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SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 30, 2016

Cody Gribble

Jackson, Mississippi

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome the winner of the 2016 Sanderson Farms Championship, Cody Gribble. Cody, congratulations on your first PGA TOUR career victory in quite the impressive fashion with a 63 in round two and the bogey-free 65 today in round four for your four-stroke win.

You kind of keep the tradition going of first-time winners. You're now the fourth of the past six to claim your first PGA TOUR title here at the Sanderson Farms Championship and third consecutive, so with all that said, congratulations. You're sitting amongst a couple of gentlemen that I know would like to make a few quick comments, and we'll start with Joe Sanderson, Jr., the chairman of the board and CEO of Sanderson Farms.

JOE SANDERSON JR.: Well, this has been a wonderful week for the tournament. We've had a splendid golf course on which to conduct a tournament. The tournament greens crew at the Country Club of Jackson worked for a long time to get the course in I think pristine condition, and then we had marvelous weather during the week all week long, didn't miss a beat any day of the tournament.

And then we had marvelous competition the four days of the tournament. I could not be more pleased with the way things went, and our champion this year played splendid golf, and he played splendid golf when it meant the most, on the final day. He's a fine young man, and I'm very impressed. I asked him, how many starts have you had on the PGA TOUR, and he said, "This was my second."

That is rare, but to take -- in his second event under that kind of pressure and to go out and shoot a 65 today is very impressive. I'm very pleased and proud that Cody is our champion this year.

DOUG MILNE: Mr. Sanderson, thank you. Peter Marks, president of Century Club Charities, a few comments from you.

PETER MARKS: Well, we love having a young first-time winner, and Cody has always had a great reputation at Texas, and just this tournament is getting better and better because of Sanderson Farms' leadership. Mr. Joe just doesn't cut a check, he actually is very involved with the tournament, which helps us, which the ultimate goal is to raise money for the kids, and this year has been a great year. We expect to have a big check going to Batson's Children's Hospital, and we're just real excited, and real excited to have Cody as the winner.

DOUG MILNE: Now we'll get a couple of comments from you. Reaction on your first PGA TOUR win, Cody Gribble.

CODY GRIBBLE: Well, I'm new here in this little area, so go easy on me. But it was an unbelievable experience. The course, from the hospitality to the golf course to the fans, I couldn't have asked for a better venue to win. I can't thank everybody enough for coming out.

My sponsors Nike Golf and Ewing Buick Automotive, Mercedes, for what they've done for me to get me to this spot.

Q. Cody, in that opening round, you shot a 73, and then obviously from there you took off. What changed for you, and what did you have to do to get on track here?
CODY GRIBBLE: Yeah. Really just -- well, my first opening round 73, I was just making -- my tempo was a little fast. I wasn't hitting the ball great. But more than anything, I was just making errors, just unforced errors that shouldn't be, I'd say, I guess as a rookie would probably do, and after the first round, I was talking to Bob, my caddie, and Randy Smith, my teacher, and just telling them, I've got to learn how to slow down, and if I can do that and mainly just eliminate the errors, I think I'll have a good shot.

Basically I went out the next day and basically just tried to play conservative, aggressive but also very conservative, and eliminate any mistakes, and I did that.

Q. (No microphone.)
CODY GRIBBLE: You know, I haven't won -- I think my last win as an individual was the Western Junior, and I've had plenty of opportunities to win, but I really could -- I went back to my tournament in Evansville, Indiana, this year on the Web TOUR, and I was in a very good spot to win, and I put myself in a great place to win on 18, and it obviously didn't go my way, made bogey on 18 to lose by one.

But I still had that feeling, just basically just tried to stay in the present the whole time. I knew I was hitting the ball well and I was putting very well. If I could just lean on that a little bit, I think I knew I had a good chance.

Q. Cody, yesterday when I talked to you, you said, I think, that you needed to play smarter. How much did Bobby help you play smarter being on your bag?
CODY GRIBBLE: A lot. We had a really good time this week, even in Napa, too, but he helped me mainly just kind of stay in the present, not really looking forward into the next hole or the next hole or where I'm at or what I needed to do, looking at scoreboards, whatever. He just was able to keep me patient and keep me motivated. It's something that he has done very well with me, and even the caddie that I had before this past year, Mark Heuer, has been very good at doing -- has done very well with me, as well.

I like to get ahead of myself. I like to play a little fast, and I get a little anxious, and to keep me relaxed is kind of the main point.

Q. Watching you that back nine holes, you didn't seem anxious at all. Your disposition remained very calm throughout. Did it feel that way in your head, or were you kind of having to tell yourself a little bit?
CODY GRIBBLE: Even when Bob was -- I was making Bob speak a lot. I knew I was in a good spot, and I knew I was playing well. It's hard not to sit there and look up at the scoreboard and see where you're at and see what you're doing. But I was talking to Bob about anything, about our game last night, about Charlie Strong, about the Cubs game, anything. We were just trying to get my mind really off the situation as much as possible, I think. Just really keep me relaxed, what we're going to be doing tomorrow night when we get into Vegas, anything at all.

Q. Can you just talk about obviously graduating off the Web.com TOUR this season, how that really gives you momentum coming into the Fall Series, being in the flow of just playing good golf through the finals and everything else because your obviously second top 10 and getting a win here this week?
CODY GRIBBLE: Yeah, it's actually kind of funny how the last two years on the Web TOUR, I think the first year I was on the Web I had a really steady year. I had a lot of top 20s, top 15s, top 10s, and this year I missed a lot of cuts. I missed more cuts than I made cuts, and when I made the cut, I played great, but there was a lot of up and downs this year.

I think a lot of that had to do with my driver. I think I was hitting more fairways a couple years ago, and I finally found a driver that just kind of clicked in the finals, and my putter got hot at the right time. I kind of figured a little forward press that started in Columbus, slowed my stroke down, and I've been able to hit a lot more solid shots, or strokes.

But I'd say that's kind of the main deal. My putter and my driver is what really got me to this point, obviously.

Q. You've got a place for that trophy in your house?
CODY GRIBBLE: Yes, I do. Yes.

Q. What family members, if any, did you have with you?
CODY GRIBBLE: I had my mother, my father, my twin sister and my older sister were all here.

Q. (No microphone.)
CODY GRIBBLE: You know, the last time I played in Mississippi was a junior event, and it was the Exxon BFI up in -- I think was up somewhere near Oxford, somewhere up north. But it's been a while. I played well there, and I guess I've got some good luck here in Mississippi.

Q. Do you feel like, to use your word, you played smarter today? And what is the difference between smart play and not-so-smart play for you?
CODY GRIBBLE: It goes down to just knowing where the pin is at on every green, and do you have a miss, knowing your misses, knowing where to miss the ball, knowing where you can't miss the ball. I think in the last 54 holes, I've made one bogey, and that was on 12, and the pin was front right, and you cannot miss that ball right. I looked at Bob, and I was like -- I watched Andres Romero hit a shot almost in the water left, and he was in a better position than I was 20 feet right of the hole.

So just small things like that I think I've really picked up on, and even watched. I mean, I watched Billy Haas in Napa, and I was super impressed by what he does. I think out here for me, you're learning, you're learning fast, and trying to keep up.

Q. How does that stretch of golf you played, 15, 16, 17, rank among the best golf you've ever played?
CODY GRIBBLE: It's up there. It's up there. To be under that circumstance, it's probably one of the best. I think that I put in a lot of work with my wedges in the last year and a half, and to finally see that really pay off the way it did is something I'll hold for a long time.

Q. (No microphone.)
CODY GRIBBLE: So Jordan was two years below me. When I was a junior, he was a freshman. That was 2012 when we won the national championship, and then he played another semester and then left that fall.

Q. Is there anything special about the Jackson Country Club course that gives you an advantage or made you feel more comfortable as you were coming in off the last holes?
CODY GRIBBLE: Yeah. Well, first, being in the South, growing up on Bermuda fairways, Bermuda greens, it's something difficult, I think. There were some places in there, I think even on 15 -- I think it was 15, yeah, there's some grain running into you. It's not a comfortable feeling when you're having to hit a chip that all that grain is tight going into you. That's something I've been able to learn from a young age, and Randy has done a really good job helping me do that through the years.

But really that, and just the Southern hospitality, great food, great people. Reminds me of home.

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