Fairways of Life is joined by Frankie Capan III, a young player on the Korn Ferry Tour with PGA Tour starts under his belt. Frankie made waves after shooting a round of 58 at the Veritex Bank Championship in Texas, breaking Scottie Scheffler’s course record.
all right as you guys know one of the things that we love doing here in the fairways of Life show been doing it for years is introducing you to new players as they enter the game and it’s been really fun for us over the course of that time because we have gotten to know players who have evolved in their careers to a point that they’re major Champions players that when they first come on with us will be honest with and say you know what I’m having trouble meeting my rent but then they we watch the Ascension of their game Frankie Kapp in the third is one of those new players sappin I should say is how you properly pronounce his name you probably do recognize the name once I pronounce it correctly because he made news just this past week he shot a 58 on the corn fery tour at the veritex bank Championship he’s from Minnesota he played colleged at Alabama and Florida GF Coast before turning professional in 22 his first full year in the corn Ferry tour he collected a third or fourth and a six early into the season he’s already positioned himself for a PGA Tour card he’s Curr 22nd on the points list in his last three starts fourth eighth and Ninth fun fact I’m not even sure Frankie’s aware this I’ll ask him in a second here he’s top 25 on the corn Ferry tour in total driving greens at regulation scrambling huting scoring average on the corn fairy tour absolute Rock Solid pleasure to welcome Frankie sapping to the show right now what’s going on my man how you doing how you holding up how much I’m uh I’m doing well I appreciate you guys having me on so thank you pleasure to have you on the show so how much attention did you instantly get when you go out and you shoot a 58 a lot very very much I it was funny because I uh I finished the round and did a couple interviews and then um turned on my phone and checked and the text and DMS and everything just kept rolling in and it was it was pretty ridiculous I just kind of had to put my phone aside um but it it definitely made me chuckle now I was hosting the the pre and postgame shows for Golf Channel when you did it and so we were playing the video of you coming in I actually said to our producer I said I think we should caption this because I swear you didn’t know what you shot that’s what I thought I heard is was was that in fact the case yeah so there was a little bit of confusion there um so I knew I was 13 under however I forgot the par of the golf course um and the whole entire back nine I wasn’t marking scores I was I was marking for Scott Harrington and then obviously myself and um at that point I knew we were we were going pretty deep and I decided to just you know what I’m just going to mark all the scores and the scores tent and we’ll see where we’re where we’re at um however I did know I was 13 under but I I genuinely thought it was um I thought my eight-footer for par on the last hole was for 59 and then was was pretty pumped when I I walked off and um someone had mentioned men something and then I just need some clarification on what I actually shot if it was 58 or or 59 and then I was I was pretty excited was it your dad that you asked if if again I was just trying to figure it out from the video that I saw yeah I did I asked my dad we were walking off I gave my mom and dad a hug and then as we were walking away I just was like what wait what was that and I don’t think they could hear me so I had to say it a couple times um and and then my dad was like yeah I was 58 I was like oh pretty cool crazy it I mean it’s insane and then here’s this is what I kind of opened the show with this today Frankie I was talking about that g golf’s ultimate meritocracy is in these developmental tours right where you shoot a 58 you have solid as all getout rounds to surrounding your 58 and if memory serves me you’re lost by what seven strokes or something crazy I mean I don’t know if people realize how ruthless you have to be in scoring to make it through these developmental tours to try to get into the big stage yeah you do I think I think a lot of the courses that we play set up for you know a lot of birdies to be made and and a lot of opportunities out there so I think that’s the biggest thing that I was harping on is um in my post on interview I told him I said guys I mean obviously I had an incredible round incredible day it was very special something on I’ll never never forget but at the same time I’m only leading by three um to where I just wanted to kind of reiterate it to myself that you know we still have 54 more holes and I I need to keep the my foot on the pedal for for these next three days and unfortunately wasn’t able to um but at at the same time I think when you when you have a day like that um just kind of being able to um acknowledge it and and be proud of it but at the same time you really just have to keep playing because there there’s I knew there were a ton of great players behind me that were playing well and um like I said too there are a lot of opportunities out there on that course um so just I I think there’s a lot of talent in the game right now and it’s really fun to see and it’s it’s fun to be part of um but yeah it’s it’s definitely not super easy to to just go out there and and and win by win by seven 10 12 whatever it may be and um you know Tim Tim vings had a special couple weeks and I’m really excited for him and and his journey and I mean I played with him Saturday and Sunday and and the guys been playing some some solid golf so was as much as I was bummed to uh to get beat um I’m I’m happy for him as well tell me before we go to break here we’re running out of time already and I got a bunch of stuff I’d love to ask you about your last name sapen is how you pronounce it but it’s spelled with the c what’s what’s the background with your surname yeah it’s uh it’s Croatian so my my grandfather his his dad they were from uh Yugoslavia and um that’s how we’ve always said it and it’s confusing so whenever people ask me my last name or they’re trying to figure it out I usually just spell it out for them um so I’ve gotten Capen sapen uh kappen I’ve I’ve gotten all the above so I usually just kind of roll with whatever but the correct pronunciation is is sapin Frankie if you could change one rule you’re the Zar of golf for the day what what’s the one rule you’re going to change that’s a great question um I think the biggest one I