We are joined by Joe Highsmith here at the Barracuda Championship. You’re making your professional debut (on PGA TOUR). Just want to get some opening comments about the excitement entering this week.
Joe: Yeah, I’m super excited. This week has been really a dream so far, just like my first PGA TOUR event. I got to play the U.S. Open last summer, and this is to me just as cool, just with everything and all the setup.
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Talk about how you found out about the sponsor exemption?
Joe: Yeah, I called Chris Hoff a few months ago and just wanted to introduce myself. I had heard that I had potentially had a chance of getting a spot, so I was just told to reach out to him and kind of get the relationship going, and I really didn’t expect it because I hadn’t heard anything until last week. Then he called me and just was like, hey, what are you doing next week? It’s like, oh, nothing, just hanging out at home. He’s like, do you want something to do. It’s like, yeah, I’ll take that for sure.
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Decorated college career, finished top 10 with PGA TOUR U rankings. Just kind of talk about how you got to where you are now?
Joe: Yeah, my college experience was great. We had such a good team at Pepperdine pretty much all four years that I was there. My coach had helped me a ton in terms of my personal growth and my golf growth, as well. It was great. The PGA TOUR U was super helpful to get me a place to play starting after school. I just learned so much throughout college, so it was great to kind of be here now, and I’m excited to see how I stack up against these guys this week.
Going off Pepperdine, kind of having that pathway of seeing past waves kind of make it, what are ones you keep in touch with? Did you reach out for any advice ahead of this week?
Joe: Yeah, well, so I played nine holes with Andrew Putnam, so we’ve known each other for a while, just from — we both played the same course in Washington and obviously the Pepperdine connection, as well. He was just telling me, it’s just golf. It’s obviously a bigger stage now, but you’ve just got to believe that you’re good enough and go out and do your thing and not get caught up in the stage and what it means and all that stuff. That was great, and then I was really hoping that Sahith (Theegala) would be here this week, but I was pretty pumped for him to get into the Open Championship. We were planning on playing practice rounds and hanging out. But it was cool that he got to get into that tournament, and he was just kind of telling me the same thing, dude, you’re good enough to be out here and kind of just go do your thing and don’t get caught up in like the PGA TOUR and all that stuff.
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You’ve had quite a fun start already on the Canada Tour with great finishes. What were the takeaways? Kind of more motivation or disappointment from such
exciting finishes?
Joe: Yeah, it was nice to know just that in my first couple starts I could hang out there and play well and compete. I’ve been playing really well, so it was nice to at least have some good finishes in there. It was disappointing the first week to lose in the playoff, but it was still nice to just know that I can compete out there. Been playing well and kind of just trusting that the good golf will take care of itself.
Could you reflect on how you got into golf and what it is about golf that inspired you to pursue this as a career?
Joe: Yeah, I grew up playing golf since I was really young. Like my mom actually was hitting balls the day that I was born, so it kind of runs in the family and we grew up on a
golf course and all that. Yeah, I didn’t really know that I could pursue it for a living until maybe 2015. I had started to play well on like a national level in the junior ranks, and then as it’s gone on, the PGA TOUR has always been like a long shot. I’ve never really thought about, oh, maybe I could be here one day, but just in the last couple years as my game has gotten better and I’ve played well on the amateur stuff, it’s been like, well, maybe this could be a reality.
For those not familiar with your game, how would you explain your style of game?
Joe: Yeah, I’ve been like a pretty good ball striker since I was pretty young. That’s usually my strength is just driving it and iron play. My short game is kind of lacking a little bit. When I’m playing well, I usually putt well and don’t have to chip much.
