Each day during U.S. Open week, Kyle Porter explores a golfers' father-son relationship and how it shaped who he is as a person and a golfer. Up today: Harris English in part two of a five part series.
Your dad played basketball at Georgia, what did you take away from him having been a college athlete?
He always taught me to be competitive. I was really competitive in all sports growing up. Basketball, football, baseball, soccer, golf -- I played everything. What he told me about golf was, “You gotta want it, you gotta want it more than anything.” He can’t want it for me. I have to put in the hours and put in the time and grind it out of the dirt.
He said he saw it for me at a young age and that’s why he always pushed me a little bit. He knew I wanted it and he wanted me to have every opportunity I could have to make it on the PGA Tour. He knew it from when I was young. It was awesome, I couldn’t have made it out here without him.
What’s the biggest thing you took away from him mentally?
He always brought a football or basketball mentality to golf. He grew up playing golf a little bit but not as much as he did other sports. It was kind of cool to see, he would tell me, “Just go out there and do it. Grind it out. Just do it. Put all your heart and soul into it.”
It was kind of cool having a guy like that putting that football mentality into me. Sometimes I play golf like that but I’m so laid back and just kind of a “go with the flow” guy that it was good to have somebody kind of opposite from me instilling some of those mind sets.
What’s your favorite memory growing up playing with him?
He would always get pretty upset on the golf course and I would always laugh at him. He would tend to throw some clubs -- it was kind of how he was. He was a competitor and we were always trying to beat each other.
What’s the best moment you’ve been able to share with him since you’ve been out here on the PGA Tour?
My biggest moment out here was playing in the Players Championship last year and I was in the second-to-last group with (Matt) Kuchar. My dad was out there on the range just loving it. He was like, “You’ve worked so hard for this and you deserve this.”
If you could win one tournament with him there, which one would it be?
[The one tournament I’d love to win] is probably the Masters. Growing up in Georgia I’ve probably been there five or six times so you kind of put that tournament up on a pedestal.
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