hear about is the divots um you have a perfect t- down the middle and you you go into a divit and I I’ve always been on the stance that I think you should be have to play it um but I would be fine with kind of the the out of bounds being able to drop where it crossed I I like I like that one uh I think you should be able to you know go on up there and and be able to drop as as though it was a penalty area would be kind of neat dude I beg the USGA in that when they came out with the rules in 19 because I I come from the green grass side right I was I’m saying okay if you’re going to allow us to designate a penalty area that’s why it’s no longer called a hazard because a hazard used to have water associated with it but a penalty area anywhere we want in the course for safety or whatever reason that we deem it necessary with the red stakes I say can you give us a candy cane stake so that when particular because 99.99% of the golf that we we have out there are amateur golfers recreational play right and so it gives us the liberty of saying you’re out of bounds so you can’t hit the shot where it is because it’s off our property but give us the liberty to say but you can drop right here as a call it a local rule if you want to or what have you and they were like no we see it as sacr sync that if you hook it into a pond and you get to drop across there left and the other guy slices it right out of bounds you’re off the property and that’s a greater sin so we kind of lost in that all right so I got some questions I want to run down the road here with you you are all of the ripe old age of 24 years old and obviously you’re making your way you’re knocking on the door you’re playing some great golf you’ve got huge confidence with you just shot a a 58 which is mind-blowing as you evolve it’s going to become you’re you’re living it right now but it’s going to become even more and more important that you establish yourself as the Frankie sapen III brand what do you want the brand of Frankie Sapp and II third to stand for it’s a great question um I haven’t really thought about it before um you know I I think you know I’ve I’m from a great family I I love my parents and and two sisters and um I think just being a good person overall you know I come from a a Christian home so I think just being being the best person I I can be on and off the course and and in this game you’re going to you’re going to win and and you’re going to lose lose a lot um so I think just just having uh just a solid base and foundation in in my family and team and just being someone that you know people people and kids can look up to um you know I I feel like I do a pretty good job of of trying to stay even Keel out there on the course and and not get too up or or too down um but at the same time it’s it’s a tough game and um I I think just being someone that that younger kids can can look up to and um you know I I feel like I I try and do my best job of that whether it’s you know signing autographs for kids or or hanging out with them and um I think overall just just being the best best type of person and Christian I can be on and off the course very cool we only got a couple of minutes left here what about your sponsors who have you aligned yourself with yeah so I’m partners with uh unreal they are a an apparel uh company I would compare them um similar to like a Lululemon or or um however I think the quality of their clothing is is incredible um and they are based in in Minnesota um so we we got connected just about a year and a half ago and funny enough their CEO and founder his name is Michael Jordan um wow which is kind of funny and yeah so we uh I got connected with them and they’ve been just just absolutely tremendous they they’ve just been kind of uh making their way into golf and have a tremendous golf offline um I I love their stuff great quality great design and overall just just great people um so that’s on the apparel side and then um you know sponsor partnership you can see I guess right here on my uh chest Capstone Hospitality they’re uh they were I think they were probably my first my first sponsor um which is which is pretty neat and I’m incredibly thankful for them they’re I would say they’re kind of the middle the middleman between um golf courses and potential members so when courses might be struggling with their membership uh that course will hire these guys and and they’ll come in and um just kind of try and boost boost the membership and do anything they can to to help um bump those members up cool uh I want to ask you about Hope kids as well we only have about a minute and a half left here but I know it’s a charity that you’re very close to you want to tell the world about your involvement why yeah I do um you know we’re uh my family we’ve always been um involved in in Charities and and one that we we like to support and uh volunteer for is called hope kids um the best way I would describe it is they they provide hope for for kids with terminally uh terminal illnesses and and um diseases and um and provide hope for the for their families as well whether it might be you know going to certain events um planning events I think when when kids are constantly in in the hospital and um just kind of sitting sitting there they don’t really have much to look forward to um but if they know you know they’re going to a Vikings game in in two weeks or they’re going to the movies with their family they they have that to look forward to and it it it basically kind of provides them and and their family hope um for for what’s to come very cool Frankie we got 30 seconds left here five years from now unfair question I ask you this quick five years from now where do you see yourself I see myself as uh one of the best players in the world um you know I I I work pretty hard and um I have a I’m blessed with with a great team around me and um you know I think golf I I just love playing the game so much um you know wi win or lose I I enjoy um learning and and getting better and and just seeing how far I can go and um it’s just a really enjoyable process for me and I think you know the past few months I’ve I’ve really seen some growth and um development not only in in my game but also myself and and it’s fun to see and I would love to just just keep going I love it dude I love the fact that you said it’s fun to see when you’re reflecting on your own development in evolution it’s fun to see for all of us too because we know you’re going in a great direction thank you for your time folks thank you for all your time great show today we’ll be back with you again until next time bye for now
