JACK RYAN: Good morning. We'll get started here. We would like to welcome Bryson Nimmer here into the interview room at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
Bryson led the LOCALiQ Series points last year and is a local player. So Bryson, as I understand it you grew up in Ridgeland and moved to Bluffton later in your childhood. Could you explain to us a little bit your familiarity with this area and with the golf course.
BRYSON NIMMER: Yes, so I grew up, I think we moved away when I was about five or six, so definitely still had some good memories of the area and everything. But both my parents grew up here. My grandparents grew up here. Lived here their whole lives. So some big-time connections to the area. And then I've been lucky enough to come out here and play the golf course once it got built and everything. So it's just really cool and it's kind of special to have a TOUR event here.
JACK RYAN: This is your fifth start I believe on the PGA TOUR. Is there anything from those previous experiences that you can take into this week and how is your game feeling coming into this week?
BRYSON NIMMER: I definitely learned a lot in the previous experiences. Being my fifth one, I've kind of feel more comfortable now and learned a lot from the Heritage, kind of playing in front of my hometown crowd for the first time and it will be that again this week, which I'm super excited about. I'm really excited. My game's in really good form. I've been playing really good golf for a couple months now. So we'll see what happens this week and just going to do the best I can.
JACK RYAN: One more from me. I mentioned the LOCALiQ Series points list last year. What was that like for you?
BRYSON NIMMER: I lost you there Jack.
JACK RYAN: Sorry, I mentioned the LOCALiQ Series points list last year. You led that points list last year. What was that experience like for you in the development of your game?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, it was awesome. It definitely taught me a lot, taught me that I deserved to be out here and could play against some of the best players in the world. Obviously that wasn't the PGA TOUR and that wasn't the Korn Ferry TOUR, but it's a lot of guys that we'll probably see in the future out here. So it meant a lot. Definitely gave me some confidence going into this year and I'm just going to try to ride that and play good golf.
JACK RYAN: We'll take questions.
Q. What was up last week? Where were you, in a tropical port of call playing some golf? You're getting ready for this tournament by heading to the Bahamas or something?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, I got lucky. I got somebody that was super nice. He's an ambassador out here, great guy, and gave me the opportunity to go down there with him where his son plays, the Albany Academy down in the Bahamas, and it was a really great time. It was awesome. Gave me a lot of time to work on my game and get ready for this week.
Q. Second part to that, talk about, have you had a chance to play Congaree much in the past?
BRYSON NIMMER: I have. This will be probably my sixth or seventh time playing it, so definitely have gotten to come out and see it a few times and guys out here are awesome. Anytime I ask they always let me come out, which is great.
Q. Wondering, obviously you have the huge Clemson contingent following you around at Harbour Town. Do you anticipate that happening again this time around and do you think that having that crowd sort of impacted your confidence level, the way you played, anything like that?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, I think it will be a really good crowd again. I think it will be a lot of Clemson fans, which I'm super stoked for. Can't keep those Clemson fans away, which is awesome. There's going to be a lot of them out here. I'm really going to hopefully kind of vibe off that the whole week and be able to have a good week with those guys watching and following and keeping up with me.
Q. I was going to ask you how many times you've played Congaree. You said six or seven. When you played it this week was there any differences that you noted and what were they?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, so it's a lot different this week. We have got a lot of rain in the area recently, as everybody in the area noticed, and this place is usually super firm, super fast, greens are very, very quick, and it's kind of what makes the place the way it is. So it's very different right now, soft conditions, greens are spinning a lot more, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if come Thursday it's firm and fast, but right now it's pretty soft, so we're getting ready for that.
Q. How many people do you think will be there rooting you on between family, friends, and Clemson boosters?
BRYSON NIMMER: I know I got a lot of family friends coming out. I've got my whole family coming out to watch, a lot of local people in Ridgeland, Bluffton, Hilton Head. So it will be a pretty big crowd which I'm excited for and get to see a lot of friends and family.
Q. Can you put a number on it?
BRYSON NIMMER: I lowballed it really low at Heritage. I said somewhere around 50 to 75 people and it ended up being like 300, so I have no idea.
Q. It takes awhile to count that many people?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, I didn't count that many, but that's probably lowballing it there too, so...
Q. Describe Congaree to people that haven't seen it.
BRYSON NIMMER: It's incredible. It's a special place. You drive through the gates. It's got that same feel as driving in the gates at Augusta. Driving down that road, you got the trees hanging over, beautiful drive coming into the house, and I mean, it's just so cool. You would never guess that it was down here in the low country, but it is, and it's amazing. I mean, you get kind of a Pinehurst feel. You get a little bit of a local Hilton Head Bluffton feel as well. So it's going to be special and I think people are really going to enjoy getting to see it the first time.
Q. Just wondering, a course like this that basically nobody knows, do you feel like it gives, it sort of levels the playing field a little bit for guys like yourself and Davis Thompson and John Pak, who have never seen it really most of these TOUR courses?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, it definitely does. I think you go to a place like Harbour Town or a place that those guys have gotten to play 10, 15 times and their knowledge is kind of hard to overcome, I think. Even just playing practice rounds with some of the guys they will say little things here and there that I didn't even think about or haven't seen. I've never watched a ball bounce there or roll this way, and I think here it's kind of cool this week because these guys are doing the same process we are. They're trying to learn the golf course instead of already knowing it. So it's going to be a big difference and it will probably affect the scoring too.
Q. Secondly, what's your experience playing with those fellow young guys. I know you're not quite the same age and all that, but playing with John Pak and with Thompson?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, I've had the opportunity, actually, to play with John and Davis and Cole, who is in the field as well, I believe, and they're all awesome players. They're going to really enjoy it this week. I don't even think it's their first TOUR starts for a couple of them. But, yeah, they will hold their own. I'm not too worried about saying that at all.
Q. In your preparation, I know you practiced, but difference in practicing and playing in competition, is that an adjustment you have to make or just comes with the territory, how is that?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yeah, I think from a playing standpoint it's no different. I mean, you're trying to maintain your same routines, your same processes, and we try to simulate it as best we can in practice rounds, but it's definitely different. When you have people out there watching and it's go-time, you want to make it as much like practice as you can, but it is going to be different. So just trying to blend the two is all we're trying to do this week.
Q. What's your schedule after this? Do you have anything planned?
BRYSON NIMMER: Yes, sir. So I'm going to go out -- I played the front nine yesterday, I'm going to try to get out and play a little bit of the back nine this afternoon and obviously I've already seen the golf course a few times, but it never hurts just to see the playability of it right now, how everything's bouncing and from the conditions, mostly.
Q. What makes this course different from some of the others in the area that you grew up playing?
BRYSON NIMMER: I think it's just, it's very different in the sense that it's definitely a little bit more open off the tee. I think Bluffton, Hilton Head are very tree lined, definitely some different sight lines, you're always aiming at the big pine trees at the end of the fairways or a bunker or something like that. But out here it's kind of like a rolling design, everything's running off, you really have to be very particular with what you're aiming at, kind of visualizing where the ball's going to land, where it's going to roll. It's just, it's a whole different beast and I'm excited to get to play it this week. I never really played a PGA TOUR event at a golf course like this, so it's going to be cool and I just enjoy getting to test my game on it.
Q. How much of a factor is the heat and just how humid it's going to be, how big of a factor is weather going to be?
BRYSON NIMMER: It's hot. Everyone around here knows, June, July in South Carolina is hot, humid, sticky. I mean, it's going to be a test for a lot of these guys. I already heard it on the range, guys hit balls for 30 minutes and they got to go take a break. It's just different. I love it. This is what I'm used to, this is what I practice in every single day, hit balls hours and hours, so it's no different for me, but it's cool. I like seeing it. I like seeing these guys in it. Most of these guys live out in very dry places or are traveling, playing other events, so it's going to be a test this week. Got to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated.
JACK RYAN: Those are all questions we have. We appreciate your time and best of luck this week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports