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NCAA MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

May 29, 2017

Sugar Grove, Illinois

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the 2017 champion, individual champion, Braden Thornberry from Ole Miss, and his coach Chris Malloy from Ole Miss, and we'll start, Braden, with you. If you would talk about the last four days for you and just being able to achieve such a great accomplishment here today.

BRADEN THORNBERRY: Yeah, so it was a really special week. Really just from the start, got off to a great start, 6-under through the first 12 of the week, and that kind of got me started off on the right foot and really just went from there and tried to stay patient. The lead kept kind of creeping up. I tried to just stay in position until today and play a good round, and I was right there.

THE MODERATOR: Talk a little bit about the perseverance that Braden showed, being able to get the national championship.

CHRIS MALLOY: Well, he's done it all year long. He's played very good golf, which that's the easy part of it to see, but it doesn't always come easy.

Today is probably when I was most proud of him. He faced a lot of adversity, especially on that back nine. He had it rolling there for a little while, and he made a great par putt on 13, then made bogey on 14, and hit it in the trees on 15. It really wasn't going his way for a while, but that's what a true champion does, right, in that situation they find a way, and he certainly found a way, and then like at the end of the round it probably seemed like it was on autopilot, but it certainly didn't come easy.

Q. Braden, take us through today's round. What went well for you today?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Well, I drove the ball really well, which is really important on this golf course. I think the first fairway I missed was maybe on the 15th hole or so, so I really should have been doing better than I was even, playing from the fairway all day. But that's just kind of the key to this golf course, and fortunately I was hitting it straight today, so that made life a little bit easier.

Q. How do you think today's performance and being able to compound upon it next year and being able to go forward and use this momentum that this provides?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Obviously the more you're in this type of position, the more it helps, so kind of put myself in position a couple times in the last year or so, and I feel like I'm handling it better and better and getting more used to it. I feel that's all you can do and just go from there.

Q. Coach, talk about that, as well, this kind of performance, what can it do for Braden and for your program.
CHRIS MALLOY: Yeah, I think for Braden, as he alluded to, the confidence piece is huge. What it does for him and the rest of his teammates, it will help boost those guys up to not only get the same trophy next year but get that team trophy, as well.

But it's all confidence, and I think the only thing he's ever struggled with since he's been here is realizing that he belongs, and he's proven that. I think that trophy right there will help prove that to himself.

Q. Would you take us through the par on 15?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Yeah, when I hit it over -- that was definitely not my best shot of the day off the tee. I struggled to kind it hold it against the wind and kind of blocked it out over there. I seen a couple people over there and there wasn't a lot of good stuff, so it was kind of hit-or-miss over there. But luckily -- it wasn't an easy shot, but I cut it about 30 yards or so, but I think the hardest part of the shot was the wind was kind of hurting the fade, so I had to cut it pretty good out of there. Hit a really good shot, it was right at it, just went a little over green, but that was a big par save for sure, not knowing if I had to chip out and not even an easy 5 from there, so that was a really big momentum hole right there.

Q. What club did you hit and how far out were you?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: It was 198 and I hit a 4-iron.

Q. Were you paying attention to the leaderboard at all throughout the day?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: I tried not to. I saw it when we were on 13, just hard to miss sometimes when you see your name over there. But I've kind of been a leaderboard watcher my whole life, and I try not to really let it affect my strategy and stuff too much. But I was following it a little bit. I was trying to stay away as much as possible, though.

Q. What's it been like for you this week seeing your name in the bright lights, on The Golf Channel, see your name in the crawl, the TV camera following you? Has it been fun? Has it been nerve-racking?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: It makes you a little nervous maybe, but overall it's more kind of cool to see your name down there. It honestly kind of gives you confidence knowing that people care enough about you and you're a good enough golfer to be on The Golf Channel. That kind of stuff is pretty cool to me.

CHRIS MALLOY: Don't let him fool you, he's better with that shot on 15 from the trees than he is from the middle of the fairway.

Q. That's his MO?
CHRIS MALLOY: That's his MO.

Q. Is that win No. 7 now the last two years?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Yeah, I believe it was, two freshman year and five this year, yes, sir.

Q. What clicked?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: I kind of always showed little spurts of it and would get hot at certain times. It's really just consistency now. I can show up each week and know that I'm going to put myself in a good spot to at least have a chance the last day, so that's probably -- I've always kind of had the game, but really just putting the ball-striking together and just going out there knowing I'm going to have it each day.

Q. What did the Jones Cup do for you?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: That was a little bit different experience than this week. I may have looked like I had a couple-shot lead coming down the end, but the Jones Cup I was up five, six, seven coming down the last nine holes, so there really wasn't a whole lot of pressure. I felt a lot of pressure on like 10 through 15 today, but I'm proud of the way I handled it, though.

Q. You're coming into today with the wind and two shots back. Did you have a particular way that you wanted to play this?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: I'm not really sure when I got the lead, but I had multiple people telling me, and coming into today when it was windy, I was really happy. That kind of suits my game. Everybody else kind of dwindled down a little bit and I usually play really well in those conditions, so I was really happy with the wind today.

Q. How much do you know about Dr. Cary Middlecoff?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: I know a little bit. I mean, I know he's a great player. That's really all I know, though. I don't know too much.

Q. Braden, what do you think this does for your Player of the Year chances?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: It definitely doesn't hurt. I think personally it's going to be really close. I mean, I think I would be leading in scoring average and wins and all that kind of stuff, and this definitely doesn't hurt, so I think I'm in a good spot. I like my chances.

Q. Speaking of chances, this obviously boosts your stock for the Walker Cup. Talk about what that would mean to you and what would you bring to that team in LA in September?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Obviously Spider Miller was here a couple days and he's been really great to me. I like him a lot, and it would be an honor to make that team. Playing college golf you're used to the team atmosphere, and I love it. I think I'd be an asset to that team, and it just would be a good honor to make it.

Q. I met you first about three years ago, and one thing that stuck out to me is obviously you're a great competitor, won a lot of tournaments, but you seem to be a big fan of the game, big fan of college golf. Am I correct in that?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Yeah.

Q. Obviously being the competitor you are and having the win, what does that mean to be also a fan and think about yourself as winning?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: It's cool knowing the past champions of this tournament and stuff like that, so to add your name to that obviously means a lot. I'm just a huge fan of just going out there and having fun. I think a lot of people get too caught up in swing and playing golf swing instead of just going out there and playing golf and having fun, so I try to keep that mindset. Sometimes you'll go down the wrong path a little bit, but I try to remember that it's still a game, and you're just trying to have fun.

Q. Where did you learn your swing? It's a little different than maybe what they would teach.
BRADEN THORNBERRY: My dad started me off when I was about 10 years old, and kind of everyone when they're younger they kind of come over the top, so he kind of gave me the little loop move to get that away, and I just really liked the feel of it and kind of just kept it and worked from there, really, just worked at it from there.

Q. And also, the quickness of your game, where did you get that, and you realize that that's something that you might have to adjust to when you get to the next level?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: That's a good question. I don't really know where I got the speed from. I didn't really know I was fast until people started telling me I was fast. I kind of just saw the shot and hit it. But I don't really think I need to change anything. I'm pretty happy with how it's going.

Q. What does this do for your program? What does it mean?
CHRIS MALLOY: Yeah, I think it validates everything that we've said since Coach Ellis and I got the job a few years back, three years ago, coming up on three years, that all I heard was that if you want to Ole Miss that you couldn't win a national championship, and we're going to go to this other school because we want to win national championships and we want to get on TOUR. He's proven you can do that.

So I think it's going to open some doors. The funny thing about Ole Miss and our sell is once we get guys on campus and they see what we're about, you know, it's a pretty easy sell, it's just the first hurdle in getting them to campus and seeing what we're about. All this coverage today, what Braden has done, the success this team has had this year, I think that's going to help get some guys on campus, and I think after that it's going to be pretty easy.

Q. Braden, what were you like as a junior player? Did you win a bunch of tournaments? Were you highly recruited?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: I played a lot of local stuff and obviously won a lot of that kind of stuff, but I won four AJGAs, so obviously that helps winning at a young age, so when you get to college you have experience winning and stuff like that. I had the game when I was in high school, but it's a lot more well-rounded now, and I'm a lot more confident in it.

Q. Your dad told me that you might have had one golf lesson; have very many people tried to change your golf swing?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Nobody has tried too hard, they usually just kind of like show me the style a little bit. But obviously a lot of people have come up to me saying you have to do this to get better; you'll never be good if you don't have the perfect swing. But I've tried to just leave it alone, and I've kind of -- I've messed around with changing it a little bit, but it really just -- my good days I hit it so good, I really just don't want to mess around with it. If I can just get it more consistent just on a day-to-day basis, that's really what I want to stick with.

Q. Who else recruited you?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: Honestly I committed pretty early. I was looking at Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, but really the whole way I wanted to go to Ole Miss, and I had an uncle go there to play baseball at Ole Miss, my aunt was a Rebelette there, so I've been around campus my whole life, so really it was a no-brainer for me. I committed in my ninth grade year, so it was a no-brainer. I visited the other schools and compared them to Ole Miss, and I really thought everything at Ole Miss was better. It's really just where I wanted to be.

Q. Could you talk about what your summer is going to be like, what you plan is?
BRADEN THORNBERRY: My next events, I play sectionals next and then the FedEx St. Jude Classic. I got in there a couple weeks ago. And then I'll play -- I'll play the Sunny Hanna, the Northeast, Pac Coach, Western Am, Canadian Am, U.S. Am. Just a pretty fun schedule.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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