TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 2025

Harris English

East Lake Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Harris English here to the media center here at the 2025 TOUR Championship. First time back at East Lake since 2021. What's the level of appreciation for this accomplishment? I know you've been chasing that return for a few years.

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, it's massive. I love this place. I came here, I guess, when I was probably nine years old for the first time, and just the culmination of a good year. It's really hard to make the TOUR Championship. I think this is my maybe fourth or fifth time making it in my career. It's really hard, so I don't take it for granted.

I'm really proud of the year I've had, and this was goal No. 1 when I was making my goals this year is if I make it to the TOUR Championship, then that means I've had a good year. It's awesome to get back, and looking forward to having a chance to lift that trophy at the end of the week.

Q. What were some of those memories like coming here as a kid and how it shaped you into wanting to be a pro?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I think I came here 1998. I grew up in south Georgia, so this was probably three hours from where I grew up. But that was kind of the first time I got around professional golfers and saw them practicing. I came out for a practice round, and I had some sort of pass that my dad got me where I could take pictures.

Everybody couldn't take pictures, but I remember hanging out on the putting green, chipping green, watching how guys practice, and some guys walked back -- I took terrible pictures, but I was taking pictures of guys walking, and that was the first time I met Payne Stewart, and he was super, super nice and gracious to me and did some different funny poses for me. Just really got an insight to some of those guys. Coming here for the first time, it was like, that's what I want to do when I grow up. That looks really cool.

I played a lot of sports growing up, but I was really getting into golf, and I loved going out and practicing and trying to get as good as I could at golf, and coming here and seeing those guys, it was like that's what I want to do.

Q. How was dinner last night, and how important was it for you to qualify instead of wait on a pick?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, dinner was great. We had some good conversations. It was good to get everybody in the room and had some of the stats guys there, and get everybody thinking the same way and getting everybody's thoughts.

But making that Ryder Cup team on points was a big goal of mine. I was a captain's pick back in 2021, so making that team on points and finishing fifth just makes me believe that I belong.

I'm a big part of that team, and I love being around those guys, and we had some great conversations. We're going to grow a lot closer the next few weeks, and getting all prepared for Bethpage.

Q. Have you had a chance to talk with Brian Rolapp, and if so, did anything stand out in the conversation?

HARRIS ENGLISH: I did. I thought his initiative was really cool of calling some guys on the TOUR. We probably talked for 45 minutes, and I didn't know how long we were going to talk. He had some great questions and kind of opened the floor to me of -- I've been out here 14 years. I've seen a lot of changes out here, and kind of my thoughts on what's good, what's bad, what needs to be changed.

So that was cool. I've never had that sort of interaction with -- this is now going to be my third commissioner. I started out with Finchem, had Monahan, and now Rolapp, so I thought that was pretty cool with him coming in and just getting everybody's insight and helping him understand what we do good, what needs to be changed out here. We had a great conversation.

As I told him, just the consistency of the TOUR events, now we've raised some levels with the Signature Events, not in essence to the purse but just how the tournaments run, just the little finer details. If we can raise the level of some of those smaller events, just have that baseline of this is what a TOUR event means, this is what we need to have at certain TOUR events, and I think that'll help a lot of the players not feel alienated, I guess. To have every event, this is a certain level that we need to get at.

Q. Obviously your last few years with injury show the breaks a career can take. In 2021 when you make that team, when you're having that great year, in that moment do you feel like this is just where I'm going to be, like I've made it and I'm going to stay in this place?

HARRIS ENGLISH: You always have that feeling of -- that's how golf is when you're playing really good. You never think it's going to go away. You never think you're going to shoot over 67. Then when you're playing bad, you're like, how am I going to shoot under par today? That's kind of the ebb and flow of golf and life and my career over the past 14 years.

I feel like I have way more of an appreciation making the second Ryder Cup team, and I don't take it lightly, and I definitely don't take it for granted of how much hard work it takes. It gives me some belief that I belong on that team.

Q. Curious your reaction to the TOUR schedule for next year, another Signature Event, very condensed starting maybe at the Masters, a lot of Signature Events. Just your thoughts on playing in all of those. Do you think you'll play in all of those? Also, what does it mean for guys who aren't in them?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, for one, I'm excited to go back to Doral. We haven't been there in a few years, and that was one of my favorite tournaments that we played. I can't remember the last time we went there, but I feel like I played it maybe two times.

But yeah, as a golfer, it's great to be in those events. I'm going to play all of them. It's a good time to have your game in the right spot and playing a lot of good golf. So that's kind of how I look at that condensed schedule right there.

Yeah, it's going to suck not being in those events, but kind of how the PGA TOUR has set itself up is if you want to get in those tournaments, you've got to play good. You've got to beat people. You've got to play better. I was a little bit in that position last year of I barely missed out on getting in the top 50. I didn't have a good round at Memphis last year.

I had to play a lot in the fall to stay in that top 60 because I wanted to get in the first two Signature Events, and I knew my schedule for that year wasn't set, so I had to go out and get it.

