Ian Gilligan, who beat cancer, wins in Vegas; Anthony Kim tales | College Golf Talk | Golf Channel

In this episode of College Golf Talk, Steve Burkowski and Brentley Romine open things up with Burko taking us down memory lane regarding Anthony Kim; one story will tug at the heart strings. They then preview the Darius Rucker next week with a little game of should win, could win and probably won’t win. The Southern Highlands Collegiate is discussed at length, as is time travel. Brentley then sits down with Florida junior Ian Gilligan, a cancer survivor who has become one of the best players in college golf. #GolfChannel #CollegeGolfTalk #IanGilligan
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Ian Gilligan, who beat cancer, wins in Vegas; Anthony Kim tales | College Golf Talk | Golf Channel
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Welcome back into another edition of college golf talk Steve Bowski Brentley Romine with you I’m getting ready to go to Hilton Head in a couple of days for the Darius Rucker inter Collegiate I know you’re going to be there as well brenley but a little pivot little trip

South Palm Beach area for the cognizant classic good to see you in a PGA Tour Media Center you know it’s been a long time but I’ll be in one next week after the Darius really jam-packed travel schedule for for me these next two weeks will we at the cognizant this week we

Got Darius Monday through Wednesday and then I’m getting in a car and getting back home going to Bay Hill Thursday Saturday Sunday little Disney trip on Friday in between um the only guy in golf media that I’m not busier than is Steve Bowski you’ve been you’ve been gallivanting all over all over the

Country covering basketball covering golf you were in Chicago is that right last Friday it was I got the call Thursday afternoon wondering if I could get the F Chicago on Friday for Saturday uh college hoops game little A10 special uh lyola Chicago George Mason I said heck

Yeah yeah so I got I got my picture with sister Jean Tim McCormick and I went over introduced ourselves to sister Jean 104 years young she led before the opening tip off the entire Arena Gentile Arena about 5,000 sold out there there on Saturday in prayer and she prayed

Prayed for everything but also prayed for a win in the place erupted uh did she pray for birdies uh I don’t know it’s a good question you know it’s funny I didn’t realize maybe that’s a bucket list item but once she got wheeled in by her

Handler to her spot Tim McCormick and I got right out of our seat went right over uh and she could not have been more gracious so that was uh a lot of fun uh to do and I’ve been enjoying my college hoops in between golf here and there so

Uh fortunate for those opportunities you’re going to catch up with Ian Gilligan University of Florida standout who won in Vegas that’s coming up on the second half of our show but we’re gonna kick it off with a little live golf talk from the standpoint of the Enigma that

Is Anthony Kim more than a decade away from the game there had been Rumblings rumors conversations he’s it up this week uh on that tour I’m intrigued he he um boy he had a lot of talent you covered him more than anybody too in college you were doing shows when we

Still had College Central shows every week going and hanging out with AK in the mid 2000s what was that what was that like uh one of my all-time favores he was a character he uh as he would probably admit learned some things along along the way made some mistakes got

Suspended for the better part of a fall semester and if memory serves when he was reinstated that following spring he went out and won his first two tournaments by like 10 15 20 shots combined um a pure gifted golfer um you always wonder if more time was put in but um I shared

It with you I go back to those College Central days 2007 so you have to be a real di hard to remember those things and one of the highlights uh the last segment of those shows we would have a campus tour with maybe man and woman from the respective golf teams and

Anthony Kim when we made our Oklahoma run was going to do it for the Sooners and for us and unfortunately my father had prostate cancer and I was going up to New York to be there for the surgery so we handed off to our capable staff

And I was at Sloan kering New York City my dad’s on the operating table and I see my producers calling me I’m thinking okay he probably has a question for me and I pick up the phone and I say hello and I get oh you’re too big time to come

To Norman to hang out with me and it’s Anthony Kim and I explain why I was not there and he said I know why you’re not here I’m thinking of you I’m thinking of your father I’m thinking of your family sending thoughts and prayers we’re looking at a 1920

21-year-old kid my father is getting uh prostate cancer surgery at that moment uh for me he was good in my book will always be good in my book and I’ll button it up by saying a year or two later he’s on tour he’s sort of this flavor of the week who’s this upand

