PGA Tour: Charles Howell III Previews 19th Start at The Sony Open in Hawaii

PGA Tour professional Charles Howell III speaks with the media prior to making his 19th start at the Sony Open in Hawaii about what to expect and what to look forward to in the 2020 season.

THE MODERATOR: Charles Howell, thank you for joining us. Like I said, it’s kind of annual visit you make based on how well you play here. Making your 19th start at the Sony Open, more than half of those top 10 results; I think five Top 10s in your last eight starts in the event.

Just some comments. Kind of bring us up to speed on how you’re playing. I know you’ve made seven starts this season, so just some thoughts on being back here to a place that is obviously near and dear to you.

CHARLES HOWELL, III: Well, I would say the first thing is I think the storyline this week is going to be the weather. The last five or six years really haven’t had a whole lot of wind to speak of. Always blows a little bit, but nothing to the degree of this. Throw some rain showers in there, and, yeah, I mean, it’s quite a few holes out here playing ways which I mean in, what’s this, my 19th year, that I haven’t really seen play.

Yeah, it’s unlike a lot of years in Hawaii. I think the wind and some showers will definitely be the story the first few days.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I know you didn’t play this year, but I know you have played Kapalua. Just curious which course the wind affects more. One is bigger; one is more exposed. Do you have any thoughts on that?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: I would say at Kapalua you more expect it, and the design of the golf course is I think designed for the wind; where I think here you’ve got — the wind makes this play a little bit harder on a relative scale of what Kapalua is, because you have the doglegs, the crosswinds here, quite a bit narrower fairways.

So I think the wind here gets your attention a bit more than the wind at Kapalua?

Q. Secondly, does it bother you when guys like Doug Milne sit there and rave about this record you’ve had here, or is it something you take pride in? People call you the ATM machine here. What do you think?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Well, it’s usually coming right after the Christmas bills have come through and I have high incentive to play well.

No, when I look at it, I don’t know why I’ve had a lot of success here. I wouldn’t think the golf course would fit me a whole lot. I would prefer a longer, wider, bigger golf course, and I think you got the dead opposite here.

Maybe it’s because I’m coming right out of an off-season where I’ve worked on my game. I had a bit of rest as well. Haven’t probably grinded myself to a pulp as I can do, as we all can do, to be honest.

But I enjoy Hawaii. I remember we played college events over here at some of the military bases, and I always enjoyed coming over here and playing.

Beyond that, I don’t really have an exact reason why, yeah, this golf course fits me because of X, other than I just enjoy it.

Q. If you didn’t have a record book to look at and someone asked you, what course do you think you’ve had your highest number of finishes on? Would you have said without looking Waialae or would it have been something else?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: No. Like what I thought it would’ve been? I thought it would’ve been like a bigger, longer golf course, more like a Quail Hollow, a place like that or Bay Hill. Memorial, much more of that venue than a venue such as this.

I mean, you would probably — it’s not a whole lot like it, but you would put this in a similar classification of like Harbour Town, old style-ish, tree lined, some dog legs.

I wouldn’t have thought that would’ve been up my alley, so to speak.

Q. We talked earlier today, and you said you’re not coming off a long break because you played at the Shark Shootout. Does that help where your game is maybe a little bit fresher than maybe it would’ve been in the past if you didn’t play as late as that?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Yeah, seems like there really wasn’t much of an off-season this year. I mean, I guess with Thanksgiving being a little further back and then you have — I played the Shark Shootout with Bubba obviously, and then you run right into Christmas and here.

So it’s almost fitting now that the season starts in October, because it just feels like a little bit of a break here. Really we just keep on going. What once felt quite odd saying this was my eighth event of the year, now kind of feels almost right, which I don’t know if that’s sad for the state of my life. (Laughter.)

But, yeah, just kind of feels normal that we’re here, rolling on, and keep going. Yeah, I think this event is interesting too because you get the primetime coverage on the east cost. Golf Channel does a great job of like last week and this week where you get the primetime bit, et cetera.

And people on the east cost in some bad weather will like to see us playing in some wind and rain this year, too, so I think it’ll all fit.

Q. How much golf do you watch on TV when you’re not playing?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Probably too much. Yeah, I do. Like watching golf, yes. Yeah, I do. I do watch it. I watched last week, and my son now is big into golf and he loves it, so like he has his favorites and the guys that he really likes.

Q. Who are they?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Justin Thomas is his clear favorite. Not even close. Like watching last week, him — like me seeing golf through his eyes watching Justin in the playoff and rooting him on and all that kind of stuff, it’s kind of like reinvigorated my golf career a little bit, too, because we play every day when he gets out of school and on the weekends and whatnot.

Helping him learn the game and go through that — you know, because I’m almost twice the age of some of these guys out here now, so it’s nice to sort of be a little bit reinvigorated by the game by seeing it now through my son’s as eyes.