That was weighing on my mind the final round at Torrey Pines is like this means, if I win this event, I can get in all the Signature Events and I set my schedule. That's how I like the PGA TOUR has set this thing up of they have pathways in these events, and if you're playing good golf, you're going to get in the best tournaments.

I love how there's still a pathway there and they're going to continue that.

Q. Along those lines, this came up with Maverick last year. You win a tournament, you get in the Signature Events. You won Torrey, from what I heard. Maverick won the last tournament of the year and you get, I think, two of them at the start. It's almost like you're penalized for winning late. Is there a solution to that?

HARRIS ENGLISH: That's a good question. They're going to have to figure that out. I'm not part of the PAC. I'm not part of those committees. I'm really just focused on golf. It's like, whatever tournament I get in, I'm going to go get it.

Yeah, there's a little bit of a disconnect in the fall. I'm not sure how they're going to change that because it still means a lot. That was Mav's first win. That's my home event. I know how much that meant to him. It kind of started him on this really, really good year, and that's where it started, at the RSM.

Yeah, he got in Kapalua, I think, which is big. Having that two-year exemption on TOUR is big. But it is a little better, I guess, winning at Torrey early in the year so I have two-plus years of an exemption and get in all the events.

I don't know how they're going to look at that, but that's above my pay grade.

Q. What is the biggest perk to you if you were to win this week? Not the meaning of it, given your Georgia roots, but what's the biggest perk of all the things you get?

HARRIS ENGLISH: I mean, just the satisfaction of this is the 30 best players on the PGA and winning the final event. I like how I'm not giving Scottie Scheffler a however many stroke lead on me. I like everybody starting at zero, final push, go get it. I like that.

Q. When you went into last year, given your status, had you had a schedule in mind of what you were planning on playing, and how much did it change?

HARRIS ENGLISH: I knew I was going to play a good bit starting out. I didn't get in Kapalua, but I love playing the Sony Open. I normally don't play the Palm Springs event but I wanted that as kind of a warm-up to Torrey. I knew Torrey was a good fit for me. I've had some good finishes there.

I think I finished 40th at Palm Springs, but I felt like my game was in a good spot, just needed to clean up a few things, and that really propelled me, I think, to play really well at Torrey.

I've had that through the years. 14 years out here, a lot of years I have no idea what my schedule is going to be, and I just basically go to whatever tournament I get into. And it's nice to have that schedule set, and you can pace yourself of all the Signature Events and majors. So yeah, it definitely changed once I won Torrey.

Q. A young man from your club, Glen Arven, won the U.S. Am over the weekend. What's your relationship with him? I think he's been a fan of yours for a long time. Have you communicated? What are your thoughts on a kid from Thomasville winning the U.S. Am?

HARRIS ENGLISH: First of all, I think it's awesome. I've known Mason for a while now since he was a kid. He's 17 or 18 now, so he's still a kid. But it's really cool. I know how much it means to the people of Thomasville. I know how much it means to him.

And it's really cool that maybe I've played a small part in his inspiration of playing golf and that I could be somebody he looks up to. I find that very inspiring and very humbling. But it's awesome to see. I was texting him throughout the week. He didn't need much help from me; he was playing some unbelievable golf, but just little tidbits of positive reinforcement.

But it was awesome to see. I can't say I'm shocked at what he did. I played a couple practice rounds with him at the U.S. Open at Oakmont and was blown away with how good his game was and how he handled himself. He wasn't afraid of the moment, and he was preparing that week like he was trying to win the U.S. Open.

That blew me away because if I put myself in my shoes at 17 or 18 years old, I'm pretty star struck, my head is spinning, I don't know what I'm doing. But he had a plan, and he carried himself like he was a 10-year veteran out here on the PGA TOUR.

Q. You've obviously been near the top of the game in years past, but this year there have been a bunch of guys that are, I guess, late bloomers, not just 22, 23 year olds, but J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, guys that have really hit their stride a little bit later in their career. What is it about golf, do you think, that lends itself to that, to maybe not doing something and then, ooh, you're 33 and now finally you can make that jump?

HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, everybody has got their certain path, different ways of figuring this game out. I would say those guys have probably learned a lot more about themselves or how to prepare because when you're younger, you're kind of flying by the seat of your pants. You don't really know how to prepare for tournaments. You don't know how to practice. Those guys have kind of figured it out.

Like J.J. Spaun, I've known he's an unbelievable player. I played him in the Pub Links back in 2011 at Bandon Dunes. I've known he's a really solid player for a long, long time now, and it's just the belief, seeing good things happen on the course and getting around some of these better players and knowing that you belong.

With Ben and Andrew, I've seen them a lot in Sea Island and know how hard they work, and all it takes is just that little jolt of belief in their game and knowing they belong out here, and you can see what they do down the stretch. They've played some really good golf.

It's awesome to see that this game, whether you're 18 years old or 45, you still have to put the ball in the hole, and I feel like that's where experience can play a big factor in learning more about yourself and how to handle certain situations and getting yourself in that moment every chance you can get.