MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 4, 2022

J.J. Spaun

Quick Quotes

Q. I know it's been kind of a whirlwind for you. Can you walk us through the last 24 hours, what went down in your life?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, it's probably been exactly 24 hours since winning, but yeah, it's been crazy. The commitments you do, that come along with winning, there's a lot of things you've got to do, formalities with media and all that. Which is great. It was fun. I don't think we got to sit down and have dinner until about 8:30. It was nonstop. Valero took us up here on one of their executive jets, which was awesome for them to make it super convenient for us to get up here in a timely manner.

Q. Did you leave in the morning?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, so we had the option to leave last night or this morning, and we chose this morning because we have a year-and-a-half-old daughter and she's kind of on a sleep schedule still. It was easier for us to leave in the morning, and we left about 9:00, landed here around noon, and just kind of crammed in a little late evening session, tried to see the course as much as possible today. Especially with the weather that's coming up tomorrow and possibly Wednesday, wanted to see it before we couldn't see it.

We got in about eight holes, and looking forward to getting some more work done the rest of this week.

Q. Is this the first time you've ever been out here?

J.J. SPAUN: Oh, yeah, first time ever in real life, yeah. I've been here in like virtual life, like video games and stuff. But yeah, no, definitely not in person.

Q. Was there any hole that really struck you as memorable? I guess all of them, but on the front nine that you liked?

J.J. SPAUN: First tee. First tee is that one view that you always see when you first turn on the Masters, and that's the first shot you get to see. That's the iconic starting point for me, which I noticed the most when I got out here.

Q. Was it a bit of an emotional moment for you coming out here like this?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, it's weird. It's been -- I think I'm still going through so much excitement and emotion that like even when I was registering I was like, is this really happening? Is this a dream? I know it's so cliche for people to say that, but it really was. It was like, am I here?

It's great. It's a very special experience for anyone, and for me, for my first time, and I'm very excited to be here.

Q. It looks like it's a long dream that started with a win and you still haven't woken up from it.

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I mean, it's happened so fast. It's not like I won a couple months ago and I've been kind of mentally getting ready for this week. You kind of go from one step of, okay, winning a golf tournament and now it's like, oh, wait, now you're going to Augusta tomorrow, and you've got to find a house and you've got to find plans and all that stuff. They're all good problems to have.

To get the opportunity to be here, I mean, I don't care if it happened the day of the tournament. I'll be here.

Q. Talking about the golf course, I think this is a long way from that par-3 executive course in Pasadena.

J.J. SPAUN: Oh, yeah.

Q. Can you look back a little bit and tell me how it feels -- what's the name of that course?

J.J. SPAUN: Arroyo Seco. It's a par-3 executive course in South Pasadena that my mom played until she was nine months pregnant, played that golf course with my dad, and that's where I grew up playing. That's where I took my first swing. I remember I made my first birdie there. Yeah, it's unbelievable to get from that point to now and think about the whole journey in between. It just means so much to remember the roots that I came from. It's amazing.

Q. Were you dreaming with the Masters and things like that when you were playing that little course there?

J.J. SPAUN: Oh, yeah, every kid -- when you're putting, you're practicing, you have that six-footer to win the Masters. The first step is to get here. I've done that. The next step is to put myself in contention to win, and hopefully I'll have that six-footer one of these days.

Q. Did you go to Arroyo Seco High?

J.J. SPAUN: No, so I grew up -- I kind of bounced around all of LA County growing up. Arroyo Seco was just a small course about 15 minutes from where we were living at that time when I was about six to eight years old. I went to San Dimas High, which is East LA County. It's about 20 minutes from Pasadena area.

Q. And then San Diego State --

J.J. SPAUN: Yes, sir.