CHUBB CLASSIC PRESENTED BY SERVPRO

February 14, 2024

Boo Weekley

Tiburón Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Boo, thank you for joining us here at the Chubb Classic, making your first appearance here. How does it feel to be here?

BOO WEEKLEY: It's awesome to be back playing in Florida, my home state. It's always a pleasure to be able to come and play. Being out here playing, we used to do the Shark Shootout at the other golf course so kind of familiar with the area but not 100 percent sure of where I'm going nowadays.

Q. How do you feel about your game coming into this week?

BOO WEEKLEY: It's a little shaky right now. I've been doing a lot of hunting and fishing this winter, so I ain't quite knocked the cobwebs off it yet, but we'll get it there. Just get back into competition, get back to playing, and enjoying what I'm doing.

Q. Your good friend Heath Slocum turned 50 recently, making his debut out here this week. What's your message for him?

BOO WEEKLEY: Well, my message to him is just go play your game. He's a good player, which he's won four times out on the PGA TOUR.

Just trying to get the nerves knocked out I reckon will be the hardest thing I think to do because he's been in the same kind of category I've been in. We played a little bit on the Korn Ferry TOUR here and there, but haven't actually played-played in tournaments to where it means something. Just trying to get the nerves down, I think, will be the hardest thing right now.

Q. When you have a gap like that competing, what do you miss? What's the biggest piece?

BOO WEEKLEY: What I miss, the travel --

Q. Competitive-wise what's the biggest piece?

BOO WEEKLEY: Competitive-wise that's what I mostly miss is being able to go out and play, grind, and when you're not playing your best, you're still grinding trying to make something out of it and not giving up where if you're at home, like I'm practicing around the house, playing with my buddies and stuff, like I shoot 69 or I shoot 73, it really doesn't matter, I lose a couple dollars. But out here when you're playing, every little shot counts. Every putt counts.

I miss that part of the grind, and coming out and competing and just doing what I do best, and the good Lord has blessed me enough to give me enough to play and just to be able to do it.

Q. You jumped in right in the summer last year. Having a full season ahead of you, is that kind of a nice way to start?

BOO WEEKLEY: It is. I'm not sure I'm going to have a full season because I'm going to still be on the outside looking in a little bit because of the category I'm in, but to be able to know that I can get in some of these tournaments like this week, maybe turn something over, find something out there when I'm playing where I feel like I can compete. But to be able to know that I've got a full year going ahead of me to be able to play, yes, it feels good knowing that I can come out and practice harder and understand what I'm trying to work on, what I need to work on to get my mental side of the game because to me that's the hardest part right now is just mentally staying able to stay in the shot, stay in the moment instead of wandering off like here I go again, I wonder how many fish are in that pond over there, there might be an alligator behind that log over there. To me that's the hardest thing right now, just trying to figure all that out.

Q. Take us back with Heath, how far you guys go back.

BOO WEEKLEY: I met Heath I want to say '88 when his daddy became the head pro at Tanglewood, Jack Slocum. I just started playing golf, going into my freshman year of high school, kind of right before it, and just kind of fell in love with my boy Heath just because -- we competed. He played basketball. Our ninth grade year we played basketball. He was a point guard, I was a forward. We played every sport together that we could play. We didn't play football -- I got hurt in football, and he didn't play football. Like I said, we both ended up taking up golf full time, and his daddy lived with my mom and dad before they found their place to live, to rent, when they first moved in, and Heath lived with another buddy of ours, Sonny Northrup. Like I said, it goes all the way back to high school.

He always pushed me in high school, and then he pushed me when I kind of got out and started playing the mini-tours, and Heath's daddy kind of talked me into playing mini-tours, and Heath was already playing mini-tours a little bit, and then the buy.com is when he went out, first year out, and he kind of pushed me my whole career. He's always pushed me.

Q. I remember when you guys were rookies on the big Tour together, it was a big deal. What about getting him out here? What do you see?

BOO WEEKLEY: I see he's going to succeed out here. He's a gamer. He's probably one of the strongest mental people I know, I've ever been around as the game goes and how hard he works at it, which I know with this year everybody that lives kind of in the south a little bit, we ain't had a real good winter to practice and do all the stuff that we really need to do, but I see Heath playing well this year and doing what I needs to do to succeed, and I wouldn't put it past him winning sometime once he gets his stride out here.

Q. Do you have any favorite memories with Heath on the PGA TOUR?

BOO WEEKLEY: On the TOUR, yeah. I'd say when we went to China, played in the World Cup. That was pretty interesting because we go over to a buffet and we're sitting there, and he's like, I don't know what none of this stuff is. We can't pronounce none of it. So we didn't know what we was eating. I'm like, man, this stuff on this shish kebab tastes good. I'm just over there gnawing down. Next thing you know, our translator, I asked her, what is this right here. She goes, oh, that's dog and cat. I'm like, well, it's pretty good.

See, that's where I'm getting a BLT. I'm getting this right here. DJ Nelson, his caddie, another one that was over there, and of course my caddie Joe-Joe, that will always be a memorable trip just because of that right there.

Q. What were your hunting and fishing highlights?

BOO WEEKLEY: This year? With Heath? We killed a lot of hogs this year because of the rain and stuff. Deer wasn't really that spectacular for me this year. My cousin killed the biggest deer, one that we've been after for about three years, and he finally killed it, so it kind of wrapped up my hunting in Alabama because that was the only one I was really after. I hunted a few times with some other buddies up in Alabama, and then I hunted mostly around the house there, in the swamp and on my little property.