ESPN golf analyst Curtis Strange and host Scott Van Pelt participated in a media conference call today to discuss next week’s 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. ESPN and ESPN+ will have live coverage of the first and second rounds from first tee to last putt on Thursday and Friday, May 15-16, as well as morning coverage on the weekend. ESPN+ will have Featured Groups and Featured Holes coverage all day for all four days of the tournament. There will be more than 225 live hours of play across ESPN and ESPN+ for the event. There also will be extensive coverage on SportsCenter, ESPN.com and other ESPN platforms. ESPN also will offer a alternative telecast for four hours a day during all four days of competition.

A transcript of the conference call follows:

SCOTT VAN PELT: We also have Red the dog who’s with us, as well. Red has chosen to join us in the room. I’ll let Curtis do the heavy lifting here since he’s got the insight into this far better than I.

But I’m just looking forward to being a part of the coverage, the opportunity to do what we’ve done on ESPN+, and just bring fans out there what they love. People love to see golf shots. We come on early and let it rip for all day long.

It’s really a joy to do it. Takes us back to when we sort of covered the U.S. Open years ago that way. And any opportunity that we get, we’ve done it with the Open Championship and we’ve enjoyed our partnership with the PGA since the Harding Park days, it’s great fun to do it.

The storylines since Augusta I’m sure are remarkable, whether it’s Rory, Justin Thomas, Scottie, Bryson. You’ve got multiple major winners, all of whom have won from Augusta through last weekend. You couldn’t ask for much more in terms of storylines. Quail Hollow has been a great venue, whether it’s been for an elevated TOUR event or a major. It’ll be great. Look forward to being there, as always, with our group.

CURTIS STRANGE: Yeah, I couldn’t help but think when Scott said we have fun, we look forward to it every year, we really do. The Masters is a great, great week, obviously, to be a part of that, but this is our people, our announcers, our production for the first couple days and early on the weekend. It’s good to be around everybody all day long.

The PGA has, I think, just been a terrific change in the dates. It’s a good week. We certainly enjoy it.

As every major, there’s storylines, but I want to say that Rory went to the pressroom Sunday after the great victory there at the Masters and said, well, now what are you going to ask me? I think we should ask him is can he win the Grand Slam this year. Let’s put it back on him. Certainly it got the burden, as he said, off — it’s going to be a good watch.

What’s going to be different is we’re going to a venue that everybody knows, unlike many of the other major championships, and that puts a little different — we all look forward to it, as always.

Q – Curtis, who’s going to be next to get the Career Grand Slam, and how long will it take? What are your predictions there?

CURTIS STRANGE: Somebody asked me that yesterday, and I told them to take a chill pill, okay. It’s only happened six times in the history of our game. Quality, quality champion, but just happened to — I have no idea.

I’m going to enjoy this one and see how Rory plays and reacts after joining this elite group. Whatever he does this year, whatever he does, he’s accomplished something that’s pretty extraordinary.

I have no idea who the next guy is. I think the obvious guy would be Scottie Scheffler, okay, but the next obvious guy who’s struggled a little bit from here and there, it’s Jordan Spieth. So we’ll have to wait and see what he does this week. But he’s certainly going to be a topic of conversation.

Q – long those lines a little bit, Scott, from an entertainment perspective, how would you describe the differences between Spieth and Bryson as entertainers on the golf course?

SCOTT VAN PELT: Spieth sort of renders the announcer useless because he’s got a running dialogue at all times and he sort of has this existential — the way he plays the game I think people can relate to it, with the dialogue and whatever else. I think he’s buttoned up, where Bryson has clearly embraced the idea, and we saw it at Augusta National, we saw it last year at Pinehurst, where he’s like the people’s champ. Some have applied that moniker to him.

He’s going to embrace people in a very different way. Spieth’s dialogue is mostly with himself and Greller, whereas Bryson seems to be outwardly looking for the love and to give love back. I think they’re both wildly entertaining. It’s different, but Spieth is kind of this high-wire act. He played tremendous on Sunday. Scottie was so far ahead it didn’t matter. It’s like different radio stations but both fun to listen to, I think.

And I think the answer to your question a minute ago is Morikawa and Rahm are halfway there. Spieth has just got this one. But feels like Rahm and Morikawa are trending more positively like Spieth since they’ve won more recently. Who do you think wins it?

Q – Curtis, I had a question specifically on what you see that Bob Rotella did for Rory. He’s been working with him for a while. I’m not sure in your playing days if you used a coach like that, a mental coach, if you will, but what in your opinion do you think Rotella has done for Rory?

CURTIS STRANGE: Well, to answer your question, the second part first, Bob Rotella is a good friend, being a fellow Virginia guy, and I did talk to him on the clock a couple times when I started going south to see if he could help me, and we had a couple good laughs together. So which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

But I think that it’s interesting; we’re not privy to those conversations, nor should we be, but probably helped him relax. Fun is a big part of Bob’s vocabulary. Focus on every shot and have fun. That’s what I’ve continued to read over and over.

Bob doesn’t tell you how to do it, he just tells you how to prepare for it. If nothing else, I don’t think any of us can comprehend the pressure that Rory has been under, and I think only when he accomplished what he did that seems to be the norm.

I think Bob just helped him navigate that, relax, and go do what you know how to do. We kept saying it. Be Rory. But sometimes that’s easier said than done because the end goal of winning the Grand Slam is so grand and so large that Bob just kind of helped him probably just relax a little bit.

Q – Do you have a feel for — the obvious thought is this frees Rory up, that if he’s not the best player in the world, the second best player in the world. As a former player, I know you can’t put yourself into his mind, but what do you expect out of Rory going forward here as he has struggled in the majors to get it across the line in the majors up until the Masters for the last 15 years?

CURTIS STRANGE: Yeah, we don’t know. We just touched on that. But I do think it does free him up, of course. How he plays after that by being freed up, I can only imagine that — as long as he stays motivated and he’s still so young, he’s in his prime, he should play the same he’s been playing, wonderful golf, maybe free up a little bit in the majors.

But here’s a guy that wins four or five times every year, so it’s a big ask to have him play actually better. But you made the point that it’s not only the Masters he’s been after. It’s any major for a number of years.

Hopefully he can continue on this trend and finishes it off.

Q – Scott, you have attributed a lot of the success of ESPN golf in recent years to your friend Mike McQuade. He got a promotion in recent months. Is he still going to be your lead producer next week?

SCOTT VAN PELT: I think Mike would have passed on the gig if he had to give up golf. It’s a passion for him, and he’s brilliant at it. We’re happy to take our marching orders from Mike. He’s our guy.

I mentioned earlier the U.S. Open. I go back to 20-some-odd years ago, but when ESPN’s approach to golf sort of went all in and went wall to wall all day, just come on when they start, go off at 3:00 in the morning with Boomer (Chris Berman), sitting next to Andy North and the sprinklers going off at Southern Hills, it was Mike McQuade. So yeah, he’s our guy.

Q – Curtis, you are a two-time major champion. How much does a major take out of you, because some people look at the calendar and say this is great for Rory, but then again, we all saw the burden being lifted off him. How much does this take out of you as a player?

CURTIS STRANGE: You know, it takes something out of you. But they do this for a living. Rory is not a newbie to this winning championships, of course. I think he sees it as an opportunity. Number one, he’s going to Quail Hollow, which he’s already won four times there. It’s an ideal place for him to play any golf tournament, much less a PGA Championship.

I said this prior at the Masters. I think it’s going to be the Rory and Scottie show, and I’m going to repeat myself. I think this is going to be the Rory and Scottie show this week. Scottie coming off the great win two days ago, winning by eight, and for those who don’t realize how dominating that is, that’s very dominating.

Then Rory coming of the Masters.

I think going and playing in the team event with Shane was a great lead-up to this, to go have some fun, relax, but play the game and get ready for the PGA. It’s all working out really well for both of them.

We certainly have other players that are more than capable of winning. Justin Thomas is playing well again, and many, many others. There’s a lot of storylines, as Scotty said earlier, and that’s part of why we enjoy doing this so much is you never know what’s going to happen.

But we do. Early in the week we talk about two or three players, and that’s it.

Q – It really seems to me like the sort of predominant story in golf for the last 10 years has been Rory’s battle with the majors, and I guess I’m wondering if I can ask both of you to look into your crystal ball here. What do you think will be the next dominant story in golf?

SCOTT VAN PELT: That’s a good one. I think it was asked earlier about Rory being freed up. I can’t help but think of that line from the Joker, Heath Ledger, in “The Dark Knight” where he says, “You have nothing to threaten me with.”

And you have nothing to threaten Rory with now. You can’t hang that over his head. It’s not a decade of not winning. It’s not winning at Augusta. I have checked the boxes, and now I can just let it rip. I think that’ll be fascinating to see.

