	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

March 7, 2018

Dylan Meyer

Palm Harbor, Florida

Q. I want to welcome Dylan Meyer here at the Valspar Championship. You're making your second start in your career on the PGA TOUR.
What did you learn from your experiences last year at John Deere and how you can bring those here to Valspar?

DYLAN MEYER: It's just being able to prepare right. You know, I was kind of caught up in the lights and everything, caught up in being the first PGA event. This week, it's more about taking care of business, knowing how to prepare correctly and going, hitting every shot the way I need to; just playing the golf course, every practice round instead of wondering who is out here, who is playing and you have to.

I know Tiger is out and that's kind of cool but I got to stick to what I'm doing and figure out my game plan so I can perform the best I can.

Q. You said you came in on Thursday and played a couple practice rounds since then. What do you see in the course and is it a course that fits your style of play?
DYLAN MEYER: Yeah. You know, you have to be pretty strategic out here. It doesn't offer a lot of drivers for me. It's a lot of 3-woods, 2 hybrids off the tees and gives me a long iron into the green.

The Snake Pit, I have a hybrid into 17, long iron into 18. Fits right into my game because I hit my long irons and everything so well. Kind of pumped up for it and ready to get it going.

Q. Before we take some questions out here, we've seen sponsor exemptions here in the past perform well and just at the Honda we saw Sam Burns play well.
Do you feel confident going in here that you can contend this week?

DYLAN MEYER: I played against those guys in college and I beat them, they beat me and we've always been in the Top-10 together so, you know, I'm pretty confident that they can do it, I can do it.

Q. We'll take some questions out here.
You're talking about the Snake Pit. Talk about the 16th hole, how you approach it and maybe sort of what you're looking to do for four days and how have you prepared for it so far in practice rounds?

DYLAN MEYER: So on 16 I'm able to hit driver off that tee because to get through the fairway is 300 yards. I don't hit it 300 yards. I'm able to bust drive down there through the thick part of the fairway and have myself an 180-yard shot.

If I just keep landing in it that same area all day, every round, you know, I'm going to be able to get myself in the middle of the green, either make a 20-footer or just two-putt and get out of there.

Getting through even par in the Snake Pit is going to be the key and the goal for the week because I know I can go get some other holes out there.

Q. Just unrelated question, how are you using this tournament to sort of gauge yourself against other players?
DYLAN MEYER: You know, I'm going to hopefully be out here the next couple months after graduation and everything, and, you know, am I building up for that and kind of feeling out that, but I'm feeling great for the rest of the way, the season I'm going to be for school. Get myself to build momentum into the National Championship, Big 10's action, like that.

Being at the highest level that you can get competing against these guys is going to really be a good springboard to compete on a really high level on the guys on the team when I get back.

Q. Is there any local tie with the exemption or just given to you for the resume?
A I won the Augusta State Tournament through the 3M.

Q. (Inaudible.)
DYLAN MEYER: It was a hard decision, you know, it's kind of hard to say no to a PGA TOUR event. I talked to the coach a little bit about it. It's kind of a win-win for both.

If I get the experience of being here and it's early in the season, I'm going to be able to compete, like I said, against the highest competition you can get and those guys, young guys are able to go out and play, get a good lineup against a good tournament and against a really good field.

Rather than playing bad at the wrong time, they can kind of have that "oops" now rather than later on in the season big ten.

Right now they're playing well, you know, they're hanging in there. I think they're in the Top-5 right now. Just teed off. Kind of hitting the refresh button and see how they're doing.

Q. What's your fitness regimen? You don't have many aches and pains. What do you do for that?
DYLAN MEYER: Just keep my mind off of golf, you know, just kind of keep my mind on something else because, for me, I don't like being on the golf course and doing everything 24/7 like some guys do.

I like be able to go and watch TV and go do other things, like go play basketball, keep my body active really in other things other than golf. Don't have the same repetitive motion over and over again, kind of keep it different and going.

Q. Last year you struggled with the colitis and it affected your game. Where are you at with that? Are there every maintenance tips? How does it affect your game and does it still?
DYLAN MEYER: You know, early on it was kind of a struggle especially over the summer, kind of see that in my scores and how I played. I wasn't managing it right.

I thought it was just something that I could just shrug off like I have everything else but it's something I have to manage and it's gotten better.

I've been able to get back on campus, get with my dietician, doctors, be able to get on a good regimen for me where I can play the best while keeping it under control.

But now, you know, I'm just -- even the things I'm supposed to eat and keeping to myself on a very restrict diet, eating five times a day, not necessarily big meals, but small meals to keep everything moving and going.

You know, it's kind of hard at times because you're out there on the golf course and you can't really just reach in your bag and you're not really thinking about okay, it's whatever time and I got to eat.

