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CAREERBUILDER CHALLENGE

January 16, 2018

Jhonattan Vegas

La Quinta, California

MARK WILLIAMS: We would like to welcome Jhonattan Vegas to the interview room at the CareerBuilder Challenge. Thank you for taking the time. This was your first PGA TOUR victory, the first of three back in 2011 and it was the last time that it was a 90-hole tournament, five rounds. It's been a 72-hole tournament since then. Just talk about winning that event and what it meant to you in your career at that point and where you are now as a three time PGA TOUR winner.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well, it was definitely a special week. Probably one of my biggest wins as a professional golfer, just the simple fact that I had been dreaming to get to the PGA TOUR and then the year before earning the card to get here and literally a few weeks later earning a PGA TOUR win. So it was obviously a big week in my life, a week that I remember pretty much everything that happened that week, every time I come here, I really, really enjoy coming to this place because it brings a lot of those memories back and so, yeah, a lovely week, it's usually perfect when it comes down to weather, golf courses are usually great, so it's literally lots to love being here.

MARK WILLIAMS: Your life was remarkably different even before winning, coming from Venezuela to Texas, not really speaking much English, going through the process at school, coming out on TOUR and winning, but when you look at yourself now as a three-time winner, twice in Canada, playing in the Presidents Cup last year, how do you, do you sometimes pinch yourself and think where you've come from an where you are now.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Not really, I've always -- I truly believe that right now I'm a dreamer, I want to keep dreaming about achieving more things here as a professional golfer. And probably later on in my career I'll sit back and say, well I maybe had a pretty good career. But right now there's a lot of things that I want to achieve. And obviously it's been great, winning on TOUR three times, being part of the Presidents Cup last year, which it was a big, a big step in my career, but obviously there's a lot of goals that I want to achieve to in my time as a professional.

MARK WILLIAMS: I'm sure one of them will be making the TOUR Championship, you've done it the last two seasons you're currently 57th in the FedExCup, just obviously that's a goal for pretty much every player is to get to that TOUR Championship.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well especially -- it definitely is -- especially after being there two years in a row and knowing the importance of making it to the TOUR Championship, I mean every single shot, every single week here on the PGA TOUR means a the world when it comes down to making it to the TOUR Championship. So obviously I learned a lot from the past three years and I know the importance of every week now. So I'm taking the week, preparing things better, doing things better to achieve that and it has shown on the course. Obviously last year was a big year, I learned a lot of things, but it also gave me a different perspective on where I want to go and things that I want to achieve as a golfer.

MARK WILLIAMS: Before we take questions, talk about your game. You played five events, you made every cut, and you finished 7th in Maui.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Yeah, the game is in great shape, so I feel like I'm doing pretty much every part of my game is better, from where I was at the end of last year. I took, I made some great changes with my equipment, I did some great work with Mizuno there, Titleist, everyone just really getting my equipment a lot better and taking on a new challenge of making my mental game a little better and stronger. So definitely in a better place right now compared to last year.

MARK WILLIAMS: Take some questions, please.

Q. When you won here in 2011 did you think you were ready to win on the PGA TOUR because you had only played just a couple of events.
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well, obviously I knew that I was ready to win and the way I knew it was because of, when I first qualified for a PGA TOUR event, when I was 18 years old and played, that week was in Houston where I live, Mickelson was there, Couples, all these big names were there and I started kind of watching those guys and kind of obviously comparing a little bit to the stuff that I was doing at that time and I knew that I had the potential to win and I think that obviously knowing that of myself it's probably what carried me all of this way.

Q. Does this feel like the same tournament because the courses have changed and the format's changed a little bit?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: It doesn't really have the same feel because what was unique about the Palmer Course was that some of those holes were just so unique. From the time that Duval shot 59 and even before that, I mean it was such a unique place to play golf and come to Palm Springs and know you're going to finish around those holes. And those holes were pretty much what made this tournament unique because everyone really remembered all of those holes. So obviously the courses changed and the courses are great, they're phenomenal, but obviously the atmosphere of not being close to the mountains changed a little bit.

Q. Coming off two seasons now where you recorded a win in each season, how much do your goals change for this year? Do you try and just keep doing what you're doing, set the same goals, how do you kind of or do you raise the bar, what do your goals look like coming into 2018?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Obviously it changes dramatically. Three years ago, 2015 season when I lost my card, obviously the goal was just coming back and getting the card back and just establish myself on TOUR. The past two years it's just been about purely performance. The focus completely shifted. When I lost my card I knew that what I was doing wasn't really working properly, so my coach and whole team we just took a whole different approach and we set some great goals and found a way to really achieve those goals, which was key. It gave me a sense of this is the path you have to follow to achieve those goals, so it's up to you. Whereas before it was what was here, it was just playing with heart every single week, not really knowing and doing the right thing. So I feel like right now we're in a better path and know what I need to do and every day that I wake up I just know that I have to work, I know the things I have to work on to get better. Obviously the golf this year, now that I reached the top-50 in the world, it's just keep moving on. I would love to finish in the Top-20 at the end of the year and just keep moving up in that ranking and obviously there's a good strategy for that.

Q. Considering where you are today, and where you were maybe four years ago, did you feel like you were going to get back here for sure or did you just kind of hope and prey you would get back here?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: I knew that I was going to get back. I had a great conversation with my management team about what to do at that point because I knew that I wasn't playing well, it was a hard decision about stopping and getting my injury fixed, but I've always knew in my head that the moment I got healthy I had what it takes to get back and be one of the best golfers in the world. I've always believed that. And having just that belief is what has made me the golfer I am now days and hopefully it can keep making me better.

MARK WILLIAMS: We appreciate you coming in and good luck this week.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Thank you, guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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