and we were both dripping sweat, getting some good footwork going on there.

I'm no match for Kuch. We played a few years ago at his house. I think I've improved a little bit since then, but he smoked me pretty good. He's got that long reach. And Freddie Jac, he looks like he should be playing in the Olympics. No match for any of those guys, but I sure enjoy it.

Q. You mentioned the course earlier, what is the difference between previous setups that you've seen and what you're seeing out there this week?
DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: I think it's really similar. The air thickness feels about the same, just walking out of the car this morning it feels like a July setup. But no, the golf course seems pretty much the same. I mean, it's still in perfect condition. It's still a little soft, but I think you have to keep it that way just because of the heat, to keep the grass alive. But John Deere knows how to grow and maintain turf, and it's always a treat to come here.

AMANDA HERRINGTON: We'd like to thank you for your time today, and good luck this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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