DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Jackson Suber to the interview room here at the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship. Making your professional TOUR debut this week and second start ever on the PGA TOUR. Not that that's supposed to conjure any nerves whatsoever, but some opening thoughts about how you're feeling with your game and how excited you are to be here at the Sanderson Farms Championship this week.
JACKSON SUBER: Yeah, I've had a couple weeks off, and I've been working really hard, and it's going to be really special to play my first TOUR event as a pro in Mississippi, which has been such a big part of my golf game, being at Ole Miss and developing over the last four years as a collegiate player. To have so many friends and familiar faces around and a bunch of Rebel fans will be really cool.
Q. How much experience have you had here at the Country Club of Jackson in your time from Ole Miss or have you played much out here?
JACKSON SUBER: Yeah, I have some teammates who are members out here and I've played probably two or three times, so familiar with the place for sure.
Q. Did you get a chance to play the front or back or all of them today?
JACKSON SUBER: Yeah, I played the front today and the back yesterday, and going to play the back tomorrow in the pro-am. Should be really familiar with it.
Q. Does it set up well for your game? Is it the type of course that suits your game well?
JACKSON SUBER: Yeah, if you hit good tee shots out here and keep it out of the rough, you can have good opportunities into the green. The greens are quick, and they're pretty smooth, and if you're putting well, you can shoot a low number.
Q. Are you the type that brings expectations with you, or do you prefer to just kind of get out here and do your thing and see how things shake down?
JACKSON SUBER: Just going to treat it like every other week. Obviously there's a lot more reward for playing well here. It can jump start your career a little bit more. But it's still another week, and if I keep doing the right things, I'll have opportunities that work out down the road if this is not the one.
Q. What's kind of got you started in your golf career?
JACKSON SUBER: Maybe just playing with my dad when I was younger and kind of had some friends who I would do lessons with when I was seven or eight just for fun, and just kind of kept growing with it and liking it more and kept getting better and realized that I wanted to do it seriously and then for a job.
Q. What did you like about playing at Ole Miss?
JACKSON SUBER: I really wanted to play in the sec. That was a huge thing for me, that being the most competitive athletic conference out there, and I just love the coaches and the practice facilities. I really believed in them and they believed in me, and it worked out.
Q. When did you know you wanted to go pro? Was it in high school or middle school or throughout college?
JACKSON SUBER: I mean, in the beginning of high school, I kind of -- I wasn't really sure. I really didn't want to go play at like a smaller school. It was like, if I end up being go enough to go to a state school, I always wanted to do that, then I would, and kind of had some opportunities. I don't know, just there was never really a moment where it clicked, but just kind of over time kind of realizing I belong more out here every day.
Q. Do you have any golf heroes or anyone you modeled part of your game after?
JACKSON SUBER: Not really. I kind of like just seeing younger players always having success. This week to see so many people that I played college golf with like a year ago, and they're already on TOUR after one year playing on the Korn Ferry, it's just really motivating, kind of to see how much the game is changing. There's not going to be as many people out here for 20-year careers, it'll be more young kids that play for five, ten years, and there's always new talent, and the kids that are younger than us, they're going to hit it a lot farther and a lot straighter than us probably.
Q. Who are some guys that you knew from college that are here this week?
JACKSON SUBER: I think I saw in my pairing I'm with Davis Thompson. I played some tournaments in the sec with him. Then Matthias Schmid, played a bunch against him in college. It's just really cool to see that.
Q. What would it mean for you from PGA TOUR U to be able to not have to play first stage of Q-school where you might have had to play this weekend?
JACKSON SUBER: Yeah, I mean, that's huge. For what Jay Monahan and the TOUR has done to reward college golfers for their playing, kind of give them a place to start playing right away and some performance benefits like with Q-school. It's huge. To be able to focus on this week, I wasn't stressed out about first stage. This will be good prep for second stage in two weeks.
Q. What's your take on Q-school from players you've talked to, what that experience is like?
JACKSON SUBER: It's just another tournament. If you go in there and make it something it's not, it's probably not going to go the best, so just treat it like a normal tournament. If you play well, stuff works out.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports