ASCENSION CHARITY CLASSIC

September 10, 2023

Steve Flesch

Norwood Hills Country Club

TV Quick Quotes

Q. Did you think something like this might be in store for you today?

STEVE FLESCH: I didn't know a day like today was going to happen, but I found something as we were talking, flying up. I thought about it on the plane coming in here Wednesday.

Just needed to find some time in my golf swing. We're always looking for time so we're not rushing our transition. Came up with a couple good things and it kind of clicked this week. My iron game was better. I putted very well obviously today, but just one of those things.

I got off to a great start today. Having my son on the bag -- I added pressure to myself because I won last year in Atlanta with my daughter there, I won with my fiance there at Pebble Beach last year, and I was like, well, Griff is on the bag, I've got to do it for Griff today, so I was putting that pressure on myself.

It's a funny game. You never know when something is going to click. But man, this week it all came together.

Q. Talk a little bit about Griffin because you had to be jealous last year when Fred Couples won with him on the bag and this year we've had a couple of father-son tandems win. It's got to be a special moment for you to enjoy that with him and his passion I understand is back in the game, and he told me on the 15th that hey, I might be quitting my insurance job and coming out here and doing this a little more often.

STEVE FLESCH: I know. I'll tell you, I don't know how much he likes his desk job, but when he won with Freddy last year, I was like, are you going to slum it with me this week and come out, even though he was caddying for a Hall of Famer. But he's had a ball.

He's got a great demeanor out there about him and he's very positive, and in the past I've always been the one who's gotten upset and screwed things up, but today I got off to a good start, like I said, and we just had a ball out there, and man, I'll tell you, winning with him on the bag is the most important thing for me. It's a career clincher for me, honestly.

Q. It was very evident to me when I came up to try to make a joke on the 14th he didn't even smile. I said, man, he is really in the moment today. You talked before this interview about how those times are fleeting. It had to be special to share that mindset with him today.

STEVE FLESCH: Yeah, he's quite competitive at golf, but he's never seen me this kind of dialed in or mentally just at peace. My mind this week was just kind of -- I wouldn't worrying about a bunch of the minutiae out there. I just was playing golf.

Hitting shots that end up where you kind of are aiming has a lot to do with it, too, but it was nice to actually be in the competition this week and feel like my shots meant something, and I was just dialed in, and I was focused.

I'd like to be able to bottle that feeling up a lot more, but it was great to do it with Griffin, and I'm just honored to have won the Ascension this week.

Q. Also in a couple weeks going to be defending at the PURE Insurance. How is this going to work its way into that? Are you still going to be this patient and in the moment?

STEVE FLESCH: I hope so. I'm really excited about what -- like I said, the swing thoughts that I kind of came up with flying up here, giving myself more time in transition.

I haven't been hitting the ball in the middle of the face a lot. I'm trying to think, what the heck is going on because that's kind of where -- we all are used to playing out of the middle of the face, and I haven't been there this year, so I needed to figure out something, and this week, man, it started clicking, hitting the irons right on the button, and I drove it a lot better, and it helps when you make putts from everywhere like I did today. You never know when that's going to happen.

It was thrilling, and I'm glad the round is over, but I'd really like to keep playing, to be honest with you.