BETFRED BRITISH MASTERS HOSTED BY SIR NICK FALDO

August 28, 2024

Harry Hall

The Belfry Hotel & Resort

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Glad to be joined by Harry Hall here at the Betfred British Masters, your first event as a member as a DP Tour member.

HARRY HALL: Yeah, been wanting to turn pro here since I turned pro at 19 and play in front of the home crowd.

I always wanted to play over here since I turned pro, and it just didn't work out that way. Worked my way through the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR to win a co-sanctioned event was fantastic, and hopefully I can get a lot of friends and family to come up and watch this week and over the next few weeks and super excited.

THE MODERATOR: Have you ever played The Belfry?

HARRY HALL: Never played Belfry, Royal County Down, Wentworth. Excited to play some of the U.K. finest golf courses over the next few weeks.

Q. UNLV, I'm fascinated to know how you ended up at that college.

HARRY HALL: I grow up down in Cornwall and Philip Roe, who was all over the clubhouse, played great amateur golf. He went to Stanford University, and you know, fast forward ten years, I'm looking to go to college over there and he moved from the assistant coach at Stanford to UNLV at the time and just because of our connection, he offered me a scholarship. I went to UNLV in Las Vegas. Yeah, played really good junior golf growing up and was able to get a scholarship from Phil.

Q. Was coming to the U.S. always the plan at that stage of your career?

HARRY HALL: I think if you're good enough, you can turn pro when you're 18 over here. I think there's two options. You do that, or if you're not quite good enough, and you need a bit more time, the U.S. college system is a great way to go just to get an education how to play golf.

So I needed to do that. I wasn't quite good enough at 18 to turn pro, four years on the field and it worked out pretty good for me.

Q. You worked your way through the Korn Ferry Tour. At that stage did you think about coming back it Europe or were you enjoying life back in the States?

HARRY HALL: I entered both Q-Schools in 2019. Missed that one. Got to final stage on the Korn Ferry Tour. I spent most of 2020 trying to qualify for Korn Ferry Tour events. Did qualify for one and finished second and gained membership that way.

I did try both, and I did really well starting out. I came 15th at Dunhill and 12th in South Africa. And I was due to go to the Hero Indian Open and the week prior, they canceled it because of COVID, and that kind of kept me in the U.S.

Q. Now obviously progressed to winning your first PGA TOUR and co-sanctioned DP World Tour title. What's the plan going forward?

HARRY HALL: Yeah, play on both tours and play all the majors and hopefully take the green jacket home. That's the plan.

Q. Those two events, up against The Scottish Open and The Open. Both important events that could be life-changing.

HARRY HALL: I remember talking to my dad at the start of the week because it is an opposite-field event, and sometimes they are pretty tough when you are playing against the best players in the world in the biggest PGA TOUR events. I had to fit my mind-set and go what does 300 points do for me for the FedExCup or what does a two-year exemption do for my life.

It was massive. My dad kept me grounded and kept my mind in a good place. Since then it's so good to be back here creating a schedule that's worldwide, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Q. Making your debut in England and Wentworth in a few weeks' time, doesn't get much better than that, does it?

HARRY HALL: Yeah, my first time being in front of an English crowd, hopefully they know who I am and that I am English.

Q. Are you looking forward to the weather?

HARRY HALL: Yeah, every event.

Q. This is obviously the first week of Ryder Cup qualifying. Where does that stand on your radar trying to get on that team next year?

HARRY HALL: Yeah, I always joked with Phil Roe. He had a Walker Cup bag in the clubhouse and I always joked and said, "I'll get a Ryder Cup." Yeah, that would be great.

Q. Said Sir Nick Faldo earlier and he said he helped you out last year. Can you fill us in on the details?

HARRY HALL: After the FedExCup last year, I missed the Playoffs and had some downtime and I thought, you know, it would be really cool if I could get to know Nick Faldo a little bit. I've chatted to Fanny, his long-time caddie, at THE PLAYERS earlier that year and I thought she was really impressive.

I just thought, Bozeman, only a two-hour flight from Vegas in Montana. I reached out to him -- or I reached out to my agent and asked if I could get his e-mail or something and two days later I got a call from a Florida number and I answered it and he goes, Harry, sir Nick -- wow, he called.

We had a bit of a chat and he said, I'm free next week, and I said I'm coming up. I landed on Thursday night, had dinner and met him at the course at about 9.00am on Friday and hit balls with him all morning and played nine holes with him and shared a cart in the afternoon. It was very impressive.

Q. Technical swing advice or general stuff?

HARRY HALL: A bit of everything. Just from chipping and putting, different shots, making swings. I think everyone thinks he's quite the mechanic back in the day, working with Leadbetter and stuff like that. But the guy just loves moving the ball left-to-right and having his four little swings that he has names for every single one of them and it produces a different ball flight. It was really cool.

Q. You mentioned there about a Masters green jacket and I remember talking to you at THE PLAYERS Championship, and you were saying that that is the ambition, to drive down Magnolia Lane. It's not Augusta here but at least it's the British Masters. Give us a thought on that very burning ambition regarding the green jacket?

HARRY HALL: Do these chairs turn into jackets at the end of the week? Yes, a big ambition of mine because West Cornwall Golf Club, Jim Barnes a hundred years ago won the U.S. PGA and the U.S. Open and the The Open. But correct me if I'm wrong, but then if I got the green jacket West Cornwall Golf Club would be the only club in the U.K. with all four majors. That would be really cool. Unless Rory beats us to it.

Q. The Team Cup next year before the Ryder Cup in Abu Dhabi. How important is it for a player like yourself to play in something like that to prepare for the Ryder Cup?

HARRY HALL: I see Justin Rose on a regular basis on the PGA TOUR, and we got pretty close over the past couple years and same with Luke Donald. I had dinner with him a couple times. I know he's going to be there that week.

Obviously it's a great platform to impress some European legends and I'd definitely love to play. I am in the Sentry in Hawai'i the week before, a big event on the FedExCup points list. I haven't got asked to play but I'd definitely try and make it work if I could go, yeah.