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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 14, 2019

Dylan Frittelli

Silvis, Illinois

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Dylan Frittelli, 2019 John Deere Classic Open Champion. Dylan, congratulations on your first career PGA TOUR win. I know you haven't had a whole lot of time to left a lot of the perks and everything sink in.

With the win, you move into the Top 15 of the FedExCup standings to 48th. With a lot of big events coming up, but just to start off, how special is it to become, I believe, the ninth player to make the John Deere Classic his first PGA TOUR win in his first start in this event.

DYLAN FRITTELLI: Wow, it's awesome. I watched this tournament as a kid, didn't know much about it besides that it's a really low-scoring event. When I graduated college, my buddy Jordan Spieth came into my focus once I became a member of the PGA TOUR.

But now to have won it, I don't know, still sinking in. Feels awesome. It feels great. The support I got from everyone here this week in town felt awesome and they definitely made me feel at home. Probably one of the best TOUR stops I've been to when it comes to support from the community.

DOUG MILNE: What had you heard about the event from your fellow players that kind of wound up with this on your schedule?

DYLAN FRITTELLI: When I think back to earlier in the season, I just remember guys saying that it's a really fun event for the players. It seems like you get great support from the volunteers and people nearby. I stayed with a family this week, my backup caddie knew a family he was at college with, Matt Solace. So I stayed with the Solace family all week, and they were great. They literally gave me a room in their house and said: Do what you need to; use the laundry room, like go to town, and that definitely helped this week. It really relaxed me, and I felt pretty at home the whole week. So thanks to them and thanks to everyone else, it's definitely something that I've enjoyed.

But I guess, I don't know, just the history of the tournament, it seems like whenever you have a tournament that has a sponsor for a long time, it definitely says something about how the community sees it, how the sponsor sees it, and this event has definitely been -- how many years has John Deere been a sponsor? 14-, 15-plus years? 22? I'm only 28, 29. So yeah, ever since I was a kid watching golf, I had always known about this tournament.

It's crucial having those long-term sponsors on the TOUR, and when you have that, it's always good to repay that, and I'm thankful to John Deere.

DOUG MILNE: And last question is: With the win, you get the two-year exemption, so that really frees you up to plan a schedule. How special is that?

DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, that's huge. I'd obviously won on The European Tour, but my exemption was running out at the end of this year, so I was looking at, if I don't keep my card here on the U.S. tour, I have to go to Korn Ferry Tour School and play the Playoffs there, and try and get my card back. Then I'm giving up three or four weeks to play in Europe where I can try to keep a card. All this stuff has been going through my mind the last four to eight weeks, and the only thing is you can't control that stuff. You just have to play golf and try to put it in the background. Last week and the previous week, I played great but let it affect me, and thankfully it weekend I managed to knuckle down and have a really clear mind-set and execute on pretty much every shot on the weekend.

Q. Did you think when you woke up this morning you were close enough to make a run? Because so many people do make runs.
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Funny thing was, I didn't actually know where I was. I don't look at leaderboards. I don't look at scores. I went home, having spoken to Amanda in the CBS booth, and saw I was tied for the lead.

So when I left, I said, okay, I'm tied for the lead. Went home, two hours later after practicing and obviously getting some physio but didn't check the scores. I woke up this morning and checked the tee times and I'm like, oh, I'm actually two shots behind. I managed to sleep thinking I was in the lead or around the lead.

I don't really get too bogged down by specifics. I knew that I had to come out and make a bunch of birdies today, so nothing was going to change, whether I was four shots back or one shot back. It really had no bearing on how I had to play today. Luckily I managed to have that mindset overnight and when I got going, felt really comfortable.

I guess the guys, I didn't see what the leaders did. I saw Andrew Landry coming in. He congratulated me, good friend from Austin, and I guess they didn't really do much out there the last four groups or three groups, and thankfully I was able to have a little cushion there at the end.

Q. So you never knew where you were through the course of the day?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Not until 17. I looked down the hill to read my putt, and there was a giant scoreboard behind the pin, and I saw my name on top, so immediately my eyes went there and figured 20-under, I'm on top. I tried not to look at the rest.

I saw Russell's posted at 19, I believe. So I figure okay, if I make this, I have got two shots down the last, and I didn't know what anyone else was doing on the back nine, so made the putt. That was huge. Definitely calmed me over the 18th tee shot.

Managed to stripe that down the middle long and straight but walking to the fairway, caddie didn't say anything. Stuck to the plan and managed to hit on the green and hit a pretty terrible approach shot into the green. I was trying to hit it deeper into the green.

He said, "Do you know the situation?"

I was like, "What's happened? Has somebody made birdie or eagle?"

He said, "No, you're two shots clear. You hit it way short. I thought you knew what was going on. You were just playing safe."

I said, "Well, I figured I was ahead but now I'm pretty happy I'm 40 feet away safely on the green."

Q. Looking at your season from 30,000 feet, what was the big difference this week, as opposed to some of these other weeks?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: It was mentality clarity. I oh owe a lot of credit to my sports psych Jay Brunza in San Diego. We worked on tons of techniques to try and perform the best. I'm not going to give away too many of the techniques, but plan for this week was just to be creative and have fun and that's what I tried to do last week, as well. Didn't really achieve that.

Just been carrying a lot of weight on my shoulders with what I explained earlier with the situation, keeping a card in Europe, a card here and it's so hard not to focus on those out comes when you're looking to flights and bookings and all that sort of stuff.

The win definitely clears up all of those thoughts, and I'm going to use that as fuel now moving forward to try to push on in the World Rankings, get back into the Top-50 now and play all the majors and WGCs that I can. That's definitely the biggest goal for me now, but the key was just the mindset. I know I have the physical attributes. I know I've got the technique.

So the fact that I could quiet my mind and just relax and focus on the task at hand, it sounds simple, but that's pretty much what golf is at the top level. If you can block out those distractors or those things that get your emotions going, it makes it so much easier.

And I tried to have fun today. I don't know if you saw the coverage, but I was smiling. I 3-putted on 14 and I walked off the green smiling. I don't think many pros out here can do that. That's definitely something that I have in my arsenal that I don't get down on myself. I try and stay happy most of the time.

Q. On the clarity that you have now, one can't not think of another University of Texas -- turned this into a life-changing moment, John Deere Classic. Going aboard a charter and playing in The Open, with all of the other benefits of this great week --
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Obviously Jordan and I were at college together, and he's probably the antithesis of me in terms of mental, I don't know what you want to call it, but mental focus. He has a burning desire to win everything.

We used to play ping-pong in the locker room and I would beat him four games in a row -- "no, you're not leaving, stay here."

"Dude, I've got to go and practice now. Like I can't sit here for an hour."

No, no. He wouldn't let me leave until he beat me. He has had a burning desire. I don't really have that. I'm more methodical and I'm more thoughtful in what I do. There are different ways of doing it, and obviously it works out for him and I wish I had more of that burning desire, but I don't. So I'm going to take this win and use that to fuel my technique, fuel my analysis and keep it going in the future.

Q. Having won a National Championship at Texas, how much did that experience help you out this afternoon in the final few holes?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: It was huge. I've won at every level. I've won junior level in South Africa, international junior level, won Junior Worlds, college, amateur events, won in Europe on The Challenge Tour, on the main tour in South Africa. You learn little things with each stage you go through and I think that's the crucial thing about doing it at every level is you pick up things here or there.

Today I was drawing on experiences, specifically from Austria when I won there. I remember coming down the stretch three or four holes to go, I was so stressed. I was shaking. Adrenaline was flowing and I figured, that's not a good state to be in. A lot of the stuff I work with with the sports psych is to calm myself down and limit that adrenaline and limit that excited feeling.

It's just easier when you do it more often. Obviously when it gets in a bigger moment, I was happy to be four or five groups from the back, because if I had more fans out there, more crowds, more cheers, that may have got in the way, to it helped to have only 100, 200 people following me.

Q. Talk about your relationship with Jordan both at Texas and post-college. Did you ever see yourself -- find yourself comparing your career with his and what he has accomplished, and where you were in the game at any point, and did you have to process that, as well?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, for sure. Jordan came in as the most highly recruited player probably in a three-, four-year span, having won U.S. Juniors, two U.S. Juniors and he came in with a chip on his shoulder and, I've arrived, boys, here I am.

I was a senior having been an All-American, and I see this kid, he's pretty confident, let's see what he has. Throughout that whole year, we pushed each other. I was No. 1 in the rankings for part of the year, and he was No. 1 in the rankings part of the year, and we really pushed each other throughout that. Justin Thomas ended the year ranked No. 1, but I was 2 on one ranking, 3 on the other, and Spieth was the same.

I look back and think, hey, I've used that as fuel. In the past I've used that as fuel. I've played with Jordan and actually beat him in more tournaments than he beat me during the college year. So I try to draw on that and think, hey, if he can do amazing things that he's done and I've played at his level, I know I can still do that.

There have been times in my career where I had a slump. 2014, 2015 was a terrible span for me and I used a lot of that to try and fuel me. Obviously he's gone on to win multiple majors and do amazing things and that's something I hope to do in due time.

