Harris English knows this is serious now.
He has a real chance to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. Whenever $15 million is on the line, yeah, things tend to get serious in a hurry.
English, the four-time All-American at Georgia and 10-year PGA Tour veteran, has advanced to the Tour Championship for the third time in his career. He made it to East Lake Golf Club seventh in the point standings and will begin the staggered start at 4-under par, six strokes behind the leader Patrick Cantlay.
It’s certainly not an insurmountable deficit, unlike his first trip to the playoff finale in 2015 when he made a birdie on the 18th at the BMW Championship to squeeze by Justin Thomas by two points for the final spot in the 30-man field. He finished 28th with little chance of ever catching the winner Jordan Spieth in the old format. That came after 31st- and 32nd-place FedEx Cup finishes in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
“It was definitely more of a feeling of I’m just glad I’m here playing East Lake with a lot of family and friends. Like let’s just have a fun week,” English said Wednesday on the eve of the Tour Championship. “It’s definitely changed, like man, I feel like I’ve got a chance to win this. This is pretty serious business. Then you’ve kind of built the whole year for this, and you’re playing for a lot of money. Obviously, getting your name on the Tour Championship trophy is incredible, and this is the biggest prize of them all.”
English made it to the Tour Championship last year and finished 12th in the final point standings, completing a 9-under par tournament that left him 12 shots behind winner Dustin Johnson.
It was the end of last season and the momentum gained that has carried English to the best year of his career. He cited handily winning the Shark Shootout, pairing with Georgia Tech’s Matt Kuchar, in December to continue his consistent play. He has made 25 starts this season with eight top-10 finishes, including victories at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Travelers Championship, both in playoffs.
“It’s just about getting in that winners circle again, knowing you can do it, craving getting in the hunt again, and I feel like I’ve done that,” English said of his season. “Getting back into it at the Travelers, it’s just been a continuation of last year of just some really consistent play, really solid play, and if you do that enough, you’re going to be near the lead and then have a chance to win.”
English is currently ranked No. 11 in the world rankings. He is in line to make the Ryder Cup team, which will be his first venture into team golf since he was a member of the 2011 Walker Cup team, a group that included Cantlay, Spieth and Russell Henley, and his fond memories of playing at Georgia. English is currently 10th in the Ryder Cup standings, missing out on one of the top six automatic qualifiers. He has a good chance to be a captain’s pick of Steve Stricker for the 12-player team that will compete at the end of September.
“I’d love to go to war with those guys,” English said. “… I think I’m more of a Swiss Army knife of I can play with anybody, I can hang out with anybody. I think that’s one of my strengths of I can find common ground with every single person. So whatever role they need me to play, whoever they need me to play with, whatever time, whatever format, I’ll be there and go to war with anybody.”
The more success you have, the more serious it gets.
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