Who knows; maybe he’s checked his own mental boxes and maybe it won’t be some scorched earth tour, but I think it absolutely could be. I think the next decade will be that elephant in the room that the game hasn’t loved figuring that out, but it has to be figuring that part of the game out. It’s got to be getting these people together more often.

It’s a blast when we get a field like we get next week, and the game is better when we have it. I don’t think that could possibly be seen as a controversial viewpoint. The game is better when Bryson turns up and Niemann and Rahm, and I could keep going. There’s a long list of guys on that Tour that play great golf. Of course Koepka has won a potful of these, as Andy North would say.

I don’t know how that gets figured out, but I think we all understand one way or another it will, and then hopefully it doesn’t take a decade. It’s been a couple of years now of sort of batting it around and trying to figure out what it’s going to be.

But then we get these people together more often than just four times a year for the majors. These weeks are the king makers, as we know. Elevated events are cool. There’s one outside Philly this week; that’s great. But you become a forever player when you win weeks like Augusta, Quail Hollow, et cetera. I think everyone understands that.

Putting people together is what I think has to happen.

CURTIS STRANGE: Yeah, I agree. I come from a little different standpoint here, that they chose this. Those who left chose. It’s not our fault.

But let’s not forget, since they’ve gone, golf survives and golf will always survive, and it’s amazing to really think about all the years — who’s going to carry the game, what’s going to pique our interest. Well, Scottie Scheffler has done just that, and Jordan Spieth, can he win next week, and all the other storylines.

We’ve done okay with those guys gone. Do I miss watching them play? Yes, I miss watching three or four of them play. But again, they chose that path.

Now, what’s the next storyline? I’ll tell you what I think the next storyline is is that if Rory wins this next week because now he’s got two of the four in one year, and he is that kind of player that when he gets going he’s very, very explosive. He could be the really next great, great story for the Grand Slam this year.

We have expected so much out of Rory because it’s kind of a backhanded compliment. We love you and we think you’re so good, why don’t you win more. Rory wins a lot. But as far as majors, he’s disappointed — not us, he’s disappointed himself a little bit over the last years. But I’m anxious to see what happens in the future.

Q – Coming down here to Charlotte, how cool of a venue is Quail Hollow, and how great is it to be in a city like this?

SCOTT VAN PELT: This is a first for me. I’ve never been. I was telling my colleague from our show, Steve Coughlin, Stanford Steve, who loves this week, he loves coming out, and we’ll be on the ground Monday morning walking and spend the first three days taking loops with guys to learn as much as we can about the course.

I think with — I don’t want to upset our friends in Tulsa or Rochester and the different spots we’ve been in recent years for the PGA Championship, it’s just I know more people in Charlotte, and this is a venue that we obviously know incredibly well, just seeing it year after year, being such a great host for big-time TOUR events and obviously a major, as well.

But I just think that, like I said, I know a lot of folks in that area, and the buzz that surrounds it is massive. It was that way in Rochester certainly. It was that way in Tulsa. Anytime a big event comes to town, it’s a big deal.

But I think it’s cool because it’s well built for this. They’ve done it, but now the elevation of it being a major, it ramps up everybody’s anticipation. For me to walk it and actually see especially 16, 17, 18, it helps so much to actually walk it with the players and get a sense of strategy.

We’re incredibly fired up, as we always are, to get to a city as excited as we are for the event.

Q – What do you think the Masters and the way it panned out and the way Rory won did for golf, and what can it do for golf and this major season overall?

SCOTT VAN PELT: I think it was the — how do I say it? I started to say the appropriate outcome, the correct outcome. But I should be — I don’t think there’s ever a right or a wrong. It felt cosmically the right outcome.

I sat down years ago for a “30 for 30” that we did for ESPN about Greg Norman not winning. And going there every year and Greg not standing on the other side of the ropes in a green jacket for the rest of his life just doesn’t feel like it makes any damn sense to me because I just felt like he should have won that tournament because he was that kind of player and he played so well there.

For Rory, it just felt like a sportsman who’s been a great player, who’s carried a lot on his shoulders for the TOUR with all that has gone on over the past few years. It just felt like the appropriate result was for him to be a major champion and him to be the sixth winner of the Slam.

When you saw him fall to his knees — I said to somebody sometimes in life you don’t know what you’re holding on to until you let it go, and that damn burst of emotion was just astounding. To see him on his knees there in the playoff defeating an incredibly classy Justin Rose, who would have been an equally worthy champion, to see that and to see the respect and the warmth of their embrace was just remarkable.

I think it sets a tremendous sort of trajectory for the season. And as Curtis mentioned a moment ago, for Rory to now go to a place where he’s already won four times, it invites you to think, well, it wouldn’t take a lot for us to imagine him winning a second, and then we’re off to the races.

But Augusta is always going to be a great storyline because we go there every year. So for Rory to finish it off I think just points the needle straight up in terms of people’s excitement about what could be.

I know there’s a lot of people rooting for Bryson out there, but that was an awfully popular win. Those patrons were chanting Rory’s name, and they meant it.

Q – Curtis, it’s no surprise that the majority of the questions are about Rory. Do you think in some sense that might suit someone like Scottie Scheffler who’s going to go under the radar a little bit given the way he won over the weekend and his game is trending? Do you think that might suit something like him?

CURTIS STRANGE: I don’t think Scottie is going to go under the radar. I really don’t. He won last week, which is a great motivation to come into a major championship.

SCOTT VAN PELT: Curtis, you ever see 31-under?

CURTIS STRANGE: No. Thanks for asking, though.

SCOTT VAN PELT: 31 is pretty low, so just try to frame it appropriately.

CURTIS STRANGE: No, gosh. I don’t think I ever shot 20-under. He’s got me by 11.

But anyway, that’s how good he is sometimes, and the same with Rory and the same with many others.

I think that Scottie and Rory have, quite honestly, with DeChambeau — Scottie and Rory have really separated themselves. Bryson has an opportunity to be a part of that, twice a winner of the U.S. Open, and we don’t see him that often, so sometimes you’re not quite sure how he’s playing.

But the two others, Scottie and Rory, they have, without a doubt, separated themselves and certainly are the favorites anytime they tee it up.

Q – Scott, you have been involved in more golf coverage than you ever have been at ESPN this year with the addition of TGL. What was that experience like for you with additional golf coverage, and how important is golf coverage for you as a broadcaster moving forward?

SCOTT VAN PELT: Massive. My career began at the Golf Channel in the mid-’90s, which was a lot of years and some hair ago. There’s pictures of me somewhere that can prove that that was part of it.

TGL was really a fun idea. Go back to Michael McCarley and talking to folks, Jeff Neubarth, about the idea several years ago, and of course we had the weather incident which led to a different venue, which in some ways probably helped what they were able to create.

Then it was a fun product. It was a blast. It rated well. Young people found — the guys that played it found they enjoyed it more — they didn’t know what it was going to be, and they had a blast. Talking to the guys at Augusta, it was cool to find that out, just how much they didn’t know, and then it was, wow, we dug it.

And now a lot of guys are trying to figure out how do we get in on this.

It was fun. The majors have been something I’ve always done. I’ve been really fortunate in my life, whether it’s Augusta, U.S. Open, Open Championship or PGA, at different times in my life, the networks I’ve worked with have had some role with it. So to get to do it is something that will always matter to me, something I care deeply about because I’ve gotten to know the people in the game and the places.

So as I mentioned earlier in an answer to Shane, just to go to a place I’ve not been that I’ve watched so much, I love it. I look forward to these weeks so much. Like I said, with my guy Steve, Monday morning, we’re there — we’re out and up and at ’em, diving in the deep end and really enjoy what the process of major championship golf is.

There’s nothing like it. And for me, it’s something that will always be on my plate, at least from my perspective. I’m always going to have an appetite to do it, and hopefully I can do it well enough that they want me to continue to do it.

TGL was a fun little bit through the winter. Looking forward to seeing what that becomes. And whatever majors we have moving forward, I hope that I have some spot in the rotation to be part of it.

CURTIS STRANGE: This is a major for the players, and everybody in Charlotte is excited to have a PGA come there. But from Scott to myself to our entire team, this is a major for us, too. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of this as a player, and you certainly get fired up four times a year, absolutely.

But when you get into TV, the same attitude comes forward. This is a big event. You do your homework. You want to be prepared for that moment, all the things that goes to represent your company and the team in which you’re surrounded by. It’s a big deal. And we all get fired up, and we’re excited about it. And then come the weekend, it’s like anything else, you build for the finale.

Q – On Joaquín Niemann, we’ve seen him play some good golf on the LIV Tour. As someone who’s won on a major stage, how big up is that step for him in terms of his career and announcing himself as one of the top guys?

CURTIS STRANGE: Well, to not put a downer on this whole conversation, I think the first thing Joaquín has to do is get over there and play more regular golf on the bigger stages against the better players in the world. Not that they don’t have two or three or four world-class players, but develop, get used to the major championship atmosphere.

He will do that, but it’s going to take a little longer, I think, because he’s over there not playing in front of as many people, the exposure, all of the above. It’s just reality. I’m not knocking anybody, but it’s just reality of when you’re not on that stage as often as these other players are playing the regular TOUR, then you might not be as comfortable as if you were doing it on a regular basis.

Certainly a wonderful player. I’ve never seen him play but so often a few shots here and there, but over there he’s certainly playing well and winning some tournaments, unlike some of the other great players over there.

SCOTT VAN PELT: I just wonder — I just think we’ve seen a DeChambeau who for years didn’t have the results in the major stage, and then it seems — again, Curtis has lived it, I have not, but I’ve covered it long enough where you see somebody break through where they can have that chance and contend.

I think Niemann is simply a matter of time. He’s too good not to — to not have played very well in majors, to me, is just an oddity. It’s just a matter of — he’ll turn up one week and play to his ceiling, and when he does, there he’ll be.

I remember vividly like DeChambeau, he’s really good, but he hasn’t had a top 10 in a major. Well, now he’s won two.

Again, forgive me, it wasn’t my question. I just think that we’ve just seen that it’s a process of learning how to do it in majors. Some guys bust through immediately, like an Åberg and he finishes second the first time he turns up at the Masters, and then others, it takes a while.

Q – You mentioned Bryson there. He seemed to be much better in the majors since he’s been with LIV. Do you feel him making that move has helped him in his career and the personality that he is, that environment that LIV provides as helped him become a better golfer?

SCOTT VAN PELT: I don’t know that it’s LIV. I think more than anything — I think what helped him was I think he has figured out — he’s grown as a human, it seems to me. Last year he came and sat down in the Butler Cabin with me on Thursday and Friday, and he’s been sort of this — he’s played very different characters in a movie. It’s almost like he’s been many different versions of himself.

And when he sat and visited with me last year, I just remarked to a number of people, he just seems like a different guy. He seems more at ease with himself. I don’t know if it’s the Tour he plays, I don’t know if it’s just part of growing up, which is part of all of our lives, but he seemed comfortable, entirely comfortable with himself.

I think you saw that play out vividly at Pinehurst where he just embraced the fact that people were cheering for him, and he made an incredible all-time up-and-down, and unfortunately for Rory, he missed a short one, and he left there a champion now a second time.

I think that changed him as much as anything. The adulation he received from the people at the U.S. Open I think is what opened his eyes to, wow, people really are on my side, and that’s what I noticed anyway. That seems to be as much as anything what I think has propelled him to where he is at the moment.

Q – This is about Jordan Spieth. Watching him play in the same group with Scottie Scheffler last week was a learning experience for me. I don’t know if it was for anybody else. I don’t even know if it was for Jordan. But it certainly appeals that Scottie Scheffler is able to play four good rounds when he needs to, and maybe Jordan is not back to where he’s doing that yet. But it was certainly in front of him for a couple of rounds. Do you think, Curtis particularly, and Scott, if you feel like chiming in, do you think Jordan has got enough game and determination to want to come back and get that PGA Championship?

CURTIS STRANGE: Well, it’s a good question. Only he knows. I think he’s working very hard at it. Let’s not forget he’s coming off a wrist injury, surgery. That takes time. When he plays well like he did last week, consistently well, shoots a really good last round, that speaks volumes for not only us to talk about but for him, more importantly. He’s gaining confidence, as each good round he gains more and more confidence, on this comeback trail.

Let’s not forget when he won all the majors and all the tournaments at such a young age, they came so quickly. Obviously there’s some kind of letdown after something like that, and can you sustain that over the next eight or ten years. He didn’t. One was because of some injuries.

But his ball-striking — just look at the stats, his ball-striking is not near what Scottie Scheffler’s. What does he have to do? He has to chip and putt like we know Jordan can, and sometimes that doesn’t happen every single day. Jordan is going to be an explosive player but maybe not as consistent as Scottie.

When Rory busted on the scene, everybody compared him to Tiger. Well, maybe nobody is ever going to play as consistent as Tiger did. Tiger was one of those generational players, as Rory is, but Rory is going to be explosive and sometimes not quite so good. But when he’s good, he’s better than everybody else.

