PGA TOUR rookie Chandler Phillips discusses his journey and experiences in professional golf. The Huntsville, Texas native talks about his homecoming at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open and the support he receives from his family, his transition from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR, and the thrill of being in contention at the 2024 Valspar Championship. The Texas A&M alum also discusses his friendship and friendly competition with Cameron Champ, as well as the inspiration he has received from Rickie Fowler. Phillips shares his early golfing experiences and the importance of family, particularly his brother who has autism. Phillips opens up about the importance of family, particularly his brother who has autism. The 27-year-old also shares early golfing experiences including the challenge of competing against Scottie Scheffler since his junior days.
00:00 Introduction and Homecoming
01:13 Support from Family
01:56 Transition from the Korn Ferry Tour
05:42 In the Hunt at the Valspar Championship
06:47 Playing with College Teammate Cameron Champ
09:48 Inspiration from Rickie Fowler
11:21 Early Golfing Experiences
12:34 His Brother Dawson
14:17 Keeping a Tight Circle
16:11 Facing Scottie Scheffler Since Junior Golf
16:57 Conclusion
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I’m joined Now by uh a really intriguing rookie on the PJ tour he’s a corn fairy tour graduate earned his PJ tour card for the first time at the age of 27 coming off a hell of a week at the valpar championship a career best finish of third which got our attention and
Chandler Phillips is in the field this week at the Texas Children’s Houston open just about an hour south of where he grew up in Huntsville Texas Chandler it’s good to have you on the podcast I appreciate some of your time what’s happening how’s the week going there in
Your home state yeah it’s great happy to be home it feels like a home event but uh uh we’ll see how many uh how many of family and friends show up and make it feel like home I’m sure there’ll be a lot uh have they been out for the
Practice rounds and stuff this week so far no no I mean my mom and dad they came out and did I don’t know what they had them do but uh Monday they came out and was here for about an hour and then they had to go back my dad had some work
He had to get done and my mom who knows she’s she retired about a year and a half ago and now she’s just kind of rolling around everywhere just kind of doing her own thing pretty cool though right because I’m sure they made a lot of sacrifices
For you along the way right I mean nobody gets to the top level of their profession in any sport without a lot of people supporting them uh along the way so it must be pretty special for you to be able to Showcase your talents on the
PJ tour and and have your mom and dad kind of soak it in here this week yeah yeah I mean that’s I play to make them proud uh on and off the golf course just be who I can be and you know be the son
That they raised to to be and I think I’m living up to it but I mean they may have a different opinion on it but yeah um so how’s the rookie season been going for you just sort of broad brushed what’s the transition from the corn
Fairy tour are like in terms of the competition and the travel and you know everything you’re dealing with it can be a whirlwind when you’re a rookie on the PGA tour you getting comfortable getting adjusted yeah no I I I think it’s for for me I think it’s very
Similar honestly I don’t see any difference in it um I mean they the competition’s I think just as good uh I think anybody on the corn fairy could come and play a PJ Tour event and win any given week that just shows where the game is at nowadays I mean there’s so much
Competition um and the the only I I will say the only thing that is different is that I’m not playing for a PGA Tour card uh and it it’s it’s kind of relaxing you know I can I I feel actually a little bit more relaxed out
Here because I’m here you know I’m I don’t I don’t have to play like all year to to move to the next level i’ I’ve kind of reached the top level in the the golf industry and it’s uh feels really nice what a feeling it must be for sure
And to win so early on the KF last year I mean you won the first event of the Season that had to take a little bit of heat off for the rest of the campaign didn’t it yeah no absolutely I mean winning the first event last year was
All weight and gravity just pulling me down you know just uh just knowing that you got to play really really good golf all year to you know finish inside the top 30 and I mean even when you finish inside the top 30 you you still want to
Fish finish high in in that 30 range just so you can you know guarantee yourself a few more starts or anything like that but winning the first event it just kind of like okay now we can just relax and you know really just play no Golf and just like we’re at home and
Just uh really soak it in and enjoy it and the way you went about it without realizing where you stood was I I find hard to believe a lot of guys say they don’t look at leaderboards but it’s hard to avoid them out there you knew you
Were playing well you knew you were kind of in the hunt you didn’t realize you were winning the tournament by Two Shots until you were walking up 18 green on the final day right yeah yeah no that is one thing that is different on the PJ
Tour than the corn fairy uh PJ tour definitely I have noticed that there is a lot of scoreboards out here and they are staring at you right in your face uh but corn fairy you know being in the Bahamas you know the first four I think
It’s now six uh are you know kind of international you know two in the Bahamas and then four in the Latin America um they don’t have as many scoreboards uh to you know display around the course just because it’s kind of hard to get down there you know and um there was one
Between I think 15 or 16 to 17t but I knew if I just kept my head down and just kept on walking I could avoid it so I just I I kind of walked fast and just just didn’t even look because I knew as soon as I got the 17t
I couldn’t see it so I was just like I’m just going to keep on walking I’m going to do my thing and you know wherever I end up I end up if it’s if it’s on top it’s on top if not I still had one hell
Of a week so uh that’s kind of just where I was in my mindset I mentioned in the introduction you finished third last week the vpar championship nice work because that Copperhead course is no joke what was it like to be in the hunt
To try and win on the PJ tour for the first time yeah no it it was great it was kind of uh honestly uh caught me by surprise how I guess comfortable I was you know I I I didn’t get too nervous uh I saw plenty of
Scoreboards I I saw where I was at you know especially on 14 the last day I I hit it on in two in the part five and two putter for birdie and I think that tied me through the lead and I I mean it’s just staring at me right there I
Got to walk right past it but surprisingly it honestly didn’t phase me one bit because I knew we still had four holes left and Anything could happen on my end or the other guys ends and I was just like we got four holes left we got
To we got to finish our round you know it’s uh so yeah it was it was pretty it’s pretty surprising I feel like the Sunday pairing probably broke nicely for you right you played with Cam champ a good budy yours that you guys were college teammates at Texas A&M that must
Have been nice and comfortable maybe take alleviate a little bit of the pressure take a little bit of the air out of the room going into Sunday yeah no it was I mean when I get the tea time on Saturday evening after the rounds were finished and I saw that cam was me
And cam were playing together in a tuome I was like this couldn’t have worked out like if if I’m going play good this is going to be the round that I play really good you know and uh I got off to a hot start you know we were both playing really
Well for you know seven holes or so um and kind of neck and neck with each other and just kind of inching up the leaderboard and having a good time you know waiting for each other off the green if we made a birdie or you know
One other guy made a birdie just you know fist bump or just kind of had a little trash talking in there even though it’s a Sunday and we’re in conention but that’s uh yeah he’s one of my best friends so roommates for three years you you get pretty close to
Somebody all right what just trash talking on the golf course during a PJ Tour Sunday look and sound like come on now uh I don’t I I forget what he said he he said something oh it was uh it was number five you know I hit it to 8 n fet
And he hit his to like 5 feet or something like that he was like just let me know if you want a wedge lesson I’m like quit talking just quit talking well I’m going to make mine you’re going to make yours and we’re I I’ll show you some
Wedges you guys both live in the college station area where you played uh Collegiate Le do you guys see each other during your off weeks get a little friendly money game going anything like that yeah so he he actually lives in kind of like the Magnolia area if we’re
Not in the event for the week or we we both take off at the same time we definitely like link up and you know we’ll meet at a course and play and practice together all day and it’s good you want you want to practice with people that are your same caliber of play
And you know it the bad thing is is you know we help each other out with you know practice and you know I I feel like I can help him a little bit with his shipping and um but he can’t really help me with any of my stuff
Because he can’t teach how to hit the ball far you can’t teach that and he has the god-given talent of just absolutely like murdering the ball so I’m like hey how you how you uh how you hit it so far you want to give me some
Forers I give you some forigners on your chipping you know so n it’s all fun and games with us all the time yeah I think that’s one of the cool things about the Brotherhood on the PJ tour chanler that you point out despite the competition being so Cutthroat especially on Sundays
Is that guys are willing to share their expertise and share their knowledge and the things that they’ve learned through the years and kind of PID It Forward I know you had a really positive experience with Ricky Fowler this was early covid pandemic and you picked up a
Putting tip from Ricky right he was more than willing to help you out yeah no he he was great I mean I was a very up and down um kind of putter like when I was on I felt like I made everything but when I was off I feel like I couldn’t
Hit the hole from you know 5T so so um when I did message Ricky and we kind of started talking and he offered to help me out um ever since then I’ve become a lot more consistent putter um and it’s it’s done nothing but helped me and and
Really and truly I don’t wear him out at all I I talked to him I can’t tell you the last time I have talked to him about putting you know is it was just kind of it it was never in person it was just kind of over the phone just send videos
He would send me a video and we just kind of like text about it um but I mean everything that he told me for me to work on once I kind of cleaned all that up and started working on it pretty hard it my my putting’s gotten so much more
Consistent um so yeah it it’s been great Lake Estates Golf Course in the Huntsville area where Chandler Phillips first started to play the game they called the place the PE patch nothing fancy just a Dusty little nine hleer and it was not uncommon for you and your dad
Keith to play eight nine hole Loops maybe 72 holes in a day that sounds like so much fun for a young kid to learn the game with his dad on a course like that what would those experiences like for you they were they were awesome there was
Probably I would say 20 to 30 you know give or take um guys that we would just you know getting threesome forom and first group AG go second group AG go you know we just and we’d lap around all day and it was honestly kind of a drunk
Fest for all those guys out there I mean it was I think it really showed me just kind of how to just have fun everybody’s out there just having a good time playing golf having nothing to do and like nothing else planed other than playing from daylight till dark that’s
What we did most Saturdays and Sundays growing up I know family is so important from you I’ve seen some interviews and I’ve read some articles especially the relationship a really special one you have with your little brother Dawson who’s autistic he’s three years younger than you you said he is my best friend
In the world no other way to describe it he’s my best friend you’ve said if I need to care for him full-time and step away from this the game someday I’m going to do that that’s going to be the plan it’s almost like you’re playing for a higher purpose how much inspiration
Has Dawson provided you in your lifetime all of it I mean that I mean he’s that’s what I’m playing for because I mean it’s not a if I will step away from the game it I I will you know if I hope I hope like hell that my parents you know live
A long long time but I mean you never know what’s going to happen and uh once they you know pass or you know anything happens and they need my help I’m done uh I I’m not putting him in a a care home or anything like that that’s my
Brother like uh so I’m going to take care of him as much as I can you know and hopefully I can make a a good career out of this game we call Golf and make enough money where I can uh you know have a have a job after that I don’t
Have to do too much and spend a lot of time with him and you know once that day comes it comes but I’ve I’ve faced that fact and I’m not having anybody else take care of him other than me that’s some real perspective there that is not often found in someone who’s just
Getting their career going at at the highest level as you are and you guys are so immersed in every component of the game and you’re so obsessed with it and there’s expanding entourages let’s say that that guys have um all kinds of different coaches and
Every stone is uh is turned over in an effort to get better you keep your circle pretty tight though don’t you Chandler yeah yeah no I I mean it sounds bad and I don’t want it to sound like I just think I can do
This by myself I mean I have I have my people that uh that help me and uh but it’s it’s mainly family uh my agents and um my caddy and I don’t have any coaches for any part of the game mental swing anything like that but I did work with a
Guy his name is Dean Cho uh he was at my home course in Huntsville um we worked for I don’t know how long and um I mean well I say I don’t know how long it was like six to n years probably and we worked so much together and we would
Play play gol with each other so much that uh I’ve always had one tendency and it’s just to get underneath he helped me a lot with that to you know get get the club on plane and everything like that and like I said it’s just the same
Tendency anytime when I don’t hit it or I’m not hitting it well um so I just kind of go back to what we worked on 10 years ago and it it kind of it cleans it up pretty fast but he was an amazing coach when we work together and but and
I think we we still would be working together but he he just got out of the golf industry so H but he’s a he’s an awesome dude I’m sure you’re excited about uh the week there’s a guy named Scotty Sheffer in the field who’s pretty
Good I mean he is just man he’s just wiing on y’all over the last couple weeks but you know that you’ve been dealing with Scotty since you guys were 12 13 years old right yeah yeah too long yeah yeah he’s going to be tough out huh
Yeah I mean but I mean I’m super proud of him you know I mean get to get to see somebody that you grew up playing against become number one in the world and doing it in a very demanding uh style you know I mean it’s every week week in week out
It’s it’s unbelievable and it’s really really awesome to watch chaylor I appreciate your time my man it was great getting to know you a little bit uh go well this week in Houston we’ll be watching and continued success throughout the rest of your rookie season take it easy yes sir I appreciate
It thanks for having me
3 Comments
As always, a great video, thank you very much for it🐰
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Much better focus here