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SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN

October 31, 2018

Shintaro Ban

Las Vegas, Nevada

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Shintaro Ban. Shintaro is making his professional debut on the PGA TOUR; he won four individual titles at UNLV last season as a senior, tied for most in school history. You've played quite a bit out here, I take it.

SHINTARO BAN: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: So if you could just give an opening comment on making you your pro debut here.

SHINTARO BAN: This is a very exciting time for me, especially I just stayed amateur over the summer just because I wanted prep for this and make sure that I had enough time and enough practice to make sure everything is dialed in before I turned pro.

Now that I did get a sponsor exemption this week I'm very blessed for that.

THE MODERATOR: Knowing the course as well as you do, can you give us an idea what it might take to win out here and what kind of player it might favor?

SHINTARO BAN: I mean, the PGA is the top level. Pretty much everyone in the field has a solid chance to win. For me to be out here with these guys I think it's pretty awesome.

It's definitely going to take a lot. It really helps that I live out here now, based out of Vegas, and I've been playing here for a solid month now. I know few tricks here and there, but at the same time, so have these guys and they have been doing it longer.

Just got to stick to the game plan and get it done.

THE MODERATOR: Last question from me. The UNLV players out here, we see a lot them week in and week out contending on tour. Ryan Moore and Charlie Huffman and those guys, and then as recently as John Oda last year. What's it like? Is there a lot of camaraderie out here among the former Rebels?

SHINTARO BAN: Yeah. I think it's awesome that our family out here as a Rebel. It's really something special. Like Charlie Hoffman, Ryan Moore, John Oda and a lot of the guys, they've presented themselves out on tour really well.

I just hope to keep on continue that legacy.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take some questions.

Q. Have you had any sort of deer-in-the-head-light moment the last couple days?
SHINTARO BAN: I mean, yeah. Yesterday I actually played in the pro-am, the Coca-Cola Invitational. I happened to be low pro; that was a good start and kind of a confidence booster.

It's been lots fun so far. I had my swing coach and team out here. It's very fun.

Q. And have you just enjoyed being on the range seeing the names that you obviously looked up to and whatnot? Have you said hello to anyone?
SHINTARO BAN: Yeah, I mean, I actually have Billy Harke. He's actually Chris Kirk's caddie and I have him on the bag. He knows a lot of people and he'll heal say hi and then he'll kind of introduce me. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Meeting a lot new people out here.

Q. This course, you said you played it a bunch.
SHINTARO BAN: Yeah.

Q. What stretch of holes out here is the winner going to have to really negotiate well for four days?
SHINTARO BAN: I would like to say you got to really take advantage of the par-5s. There are a lot of stretches here and there, like hole 1 starts off pretty easy, but then 2, 3, 4, and 5 are kind of tough stretches.

After that it's not too hard.

Once you come towards 10, 11, 12, 13, kind of tough stretches, but then coming in I think there is going to be a lot of low scores.

Q. How, if at all, did your U.S. Open appearance help you?
SHINTARO BAN: That actually helped me a lot. Just by -- I actually got to have the chance to play with Brooks that time in the practice round. Played with him for nine holes. Just watching him naturally do everything just on the course was really something special. I picked his brain a little bit.

But I mean, after that it's just learning a lot of discipline. Like in college golf and transitioning into professional golf the game is a little different. At the end of the day you're still playing golf, and I think it's the greatest thing in the world.

Q. What about your college years do you think has been the best in terms of grounding to make this leap?
SHINTARO BAN: Oh, man, it's pretty --

Q. Coaching prepared you? Obviously UNLV had some success in the past.
SHINTARO BAN: Yeah. I think what I learned most throughout UNLV is that Coach Knight and Coach Rowe have helped me a lot, because actually starting off when I was a freshman I didn't travel at all my first semester, and then continued on to my last year to being first team where that really helped and boosted my confidence. Learned a lot of discipline through that. Really happy about that.

Q. I understand the program here sort of tries to replicate the tour, right? You travel?
SHINTARO BAN: Yeah, we travel suit and tie. Sometimes we get private Jets. That's always a nice quality to have. Yeah, definitely learned a lot throughout the program.

THE MODERATOR: In addition to UNLV connections out here, there are a lot of other players not necessarily from UNLV -- Aaron Wise for example; we had him in yesterday; winner of the Rookie of the Year award -- that take up residency here in Las Vegas. What can you say about the area that attracts a lot of the PGA TOUR players to move out here?

SHINTARO BAN: Yeah, I mean, also it's a big thing for money, like tax incomes and everything. We don't have state tax and that helps a lot when we are trying to start off our career.

Also it's a great community vibe. The weather is always year-long golf. That helps a lot. People in the Midwest always tell us, yeah, we took a three-month break. I'm like, I cannot do that.

Yeah, great courses around here.

Q. How is your wind game. It's obviously very blustery around here.
SHINTARO BAN: Yeah, it's definitely helped me a lot mentality-wise, too. I think that's one thing that our team was really good at, especially when it was tougher conditions. Our team usually held up in contention, so, yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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