PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2024

Harris English

Valhalla Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Harris English joins us at the 106th PGA Championship. Harris, a nice 67 for you today. How would you sum up your second round?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, talking to my caddie when we were getting ready to go play, you've got to get locked in, you've got to get focused, and it was going to be one of those days. It was going to be tough, switching on the umbrella, taking it on, off. We've had days like that before. You've got to stay focused and be patient out there.

The rough is getting a lot thicker out there just with that rain. You can have some decent lies, and it just doesn't come out at all.

I really played solid. Putted really well again today. Felt like I was seeing the lines, had the speed dialed in pretty well. It was nice to see some putts go in.

Q. Obviously a tragic and bizarre morning today. What was it like getting into the club? How long did it take you? How hectic was it?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I was probably starting to come into the club around 5:05, 0:10, so I guess I got there right after all the police cars got there. I had no idea what was going on. I knew they weren't letting anybody through from that side I was arriving from, so I had to turn around, go north of the course, took an extra 20 minutes or so, and then I got to turn into the club.

But it's dark, it's raining, police lights everywhere. It was very strange coming into the course this morning. Not the normal quiet arrival.

Obviously got here this morning, then news broke that Scottie had been detained and all that. We had no idea what was going on. That could have been any one of us. We're all taking that same route coming into the club.

Very unfortunate. You never want to hear about a person losing their life coming to the course. It's just terrible. We're out here playing a golf tournament, and somebody just got killed outside the entrance, which is very unfortunate, and our heart goes out to that family.

Again, you've got to kind of refocus and get ready to play some golf because this is the PGA Championship. This is what a lot of us have been working for for a long time, and you've got to focus and got to play some golf.

Q. How difficult is it to focus when all of that is going on?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, it was really difficult this morning because we didn't really know what time we were teeing off. I had pretty much gone through my whole warmup in the physio room, and then there was the delay, the hour delay, and they kept pushing it back.

You kind of take it all in, and talking amongst all the players and caddies and physios and our little bubble in there, and it's just wild. Turn on ESPN and seeing Scottie in handcuffs, getting in a police car, I never would have thought I would have seen that this morning. It was just wild.

But again, you had to lock in, had to get ready, got my rain stuff on and ready to play.

Q. Talking about refocusing and the golf today, I always like to highlight your putting for many reasons, so how do you adjust the putting and the putts that you make today to these conditions, different speed, different everything?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I would say the toughest part is when it's raining a little bit and your caddie is holding the umbrella, keeping the ball dry. It's all about keeping the face dry and the ball dry and just keeping your focus. It's so easy to lose focus when it's raining and the conditions are a little different.

But I've felt like I've played in the rain enough to get a good routine going with my caddie and kind of know what to expect. Obviously the greens are a little slower than they were at the start of the week with all the rain, so you just do a good job adjusting in the warmup of finding the speed and trusting it.

Q. This is not the first time you've showed up in a major, especially at the beginning of the week. What things have you learned from the past that you can adjust for the rest of the week here and get to the top?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I mean, I felt like my game sets up well for majors. I've just got to be patient, trust myself, trust my process, and have the same game plan that I've had at the start of the week.

I know if it starts drying out and gets a little windy, it's going to get tougher. This rough is getting longer and longer as we speak. I feel like this course suits my game really well, and I've obviously found success on the greens, so keep doing the same thing and see if it works out.

Q. Did you get here this morning before the accident then?

HARRIS ENGLISH: I got here, I guess, right after. I saw the police cars. When I was trying to turn in, they weren't letting anybody. I was coming from the east side of the golf course. They weren't letting anybody come down that way, and I didn't really know what was going on. I guess I got there probably 10, 15 minutes after it happened.

Q. Was the entrance to the golf course this week notable in any way? Was it kind of a normal situation?

HARRIS ENGLISH: It's a lot of traffic cones and not really knowing what lane you're going to be in. Definitely a little bit more hectic than we're used to getting into the golf course. Obviously this morning, dark, raining, it's hard to see anyway, and you've got a lot of lights around, you've got a lot of people yelling and pointing and all this stuff. It was very chaotic coming into the course.

Q. Golf-wise, a couple of highlights from today were those birdies?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, you want me to go through them --

Q. Not all of them, but as you look at them, what stands out to you?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Just getting off to a good start, birdieing on 10. I decided to lay up. I hit 3-wood over the green yesterday in the high stuff. Your ball gets wet, it has a little bit of mud on it, and you kind of lose a little bit of control.

Laid up with a 7-iron, hit a wedge in there to 15 feet and made birdie.

It was kind of good to validate the process of like, okay, we're going to keep sticking to -- get the ball in the fairway, get the ball on the green, and see if my putter gets hot. It was nice to get off to a good start.

Trying to remember some other holes. 17, hit a really good drive, uphill lie, 7 iron to probably 10 feet, made it. I felt like my speed has been really good this week, just something I've been lacking the last few weeks. I've been working on it really hard. Just haven't really hit my lines and speeds like I normally do, and I feel like I worked some with my putting coach at the beginning of this week, and the rhythm and the flow kept getting better and better, and it was nice to see some putts go in.

Q. It's hard to win out here. At 34 you've had a couple of nice finishes in the U.S. Open, but at 34 what would it mean to you to win a major?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Man, it's everything. That's why I practice and prepare. That's why I started playing golf when I was seven or eight years old is watching Tiger win these things.

It would be huge. It would be huge for my career and a validation of all the work I've put in. I feel like if I keep putting myself in these positions and keep getting closer and closer and hopefully knock the door down pretty soon.