PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 23, 2021

Steve Loy

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island

Quick Quotes

STEVE LOY: When you don't expect them, they are one-of-a-kind. I knew we would win a Masters. I knew he was going to win more than one major. I never dreamed he'd win The Open, and to come back and do this on this go, after we haven't had a great two years, it's heaven sent. This is maybe his greatest win because of the golf course, the venue, the odds against him.

It's breathtaking. I told him in a text this morning, I said, "Phil, I'm getting too old for this, but you aren't. Let's get it done." That's all I wrote to him this morning.

Q. Was there ever any doubt for you, after his struggles?

STEVE LOY: Well, you know it's a demon in everybody at that age, and he just kept slowing things down and kept himself in present. You've got to give Tim a lot of credit to do the same because they knew the game plan. They had to keep him in the present. And everybody was going to get bruised on this golf course. Just like yesterday. He didn't realize the same bruises that he had on two holes, a lot of them are having them spread out over the whole golf course. When he caught on to that, that really helped him go through this today when he had a couple.

12 and 13 are hard holes for him, so God bless, we're just lucky.

Q. This is a story with many chapters. Do you remember the first chapter?

STEVE LOY: The first chapter is when he won as an amateur out of college. Second chapter was winning his first Masters. Third chapter was winning that Open.

This is, I don't want to say, the final finale, it ain't. He thinks he's 25 years old again.

And on a golf course like this, it was never, ever over. Even when you thought it might be, never over.

Q. Can you talk to the dynamic of the brothers, having Tim on the bag and what this means?

STEVE LOY: Everything. I mean, can you imagine, having your brother go through all the things they have challenged themselves with, and they have history made today? I mean, he's now going to all of a sudden be one of the Top-10 players in the history of the game, and his brother is on the bag to share it.

That's as good as it gets.

Q. How did he keep the faith without seeing the results?

STEVE LOY: He has been working, really working on trying to slow things down in his mind, because every time something happens, like yesterday on 12, you could see a little bit of a flare of it when he missed the birdie putt on par 5, and then 13, slipped right away from him. But the long story short, you could see him, he had to really slow it down mentally all the time. His golf swing is much better when he's not trying to kill it, either.

I've been asking him to get rid of the bombs. Great identity, but horrible for the game. He's a shot-maker.

Q. Remember how emotional you were at Troon when he had the close call, did you ever see this coming that this could happen?

STEVE LOY: Yeah, I mean, he's healthier than he's ever been. I think he's going to win five more times, maybe ten. You can't tell him no. Every time I try to tell him, look, we are running out of time, he's going, "I don't want to hear it."