	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

BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN

June 19, 2019

Jhonattan Vegas

Munich, Germany

TOM CARLISLE: Welcome to the BMW International.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Thank you.

TOM CARLISLE: It's your first sort of regular European Tour event. How are you enjoying it over here so far?

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Loving it believe it or not, yeah. Obviously the weather's been amazing, my type of weather, so that's a great start for me. It's been amazing. I have tons of friends on The European Tour. Guys that we see on a regular basis and son that I haven't seen in a while that it's phenomenal catching up with.

It's good. It's good. I was saying to my wife yesterday, it's good to have a different narrative, fresh air, come in and see the guys, come in seeing a different atmosphere, getting to meet whole different spectrum of people in Europe. So it's been a blast. It's been a blast ever since we got out of the plane.

Like I said, we're having a good time right now.

TOM CARLISLE: And when you were given the opportunity to come and play this event, must have been an easy avenue decision to make.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: Extremely easy. One, because obviously I'm Venezuelan and I like playing around the world. That's something that I've seen myself and that's something that I've talked to my agents a lot about; that I need to become a little bit more of an international player, not only playing in the US. The US is still my main tour, but I'd like to focus on being an international player.

Also, like I said, my wife is half-German. She has family that live here in Munich. It was a super easy decision for both. Coming to play golf, that would be a great opportunity for her to see her family and spend him with them, and you know, like I said, it was just one of those things that worked out and like I said, I've always looked forward to playing other places, so winning golf tournaments outside the U.S., and this is a good opportunity.

TOM CARLISLE: You say winning golf tournaments outside of the U.S., you won the Canadian Open twice, so you have form for doing that.

JHONATTAN VEGAS: I think the form, it's kind of getting used to the place that you're at. Especially for a lot of us that tend to focus a lot on playing in the US. Kind of embracing the culture, embracing where you are. You know, enjoying having a good time. That's always a great start. Obviously embracing the people and the language, everything that comes, in this case with Germany, and the more you can do that, the better you can deal with a lot of that stuff, the better it's going to translate on to the golf course, which like I said, I've done in the past with winning all over South America and the U.S. and Canada.

Q. Obviously you were talking about Venezuela. You grew up there. Tell us a bit about how was golf when you were young? What was that like?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: So golf in Venezuela has always been a challenge. I think I've always been extremely lucky and blessed. You know, I went to play golf, and to be able to do it all the way to this level. Venezuela, it's really a minor sport. It's a sport that is kind of seen for the wealthy, super-wealthy in my country. It's been kind of attacked a lot by our government.

So not by any means I come from a wealthy family, but I was lucky enough to have a dad that grew up near a golf course, grew up picking up range balls to make a little bit of money and then that love for the game, he passed down to us. We were super lucky to grow up near a nine-hole golf course, so obviously picked up the game that way. Made great decisions to come to the U.S. and kind of developed the game that way.

Obviously it was always a challenge, you know, growing up there, playing golf there. But the love for the game and the passion for it was bigger than any of that, and has taken me all the way to here.

Q. Must have been a great step coming to the U.S. as a youngster. Did you speak English?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: No, I didn't speak English at all. So yeah, I mean, it was probably one of the best decisions of my life. Leaving home when I was 17, which wasn't easy, leaving everything behind, but obviously it was always a dream of playing golf and doing all that stuff. You know, the U.S. presents one of the best opportunities in the world, if not the best, to do both, to play college and golf at the same time.

You know, I was able to take advantage of that, develop my game in an appropriate way, and you know, a few years later, I turned professional and embarked on this great journey.

Q. Pretty quickly, you started winning on the pHa tour, wasn't it?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Yeah, I got really lucky, if you want to call it lucky or fortunate or I don't know whatever you want to call it. But winning my second PGA TOUR event, is good. I think the best thing of that is that it kind of opened a lot of opportunities just to be able to compete and kind of establish myself on the Tour from the early points and not having to struggle so much like some of the younger guys do, which is always hard to stay on the PGA TOUR. For me it was a lot easier obviously for winning but still have to work hard and do all the great things to stay there.

But obviously winning early made a big difference.

Q. I read that you studied kinesiology. Did this affect your golf play somehow or could you get something out of it for your playing?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Well, I mean, one of the things -- obviously I went to Texas obviously to play golf, but you had to go to school and you had get a degree. Kinesiology and everything about the body and how everything works, all that stuff, was always interesting, especially been playing a sport, which is a knowledge that I think I've been able to use to my own benefit, and knowing how to appropriately keep my body functioning, all of the healthy stuff we all need on a regular basis.

In school, it was tough, you had to spend half the day at school and the other half of the day at the golf course, but it was fun. It was a time that I remember with a lot of joy.

Q. We heard Matt Wallace talk about he won three times last year on The European Tour, and he was talking about the next step, winning bigger tournaments. Is that something that you want to achieve; that you are want to compete in majors?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Definitely. That's the goal. I've won three times on the PGA TOUR already, regular events. The goal is to win majors, as simple as that. I haven't been extremely too successful at that, so obviously part of the goal is to be there winning those.

You know, being part of those, playing overseas, playing in other places. Like I said, having that exposure in other parts of the world and developing your game that way is part of the formula of becoming a better player.

Q. You had your big moment at THE PLAYERS on 17?
JHONATTAN VEGAS: Yeah, that was a good moment for sure. I think it would have been better if I would have won that week. Just one of those magical moments in golf. Fun to remember. One of those things that I'll remember for the rest of my life. You know, like I said, an iconic moment that will stay with me forever.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297