Yeah, I've basically just seen him as someone that I can compare myself to and use it as fuel. It's not something that I'm trying to beat him or I'm trying to outdo him or do something better than him. He's a good friend, as well and he's a great guy and someone that obviously I hope to spend more time with.

Q. Do you talk to him much?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: No. He changes his number every 2 to 3 months, so it's hard to keep up. No, it's tough. He's got his own schedule. He's got such a busy life. I don't envy all the stuff that he has to put up with.

I said to him last year at the Match Play, I said, "Dude, I've just come into this little bit of fame in the Top-50 in the world, the stuff that I have to deal with; you do everything so well with the way you handle everything. Like, I really have to congratulate you."

He looked at me like, "Bro, what are you talking about?"

I was like, "You may not realize it, you're so good with everybody, you don't let it get to you and you still manage to play top level golf, so credit to you for doing that."

And he was kind of like flummoxed, like "but that's what I have to do."

"Just realize, you'll look back at the end of your career and see how much you had to deal with and how well you did."

Q. How do you turn this into -- (off-mic).
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I think the biggest factor for me is the FedExCup. I was looking at 153 just starting this week trying to find 26, 27 spots to move into Top-125 to guarantee playing right for next year, so that was my main focus for the week.

Now that I've jumped well inside the top hundred now, I can look at the final three Playoff events and make a run for THE TOUR Championship. I don't know how many points it will take to get there but I'm up for it and trying to push for that.

It's a bonus playing in The Open. I've played the last two and super excited to get over to Ireland and play there. I actually played the 2013 Irish Open there. I've seen Portrush. Probably a step ahead of a few guys, won't have to play as many practice holes. Hopefully I can compete there and get the ball rolling, and hopefully we get some good weather and make some birdies.

Q. Are those prescription glasses that you wear? What other sports besides ping-pong and golf are you really good at?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: So the glasses, yeah, they have prescription in them. I'm 0.75 with a slight astigmatism in one eye and I haven't had it checked probably in two years.

So when I get back to Austin, I really have to. My caddie, he jokes with me, he's pretty blind and I'm like half-blind. So we're watching the ball going, John, where is it, where is it? I can't see it. Can you see it (laughing) -- no, we don't know where it is.

I probably need to find an optometrist in Austin, someone that can help me out and get my prescription checked again and get Nike to make me some new glasses.

Second part of your question, sports growing up? Growing up, I was actually multi-sport athlete. I played four sports for my state team in South Africa. I played soccer, baseball, golf and field hockey. Field hockey was probably my best sport when I was 13. I really had to decide, 14, 15 years old, am I going to go the professional hockey player route, which has zero money and not much support in South Africa, or am I going to focus on golf or cricket. Cricket was another sport that I could have gone pro in, but decided early on I didn't enjoy the hours and practice. Obviously the Cricket World Cup ended today and I saw England just beat New Zealand. My family was really sporting. My dad provincial level sport and my mother -- (inaudible) net ballplayer, really good sport. I'm glad I made the decision to go to the golf route because a lot of those team sports you have politics and things that can ruin a career or make a career.

The best way I knew how to see my future as a professional sportsman would be to do it on my own. Obviously you play golf, you play well, you earn what you get and no one can take that away from you. So thankfully the path took me through the University of Texas, so I was able to get an education. That was another steppingstone for me.

And thankfully, I believe that so many kids dedicate their life to one sport or to golf specifically at such a young age. And you said today, did any of the aspects of previous wins help me out. I think even aspects of my childhood, playing soccer, playing baseball, you learn things when you're young that help you deal with stuff later in life, and I was always a kid that would run into the goals and pick the balls up out of the net, and say: "We can get back, we're down a goal, don't worry." That was a mind-set that I picked up playing team sports. It was a crucial part in my development and I always tell juniors and parents that they need to let their kids play other sports.

You look at top players in the world -- Tiger Woods is the exception. Every other player has played team sports and done well at some level of varying degrees. That's definitely a crucial part of my growth, as well.

Q. On 17, you backed away from the driver two times. Was that because you knew what a big drive that was?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Hands were sweaty. I couldn't grip the club. Basically first grip on the club, so sticky that my hands would set. I didn't like the first grip. Tried to re-grip and my hands wouldn't move. They were basically stuck into the grip. So I backed away and my caddie was like, what's going on. It's fine, Johnny,, luckily no fans back in that corner so I wasn't distracted by anything. I couldn't get the right adjustment on the grip, and I think I backed away a second time, as well, did I? I can't remember. I was trying to find that right grip and finally I found it.

Hit the same drive yesterday. Managed to clip the tree, so when it came off the club, I was like, that's perfect, and looked at Nick and I was like, please don't hit that tree -- Nick looked at me like, fine, don't worry.

