Q. Congrats to Mason. Congrats for an amazing week. Just really curious about what you think makes Mason so special out there.
JIMMY GILLAM: He is just wise beyond his years and so mature for his age. Has the tools that all the best players have but most importantly has it between the ears. It's really impressive and awesome to be a part of his life.
I knew from the first moment I met him that he was special. He's just such a hard worker, and he's always focused. He doesn't get wrapped up in his success. He squashes it and moves on to the next tournament, and it's just rinse and repeat. That's just a sign of a very mature young man.
Q. Obviously you being his coach, you guys have a very close relationship. Can you talk about how that kind of plays to your advantage throughout these holes and throughout this week?
JIMMY GILLAM: We play a lot of golf together as well. He's honestly the first guy in my life that I've ever had to get shots from. I'm a plus 6 handicap, and he's giving me one on the front which probably leads to two on the back. I think the last time I beat him was before he qualified for the U.S. Open. I think we've played 10 times since, so I've just been getting my ass kicked.
We just gel really well. He's 18, but it almost seems like he's 35. Just all these young junior players now play such a good schedule and get to travel the country, and they live a Tour boy lifestyle. Whenever they get to college, they roll in, they're ready to go, and then when they're out of college, they're ready for the big stage.
Junior golf in this country is second to none, and I think they do a great job of preparing the young guys for college. Then obviously there's so many powerhouses in college that it's basically a feeder system to the PGA TOUR now.
Q. You talked a little bit about Oakmont. Obviously you guys had success over at Trinity Forest as well. What do you guys take away from those big tournaments coming into this week?
JIMMY GILLAM: I was not with him at Trinity. It's kind of funny. We talked a bit about match play at Trinity when he got upset. It all comes down to staying patient at match play. He made five bogeys in match play, and you do that against 90 percent of the guys you play, you're going to lose.
Where were we going with this question?
Q. Were there any specific takeaways from his experience at Oakmont?
JIMMY GILLAM: He's played major championship venues before, but to really stay patient, stay within himself, and to not get wrapped up in the pageantry and stay focused on himself, stay the course, and just be stoic.
Q. Obviously pretty lengthy break in between rounds today. Did you guys have any conversations? What was that break like for you guys?
JIMMY GILLAM: Not really. He hung out with a couple of his buddies and had some lunch. I was catching up with a couple of friends that are in town. We went down to the locker room, met for five minutes, went down to the range, went through our warmup, and went back out there.
Q. Can you talk about the golf course at Glen Arven with great players, including yourself --
JIMMY GILLAM: Hey, thanks.
Q. And how that has helped Mason develop as a player?
JIMMY GILLAM: There's a lot of really good junior golf coming out of Glen Arven. Megan Schofill, she won the Women's Am a couple years ago. She's a member of Glen Arven. JD Culbreth is another great player who's going into his freshman year at Georgia. Brycen Jones is out at Alabama now as a junior. He just transferred from Georgia Southern.
There's a ton of kids that are on the horizon of probably playing Division I golf, maybe Division II golf. But it's very competitive. They all get along well. They all cheer each other on. They've got a great support group, and they love seeing the juniors out there all the time. That can kind of go either way at a lot of courses where they think kids are getting in the way, but they know they're kind of the alpha dogs out there.
It's really cool to see everybody as a core group support each other.
Q. How do you think being around those great players has influenced his development specifically?
JIMMY GILLAM: I really think it comes back to his experience playing in junior events and playing against world class talent. He knows what to expect, and he knows what good golf looks like. It's just not a shock to the system for him.
Q. What was he like during the break? He has a pretty big lead?
JIMMY GILLAM: You saw him, how he acts on the golf course. The demeanor stays the same. He doesn't like switch personalities or anything. It's very impressive for a teenager.
Q. Over two hours to --
JIMMY GILLAM: Yeah, and he came out firing. He wasn't trying to guide it around. Kept the pedal to the metal.
Q. How emotional is this for you?
JIMMY GILLAM: Oh, it's awesome.
Q. You do sound choked up.
JIMMY GILLAM: I knew he was one of the best players here. He added about 10 years of my life the last six holes of metal play. I told him when we were walking off 18 green he had to put my daughter's name in his will.
I knew, once we got to match play, this venue fit his style of play. Just stay patient and don't get wrapped up in what the opponent's doing and just stay focused on yourself.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports