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SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIPOctober 25, 2016Jonathan RandolphJackson, Mississippi THE MODERATOR: All right. Like to welcome Jonathan Randolph to the interview room here at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Probably safe to say you're going to be hit up for more tickets than any player in the field this week. But you're making your seventh start here in the Sanderson Farms Championship and I think back in Annandale Top 15 finish. Obviously a course that you know very well. So with that just a few comments on being back here at the Country Club of Jackson this week. JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Yeah. It feels really good to be home. I played well (indiscernible), and I've had way more rounds out here, so I got no excuse not to play good out here. Growing up at Jackson Prep we played out here as a team once a week. I've so logged the hours here, and just gotta show up and play, and it's going to happen. THE MODERATOR: This morning before I left the hotel I saw a feature on you on the local news station and the thing that stood out was you said you're really just not taking anything for granted this week. You obviously are putting the time and the work in. If you could just comment on not taking anything for granted. JONATHAN RANDOLPH: You know, very humbling experience to lose your card, to the trajectory of junior golf to college golf to professional golf, mini tours, Web.com, PGA TOUR, and then you feel like you're supposed to be there and you get knocked back down. And to be able to get another chance and get my card back -- you know, last year I played in this as a sponsor invite. So to get my card back and have a chance to do it this way and to have Mississippi as the second tournament of the year, it's such an unbelievable opportunity to get out here and prove that this is where I belong, this is what I'm supposed to be doing, so I'm really excited. THE MODERATOR: And my last question and then we'll take a few if anybody has any questions. You're coming off a strong season on the Web.com Tour, four Top 10 finishes, two of which were runner-ups that put you in the Top 30 on the priority list. What are you taking from your solid play out there last year that you're bringing to the TOUR this season? JONATHAN RANDOLPH: You know, I worked on some swing changes in 2015 when I was out here, and I knew I was doing the right thing to get better so that I could go play for a full year and play consistently, and to go do it and play, I think going into the Web finals I'd only missed one cut in the U. S. All year. I was like 16 of 17 or something, and knowing that that's why I struggled for a whole year was so that I could be that guy that's constantly making cuts and getting in contention, it was great to validate that with a full year of really good play, and I just can't wait to take it over and prove to myself -- I don't care what anybody else thinks. I just want to prove to myself that that's what I'm built to do is I'm built to stay and I'm built to compete week in and week out. THE MODERATOR: Okay. If we have any questions, we'll take a few questions. Q. (Inaudible). JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Well, I knew going into this past Web.com season I had to prove my driving statistics because especially out here you can't play from out of position for very well, unless your Bubba long or Dustin Johnson long, and I improved my driving so much, and I've always been a good putter. So really, you know, I've played in final groups or second-to-final groups with Jordan Spieth and all those guys. Like I've led tournaments through 50-something holes out here. So it's not necessarily like getting in contention; it's just that I know I can stay in contention for 72 holes now. And I probably -- I could have done it if I had a lot of willpower two years ago, but it's a whole lot easier to do it now, and that's why I did the swing changes I did, and eventually I'm so much more prepared than I was before. Q. You mentioned the swing changes. When was kind of that moment when everything just seemed to click? JONATHAN RANDOLPH: So ironically it was like a couple weeks after this event last year. I had a lot of really good things going when I showed up here last year, but it was just enough off that I wasn't able to get it as close to the hole as I needed to consistently to make a lot of putts, because these are some of the trickiest greens on the planet. I've played a lot of greens and I've played these a lot, and it doesn't matter how many times you play them, they're so subtle that you have to hit a lot of quality shots and get a ton of looks. It's almost boring; it's a terrible golf answer, but now I'm so much more consistent than I was, I'm going to get so many more looks. This whole swing change thing is so miniscule, but in the stats column it just starts to add up, and that's why I made so many cuts this year, and that's why it's going to be different. Q. What was just that moment like? Battling back on the Web.com to get your card, what was that moment like realizing you were going to be back on TOUR? JONATHAN RANDOLPH: It was a little bit of relief, but a little bit of -- it wasn't as satisfying as the first time, because this time it was like, all right, this is what I'm supposed to do. Like I executed what I was supposed to do. It would be like if you finished No. 1 on the Money List, that would be like making it to Atlanta, and you know, that's the end game. So I was happy, but I probably -- I don't know, other people were probably happier than I was. I'm so ready -- I know how important this Fall Series is and playing these five events well. And honestly, we had no break between the TOUR Championship and Safeway, and so just knowing that I could get out and start going I was just ready to go. Like I just wanted to get out and start competing. And I've had this one on the calendar all year, especially since I played good in the middle of the summer and I was in the Top-25, I just started looking forward to this event, and I was ready to get out and just get after it and get in contention and do what I know I can do. Q. And a lot of guys that play in their hometowns or courses they're familiar with, sometimes with the crowds it's too much pressure. How do you avoid falling into that trap of too many distractions and too much pressure? JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Right. So I played a lot of college golf, junior golf, all this stuff, and with whenever there's like one or two people out there, it's like I got elephant ears a lot of times, but I noticed the first time I got in contention (indiscernible), like there were babies crying and people cracking beer cans and just doing what people do, and it made me focus so much more and I played so much better. So the more people there are and the more pressure, like cameras running behind me in the fairway, for some reason makes me play better. Just helps me sharpen my focus. And if there's only one person out there, sometimes it's harder for me to dial in because I'll hear something stupid, and then I'll get off on another tangent that a 20-something-year-old will. But I'm growing up, and really I like having the pressure; it just makes me want to perform more, so I embrace it. Q. What was the most important or memorable thing you remember playing (indiscernible)? JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Oh, I was playing in -- I think I'd been in the Top-25, but I was bouncing around a little bit, and we were in Springfield, Illinois; and I was playing so good and getting -- getting nothing out of it. I was like 4-under on the day, but we got to this par-5, and I looked at my caddy, and I had just missed another birdie putt, and I think we were like four off the lead, and I said, if I birdie every hole on the way in, because there's four holes left, I bet you we can do this. And I hit this little shot out to the right, like super acceptable miss on a par-5, and I chipped it in, and I looked at him, and I was like, we're about to do it. And then I birdied the next hole and next hole, and I ended up lipping out on the next hole and I lost by one. But it's little runs like that, we're calling them Randolph Runs. I just started doing it this year. I had so many hot streaks where I'd make an eagle. Usually, like that same week I bogeyed the second hole of the day, and then I was standing on 9 tee box needing a birdie to shoot 29 on a par-36 front nine, so that's probably the most memorable because it really, really launched me into the last I'd say like six events of the year I was almost locked up, but the Randolph Runs all year have been the most crucial. Because I'm consistent and my putting is good, I get so many more looks at it, and I can just get hot. Q. (Inaudible). JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Yeah, it really is. You know, the whole -- I was leading the Byron Nelson playing with Jordan; there's a million people out there, and I birdie -- I hit it in the right trees on the 16th hole, and then I hit this good shot out of the trees. I wedge it up there and make birdie, and all of a sudden I look up and I'm leading the tournament by I think one or two, and I get to 18, and I just made a good swing, I thought, and I look up and it's just hanging down the left side of the fairway and goes in the water, and I wasn't surprised. Like it didn't rattle me. I was just like, well, I'm due for a bad shot. This is my spread right now. I can't hit 14 good tee shots. And now I can. I can step up and I can hit it where I'm looking almost every time. We were picking fairway stripes this summer, and that was a different ballgame from what the experience was in 2015. So it is life changing. I've been losing less hair, I think, and lost a few pounds. It's been nice. Q. How are you feeling about your short game entering this week? JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Well, I've been chipping in about twice a week. It's really strange. The stats on the Web Tour doesn't show it quite as much. Last week I didn't at Safeway. It was disappointing. I had a few burn the lip, but my caddy's fiancé and her parents came out to the event in Oregon, the last regular-season event on the Web.com season, and I chipped in twice the first day and once the second day; and I had a pretty good look at it the third day, and they were there the third day, and he was like, you realize if you chip in again, they're going to think that pros are supposed to chip in like at least once a round. And so you know, it's been really nice. I've been putting well, but I leave it in such better spots now that it makes me look way better when I chip in as much as I do, because I'm able to play position golf. And I was leading the Web Tour in eagles at some point, and a lot of those were chip-ins, and I think I finished like first or second in eagles on par-5s. And those are part of the Randolph Run that you just can't help it; if you leave it in the right spot, eventually it's going to work out. So patience is a virtue, but it helps when you chip in. Q. Do you have a history of coming out here much as a kid and watching the tournament? Did you spend much time out here? JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Sure. I was a sign boy for six years, and Chris Smith has been a really good mentor to me. He's been a great guy, and I pulled out an autograph ball and a glove that he gave me back in the day when we were at Annandale. And he pulled out driver on No. 1 and hit it up over the trees, and my dad was like, "son, that's stupid; you should never do that." But it's been great. I actually have a picture of him carrying the sign this year at the Web.com event in Springfield. He was like, all right, gotta go full circle, so he carried the sign for us for about 100 yards. But yeah, getting to come out in the afternoons to see practice rounds and snag a couple of balls from guys. I was definitely -- the second that I got to be a standard bearer and be inside the ropes and get to feel the rush of like Pete Jordan shooting 64 and making a huge run up the leaderboard, I knew that's what I wanted to do. It was way better than hitting a single to right field and driving in a run or something like that. There was something about it and I'm hooked. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Anybody else? All right. Well, Jonathan, we appreciate your time. Best of luck this week. Thank you very much. JONATHAN RANDOLPH: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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