Comer and my dad who I lost last year said how’s that Anthony Kim kid nice guy and I told him the story and my dad got a little choked up he said he’s good in my book too what a story I mean it’s it’s stories like that because you know

When we cover the game at these lower levels like college and Junior Golf and covering us amers and US Juniors like I remember us both being at Martis Camp in 2012 for Scotty Sheffer when he was just a little shaver beating Davis Riley in the final it’s amazing kind of developing those

Relationships early and getting to know these guys before there’s so much around them when they turn professional and just those little you know writing a thank you card or sending a text like saying hey thank you for a great story or whatever like those things we definitely keep with us and you know

That story that you just told about Anthony Kim like Anthony Kim will always as you said said like he’ll always be one of your guys because you know he took the time to kind of make it personal and and and reach out but I’m just intrigued like I don’t know how

He’s going go going to play he could shoot 79 he could shoot 71 69 68 who knows um but I will say nothing will surprise me and talking with some of the guys who were on those not the Oklahoma teams that he played on but mid 2010s

When AK was in hiding he would show up frequently at uh the Sooners team facility in Norman and there was one story I thought was pretty funny and I’ll share it real quick the year that they won the national title so that was the what the

2016 17 season couple of the guys show up and Anthony Kim is hitting balls at their facility and he’s got a Mickey Mouse t-shirt on Dodgers hat by that time he had the sleeve of tattoos and the long hair hair and I guess he hadn’t played in about two years at that point

And he had Taylor Made send him a new set of irons and a driver so he only has a driver and a three iron through pitching wedge half of them are still in the rapper and he says hey you you guys want to go and play nine holes so they

Go to Jimmy they play nine holes he hits every Green shoots 200 under par beats everybody and half the clubs are were still on the rapper and one of the one of the guys on that team told me it was like he had been playing every day for

Years so he’s 38 years old now he’s a dad um time may have passed him by but it’s going to be fun to watch I know you’re gonna tune in I I I literally just talked to my wife and she we were talking about Anthony she’s like I’ve

Not watched the second of Liv Golf and I said well I haven’t watched much more than that either I’m intrigued I he could be go playing the Sun Coast tour one day event down the road he’s he’s special he’s different he always marched to the beat of his own

Drum didn’t care for the most part seemingly what others thought of him and maybe that was a a positive or negative but uh yeah I’m I’m intrigued and uh Anthony Kim uh truly one of my favorites uh for a variety of reasons so it’s going to be interesting to see how 2024

Plays out for him uh quick look at some of the action on the women’s side uh Kansas with an eight excuse me a six shot over Oklahoma to win the Westbrooks so The Jayhawks uh rolling along a little bit here in late February early March scary to think Brentley we’re less

Than two months away from conference championships it’s happy Leap Year by the way so if you have a birthday today you sort of get hos the next three years but it’s March Young Forever you stay young forever is that like uh what was it Benjamin Button The Curious Case of

Benjamin Button right did he go old oh I don’t know I just know he went old was a time traveler time travel speaking of time travel if if you could real quick if you could time travel back to one college golf tournament what would it be wow I’ve been to too many of

Them uh for the last 25 years I guess tiger winning a 96 at the honors yeah that that would be a good one apparently he shot 80 in the final that year he did yeah big lead supposedly I think weather was an issue wi something I want to say Rory sabatini

Came in second um now we’re really going on a sidebar there was a college event late 80s early 90s Arizona Arizona State playing in the final grouping Phil Mickelson Manny zurman his high school buddies at Arizona Phils at ASU uh um if I’m paraphrasing my memories and Recollections Phil in the

Last Fairway asked for relief for some casual water Manny zerman said no I don’t see it play it as it lies um making up the numbers but we’ll call it 170 yards 6 seven8 iron Phil says okay they went back and forth no relief Phil holes out for eagle from the Fairway to

Win the tournament Rick long yeah Rick lose the longtime Arizona coach who’s on my Mount Rushmore of storytellers said hey Manny next time Phil ask for free relief give it to him so just just to maybe see that interaction uh would have been a lot of

