JULIUS MASON: Abraham Ancer is joining us at the 104th PGA Championship. You were born in south Texas, grew up in Mexico. Remind us how you ended up playing golf for the University of Oklahoma.
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, that was definitely an unexpected route. I felt like all of my golf career has been like that. It was awesome. I had a great time.
Yeah, grew up in Reynoso, Mexico, is where I learned to play golf and then realized I wanted to keep going and pursued learning English and played high school golf in Mission, Texas, and then after that I didn't really have really anywhere to go. I didn't play really any AJGA events, so coaches didn't really know about me pretty much at all.
I got a call after my senior year, so it was almost time for my freshman year, and I got a call from Paul Chavez from Odessa Junior College, gave me an opportunity to go there, and played some good golf that year, and I got picked up by some coaches. Hibble was the first coach, and Coach Smart at the time, who is now in Memphis, watched me play and gave me a nice offer and went and visited OU and I fell in love with the place, with the coaches, with the teammates after that, and it was a great time. I loved it.
JULIUS MASON: How familiar are you with Southern Hills since you spent this quality time in Oklahoma?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Really not that much. I remember we came and played it -- I didn't play Big 12s like some of the guys after I left. I know they played Big 12s here at least one year if I'm not mistaken. We only came and played it once, and it was blowing like 30, and I was like, man, this place is so tough, and I haven't played it since.
That was probably like 10 years ago, maybe 11 years ago.
I knew the golf course was beautiful. I can remember it was tough, but it was before they redid it obviously, so it has changed a little bit, yeah.
Q. You had a tie for eighth finish at Kiawah Island. Do you have any major expectations when you play a PGA Championship now?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Not really. I've loved how they set them up. It's always tough, but I feel like it's fair. Kiawah is just a beast of a golf course, and they did a good job setting the golf course up, I believe. It was probably one of my best golf rounds as a pro on Sunday. I remember I started like high 50s or 58th or something and then finished eighth on Sunday. That was really cool, to have a really nice round on a tough golf course like that.
But yeah, I enjoy major championships. I enjoy that par is a good score. So yeah, I'm looking forward to trying to make some birdies out here and hopefully a lot of pars at Southern Hills.
Q. I think you're the lone sooner in the field. Do you expect a bunch of support from OU fans, and is there any comfort being back in Oklahoma and playing here?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Absolutely. It feels like just my second home really. Just in the practice round, there's so many sooners out here that it feels really nice. You feel like you have a nice crowd behind you.
Obviously you've got the Pokes out there making sure they're there. But yeah, it's always nice to play in Oklahoma. I have great memories obviously in Norman, but just the people. I love the people in Oklahoma. That's always what really stood out when I got to Norman, just how welcoming and really supportive everybody is.
Q. You talked about your time at OU; what did that mean to you? You kind of got the ball rolling with Hibble and that program it seems like.
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I think Hibble has done an incredible job, just his mentality. He's a winner. He knows what it takes. At the time I was there, he just took on the program, and we were not ranked very good, and he kind of reeled it back in to I guess top 20 or top 25 in the first year when he got it, and when he got there it was like high 60s or something like that.
I think he's done an incredible job. I love -- I miss it. I want to go and do some football games and just hang out with the guys. The golf facility is great there. It's unbelievable. It's just a really cool place.
I feel like it's everything you need to get better and to be a No. 1 college golf team in the nation.
Q. I know they're hosting a regional today. Have you heard from them or gotten any kind of support from them?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, I text with Hibble every now and then, pretty regularly. He's always there pushing me and encouraging me and just keeping me updated. I've known -- I was thinking about if I can stop by, but it just didn't really work out. I was like, I've got to learn this golf course. It's going to be a long and tough week, so I couldn't make that happen, but I'm wishing them all the best. I'm sure they're going to do very well.
Q. There's something with you and PGA Championships, like Bethpage kind of opened the door to the majors for you. You did well at Kiawah. This week here, my feeling is if you get a lot of wind, you'll do well, don't you think?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Yeah, definitely -- it's not that I love wind or I want to play in wind all the time, but I grew up in wind a little bit and also Odessa is probably one of the windiest cities in Texas. Oklahoma can get really windy, as well, obviously. So I'm comfortable keeping that low golf ball.
I don't really mind that. I think it's going to be a tough challenge either way. But when you add the wind and if the greens get firm -- I think if the greens get firm and really fast, it's going to be really, really tough out there. But it's awesome. It's a major championship. It's supposed to be tough.
Like I said, I like when par is a good score.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about your relationship or your connections with the community here, the Latino community in Oklahoma, and what makes you feel very comfortable here from a cultural standpoint?
ABRAHAM ANCER: Well, I feel like a lot of Latinos are here and a lot of Latinos are getting into golf and you didn't really see that before. You're seeing a lot of Mexicans, a lot of Latinos actually going to these events now, and it's really incredible feeling the support from them and also from all of my sooners that are here in Tulsa. That's also a big crowd.
I felt like just right at home with all the support. It's really nice.
Q. There's six Latin Americans here this week. It's the highest number in any PGA Championship. You have two Mexicans, two Chileans. What does it mean for Latin golf right now?
ABRAHAM ANCER: I feel like we've been talking about this for the last year, two years, how it's growing, and it's just because these guys, Niemann, Mito, Carlos Muñoz who played really good last week, just playing really, really good golf, and it's getting a lot of people excited from back home, which is really cool. We're trying to grow the game little by little, and I feel like it's just really nice to feel the support and just to actually see how that is changing in tournaments and then you have people out here supporting from your home country that happen to live over here or they travel over here.
Yeah, it's definitely really cool to see how it's growing.
Q. As you climb the World Rankings, you've been among the top 20, do you feel more pressure? Do you feel like you have to stay there, you have to go up, or do you just play your game?
ABRAHAM ANCER: No, I like to just play my game. I know if I put expectations or if I think about it too much, it's just not really going to help me. I like to focus on the things I like to get better at, and I know if I do that I can keep climbing. I haven't really played very well this season or this calendar year, but I just have to stay patient. It's not like you're going to play lights out every year or every season.
There's definitely a lot of golf left, too, so I'm staying patient and just playing my game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports