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NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CHAMPIONSHIP

September 3, 2017

Tom Lovelady

Columbus, Ohio

Q. Tom Lovelady, tied for third here in Columbus, and you've secured your first PGA TOUR card. Knowing you'll be playing next year, what are your initial emotions?
TOM LOVELADY: Unbelievable. I mean it's what I dreamed of. You always hope it comes true. You just never know because golf's a hard game and there are so many good players. There's no other way to put it that it's a dream come true, unbelievable.

Q. The birdie on 18, talking about what you thought might be.
TOM LOVELADY: Yeah. You know, I heard the scoreboard was tied for fourth or top four, whatever it may be. So I knew that I was tied for fourth two ways and a birdie would definitely secure it. So downhill plan if I was going to make it it was barely going to get there.

Q. How about the conditions today, Tom?
TOM LOVELADY: You know, it was tough because it was windy. And most of the winds were side winds, so it wasn't into or down which made it more difficult. Also, it's a Sunday so there's a lot on the line, which also adds for pressure to it. I got a little frustrated early, but I just kept kind of plugging along and kept grinding, and just really happy the way things turned out.

Q. You love this course, don't you?
TOM LOVELADY: I do now? (Laughs).

Q. Playing in the wind, you probably feel like you won the biggest tournament in your life.
TOM LOVELADY: Oh, yeah, 100 percent. I mean this is what my goal is after four tournaments. I just wanted to take it day by day. Never would I thought it would have happened in one week. Obviously that's the reason you have the last three, to just play well, you know. And really just enjoy it, to be honest with you. It's going to be a whole lot of fun. I just couldn't be more excited.

Q. Is a lot of it a testament and appreciation for the people who have helped get you to this position?
TOM LOVELADY: Of course. I mean obviously family and friends and just keeping my head up after a rough day. Just somebody to talk to, just to kind of vent out. I couldn't be here without definitely my mom and sister. They mean the world to me and this is unbelievable.

Q. And your dad?
TOM LOVELADY: Yeah. I know he'd be extremely proud. And I'm sure he was a big part of it today.

Q. Did you get to watch some football last night?
TOM LOVELADY: I watched a little bit of it. I watched a little bit. I watched all the way through, and defense pretty strong.

Q. Getting your card and Alabama beating Florida State, doesn't get much better?
TOM LOVELADY: I mean does it get any better? I don't think so.

Q. You start out great, then you had one bad round to kind of derail the Top 5. How were you able to overcome that the last couple of months?
TOM LOVELADY: To be honest with you, it all started the week of July 4th. I literally took a week off of golf which really refreshed me mentally and kind of put things in perspective. It's just golf. There's no reason to beat yourself up over a shot and let it kind of flood on. So that week was huge for me because from there on I played fantastic, and it was more just the mental side and just staying calm and patient.

Q. What do you think that call home to mom and sister is going to be like?
TOM LOVELADY: My mom's crying.

Q. When I was with you last week, you weren't terribly upset. You had a chance, you were outside. And you said you know what, if I don't do it this week, and the fact that you did it the first week, your mindset seemed to be you didn't let last week pressure you.
TOM LOVELADY: Right. That's the whole part of the mindset that I've had the past probably month and a half. It is one week. One week means nothing. I missed the cut in California and came back and played strong the next couple of weeks. To be honest with you, I played pretty well last week. I was just kind of on the wrong side a yard here or there or a kick here or there. But that's how it goes. Four doubles in the first two rounds and ended up making the cut at 2-under, I believe. So that shows that my offense was there and just eliminate some of the silly mistakes and just keep making the birdies that I made.

Q. How about Alabama's program, got so many guys on tour?
TOM LOVELADY: What you just said, the guys that went to school there. Obviously it all starts with the head coach Jay Seawell. The guys we had there, I mean the competition. I mean you know how it is. It's tough, and a bunch of guys on TOUR, a bunch of really solid players to day in day out practicing with PGA TOUR quality players just prepares you for that.

Q. Did you ever see this coming when you went to Q-School in December?
TOM LOVELADY: No. To be completely honest with you, I didn't know if I was going to make it out of Q-School just because I've doubted myself a lot. That's just who I am and that's not who I need to be. But obviously I learned a bunch the first half of year, knew my game was good enough, which kind of allowed me to kind of take a step back and get out of my way the second half of the season and catch a lot of momentum. And it just all really came together this week. The first day wasn't obviously what I wanted, but I mean it just shows how far I've come, just proving to myself the three rounds that I had the last three rounds.

Q. You played with a lot of great players in Birmingham, but how big do you think it was when Justin called and said I want you to come move down here and playing with those great players every single day?
TOM LOVELADY: Oh, of course. I mean just the atmosphere around me. Everybody has the same goals. Very minimal distractions, and when you're around people that want to be where you want to be, it's only going to help you get there faster. So it couldn't have been a better move for me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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