Q. There was a big stretch for you it seemed like to start the back nine or holes 11 through 14 but that's supposed to be the toughest stretch.
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, it helps when the greens are soft right now, but 5-iron into No. 11, really good shot to 12 feet, 5-iron at No. 12, 13 I hit 8-iron and 14 I hit 7-iron. A lot of mid-irons, a lot of long irons and I feel like you've got to hit those clubs well. I felt like my iron game was on point.
Q. Just not on the other holes apparently?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I don't know why -- I don't know if I'm not being as aggressive playing more to the center of the green or I'm not stepping out there on 11 and 12 and saying, hey, I need to birdie this hole. It's just hit it to 20 feet, see what you can do and get out of here without a bogey. Just kind of icing on the cake when you hit two good 5-irons in there and make birdies.
Q. When you started the season back in October with conditional status and someone said, Harris, you're going to make qualifying for the post season this year, here's what number you're going to start at, what number would have made you pleased?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I would have been pleased with where I'm at right now. I mean, I'm ready to move up. I've been in this spot a few times. I finished 32nd, I've finished 31st, I've barely made the TOUR Championship before. I'm ready to make a run at it. I feel like my game is in a good spot. It's been on the verge of breaking through for a while now, and I'm ready for it. I'm not satisfied with just barely being inside the TOUR Championship. I want to make a move up the ranks and have a chance at lifting the FedExCup, which we all think about the whole year. That's my goal for the whole year is to have a chance at winning that.
Q. When you start the year, you can't set a schedule, et cetera, and then you lose three months in the middle, could you have seen this coming? Did you know before you started this year that they were on the verge of putting stuff together more consistently?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Depends on when you would have asked me that question. I feel like I've got a good team around me that have been really building me up. My coach Justin has been really, really helpful, not just swing stuff but help building my confidence back up over these past six months, a year. I think if you would have asked him probably September of last year if I would have been in this position, he would have probably said yes, if not further along. I feel like it's been a long time coming. It's been a lot of work. But I feel like I'm ready for it to jump up and have a chance at winning some tournaments.
Q. You're looking more forward than back?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, exactly.
Q. Did you ever envision the battle to get back to Atlanta to be this difficult?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, it's always about it. That's what makes this game so much fun is it's a battle year after year. You have to play for your job every single year. It's not like these other sports where you're guaranteed four or five years and when we're playing against the best players you see young guys coming up every single year trying to take our jobs. I've never taken it for granted. I know it's always hard work. It's always tough, and that's what I love about it.
Q. Have you gone to different swing coaches in recent years and what has that process been like?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, over the years I would say I had searched a little bit too much finding the new guy, the hot swing guy, and I've definitely gotten away from that. I've really taken a look inside of what got me to this level, what got me through junior golf to the University of Georgia, what got me through the college ranks to the PGA TOUR.
I don't swing it like everybody else. Other people don't swing it like I do. I've got to find out how I swing it and how I can best perform and make it as consistent as possible. I can't look at how Rory swings it, how Dustin swings it, how Brooks swings it. I mean, everybody is different, and I've begun to realize that.
What I can do is control me and my movements and make it the best I possibly can.
Q. When you look big picture at this PGA TOUR season, is any part of you surprised that you've reached this point of playing in the Playoffs now with so much at stake?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I mean, there was a time there during the pandemic quarantine downtime where I didn't know if we'd ever play again this season. It's just been an incredible job by Jay Monahan and the PGA TOUR. I feel like we've truly set the standard for how to go about this. This is so new to everybody, I feel like other sports, especially football coming up, can take a look at what we've done, and I think everybody is taking it seriously and everybody wanted to play golf. Nobody wanted to sit at home and everybody wanted to keep going, and I feel like everybody is taking it seriously and done a great job and we're all glad to be where we are.
Q. I remember when you were talking about confidence, does it come more from words or from sports?
HARRIS ENGLISH: I don't know, he's done a good job of building me up. We can all get down in this game. We can definitely get in a rut of not putting in a lot of work and not seeing the scores. He has been telling me how good of a player I was that I can get back to what I was in 2013-14 if not better, and we're trying to be better than that. It definitely takes both, but you've got to believe in what you're doing even when the scores aren't showing up because you can go through ups and downs in this game where you play really good golf and get nothing out of it and then you often get everything out of it. It just ebbs and flows. But he's done a good job of helping me with everything, both on and off the golf course.
Q. You mentioned the pandemic and not knowing if we'd be playing again. That was a break in your momentum, if you will, for those three months, and then a potential break would have been your positive test. How did you make it through that?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I was just happy to be back playing again during the Memorial, even though I was testing positive. It was tough. I mean --
Q. I guess the initial result, did that spook you at all?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Not really. I mean, I had kind of thought that I was going to get in the next couple years, and I kind of looked at it on the positive end of I'm glad I got it early on and not sitting here right now worrying about if I was going to get it when I leave here and not be able to finish this tournament, not be able to play Chicago, not be able to play Atlanta. I looked at it on the positive end as I'm kind of glad I got it when I did and I didn't have to worry about it right now.
Obviously I'm still taking a lot of precaution and doing everything I'm supposed to do, but it kind of takes some weight off your shoulders to worry about playing in a golf tournament and out here instead of another thing I can't control if I get coronavirus or not.
Q. Are you still testing positive?
HARRIS ENGLISH: No, I tested negative this week.
Q. First time?
HARRIS ENGLISH: Yeah, I hadn't tested in --
Q. Congratulations.
HARRIS ENGLISH: Thank you. I wish there was a little bonus. Yeah, this is the first time we've tested in a couple weeks.
Q. As far as I know you're the lone Jacksonville Jaguars fan on the PGA TOUR.
HARRIS ENGLISH: I wouldn't -- I was talking to Billy Horschel today, he's a former season ticket holder.
Q. Can you rate your man crush on Gardner Minshew?
HARRIS ENGLISH: He seems like a really cool guy to hang out with. I'm really pulling on him and I think they're going to surprise some folks. I think -- I wish they could get -- I like Yannick Ngakoue a lot, but obviously he wants to go somewhere else, and hopefully they can get some draft picks and -- I think they're going to build it back up to where I think they should be.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports