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NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL INVITATIONALJuly 15, 2007Daniel SummerhaysCOLUMBUS, OHIO THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome the champion of the Nationwide Children's Hospital invitational, Daniel Summerhays, into the interview room. Congratulations. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Thank you very much. THE MODERATOR: How does it feel to be the first ever amateur winner on the Nationwide Tour? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Still trying to get used to the feeling right now, but it feels really good. Just not only to be the amateur winner but to win a Nationwide Tour event is -- you know, there's only a handful of guys that ever do that, and to have done it right now it's tough to describe. But I feel so blessed, so grateful, just to have had the opportunity, and then to just have been able to stay calm out there and hit really good, aggressive, confident shots. It's pretty amazing feeling to win. THE MODERATOR: Seemed like it was stress-free out there for you, but you had some guys right there on your heels pretty much the whole day. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah, I started out hitting a great drive off 1. Hit a good shot in there and hit a good putt and just barely missed it. I tried to be come out a little more aggressive on the green. I just barely missed that first birdie putt on 1, and I hit to about a foot on No. 2 with a 9-iron. Or actually it was a pitching wedge. Hit a pitching wedge in there. A little draw on it. It got in there tight. Then 3 I just barely ran it over the high edge, and then 4 I made about a 6-footer for birdie. So, you know, I was really pleased with how I came out. Came out swing aggressively. There was no tentativeness. A little later in the round I left some putts short, kind of my lag putts, and then some 25-, 30-footers just couldn't get the speed of the green. Sometimes you think they're going to be faster because you can't tell if they have a little more grass on them or not. But overall I hit it really, really good today. I think I only missed like one fairway out there today. I hit a lot of greens and, you know, just always missed on the safe side in the middle of green. THE MODERATOR: Pretty good testament to the state of the college game as well I would say. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah. I still have a lot to work on, you know, especially on the greens and learning how to hit different types of shots. But we're pretty good out there on the college scene. Jamie, he's, what, he's made five out of six cuts on the PGA and the Nationwide Tour. Dustin Johnson made the cut this week. We're all guys that aren't afraid to take it low and who can play well on tough courses. Whether I play professionally or collegiately next year the competition is still going to be great. THE MODERATOR: Talk about the unique atmosphere here this week. And obviously with Jack Nicklaus being our honorary chairman, it must be a thrill to win on the course where he honed his game during college as well. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah, when I saw that, Jack is the honorary chairman, Jack has always been my favorite player. He's a little probably taller than me, but we're kind of the same strong build. You know, smaller hands, things like that. So I've always looked up to Jack. You know, what he's done and how good he is. But it's been a really special week. Like I said, on that 18th green walking up there, there's nothing like that. Having people whistle and clap and cheer for you, it almost just makes your heart want to break out of your chest. It feels so good, you know. I'll never forget that feeling and that atmosphere. Q. Four months ago the tournament doesn't exist, and then they announce it and decide they're going to let ten college players come in and play. Thursday you play great but you slip through here. You don't even have to come in here. You get to go home and don't have to deal with media. It seems like there's some fate involved. Talk about that. Talk about how everything came together. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: It's kind of interesting, because the National Championship this year I was going play in our statute amateur. It would be my last time. I won it twice. It was going to be a good week to just -- because I traveled all the month of June. Me and Emily were gone for four straight weeks. Came home a week and were gone another week. I thought it would be a good chance to stay home and play. Then at the National Championship I was like, If I really want to make the Walker Cup, winning my state amateur is not going to do anything for me. It's fun to play in, but it won't give me any points or recognition outside of the state. I was like, I need to try to get into the Player's Am, which the deadline had already passed this week. All that week during Nationals I was trying to get hold of the guy, the director, you know, and I finally got a message back saying, Sorry, the tournament is full. You're too late. Then I ended up being named on the first team and being able to play in this. When I heard that I was first team I looked at the dates and it was that exact same week and I was like, you got to be kidding me. So it worked out perfect. You know, I wasn't supposed to play in the Player's Am. I wasn't supposed to play in my state am. It's easy to look back on it now and say that, but somebody had a hand in something. Somebody's always taking care of you. Q. You're kind of blowing away the idea that you have to lose before you win. I think you said earlier in the week you didn't even expect to do this. What were your thoughts? Were you pinching yourself coming down the stretch? Were you wondering if you were going to hold up? What was going through your mind? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: You know, I learned a lot over the last six months, over the last year. I've been in that final group a lot in the last year. In college tournaments, you know, I was leading -- we played a tournament at Pacific in November, you know, and I got beat by my teammate by one. Missed about 10-footer on the last hole. There's been some other times where I've just barely lost. But, you know, I've been in some of the final groups at the Northeast Am and Nationals. You know, I had a chance. So I've learned a lot about how to control myself and I've learned what my tendencies are in the heat. So I've been able to, you know, sometimes when the pressure gets on, you know, I'll slide through the ball a little too much and it'll go right. Now if I want to hit one hard then I'll just rotate around my body a little bit more and it'll go straight. Those are the things that I've learned. The 4-iron I hit on 17, sometimes if I'm trying to hit a cut I'll overcut it and not rotate through enough. It's easy to kind of slide on it. Those are the things that I've learned. Then I hit a great shot in there. Started in the middle of the green and it faded just a little bit. So I've learned what my tendencies are. There are still a lot of things to learn. You never know, like tomorrow I'll probably go play nine holes and shoot 40. You never know. That's what golf is. It's a master teacher. It'll get you up real high and beat you back down. So I'm looking forward to going back next week and practicing really hard. Work on my speed control and my putts and figure out how I'm going to do it again when the heat's on and I need to make a 30-footer. I mean, because I didn't really make any putts today. I mean, I made a lot of 3-, 4-footers, but the longest putt I made was ten feet. So I need to figure out how to do that and I need to get ready for the U.S. Amateur qualifier next week. Always got to keep looking ahead. Q. You said Jack Nicklaus was your idol. What do you think of what he did to this course? I mean, did you enjoy it? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah. You know, it was a great golf course. I don't know what it was like before because I had never played it, but the bunkers are placed perfectly out there. You can't fly them really over them. You know, you have to hit a straight shot. The trees on the right will come in. It's a very good test of golf, as you can see. Some of the best players in the world. There were only a few of us under par this week. It was a great test of golf, and I really enjoy it. The Scarlet course will always have a special place in my heart. Q. Do you have a decision to make now? I know it's only a few minutes after, but you had to be thinking about it this week if you got in contention. Where do you stand? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: The decision to turn professional, it's been a long process to figure out. Me and my wife and my coach and my brother and my dad, you know, we've all put the in our two cents about what we should do. It's still up in the air. I honestly have no idea what's going to be best for me. But I do think what whatever I choose I'll make it work. You know, whether I turn pro right now and go start trying to earn money, or if I, you know, do Q-School this year and then try and get my card or if I wait it out and finish school in December and play the next four months with the team and then turn professional, I think whatever I do, if I just commit myself to getting better and continue to set goals my golf game won't go anywhere. Q. Just an inch closer one way or the other, though. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah. After the second round, me and my brother talked about, you know, I don't get the money this week -- and you can correct me if I'm wrong -- but do I get, you know, exemptions all the rest of this year and next year? Is that true even though I'm still amateur? I don't get the money, but do I get to play? THE MODERATOR: You have within 60 days to declare yourself as a professional to join the Tour in order to play the remainder of this year, or you can wait until the end of the year and declare before January 1st for the 2008 season. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Okay. All right. Well, that's good to know. See, there are so many things that I just don't know a lot of the rules. But, you never know what I'll do. It's tough to -- you know, do stay at college and get more experience there or do I turn pro? Who knows. Q. Jack left early. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Good to know. Q. Take us through what you were thinking about when you arrived at the 18th green. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah, you know, I never give up. If I'm only 2 down it's just a bogey and a birdie away. I know Chris, he knew he was in it still, too. So you know, hit a good shot in there. It didn't draw in there as much as I wanted it to, but it was just right in the middle of the green. I knew I had to hit a good lag putt. I misjudged the speed, but there was no -- you know, there wasn't any thoughts yet of, This is mine. But when Chris missed his putt then it was kind of like, Wow, I can't believe this. I can lag this up there. But I still wanted to make it. I played such a good back 9. 