Q. What’s his status? How good is he? How old is he?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: He’s eight and he’s a good player. I mean, he is good for eight. I mean, on a relative scale I’m not really sure, but he gets it around the golf course and he loves it. I mean, as they say, apple trees make apples, I guess. Poor kid.

Q. What’s his lowest score?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Well, from a relative tee’d box up, he shot 2-over on nine holes before. Now, that’s given a tee box up where he can reach greens in regulation, so…

But he’s eight and he loves it. It’s great for me. On the weekend, honey, I’m sorry, we got to go play golf. Yeah.

Q. You just kind of talked about maybe reinvigorating your career through your son. You’ve been out here for all these years and been successful. What do you kind of equate to your longevity out here on the PGA TOUR?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: I still love the game and I still love practicing. When I went to Oklahoma State and played for Mike Holder there, he told me, If you love the game as much when you leave here as you did when you’re coming in, then I’ve done my job.

It was always about loving the good and the bad and the ups and the downs. We all know this game is very cyclical and crazy. I think to an extent we’ve been spoiled by some of the successes that Tiger had where golf appeared maybe easier than it really was at times and it’s not.

Then I was thinking also, too, I’ve been pushed by the younger generation. I mean, looking at what a Justin Thomas has done, what Jordan Spieth has done and did; Rory McIlroy. As much as they’re a competitor of mine I’m actually fans of theirs.

When these guys are in the hunt around tournaments I love watching. So I think those guys have helped keep push me long. If I can stay healthy, I would love to keep playing and competing because I do enjoy it.

Q. Along those lines, what’s success for you? How would you define it now?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: That’s a good question. I certainly to this point would’ve thought I would’ve won more golf tournaments, but had you told me going into Oklahoma State that, Charles, you’re going to play 20 years on the PGA TOUR, I would’ve taken it in a heartbeat. So I would say success for me is a consistent career. Winning RSM showed me how much I miss that and how awesome winning really is, but also how difficult it is.

But if I am able to keep playing at a high level and well into my 40s, I think that would be pretty cool.

Q. What would your answer have been ten or fifteen years ago?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Well, it would’ve been wins, but the number would’ve — I don’t know what the exact number would’ve been. It would’ve been more than I have now, but, see, I would’ve expected I had more wins and less consistency than I had. Like I kind of had a bit of a flipped career than I thought I would’ve had to this point, yes.

Q. I don’t want to minimize this by any means, but when you talk about longevity and being out here 20 years — for example, you can talk to someone like DJ about taking winning for granted.
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Yes.

Q. You say 20 years, and that’s 20 years without losing your card, and frankly not even coming remotely close to losing your card. Do you take that for granted?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: No, I don’t, because I know how difficult it is and because I’ve had good friends of mine lose their card. It hurts watching guys go through that.

So, no, I don’t take that for granted at all. For sure not. I mean, these are the top 125 golfers in the world, I mean, the top 125 of any profession in the world, and you have to continually show that and produce that every single year, and it’s not easy.

I mean, we always go towards wins, which you totally understand why, but maintaining a job and keeping a job out here with the travel and the stresses and everything else that goes along with it is still a very impressive feat.

Q. What do you think of when you hear of someone like Corey Conners last year. Wins in San Antone, but he was third last year after four spotting and he did a ton of four spotting and took him forever to get through.
I don’t think you ever went to Q-School, did you?

CHARLES HOWELL, III: Okay.

Q. Did you accidentally sign up or something like that?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Yes. Corey Conners in that is extremely impressive, because I come from the side of view of how difficult winning is. You know, like so the guys that I will look to is the longevity of like a Vijay Singh, Fred Funk, Kenny Perry, what all these guys did in their 40s.

Q. Jay Haas?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Jay Haas, Tom Watson. Like I see what those guys did and that motivates me. I’ll use the younger guys to keep pushing me to practice and to work and to find ways to get better and find ways to hit the ball farther and find ways to putt and chip better because it’s an endless battle.

However, I look at those guys in marvel obviously of what they did but also, look, it still can be done into your 40s.

Charles Howell III talks Q-School

Q. What was your Q-School story? Did you ever go or not?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: Well, I played X amount of — six or seven, however many events it was at the end of 2000. Got conditional status. I went to Q-School, missed, and then I got exemptions in ’01 and played my way on to the TOUR that way.

Q. So you flunked Q-School?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: I did. Kingwood, Texas. Yes.

Q. Were you hot?
CHARLES HOWELL, III: It does get relatively warm there, yes. It does, yes. Mosquitos are about that big around. Yes.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Charles, as always, thank you.

CHARLES HOWELL, III: You got it. Yes, sir.

January 8, 2020

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