You kind of in the mode I didn't make birdies, I didn't do this. It's going to be good this week of having a caddie, it's kind of timing you need to eat.

College golf you strap your bag to yourself and you're 36 holes. You're not really paying attention to your eating and all that. You're wondering how you're going to finish a hole and how you're going to continue to finish the day.

Q. It's easy when you're a player to just say golf is golf no matter how big the stage is. Putting that into practice, how do you think that will play out when you're on the biggest stage this week?
DYLAN MEYER: You know, I said that at the John Deere and then I realized on the first tee box where I was. I realized I was getting ready to start. I kind of had that under my belt.

I'm kind of ready to feel what that's going to be like on the first tee box on Thursday. But, you know, with Tiger and Spieth, these guys, it's a little bit bigger of an event, couple more guys in the Top-10 in the world are here and it's exciting but I got to keep it in perspective and just stay within my game and not try to do anything that I'm not.

Q. Was there anything from that tournament as far as logistics you'll take and be able to apply to this week?
DYLAN MEYER: Not put any pressure on myself.

This is just a good gauge for me to see where I'm at. I don't have to come out and prove anything now. Nice to play well and show my face out there, the Top-10 but the goal is just to play solid golf throughout the week and see where I shake out with my solid golf so I can prepare correctly for the rest of the season.

Q. One of the guys you're paired with in the first two rounds, Aaron Wise, what kind of history have you had with him?
DYLAN MEYER: We played against each other in nationals at Oregon my sophomore year and he was in the final match with me and him. No, it was a fun match. It was good, good golf back and forth.

And that we really haven't played much. I know that he turned pro right after that and he's well on his way on the Web.com and got his card and things like that.

It's awesome to see that those kind of guys that you play against at that level in college are here now and it's just familiar faces and it's going to be a little bit more of a comfortable setting than what it was before.

Q. We saw Steve Stricker win on PGA TOUR Champions last week and speaking of your days at Illinois, does it give you a lot of confidence as a player there to see guys from Illinois have the success out on the PGA TOUR?
DYLAN MEYER: Yeah, especially recent guys. Strick was teammates with Coach Small but coach has produced pros like Thomas Pieters, Scott Langley who just won recently on the Web.com, Luke just one on the Web.com.

When they come out they come out strong. That's real positive for me to see and just sticking with coach's process and trusting everything he says is the key, and I think I'm going to keep working with him after I'm graduated and I kind of go away from it like I like to sometimes, I think that's going to be a big thing for me.

Q. Wondering over the summer did you worry that this thing might derail your career as far as the physical struggles and --
DYLAN MEYER: No, I it didn't feel like I was going to be derailed, necessarily. A gut check of how am I going to do this, how am I going to manage it, how can I play best I can play with this?

You know, getting back on campus it took awhile, took about two, three tournaments to really get back into being me and playing the golf that I can because it was the last round at Crooked Stick that I played where I shot 69 and I was like okay, this is what I need to do, and I did that going into Isleworth, played well at Isleworth and then East Lake, even there I played fairly solid, didn't finish the way I wanted to, but it's still pretty positive to end on that for the fall season and going into the spring season playing well, Big 10 Match Play and playing well at Louisiana.

Q. What is your game plan?
DYLAN MEYER: I was thinking hitting right shots off the tee boxes because I'm pretty confident in my second shots. I feel like I'm a really good putter and these greens fit the way I like to putt, lot of speed putting.

But other than that, you know, just keep hitting solid shots to well-defined targets. That's really the main thing for me is I don't like to get wrapped up in the very analytical things.

Hitting solid shots and a couple birdies will fall here and there. I'm going to par this course to death. That's really what wins it in the end.

Q. How did you get to being a DJ?
DYLAN MEYER: So, it was in high school, one of my bosses, he was a radio personality for a local radio station and he kind of drug me into it and we started doing like local, 21 nightclubs.

I really found a liking to it. I keep doing it now. It's a side hobby of mine to get away from golf. It's something different and way different than golf but -- I still do it here and there.

Q. Bars or --
DYLAN MEYER: I asked that my freshman year. The coach won't let me do that. That was the wrong question to ask him that.

Q. (Inaudible.)
DYLAN MEYER: I really don't know how to answer that question. That's a good one. I don't know how to answer that one. It's a tough one.

Q. Not just putting, any players out here that you like their attitude in particular or their playing style, anybody out here?
DYLAN MEYER: It's going to be kind of weird to say this but I do not watch golf. I watch zero golf. I watch more NBA basketball than I do anything else.

Like I said, when I'm off the golf course I completely detach from golf. There's nothing to think about when I'm practicing for the two hours. I may practice everyday, that's when I'm fully engaged in it.

Other than that, I mean some guy can walk in the locker room, I have no idea who he is. That's the way I am, yeah.

Q. Best of luck this week, play well.
DYLAN MEYER: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297