Fun uh what about you as we’re I go back we are but we can easily get back on but I I want to go back to the Bulls Bay Event where Titus the bull got loose and started running around the greens and Fairways and wreaking havoc on

College golf for the better part of an hour before they coralled him I think that would be that would have been a fun one to be there and write the story just putting in all the color and everything that you observe um that that one would

Be good but in terms of the one that we all talk about 2012 Riviera I mean it doesn’t get much better than that that would be cool to relive that again but we can get back on the rail we we can get TR we got next week and I didn’t even

Realize this morning I’ve got my swinging cocky hat on uh courtesy of kayn uh Anderson appreciate that and for those that didn’t know I started my professional career in Columbia South Carolina out of college for four and a half years but thrilled to go back to Hilton Head you look at this

Field probably top two or three of the spring season in terms of strength you’ve got South Carolina you’ve got LSU coming off that win wake banged up injured can they rebound I mean I think there’s a lot of wonderful story lines and I’m going to

Keep circling into LSU I said it on the golf Central hit a couple weeks ago we discussed it here on the Pod uh a few days ago I think they’re the outlier they they are forget the rankings sixth eth 10th whatever they are you’ve got ingred lindblad you have Latana Stone

You have Carla too I’ll double down on the fact they remind me of the Florida men a year ago the big three Built For This last harah if they can keep going front and center here uh I’m intrigued to see if they can continue to uh to

Build on what they did at the Moon golf about 10 days ago well they’re now fourth in the country so the ranking I knew the yeah I knew the r rankings are catching up I mean honestly they’re they’ve looked you could make a case that they’re the number one team in the

Country right now as you said and you add Anya Don donning to that mix whoever the fifth player is we’ll get a look um I’m sure we’ll get a look at Jordan Fischer next week maybe EDI herzman gets her way in into the lineup after contending for much of that Darius recer

Last year if they could get anything from that fifth spot like they got a big four um so I I I really am am high on on the tigers um but anyone can win this tournament I mean there are stars and studs like throughout these lineups I

Wouldn’t be surprised to see any one of these teams lift a trophy but let’s play a little game bro let’s do should win could win probably won’t win we won’t say won’t win because we don’t we don’t like to be that uh that that mean on on

This podcast but who are your who are your three oh who should win uh I’m gonna say South Carolina granite Hilton heads two and a half hours from Columbia so it’s not home game but yes they’ve got a very good lineup they have success there so I’m going to say they should

Win and that’s an easy default who could win I I’ll go to right to LSU I think LSU could win and very likely might win or will win however you want to do that which team would quote unquote struggle to win would need to I’d say Wake Forest

Right now not knowing the injury situation of Mimi rhods who had a draw the last couple of rounds um at uh the moon golf kolina Shakara who won this individually a couple years ago she’s battling some nagging injuries so um I think they’re looking to hopefully just get five healthy players together is

What I’m hearing through the gra fin yeah and they didn’t they didn’t have their best of last year at at this tournament and so it’s another loaded field like the moongolf I’m I’m with you they could finish 10th very easily like uh but I would say should win LSU they’re

They’re loaded and they are actually the defending champs I thought South Carolina won last year but that was M ma yes mly won but you’re right I see we got suckered into that I just went along with your fake news it definitely is fake news I I

Would say here’s a squad that I think is only gonna continue to get better as Anna Davis gets more comfortable in college golf I think Auburn um Megan Scofield played really well event last year they could win in a team that has a lot of work to do and I think not just

Next week but the entire rest of the spring is Mississippi State they lost a lot of Veteran presence experience from last year’s team that made the NCAA Championship they have to be more than just Julia Lopez Ramirez she’s a top 10 player in the country probably top three

When she’s on but they got nothing else right now they have one other player ranked in the top 100 three players ranked in the top 200 something like they need to fill out that lineup quickly otherwise they might not even make match play at the SEC Championship

The way they’re going yeah it’s GNA be a good one to watch and where you uh both will enjoy being there uh as we pivot from the women to the men again few minutes away brentley’s going to catch up with Ian Gilligan from the University

