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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIPJune 19, 2019Chip McDanielCromwell, Connecticut Q. Thanks for coming by for a few minutes. Before we open up for questions, just talk a little bit about the experience finishing at Pebble on Sunday and making it here and Monday qualifying. CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, so Pebble was great. It was my first major, so it was a really cool experience. It was a lot of fun. Then I had to hop on a red eye and get back to the real world and play in a Monday qualifier. Just got off the plane and I didn't have too much expectations. If I didn't qualify I was just going to go home and hang out for a few days. I think that really helped me. When I played, I just played free. Just the stars kind of aligned and everything kind of went my way. Q. How did you get into the U.S. Open? Districts? Sectionals? How did you get in? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, so I did local qualifying in Kentucky and sectionals in Springfield, Ohio. Got through there. Q. I guess what I'm curious, what for you is at stake right now? What does this berth give you? What's the focus and the goal going forward? CHIP McDANIEL: Well, my goal is to be on the PGA TOUR. Whether that's next year or five years down the road or ten years down the road, I don't know. I was doing just what every other 23 year old kid with no status was doing: signing up for Mackenzie Tour Q-School and stuff like that. I had a good week on the PGA TOUR, so now I am just trying to get as many starts as I can out there and get enough points to at least go through the Web playoffs this year and stuff like that. Q. Do you know all the logistics of that, where you stand right now? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, I don't know exactly where I stand, but I kind of know. Q. This week could go a long way towards... CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, I know that. Q. Fourth tour start; is that right? CHIP McDANIEL: I think six total; fifth this year maybe. Q. So U.S. Open, Puntacana, this, and what else? CHIP McDANIEL: The Valero and the Wells Fargo. Q. Did you Monday qualify for all or did you get any sponsor... CHIP McDANIEL: I got top 10 in Dominican so was in the Valero and then Monday qualified for the wells. Q. I think you went to second stage for Web.com last year, right? CHIP McDANIEL: I did, yeah. Q. Didn't make it through and then the plan was play Mackenzie events? CHIP McDANIEL: I was going to do Q-School. Q. (Whispering.) Okay. But then decided to focus on... CHIP McDANIEL: After finishing Top 5 in the PGA event, yeah, decided to withdraw from Q-School and just go that route. Q. Where are you living these days? CHIP McDANIEL: I live in Lexington, Kentucky. I graduated there a year ago. I love the city, so... Q. Can you walk me through what time you finished at the U.S. Open, like what happened on the plane? Did you get any sleep? Just walk me through what I imagine was a pretty wild 12 or 15 hours. CHIP McDANIEL: Finished about 11:30, 11:45 at the U.S. Open and just sat in the player dining, got some food. Hopped on a shuttle to San Francisco airport at 2:00. Only shuttles were 2:00 and 6:00, so I had to get on the one at 2:00. Sat. Then in the airport for four and a half hours and boarded the plane at 9:00. Landed at 5:30 east coast time. Q. Sleep at all? CHIP McDANIEL: I slept. The flight didn't seem very long but you woke up a lot. Wasn't very comfortable and stuff like that. Luckily my caddie was with me; got the rental car and he drove two hours from Boston. Luckily I got a little more sleep. That was big. Q. When was your tee time? CHIP McDANIEL: 9:17. Q. (Indiscernible.) CHIP McDANIEL: No, we got there at like 8:10. Q. Did you know that before you were wheels up in San Francisco? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, yeah, I knew that. I knew everything had to go smoothly to make it. Q. (Indiscernible.) CHIP McDANIEL: No, never seen the course before. Got a pretty average yardage book and luckily we can use range finders and stuff like that. You know, I just kind of sent it. Q. Going forward, are you in Deere? Are you in any Monday qualifying? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, I'll be in every Monday qualifier for the rest of the season unless I get in the event on a sponsor. Q. (Indiscernible.) CHIP McDANIEL: I don't even know yet. Q. Have you talked to Barbasol about a sponsor invite? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, I'm in that one. I did get a sponsor into the Barbasol. Hopefully get one or two more. Q. You play that course a lot? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, I'm a member there. I don't get to play a whole lot, or I travel a lot, but I am a member there. Q. Is that where you practice? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, and I still practice at the university a lot too. It's a nice little facility. Q. So you played 18 here yesterday and today you had a limited practice, right? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah, so today will just be a nice range session checking fundamentals and stuff like that. All my lines were good yesterday on the course, but just do a quick range session, some putting work, and chipping from different grass. Grass is a little different than Pebble. But, yeah, it'll be a pretty light day today. Played the course yesterday. I kind of like it. Seems about like a course I would play back home, so... Q. Not to get too personal, but did that top 10 pretty much fund the rest of your ability to keep going to Monday qualifiers for the rest of the summer? CHIP McDANIEL: Yeah. Gave me a lot of confidence. Since second stage of Webb Q-School I've been grinding pretty hard. Made a few minor changes and really grinded on those. Didn't play in a lot of tournaments for four months or so. That just gave me the confidence that what I was working on was working. The rest is history. Q. Who are the guys out here, friends, that you can chat with being alone here? CHIP McDANIEL: Just some of the guys I've played with this year. There are a lot of really nice guys out here. Roberto Diaz; played with him a couple times. Really nice guy. Saw him in the locker room today. He's like, What's up Mr. Monday? I already have a nickname out here, which is pretty cool. There is a good mix of some older guys that are really nice, and the young guys, you know, I played college golf with so I know some of these, too. Q. Obviously we're here because the uniqueness of the way that you Monday qualified. Does it change your expectation now that you're, I'm assuming, getting rested and you're here? Do you sort of in your mind think there is something more to it this week and your expectation changes? CHIP McDANIEL: You know, I try not to think that my expectations will change, because expectations can destroy you or hold you back. Some advice I got from my putting coach was just play curious. That's kind of what I've been doing for the last a little bit. My goal was to compete in every tournament I play in. I wasn't try trying to qualify for a tournament if I didn't think I could compete. As far as expectations, just trying to have as little as possible. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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