SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 5, 2025

Steven Fisk

Country Club of Jackson

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started. We'd like to welcome Steven Fisk, our 2025 Sanderson Farms Championship winner. Steven, there are ways to finish golf tournaments, and then there's the way you did it today.

If you could comment on the last seven holes and a couple of those shots coming down on 17 and 18 that you'll remember for the rest of your life.

STEVEN FISK: The one on 17 is just kind of exactly how we saw it riding the wind in there. With as windy as it was, it's a little lucky for it to be as close as it did.

18, I'll be honest, I pulled it a little bit. I wasn't quite going left of that pin, but it worked out really good.

Q. You move into the top 70 in the FedExCup fall standings. You're our 14th first-time winner of the season and our fourth rookie winner. Talk a little bit about what this does now for your career.

STEVEN FISK: I mean, it's job security. I think I mentioned in another interview earlier that we all think we're good enough to compete out here and to win, and to come out here today and play like I did, and finally I truly know that I'm good enough to be a PGA TOUR winner is really cool.

Q. Talk about having Jay Green on your caddie. I know you guys are flying tonight to Raleigh for the Grayson Murray Classic. Just what does that mean having Jay on the bag this week?

STEVEN FISK: It's been great. Jay and the Murray family lost Grayson early last summer, spring, and for him to come and work with me was really cool, because being a PGA TOUR rookie, I felt like I needed an experienced caddie, and we're going to go to his event tomorrow and have a good time.

Q. Jay told me that your dad obviously passed away earlier this year. I know he was on your mind today. Jay actually said you told him earlier this week, I'm winning this golf tournament. So how much did your dad play in this victory?

STEVEN FISK: I think he nudged a couple putts in for me for sure, maybe him or Grayson. I had a couple of helpers out there. I miss him very much, and I know he'd be really proud of how I played all week and especially today to keep my composure and just kind of go about my business the best way I know how.

I'd like to think that he knew this day would happen.

Q. I've got a few questions kind of all over the map. The first one, take you back to a five-year-old where you started the game of golf at your parents' par-3 course, put you in that position right now, and now think to you being a PGA TOUR champion. You kind of answered John with the initial question, but does that even make it more special? Is it too early to tell given the beginning of the game that got you into the seat you're in right now?

STEVEN FISK: Yeah, I was really lucky. My parents built a driving range, a nine-hole par-3 course five minutes from where I grew up. I think it opened when I was four or five years old, and it's still there, Rum Creek Golf Course.

I think I had a golf course as a playground my whole childhood. All those greens were pushed up, and they were really small and kind of -- truly I think it made me into the iron player that I am today.

It's a special place, and it will always be cool that it led to this.

Q. Just doing a little bit of background on you, interdisciplinary studies.

STEVEN FISK: Sure.

Q. What is that?

STEVEN FISK: That's the degree you try and get when you want to be on the golf team.

Q. That's a fantastic answer.

STEVEN FISK: I can't sit here and lie. I had a wonderful time at Georgia Southern, four amazing years, met some of my best friends, met my wife there, and wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere else.

Q. Have you talked to your wife yet? Is she here?

STEVEN FISK: She's right there.

Q. I guess you have then. Okay. Last question, just the putting. Obviously today was off the charts. What do you attribute the difference to today?

STEVEN FISK: I was thinking about this this morning, but I've struggled on the greens this year a lot, and I've been talking to my sports psychologist for a long time about putting.

He wanted me to read, Putting Out of Your Mind by Dr. Rotella, and I of course downloaded the audiobook Friday night this week and listened to a little bit of it.

I don't know, it just kind of helped me focus on the right things. It was chapter 2 or 3, just be really target-oriented and not worry about anything else and just believe that it's going to be a good putt and have a chance to go in.

Q. Fourth rookie this year; you being a part of that, what does it really mean to win on this PGA TOUR as a rookie in your first year?

STEVEN FISK: It's really cool. These fall events were a really cool opportunity for me to come out and try to get a win. Obviously with the position I was in on the FedExCup points list I had a lot of ground to make up.

At the end of the day, if you come out here and win a golf tournament, everything takes care of itself. So that's been my focus for the last month or two.

Q. What was really motivating you to really get this first win? And also with your dad and hunting for that first PGA win and job security, like you said, how much motivation did you have coming into this tournament?

STEVEN FISK: I had one circled honestly, knowing that we're coming to Bermudagrass. It's definitely what I'm most comfortable on. We don't play a lot of it throughout the season, so I was really excited to come here this week and see where I could stack up.

Q. Having the leaderboard at the top so close throughout the whole weekend, especially today, what's the mentality going into the last few holes and everything, just trying to get over that edge and come out on top?

STEVEN FISK: I can tell you what I told my caddie walking off 18 tee box. Garrick was playing so well today, especially down the stretch. I told him we needed another birdie to try to close this thing out. I think I was fortunate to hit first into 18. I think that helped a lot.

Yeah, it was kind of a sprint there at the end.

Q. When you won in Savannah on the Korn Ferry Tour, it was pretty tight coming down the stretch. You ended up making some birdies and winning in the playoff. What did you draw on from that experience today to help you get across the line?

STEVEN FISK: Today felt really similar. Like I just said, with the way Garrick was playing there coming down the stretch, he wasn't going away. I definitely thought a lot about Savannah today. Similar experience, similar shots, honestly similar kind of vibe, just trying to get it in the house and make as many birdies before we get there.

Q. For you as a golfer, what is it like to play this course? What stands out to you about it compared to other ones that you've played on over your career?

STEVEN FISK: This one was really nice honestly. It's really important to hit fairways out there because, if you hit it in the rough, you can't get any spin on it, and then it's hard to hold those greens with how windy it was.

It's funny, my caddie and I were chatting on the back nine today about how great of a course it would be to play every day and be a member at because it's got some variety, it's got a bunch of par-5s that you can kind of get to. It's got some interesting holes.

So it was a really good test.

Q. Also today day's best, 8-under par. What is your mindset when you're approaching a final day -- like you said, a sprint at the end, but it seems like from the beginning today you were just climbing right back into it and staying on top.

STEVEN FISK: Based on the scores earlier this week I didn't have a target score in mind today, but I knew it was going to be -- I knew it was going to require more birdies than anything else. Just trying to make as many as I possibly could because I knew I'd need them at the end.

Q. One more thing. Mississippi is known a lot for its football and baseball kind of as the sports, but we had a lot of Mississippians who were out there on the final day playing. I asked them and would like to ask you, what advice do you have for younger athletes, golfers looking to get in the game and they're looking to you as their role model?

STEVEN FISK: With kids, I think it's important to go out there and have fun. Golf can be a bit of a chore sometimes. When you're young, I think it's important to go out there and be with your friends and hit different shots and have chipping contests with your friends and stuff like that. It doesn't have to be that serious. Serious golf isn't going anywhere.

So enjoy it while you still can and try -- like I said, just go out there and have a good time.

Q. There's a lot of speculation that this might have been the last Sanderson Farms Championship. Any thoughts about that?

STEVEN FISK: I think Sanderson Farms did a great job this week. It's obviously the only year I've been here, but in my opinion, it was a first class event on a great golf course that provided a really good test for us. To them, thank you very much for being here this year.

If it is the last one, that stinks, but hopefully everybody had a good time today with how everything finished.

THE MODERATOR: We couldn't be happier to have you as our champion, Steven. Congratulations.