2-under par on that. I think the back 9 is tougher -- both holes 10 through 14 are absolutely brutal I think. 10, 11, 14, those are some of toughest Par 4s you'll find. But after Chris missed his putt I was a little more relaxed. I was still nervous because there was lots of people out there. Q. What's in the bag from an unendorsed player? What do you hit? What are the balls? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Pretty much everything Ping. Rapture driver. G5 3-wood. Hopefully those clubs don't break any time soon because it's tough to find a good 3-wood. I have a Ping I3 Plus 2-iron, which is very tough to part with. Had some of the Adams reps trying to give me a Hybrid, and they're great clubs, but that's hard to part with. Then I just have the S58 in 9-iron through 3-iron Ping. And then I have Cleveland 588 wedges: A 47 agree, 53 and 58, and then a Ping Redwood putter. Q. What about ball? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Titlelist Pro V. Q. You bogeyed 9 and came back and birdied 10. Did that get things going for you on the back 9, the birdie at 10? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: It was interesting, because I hit a lot great putts on the front 9. I hit it in there about ten feet on No. 5. It looked like it was turning in and then it just kind of darted right at the end. So I missed that putt. But I hit a really good putt. The speed was good. I liked how I hit it. And then No. 8, you know, I had another downhill putt. Thought it would be faster. Had about six feet for par and I hit a great putt there. I'd like to go back and see if somebody got it on camera because I think it hit something and bumped to the right and it kind of horseshoed. So I bogeyed 8. And then 9 I thought I hit another good putt. It broke a little right on me. I was a little disappointed on nine because I hit a great drive and it ended up in that intermediate cut. I had 113 feet to the flag. I can only fly my 58-degree about 105 yards and it just jumped out of there. I was just trying to fly it 105 and just let it run a little bit and it flew 110 yards and bounded over that green and had a tough lie back there. So actually I haven't hit any bad shots. I wasn't frustrated. Off 10 I stepped up and just murdered a driver there. And walking off 10 tee, it was just, If I shoot 2-under on this side I'll probably win the golf tournament. I kind of drew a little 9-iron in there and made a great putt. You know, in my own mind there wasn't any brooding because I didn't feel like I had hit a bad shot yet. THE MODERATOR: How long that was putt on 10? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: About 10 feet. THE MODERATOR: No. 12, the birdie there? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: 12 I hit driver 4-iron just on the green about 50 feet and just barely left it short. It was like two inches. Q. Your caddie, that is an interesting story. But did you take a while to get used to him? He said he kind of backed off the last few days because you were just rolling. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah. Bill, he's a great guy. I'm so grateful that he did it. It's kind of funny, because it was kind of the first summer that I'm buying the flights and the rental car and things like that. I ended up buying the most expensive flight out here. I don't know how I did that. Told my dad, I was like, Yeah I kind of messed up on the flights. He was like, Oh, what were they, $500, $600 apiece? And I was like, No. He's like, Was it about thousand then? I was like, Yeah. They were like $1,400 a ticket, so kind of messed up there. So I was already feeling really bad about spending too much money. I'm sure he'll be fine now. But my wife, Emily, was going to caddie for me. We got out there on Monday and pick up the bag and it's about 90 degrees and 95% humidity and we're dripping wet. And I said, I don't want you to do this. Bill called me back because I had told him my wife was going to caddie. He left me a message and said, Hey, I'll do it for free. That was music to my ears after all that had gone on. It was very, very nice of Bill to carry the bag and, you know, he was really excited to do it. I'm a pretty good putter, really good at reading greens and things like that. So he tried to help me out at some places and I was just trying to be a little bit patient just because there are some things that -- sometimes -- you know, usually I'm just used to carrying my own bag and doing my own thing. I'm not used to having much advice or whatever. Bill realized that after I made a lot of putts the first two rounds. The third round he just said, I'll just ask you if you're all right. So it was kind of our routine. We'll get on the green and I'll say, Bill, I got this one. He was great. Any anything that I'd tell him, you know, either bothered me or that I would want him to do he was right on it, so it was great. So I really appreciate having Bill out there to pack the bag and just keep the clubs clean. He was great in keeping up with the flag, so it was great. THE MODERATOR: All right. Daniel, congratulations. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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