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DELL TECHNOLOGIES CHAMPIONSHIP

August 29, 2018

Peter Uihlein

Boston, Massachusetts

NICK PARKER: I'd like to welcome Peter Uihlein to the media center. Making his first appearance at the Dell Technologies Championship. Talk about what it means to be home and making your first start here.

PETER UIHLEIN: Yeah, it's nice. It's nice to play my first event up here in New England during the playoffs. I'm looking forward to it. And it's nice to have staying at home until tomorrow. I'm going to head to a hotel tomorrow. But it's nice to be home with the family and get some home cooked meals.

NICK PARKER: You said you don't have a Boston accent, but still a huge New England sports fan.

PETER UIHLEIN: My mom, when we came home from school, she'd catch us saying our Rs incorrectly, say it properly, say it right, pronounce your Rs. But, yeah, supposed to go in last night, something happened, so, yeah, I watched it on TV, which is fine. Definitely big time Boston guy, from a sports standpoint.

NICK PARKER: You played a lot of courses around growing up, how much did you play here before?

PETER UIHLEIN: I played here a couple of times, but that was back when the fourth hole was different. It wasn't a drivable hole. 12 was a little different. The green was different from what I've been told. I haven't seen it yet. But then there was another hole they made a pretty big change. I'd seen it before, but I think 3 they added, like on 3, I think. So I'd seen it before, so I kind of have an idea of what I'm getting myself into.

Q. Just talk about the FedExCup race. When you're in a position in the back coming into an event, is there a sense of freedom, go hard or go home, does it allow you to just play like that?
PETER UIHLEIN: Yeah, essentially, yeah. I think, yeah, you're mindset is you've pretty much got to have a good week, if not you have an extra week off in the off-season. So you pretty much give it your all for four days and see what happens. Best case is you get to play one more week, hopefully two. But worst case is you just have an extra week off.

Q. Do you have err to the side of aggressive on the shots, like attack this one, et cetera?
PETER UIHLEIN: Yeah, it's kind of the way I play anyway, so, I don't think this week is going to change from a conservative standpoint.

Q. Where does the pressure lie? It's not the guys at the top that are sort of going through, no matter what, you guys in the back, now you have to play. Is it worried about being more conservative potentially?
PETER UIHLEIN: Possibly. I'd say the guys who are maybe 68, 67, those guys, just thinking in the back of their head, if I just make the cut I'm in kind of thing. And I think when you start playing that way, at least I know that in regular season, if you're just trying to kind of make the cut you're always going to be around that line, regardless. So I think when you have that kind of mindset it definitely makes it a little more difficult. So I think with guys that are in my position, around 80 or so, you've got to be a bit more aggressive, you've got really nothing to lose.

But, I don't know, you've got to ask those guys what they're thinking and how they're feeling.

Q. Did I hear correctly that it's your first professional start in the area?
PETER UIHLEIN: Yes.

Q. So you haven't been around like home fans, per se, before, right? Is that something you think might be fun? Do you think they'll recognize that, what are you hoping for?
PETER UIHLEIN: Yeah, I don't play out of Massachusetts, I play out of Jupiter. But, yeah, I know some guys in my club said they're going to come out and check it out and watch a little bit. So I know there will be some people out. I'll have some family out here, as well. I don't know, it just depends if guys know if I'm from around here or not. I know Keegan always has a big local support, and Jon Curran, when he was playing on Tour, as well. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see about the week.

Q. What was it like to be a fan in the area? What was it like? Did you get out to many events or how did you practice in the winters, and what was it like growing up as a fan and obviously a player, as well?
PETER UIHLEIN: Well, I moved to Florida when I was 14. I went to an academy. So I got out quick. But before that it was tough. You know how the winters up here are, it's difficult. I used to practice, there was a dome, I think in Dartmouth, that I went to before it popped and deflated.

But in wintertime you just play basketball, really, you played everything indoors and played other sports. But I always wanted to be a golfer, I always enjoyed it. I knew I needed to make a weather change.

Q. (No microphone.)
PETER UIHLEIN: I love Tom Brady. You guys have to lay off him a little bit.

Q. He's taking a lot of heat from the golf media, I guess?
PETER UIHLEIN: Yeah.

Q. Peter, do you pick specific spots in this golf course to really be aggressive? You talk about the drivable par 4 and a couple of the par-5s are reachable. Do you sort of pick your spots? Do you have a certain risk/reward mentality on a course like TPC Boston?
PETER UIHLEIN: I think you've just got to go based off what the winning scores have been in the past few years. It's a 15 to 20 weekend. So you've got to be kind of aggressive. There are obviously times, and just based off memory, since I'm going to go play them all today, based off memory, there are some tough holes.

So there's obviously going to be times you pick and choose when you attack. But I think you're going to have to go pretty low. Safe to say -- I think I saw a stat, I don't know if the PGA Tour tweeted it out that TPC Boston, like the second hole and 18, they allow -- there's a lot of eagles that are made there and 4, as well. So those are holes obviously you're going to have to be aggressive and attack, for sure.

Q. I saw you out at the practice range. I wanted to ask you what the significance of the Husky on your bag is?
PETER UIHLEIN: I have two Siberian Huskies. So I have a gray/white one and a black/white one. So for my birthday, I think last year, my girlfriend got me, there's a company called Cuddle Clones, you have to send in a bunch of photos of your pets and they recreate a spitting image of your pet and they made it into a head cover. I saw Jamie Lovemark last week had one on his bag of his dog, as well. So I rotate in and out, depends which week, or depends who played well the last week, is when I rotate the covers.

Q. And also sort of with that, are you superstitious about that or do you have superstitions in general?
PETER UIHLEIN: I only play Titleist 5. My favorite basketball player growing up was Nomar, and he wore No. 5. Him and George Brett, both No. 5. And I got to play with George Brett ones. I only play Titleist 5s because of that.

Q. Has the connection to the area, family connection, led to any sort of inside to local sports team, and have you got good stories of that?
PETER UIHLEIN: No, no, not at all. I wish, but, no, I like to kind of stay kind of in the background in stuff like that and just watch from a far.

Q. You've played a lot on the European Tour and now over here in the U.S., how has that transition been, and what are the main differences between the two Tours?
PETER UIHLEIN: A lot shorter flights, for one, that's been a lot easier. I've been home a lot more this year, which has been nice. I've been able to fly home Sunday nights and back out on the road Tuesday mornings, which has been huge. Yeah, both Tours are awesome. They're unique in their own ways. Obviously in America it's very, very -- you get treated really, really well on the PGA Tour, it's first class.

And in Europe you pretty much get to see the world, which is another great benefit. They're both unbelievably well respected Tours. Yeah, I'm lucky to have at least experienced both of them. It's been great.

Q. If you don't get inside the top 70 will you jump back over there or rest here?
PETER UIHLEIN: I'll probably -- I don't know, I hadn't really thought of that, to be honest with you. Yeah, obviously I'm going to try to play this week, and get in next week and push to get in the Tour Champ. I think there's a Dunhill over there.

But the fall series starts so quickly here. So I kind of don't -- I didn't play as many in the fall last year as I think I would have liked. So I might try and focus a little bit more on the PGA Tour next year at the start.

Q. Just to follow up on the head covers, so you have two head covers, one of each dog. What's the name of your dogs?
PETER UIHLEIN: My four year old's name is Bagger, and then I have a two year old named Breya.

Q. Not Vance, then?
A. No.

Q. So which one is on the head cover this week?
PETER UIHLEIN: Bagger is this week. I didn't drive the ball that week that well with Breya so Bagger is the one to go this week.

Q. You were talking about the European Tour, I read somewhere that you've watched the Super Bowl in Dubai? I assume with the Patriots?
PETER UIHLEIN: Yeah, that's the only time I would watch it. But, yeah, last -- last year I was in Phoenix and watched it. But before that was Dubai and then I think my rookie year, was it 13, I think they won in 13. And I watched that in Dubai, as well. And then one year, one of the years I think they lost to Denver, when Denver played, I think I was in Qatar, and I think I watched that one when I lost.

It just so happens in February the Middle East swing was kind of when the European Tour was on, that was the only time I could watch it. Every TV pretty much had it and covered it over there. So it's been very fortunate. Three or four in the morning, I think, finished around 7 a.m. So I know when that pick was made, I was pretty amped, I was screaming and running around the hotel, I was getting so hyped for the flight, and everybody was waking up in Algeria, but I was pretty amped up, for sure.

NICK PARKER: Thanks for coming in. Best of luck this week.

PETER UIHLEIN: Thank you.

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