PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2023

Callum Tarren

Oak Hill Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Callum Tarren joins us now on the second day of the 105th PGA Championship. Callum, a 3-under 67 for you. Can you maybe take us through some of your birdies today?

CALLUM TARREN: Yeah, so I started on the back. No. I think. Yeah, started on the back today. I think I birdied -- I had a great up-and-down on 11 from left of the green, and then I birdied 12. Hit a great drive down there and just I think it was an 80-yard shot to the flag. Managed to hit it to about 15 feet and rolled her in.

I gave myself a lot of chances today. Yeah, just played really solid.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start taking some questions.

Q. Callum, what did the rain do? I know it wasn't a ton, but was it enough to take any of the fire out of the course? Was it more difficult out of the rough? How did it change?

CALLUM TARREN: Yeah, it was annoying, as well, because it got a little heavy at times. Well, in spells, but the rain definitely -- I mean, it makes the rough even more of a beast, so there was a premium -- even more of a premium to hit the fairways.

But it might have took the sting out of it a little bit, but it's still playing tough. You still have to hit good golf shots, but the greens maybe were a little bit more receptive. Overall, I still think it's playing really tough out there.

Q. What have you done best this week?

CALLUM TARREN: Stayed out of my own way, I think. Like you say, I think as golfers we get to these major championships and put them on a huge pedestal, which they are, but at the end of the day, you still have to just hit golf shots, you know. I have just kind of gone about my business, kept to my practice routines and just seeing what happens really. I'm quite chilled.

Q. Is it hard to do?

CALLUM TARREN: Yeah, of course it is because it's a major championship, and the golf course is an absolute monster, as you can see by the scores this week.

I think I've just done a great job of just taking one shot at a time, discussing it with my caddie, and trying to execute. I've executed a lot the last two days.

Q. This is a long way from the China Tour. When you're in moments like this and see what you are doing, do you look back and think of all the work that you have put and all the travel and everything?

CALLUM TARREN: Yeah, definitely. I think the China days for me has kind of made me who I am as a golfer. They were a great three years out there for me. Like you said, the travel is the travel.

The more years that I tick off as a professional, and I obviously now have a young family, it's tough. At the end of the day, it's my job, and I just have to keep grinding away.

Q. What were you doing on the China Tour as opposed to Challenge, Sunshine, something else?

CALLUM TARREN: A friend of mine, Michael Skelton, he played Walker Cup. I don't know what year it was. He was kind of looking for somewhere to play. There's not many opportunities for feeder tours in England. So I played a round of golf with him. He said he was signing up for Q-school in China. I kind of laughed at him. When I got home, did some research, and like he said, it was worth doing, so I just signed up. I just went to Q-school and managed to get a card and then three years out there.

Q. Is this the China Tour or PGA China Series.

CALLUM TARREN: It was the PGA China Series in my first year or two, that was in 2016. I think there were some contractual issues in 2017, so it was then the CGA Tour. Then PGA Tour came back in 2018, and that was -- I think might have been the final year that that tour was out there. I managed to, obviously, win the money list and graduate to Korn Ferry.

Q. What was your best memory from China?

CALLUM TARREN: From China? I mean, there were so many great memories. I would say that the guys that played out there, there was a bunch of Australians, a bunch of Americans, a few of us English guys. It was a very close-knit kind of family. We stuck together. We always used to try and find Western restaurants to eat, so even if it was an hour cab ride away, we would jump in a cab for an hour, eat, and then get in the cab to go back to the hotel.

And the golf courses are incredible. So difficult. Like you say, it shaped me as a golfer.

Q. Did you ever get lost coming back from one of those restaurants or did the driver ever get lost?

CALLUM TARREN: I do have a crazy story about a night out in China, but I definitely got lost that night. I don't really want to repeat it, but it was scary.

Q. That's what we're here for, Callum.

CALLUM TARREN: Yeah.

Q. Are there guys that went with you in the China Tour and made it this far like you?

CALLUM TARREN: Yeah. Marty Dou, he played the same time as me. I'm trying to think. Max McGreevy, he actually played the year after I graduated, but obviously he has made it to the PGA TOUR. There's a couple of us, yeah.

Q. When you said the courses were hard, was that from a design or how they were set up or conditions?

CALLUM TARREN: I would say design. I've never played as long golf courses that tight. I mean, there's out-of-bounds and hazards on 500-yard holes, and you have to hit it down a chute. And some crazy undulations, crazy greens. I would say design, design standpoint, for sure.

Q. Kind of like this.

CALLUM TARREN: Correct. They use some golf courses out here that do remind me of China. You can't shy away. You have to stand up there and man up and try and slug it in the middle of the fairway.

Q. Did you take a caddie with you?

CALLUM TARREN: In China?

Q. Yeah.

CALLUM TARREN: No. Used to get locals each week or then pull my own bag on a trolley. No, I didn't take a caddie out there.

Q. Do the locals speak English?

CALLUM TARREN: No.

Q. How did that go?

CALLUM TARREN: Tough, yeah. You just kind of pull your bag around and clean the clubs and repair divots. But like you say, I was thankful for them because we played in some blistering conditions, like heat. It was ridiculous. Them being there kind of helped save energy, you know?

Q. Did they use a little bottle, and they would push out the --

CALLUM TARREN: The what, sorry?

Q. When they were filling the divots, did they use a little bottle on the greens?

CALLUM TARREN: No, no, no, no. But some of the golf courses in China, they don't need to repair divots because at night they cut individual sections because they were pristine condition. Individual sections to fit each divot. It was crazy, crazy.