×

English enjoying best year of his career following victory at Kapalua

Harris English hits a shot during the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Invitational on Thursday. English started off his year with a win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation Course. AP photo

Harris English’s year started with a victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. It has simply carried on from there to become the best year of his PGA Tour career.

English took time to discuss his season as the reigning TOC champion at a media day at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., on Monday.

He was there, in part, to help promote the U.S. Senior Open that will take place at the course in 2023, but the main portion of his conversation kept darting back to his dramatic playoff win in front of only a couple hundred fans at the Kapalua Plantation Course in early January.

“It’s been awesome, I mean, really the first thing I thought about after the putt went in on 18 was ‘I’m the first guy to be invited back to this tournament next year,’ which is awesome,” English said via phone early Monday morning. “That’s everyone’s goal. Really my goal every year, besides the Tour Championship, is to start the year on Maui because if you’re starting the year on Maui then you’re doing things right and had a great year the previous year.”

English rode the third win of his career to the season of his life.

He won again in a playoff at the Travelers Championship in June in Hartford, Conn. In 23 starts this season, he has six top-5 finishes, eight top-10s and 11 top-25s. He was third at the U.S. Open and just finished fourth at the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tenn., on Sunday even after a tough final nine holes cost him another shot at victory.

“It really did set up my year, not only in FedEx Cup points, which were huge, but just give me confidence that I could get back in the winner’s circle and confidence in my game that I could play under the gun like that,” English said of his victory here. “Yeah, it’s really helped set my year up. I think I’m fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, shouldn’t change that much heading to the playoffs, so it’s definitely given me a jump-start to the year.”

When asked where the TOC ranks on his list of favorite tournaments, English didn’t hesitate. His win here was his first on Tour since 2014.

“It’s definitely up there at the top now,” English said. “It’s just such a unique golf course, an amazing golf course. I mean, the kind where I grew up in Georgia you never, ever saw before; never thought I’d see stuff like that before. But it’s just a great place to start the year off.

“You play some of those holes looking downhill into the ocean and you see whales out there. I mean, it really doesn’t matter if I miss the green with this shot or make birdie or bogey. ‘This is pretty incredible. We’re out here in January in Maui and half the United States there’s snow on the ground, it’s 10 degrees outside and this is paradise.’ It’s an amazing tournament and one as PGA Tour players I know we hold to a really high standard.”

He got into the usual winners-only field here in 2021 without a win. That was due to the one-time exemption that allowed entry to non-winners who were among the 30 players who qualified for the 2020 Tour Championship.

He was one of 17 players who qualified on that rule that was deemed necessary after 11 PGA Tour events were canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020.

“There wasn’t an asterisk next to my name I guess for not winning in 2020 and being eligible for the 2021 tournament, but now that I’ve won twice I feel like I’m even more deserving to be teeing it up in Maui,” English said.

He was quick to add that every time he is eligible to play this event, he will be here, following a prominent quote from Jordan Spieth from a couple years ago where he said that he will always come back to Kapalua to play here when he has an invite.

“Indeed, indeed, I’m on the same page as that,” English said. “I don’t see why anybody, if they were eligible for the Tournament of Champions, why they wouldn’t play there. Yeah, it’s long travel from the East Coast, but it’s well worth it. It’s nice to start the year there and then go over to Honolulu for the next tournament and kind of get your West Coast swing started off on the right foot.”

English is looking forward to the opportunity to play here with more than the 200 fans who were allowed on the Plantation Course last year amid COVID concerns, all confined to a luxury box around the 18th green.

“Obviously we love having fans at the tournament, it adds to the atmosphere,” English said. “It’s just brings a whole different vibe to the event. Playing last year, the vibe around 18 was great. They were getting rowdy and it was cool having it on the last hole where it meant a lot. We enjoy it when they’re having a good time as well. It means a lot to us that they care about our sport and want to come out and watch us.

“It’d be awesome if they can have a lot of fans out at Maui next year.”

The FedEx Cup playoffs loom after this week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., with a three-week run ending with the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Sept. 2-5.

“I’m excited about it, I feel like my game’s in great shape,” English said. “Go home this week and prepare, rest a little bit, but prepare for the next three weeks. You’re playing against the best in the world and it’s that time of year where you better bring your ‘A’ game. … I will be ready.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

*****

Pro Golf

World Golf Ranking

Country Points

1. Jon Rahm ESP 9.80

2. Dustin Johnson USA 9.21

3. Collin Morikawa USA 8.74

4. Xander Schauffele USA 7.35

5. Justin Thomas USA 7.01

6. Bryson DeChambeau USA 6.32

7. Louis Oosthuizen SAF 6.21

8. Brooks Koepka USA 6.20

9. Patrick Cantlay USA 5.87

10. Harris English USA 5.73

11. Abraham Ancer MEX 5.65

12. Jordan Spieth USA 5.49

13. Rory McIlroy NIR 5.42

14. Viktor Hovland NOR 5.38

15. Tyrrell Hatton ENG 5.38

16. Patrick Reed USA 5.31

17. Hideki Matsuyama JPN 5.28

18. Daniel Berger USA 5.19

19. Webb Simpson USA 4.98

20. Scottie Scheffler USA 4.87

PGA Tour FedEx Cup Leaders

Points Money

1. Collin Morikawa 2,171 $7,039,768

2. Jordan Spieth 2,139 $6,401,464

3. Patrick Cantlay 2,056 $5,725,030

4. Harris English 2,039 $6,078,406

4. Jon Rahm 2,003 $6,793,933

6. Abraham Ancer 1,926 $5,539,925

7. Bryson DeChambeau 1,910 $6,351,490

8. Louis Oosthuizen 1,877 $6,268,679

9. Justin Thomas 1,758 $6,042,362

10. Sam Burns 1,721 $4,769,738

11. Viktor Hovland 1,717 $4,882,997

12. Jason Kokrak 1,631 $4,952,379

13. Xander Schauffele 1,623 $5,071,458

14. Hideki Matsuyama 1,594 $4,902,319

15. Brooks Koepka 1,562 $5,060,211

16. Cameron Smith 1,539 $4,766,254

17. Dustin Johnson 1,510 $4,671,011

18. Joaquin Niemann 1,491 $3,850,831

19. Stewart Cink 1,445 $3,462,527

20. Daniel Berger 1,444 $4,163,959

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
     
Support Local Journalism on Maui

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today