Of Florida so you uh want to hang around for that PGA to you rankings are out new number one Christo lampre um we were waiting we talked about it the results are now paying off uh and with Christo and Thor Boron Michael Thor Boron from Stanford separating themselves uh not going to

Say any one three through 10 can’t make a run I have a feeling Christo is just gonna continue to extend this lead I mean he’s got the he’s got the height he’s got the power and he’s a lot healthier than Michael is I I’m still not fully convinced that Thor is 100% um

He could prove me wrong but it’s hard to play golf when your backs bothering you and so I think Christo you know I think we’ll see him on the PGA tour uh this summer yeah it’s G to be uh the dynamic within the whole race uh to the

Postseason but we’ve had Christo on the Pod uh great young man and obviously uh physically gifted uh individual the headliner Vegas Southern Highlands one of my favorite events Jim Delaney his entire crew always does such a great job and how about Oklahoma the men Ryan

Hibble the Sooners find a way to get the job done Auburn was right there finishing second they’re back to number one in the country and um to me th those are two huge statements for the Sooners which seemingly looking at the scores the second day was very tough they

That’s sort of their staple roll up their sleeves find a way to post the score and then when they had a shoot a good one the hell off Auburn coming down the stretch but for the Tigers to go out there be right in the mix um maybe the

Tandem of the Tarheels and commodor legitimately has to be discussed as a three-headed monster in terms of the best team in the country yeah and I think it was important for Auburn to get JM Butler back in the lineup didn’t play well tied for 64th but you he’s got to

Get some confidence back and if he can they might be the number one team of the country I mean Brendan Valdez continues to play well Jackson coven’s going to be the player of the year I’m ready to or freshman of the year I’m ready to call it already um but Oklahoma right I’ve

Been off the bandwagon for so long I’m finally ready to jump back on burko or jump on for the first time uh I’m I’m a big believer in the Sooners me these guys are are tough kids they don’t let a lot phase them Jay Sumi is has be

Becoming a guy who was a solid contributor as a freshman last year to he could be the next star of this team Drew Goodman is playing like the leader that he should be they didn’t even have Luke clover in the lineup who was arguably their best player in the fall

So um again I’m with you two huge statements by two really good teams but I would I’m willing to throw Texas into that mix berco a solo third they finished 10 shots back of first you get Tommy Morrison Nathan patronio the SMU transfer both top 10 this was a team

Excuse me sorry I tried to I tried to hit the mute button couldn’t couldn’t find it rookie rookie move couldn’t find the the mute button it’s it’s hidden in the the streamyard you got to really know where to look but um this was a team in Texas that was was shot after

Coming back from Hawaii I mean they had no confidence from what I hear John Fields was very frustrated um I don’t know if he quite read them the the riot act but um you know it it seems like he he cracked down a little bit uh tightened the screws got these uh

Guys a little kick in the butts and and they responded so Texas could be a team now that we’re no longer worried about you know maybe they’re finally starting to grow up and and become a team that could that can make match play again North Carolina finishes seventh didn’t

Necessarily see that Good Start they fall off Arizona State 14th and wi ye ding welcome the college golf the tremendous first couple of events he struggled out there in Vegas so you can take a lot from this tournament again it’s just 54 holes in three days but teams trending in the

Right direction and you know I still will keep leaning into Vandy uh you know North Carolina you had a round where Dylan manetti played awful then the next day Austin Greaser played awful if you’re going to win it all those guys need to play well every day in my

Opinion I agree I mean they didn’t have a single player finish better than t29 that’s um and they had all their guns the Ford twins Peter Fountain also in the lineup again it’s easy to maybe just chalk this one up to a bad week and I’m

Willing to do that so far but um certainly have shown that you know maybe exposes them just a little bit that they’re not Invincible um but I’m still trying to figure out burko it seems like Vanderbilt no matter what they do they’re just stuck at number three in

The rankings they like they just can’t they can’t seem to clim I don’t know what they have to do um I don’t know if Auburn and and North Carolina have to get rid of their men’s golf programs but it seems like Vanderbilt is just kind of

Being uh kind of being jammed a little bit by the uh rankings so far you know a debt number three might mean that they’re going to win three matches in in match play at the national championship so uh those numbers I’ll subscribe to that yeah I won’t get caught up in that

Individually Ian Gilligan picks up medalist honors in Las Vegas with that some perks come along the way as you’re able to catch up and spend some time with the recent winner of the Southern Highlands Collegiate I’m pleased to be joined by the man of the week the man of

The hour Ian Gilligan junor from the University of Florida Fighting Gators uh fresh off a a huge Victory a big time victory in at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Vegas a little bit of a home game for you just you know just down the uh you know down the the state

Native of Reno but first off congrats thank you yeah super stoked and we also have to uh you’re you’re celebrating for another reason too you just turned 21 I believe it was yesterday first off happy birth birthday and then how do you celebrate a college win in a 21st

Birthday can you can you maybe peel back the curtain just a little bit uh for us yeah um yeah obviously it was pretty special uh going into the week I knew like um it would be pretty cool to have a team win or an individual win and

Be able to like celebrate my birthday too but obviously with the tournament of that caliber it’s you know it’s expectations it’s tough to be trying to expect a win um but yeah obviously to be able to win and have my birthday um it was pretty special and um yeah me and

The team had a had a fun time celebrating and um yeah it was really fun so you know your coach JC Deacon he’s kind of like the mayor of Las Vegas he played at UNLV was an assistant there he knows all the good good spots where

Does he take you guys after after your big win for dinner or did you head straight to the airport yeah well no we actually had a lot of time but coach just asked me like where I wanted to go and I was honestly I didn’t really know

Um where to go and so he was like um well yeah just we’ll drive down this one street and then at first we wanted to go to a pfchangs uh and then it was like packed so then um we went to California Pizza Kitchen uh which is it’s pretty good I

Like it a lot um so yeah that was a good way to celebrate so California Pizza Kitchen has probably the best frozen pizza as well the barbecue chicken frozen pizza you go to public sometimes it’s on sale you can get buy one get one free the best for for those who you know

Sometimes don’t don’t like to cook it’s a it’s a good quick meal in the oven well uh let’s talk about your win in Vegas I mean it BigTime field as I said you know North Carolina’s there Arizona State’s there win ding the star freshman who’s number one player in college golf

You got off to a hot start how are you able to continue to keep everyone at Bay and ultimately hold off Jay Jay Sumi and Company for the win yeah um yeah I think uh going in um I had been playing pretty good golf in tournaments in the in the spring um I

Was close to winning our first two events the SE best and then our home event the gator um and then in the tournament yeah obviously like I I started off pretty good with the five under um my putter my putting was really good and I think that kind of helped me

Throughout the week because especially the second round when it got really windy um it was tough to hit the hit the balls close um green firmed up so you really had to just kind of stay patient and just do everything you could to get the ball on the green and then you know

If you’re making par you’re really happy um and but I think it’s kind of my putting was really the key this week um I was able to make a lot of key par saves and and then you know when in that second round when it started to get

Tough I made a lot of nice mid-range putts that kind of kept momentum going um and kept the round together um but I think yeah that was the key did it remind you of home a little bit just the you know type of golf course maybe some of the conditions the

Climate yeah a little bit I mean it’s definitely a similar scenery with the the desert style um in in Reno um but uh yeah the course the course was uh I had really played something like that just with How firm and narrow the fairways were um it was really tricky to find

Fairways without hitting like you know pretty much a perfect t- shot on some holes just because it’s there’s a lot of holes where you’re forced to shape it a lot to find the Fairway and then um when the wind started picking up the fairways were just really firm and fast so um you

Know that really put a premium on really being patient and you know when you’re in the rough you got to just be thinking front edge to front third and then just be okay with that um but yeah when did you realize that the winner get to PGA Tour exemption into the Shriners open

Later this year uh yeah well I knew kind of going into the week because um when Yan did it last year obviously he got to play in the PJ Tour event in the fall so we were all like watching him um in the fall so I knew I knew going in um which

Is you know kind of an a little bit of an added pressure during the week but um yeah it’s uh pretty pretty sweet I’m really looking forward to it so what do you tell your family after you win and knowing that they’re going to get to

Watch you at TPC Summerland here in a few months and not it’s not your hometown event but it is a a home state uh kind of a home game for you but what what was that conversation like and have you got a chance to imagine what it’s

Going to be like yeah um yeah and my parents were really excited um my yeah my mom really didn’t even know that I got an exemption and then she my dad told her and yeah she was just really stoked um uh but yeah it’s really special obviously I thing when you get

In an exemption a PJ event then like everyone’s like oh man this is like a big deal uh you know like obviously winning a college event but maybe some of the outsiders don’t know like how big that College event is but then when you say like I got an exemption to PJ event

They’re like oh man like um so I had a lot of reactions like that um but yeah I think uh I’ve thought a little bit about it like it’ll be really cool to be able to play um I played in a corn free event when I was younger um and that was

Really special um so I think I mean even though it was a long time ago I think that’ll help slightly with some experience but obviously PGA is a little different and you know when you’re hitting Balls next to players you watch on TV that’ll be um pretty cool

Um but yeah I’m really looking forward to it will it be a emotional week for you you think um I think I mean maybe a little bit but I think I’ll be you know trying to compete and I will want to play my best so I think I’ll definitely be you

Know trying to take it in and um be pretty excited but I think kind of knowing that like that’ll be less than a year once it’s um that week of the PJ event I’ll know probably going to be less than a year of when I have to

Pretty much be competing um for my job for on that level of golf I think I’ll be taking it pretty seriously um and so uh yeah I’ll definitely be trying to play my best trying to earn those PGA Tour University points yeah exactly as well now your backstory has been well

Documented you know we caught up last year when you were still at Long Beach State when you were the number one player in college golf for a couple weeks um but for for those who don’t know you obviously were diagnosed with lymphoma at age 15 a very rare kind

Something like you know 20 kids a year um around the world get it um you were a sophomore a rising sophomore in high school can you just take us through um the journey from being diagnosed kind of what the what the battle was like and

You know when you were able to to kind of ring the bell and and become a kid again yeah yeah um yeah it was definitely a tough uh couple months um I know my parents went through a lot um you know like it’s definitely different when you have to go through it

Yourself right around like the end of my freshman year and I just kind of noticed some stuff being painful and then obviously I got a biopsy and they found it was cancer um and then you know kind of there was a like about a month and a

Half period where they they kind of were trying to figure out what type it was and then finally I had had about like 7 months of treatment um and I would spend around like a week and a half in the hospital and then get two weeks off um

And so yeah it you know I didn’t it was obviously not very fun um being in the hospital um but you know once I was uh able to hit balls again because I really wasn’t able to play golf for a two-month period just because of my pain and my

Left arm pit um but kind of right when I did treatment started it it went away immediately which was really cool to see and then I was able to start playing golf and hit balls with my friends which is really helpful but um yeah once um

You know they told me that I was I was free and got to ring the bell was pretty special um and then you know I was just yeah I was obviously happy to be able to go back to school and and practice and play competitive golf again um so yeah

It was it was definitely a journey but it’s a pretty cool to be able to just be still competing at a high level is there a moment that sticks out that when you look back uh gives you the most gratitude for where you are right now um I

Think I think uh maybe not even that far back like just like even even in the fall this this year um you know I was like I felt like I was kind of struggling um obviously transition period from Long Beach to Florida but um I didn’t I wasn’t really getting the

Results that I wanted and um like kind of was you know there was just times where I was pretty disappointed and obviously knowing it’s the start of like PJ tour youu counting um so I knew you know that this is like pretty much the most important two years that I’m

Probably G to have um in terms of getting good status so I think even like close periods like in the fall um and just being able to see where I’ve gotten now is it’s pretty cool um kind of because I was definitely at a some some tournaments like after sec’s for example

I just played really bad there and kind of let the team down I was pretty disappointed um but you know I put in a lot of hard work um and so it’s pretty gratifying to see where I’ve gotten today and um looking forward to the future I’m sensing a little bit of a

Trend because I remember your last season at Long Beach State you didn’t make the lineup for the first event and then you go in and win each of the next two times so there’s something about something about the adversity that you tend to to come out better on the other

Side but you know we talk about Long Beach State you you spent two years there you were a runner up at conference as a freshman the breakout year last year what made you decide to leave and ultimately why did you settle on uh well I guess settle is not the right word but

Why did you pick uh the Florida Gators right yeah um yeah my first two years at Long Beach were really great um I loved everything about it the weather um we had really good facilities that were really close to campus um but obviously it kind of just came down to the PJ tour

U for me um and just you know having like a an elite schedule like Florida does um was pretty important uh it’s just really tough to compete against some of the players when you have a schedule that’s just a little bit worse than theirs um and so that it just

Really was that was the only reason um but yeah and then kind of what made me side Florida was um I really like the coaches JC and Dudley um you know Dudley has so much experience playing pro golf and uh he’s been really influential in

Um me deciding to come here as well as since I’ve been here I’ve learned so much uh through him and obviously JC as well I love JC he’s been really good um and then the facilities were really really close by to campus um and obviously the weather’s been very

Good um I would say that and then um we have a really good dining all that’s that was like a nice bonus um that’s really close but yeah those are the main reasons I decided to come here and um it’s been a really great decision how

Much weight have you put on with the new dining hall yeah I think I’ve put on like at least 10 pounds but proba it’s probably all muscle though yeah hopefully it’s muscle you have a good strength strength facility there well yeah we have a really good trainer who’s uh he pushes

Us pretty hard um so that’s also been really helpful what was your first workout like and I’m sure you probably weren’t used to being pushed quite like that where there were there any tears did you did you throw up maybe a little in your mouth yeah well I I don’t know

Our first workout was was uh it’s generally pretty like light but then we’ve had some some uh if you ever heard of the Echo Bike um it’s this bike where you it’s basically just a normal bike but you also have to be moving your arms and we’ve had some some brutal workouts

On that uh where you know pretty much everyone’s throwing up during the workout um and yeah so those those are not not too enjoyable at 6: am but you get through it and uh it’s it’s better good for you yeah the price you pay to

To potentially be great uh I I texted JC just a little bit ago and um I said what what stands out about Gilly and he said you know that the kid works his tail off how many hours we talking about every day and um can you can you give us a

Little bit of insight on maybe what your your your day-to-day routine is in terms of getting better in golf yeah uh I think it’s pretty it’s pretty daytoday um but you know pretty much whenever I don’t have class or um like I’m not I have some other obligation I’m trying to

Be practicing or playing um and you know generally like every night before I have um a day ahead of me I’ll I’ll hard you have it planned out so J know like for example like on a Monday I’ll have study hul from like 9:25 to 10:30 or 10:25 so

Generally five five minute increments that’s that’s that shows that you’re really organized yeah so I I just try and um I’ll generally just get to the dining hall at like seven and then I’ll eat for like 30 minutes and try and just like maybe do some putting from like 8

To 9:20 and then I’ll um I’ll head to my study hall and then I’ll probably generally have about like an hour and a half or maybe hour until I go to lunch so I’ll just probably maybe work on chipping for 45 minutes and then head over to lunch and then if it’s a

Qualifying day or practice then generally I’ll have to head to the course and we’ll play qualifying for the rest of the day or we’ll have Team practice um I would say that’s a general day and then probably have to do some school workk in the night um but uh yeah

You know pretty much whenever there’s light out I’m trying to practice so so there’s not many hours for you know other things but if if you had to do something besides golf if you’re not doing school you’re not doing golf what are you spending an hour doing to kind

Of relax or you know just switch things up a little bit yeah um I mean I I I like to play video games but like honestly Pokemon guy last year you still yeah last year yeah I kind of I haven’t been playing much now but um I new pokem

In game probably walking around with yeah I I’ll play on my PS5 sometimes but I haven’t been much doing much recently but I do like video games and then uh I like going to the gym sometimes with um with a buddy or just by myself I find it

Kind of enjoyable um so I’d say probably one of those two things the the telltell sign that you aren’t playing enough video games is every time you log on the PS5 and you got to wait like an hour for it to update that’s when you know that you haven’t been

Playing it very much it’s probably no worst feeling in the in the entire world yeah than that but let’s talk about you know practicing and and parts of your game that have gotten better what’s what’s the biggest Improvement you think that you’ve made in your game since you’ve been in

Gainesville yeah um I think uh over winter I I um kind of made a point to gained some Club head speed um because I just also like noticed I kind of had lost some speed I’m not sure why during the fall um and then also I mean when

You play with Crystal hre like you kind of just realize you probably need to hit it farther so I played against him at East Lake and he was just smashing it by me and I was like I mean he just has such two iron too yeah yeah yeah he just

Got such an advantage um and so I I you know I got a lot more speed um probably around six seven miles hour ball speed and that was very helpful um I noticed the difference pretty much wi away at the Patriot and then which you

Won and then I think um putting also my speed getting that kind of cleaned up because that was a little bit uh a little bit up and down um in the fall so that’s been um a big point of focus um and then I think I worked a lot with JC

On wedges and kind of using different clubs for shorter distances which helped flight it um a lot better and just lower spin so when you get on softer greens it’s just dangerous when you’re hitting you know a lob wge from 100 yards um and then I think probably one of the final

Things is like um kind of coming to Florida when you’re in that Bermuda Gruff it’s easy to just send balls over the green which I’ve done way too much um and so Dudley uh he’s helped me a lot with that um kind of just using different ways to kind of get more

Control out of the rough so you know if you don’t want it to fly as much try and maybe hit a little bit of a fade to add some spin um and if you want the ball to jump you know try and hit a draw and it’ll it’ll jump hard so little things

Like that has been really helpful um but I think those have been the main things now for those who haven’t paid attention to college golf the last I don’t know 15 years you’re following a very similar path of a current top 10 player in the world professionally

Xander shafley who started at Long Beach State goes to San Diego State a little bit bigger of a pond and then flourishes you know you know plays well and the Amer scene turns Pro and look where he’s at now with a Ridder cup how much did

Kind of come into Florida now and now having this success this spring how much has that validated kind of where you are in terms of your talent level because it’s one thing to do it in the Big West Conference it’s it’s another thing to do it at the Southern Highlands Collegiate

Just how much has that validated yourself yeah definitely a lot um I think you know since I’ve been here at Florida like I’ve been I feel like I’ve been challenged you know pretty much every day by my teammates and coaches um like I think coach was hoping like

From when I came in that I would be kind of one of the top guys and um I felt like sometimes in the fall I I was playing below my ability and what he was hoping for when I transferred in and um obviously I was a little disappointed with that and I

Think um but now being able to kind of play up to what my expectations were and even Beyond it um has been pretty awesome um and yes like you said it’s obviously um it feels very good you know being able to translate it from um Long Beach into Florida and keeping the good

Play up because um it’s definitely a lot different playing at you know the Southern Highlands Collegiate um just because it’s you know it’s probably one of the biggest College events of the year so to be able to um you know translate it and just keep up the good play has been uh really

Gratifying the thing that stands out to about Southern Highlands Golf Club very pristine like perfectly manicured kind of like another golf course that might host a major championship Augusta National your teammate though hasn’t played it is that right yeah yeah yeah he he he did um he did one really cool

Thing um Matthew Chris because so obviously they won the national championship last year so our coach coach said that um there would be a limited amount of players that were going to be able to go um and he said that Matthew and John dasas would be playing um in at Augusta just because

They earned it which is you know obviously very understandable and and so um so then he he said that you know the upper classman are probably going to go and I was kind of like right on the cut line and um but then Matthew we had a

Team meeting and he he said that um he wanted to give his spot to me which I was pretty um taken aback by obviously I was like you know you don’t have to do that like you earned the spot um but he he heard that like I had wanted to play

As my make a wish um when I had cancer and um they weren’t able to do it so he he gave me his spot and then um yeah I got to play which was uh pretty amazing of Matthew to do how’d you play uh I played pretty

Good actually I shot two under um which was pretty cool yeah yeah that was fond day uh Ian congrats again happy birthday um congrats on the underpar round at Augusta and hopefully that translates a little bit to TPC Summerland yeah this fall but good luck the rest of the

Spring and thanks for uh thanks for joining us yeah no problem and for those listening at home or in your car uh this is another episode of college golf talk we appreciate everyone’s support and we’ll see you again next week