Q. Only one other South African has won the John Deere Classic twice, David Frost.
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, no pressure.

Q. How did you come to play golf --
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I just remember watching Ernie and Retief in the early days, not many TOUR events but I just loved staying up late. Obviously it's six, seven hours late in South Africa so I would stay up until ten or 11 o'clock if my parents would let me and watch at much of that golf as I could.

They really set the idea in my head that hey, they are from South Africa and they grew up in Johannesburg, and maybe I could do this if I worked at it and a little seed was planted. Obviously throughout the years, I've come into contact with other guys. Ernie has been great to me, given me a lot of time, and tons of South Africans after him that have set that standard.

It's easy to see that and go, hang on, I can do this as well. Just like I mentioned, not comparing myself to Spieth, but just looking at the common features there, it's easy to do that.

Actually David Frost did a speech at the South African Boys Under 17 tournament I played when I was 16 years old and I picked up a really good lesson from him. He probably doesn't remember it because he gives the same speech at a bunch of events but he mentioned about having a routine over a putt. He said, if you're going to walk into a putt and take seven different practice strokes and three each time, you're setting yourself up for failure. I was a top level junior at the time and thought, geez, I don't even have a routine on my putting and that was a tip I use and still use today. It's commonplace in the pro game, but that was something I picked up from him.

And I've managed to get little tidbits from other players and guys I've played with, George Coetzee, Trevor Immelman in Europe, Tim Clark, tons of South Africans have helped me out and set the stage for what I've done so far.

Q. One of the kids thanked you for coming when you were signing autographs. What was your reception here?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: It was awesome here. I've mentioned it many times now in interviews, but all the volunteers walk up on to the tee box: Hey, thanks for coming, thanks for being here, and.

I'm like, no, thanks for having us. If you don't do this, if you don't help out on the tee boxes and get the sponsors involved, we won't have a tournament. I'm thankful for the support I got this week. I mentioned I stayed with the Solace family and they were awesome. They let me do my own thing and I felt very welcome. But I didn't get much into town to be honest. I just practiced and went back to their place most evenings but hopefully next year I can get out, check out Moline and Davenport see a bit more of the town.

Q. Who are you most excited to celebrate this championship with?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Probably my caddie. John's been with me for two years now. Probably getting a little emotional now. Yeah, he's been probably the rock in my career, coming from Europe. He's a great guy, wonderful man, very tough guy. He putts up with a lot of stuff from me, but yeah, he's been there. He's going to jump on flight with me. I'm sure finally have a drink with him and celebrate a little bit. He lost his wife a few years ago. I actually won the Austrian Open on the Sunday that his wife passed away. He's had a lot to deal with and hopefully this is the cherry on top for him.

Q. A year ago, Francesco Molinari finished second and went over and won a championship. A lot of guys already over there right now. Do you figure a young, healthy guy like you can move up?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, I've been in the Top-50 in the world, I've played in seven majors and I've got the experience to do well. I'm not going to go out there and say I'm now a favorite to win the tournament because that would be far from the truth. I've seen the course before and I'm sure all the punters, the betting guys, will be interested to read this interview and say, oh, he knows the golf course so he has extra strengths and put him on the top five list or something.

My bunker play caddie, Cameron Monroe, he mentioned some writer or some fantasy guy said, "Frittelli he's waiting explode. He's played poorly on the weekend." And he sent me that picture, like, what the heck, what does this guy mean. I actually used it as fuel this week. The guy was basically saying, he's not going to play well and do well. I'm like, I feel fine, I don't know what you're talking about or where you're hearing this from.

Q. Will you return here?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, I'd be happy to come back. Obviously I can't say anything now; I don't know where my career is going to take me but I've had a wonderful time here. Sadly I couldn't defend my title in Austria last year because of the Mauritius Open, another tournament I've won in Europe, I've gone back there before. As long as the schedule allows, I'd love to come back.

Q. You just mentioned, your schedule in peril, not knowing what's happening. You and Jordan Spieth, your first PGA TOUR victory here. You've seen where he went. Is it fair to put any expectations on you that your career path could follow that type of trajectory moving forward?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I mean, I would say no. Golf is such a strange game. There's no -- the only thing it proves is I'm good enough to win on the PGA TOUR. I've won this week. That's awesome. I've done well. Can you look into future prospects and make predictions? You can, but what's that worth?

That was what was getting me into trouble with my mindset the last few weeks is trying to look the into the future and trying to predict it or shape it. I don't put much emphasis on that. I've won on TOUR. I'm going to lean on that next time I'm in contention. And can I win majors? If I'm entered for majors and playing in the field, of course I can win.

DOUG MILNE: Dylan, congratulations.

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