So Jordan is on his way back. Everybody is good to see it. As Scotty said earlier, we don’t have to — I can just take a break when he’s on TV and let him do all the commentary. So he’s fun to watch. I’ve got to tell you, when he misses a green, I’m on the edge of my seat because he is as good as there’s ever been. He’s in the class of Mickelson, Watson, Seve, that type of short game player. So it’s always fun to watch.

SCOTT VAN PELT: I think he’s one of those players that won so early that it created — we’re so — I started to say screwed. That’s not the right word. Tiger just changed the calculus for everybody, and he created this avenue where you’re thinking, well, can anyone be — no. No, no, no, no. That’s one dude.

And Spieth won so much so early. He’s got 13 wins and, of course, a PGA away from a Slam that maybe it created the idea that he’s supposed to win like 50 times or something.

I know that his life is in a great place. He’s got a couple of beautiful kids, another coming. And I think he’s a happy dude, and he’s working hard at his game. And I believe that he’s the guy that will win again and win multiple times again just because he’s too talented not to.

But to see it side by side with Scottie is to grade yourself with — it would be like taking a test with the smartest kid in the class, and that kid gets 100. Well, even if you get a 92 you feel like, damn, I’m not that smart at all. Well, no, you’re smarter than a lot of people; this person right here aced the test.

I think Scottie — look, Scottie was graded with a sharp pencil last week to the tune of 31-under. But that round Sunday shows you what’s there. He’s a TOUR winner again. I think he and we just need to let him have some time. JT didn’t win for quite a while, and he busted through this year and won one at Harbour Town. Spieth will again. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was sooner than later.

CURTIS STRANGE: One other thing I just thought about. When you picture — remember, this four or five gangsome of young players, Jordan and Justin and the rest of them, Smylie, they’ve all since then — when they were all single, golf was number one on their mind, in their life, they lived it, they drank it, they slept it. They’re all married now with children. Life doesn’t get in the way, but it changes. And it changes for the better. But sometimes your focus is not the same as it used to be.

Everybody tries to navigate that in their own way the best they can. It’s life. It’s growing up. It’s maturing. It’s being complete. It’s all those things that we talk about.

Golf sometimes takes a backseat, and that’s okay.

SCOTT VAN PELT: What a great line: Life doesn’t get in the way but it changes. That’s why I sit next to you, Curtis. Every now and then you say something, I hold on to that.

Q – Justin Thomas is the last person to have won a PGA at Quail Hollow in 2017 and got the win recently at Harbour Town. What have you noticed about the struggles he went through, and what do you think it means that he did get that victory leading into the major coming up?

SCOTT VAN PELT: I had a chance to visit with him on a rainy Monday at Augusta, and we caught up and had lunch. I just kept saying, I feel like you’re obviously close. He had played so many good rounds. The 62 — if he didn’t put one in the water at Sawgrass, he shoots the course record. Which is convenient because it gives me an opportunity to bust his chops about, hey, nice water ball on 18.

But I felt like just — he could sense, and he knew there was no doubt. He knew: I’ve won a bunch, and I’m close, and it’s going to happen.

And I think that this game — again, obviously observing it, not living it. Curtis knows far better than I do what it is to live it. But it’s hard to freaking win. I think he knew it was coming, but for him to win the way he won and to bury a putt, I think it frees him up a bit, too, because now he doesn’t have to answer the “why haven’t you” questions, “when is it going to happen” questions.

He didn’t have any doubt. He felt confident. He felt comfortable. But winning changes his outlook because you’re not dealing with questions from you, me and everybody else about what’s going on, why haven’t you, because then it probably make you look inward and go, I don’t know, why haven’t I?

I felt like he was in a great place before Augusta, and obviously winning now and going to a place where he’s won, he kind of — he said at Augusta — you know what he said to me? He goes, I don’t have to do any media that week. I like being under the radar.

I go, No, you don’t. No, you don’t. You want to go in there because the people that go in there are the people that they think are going to win. You want to be on that list.

He’s like, No, I’d rather…

I didn’t believe that. I think you’d rather have us bother you because it means we think you can win, and I think people will bother him next week at Quail Hollow.

CURTIS STRANGE: You never want to be under the radar, okay. And you never want to be getting close. When people say you’re close, what does that mean? It means I’m not playing very well. Okay, I’m getting better, but I’m not playing well.

Anyway, I think Justin is — when you talk about players, I think he would be third or fourth on this list that we’ll talk about here next week.

Think about it like this: He won a few weeks back at Harbour Town on a golf course in my estimation that would be one of the last golf courses he would win on because it’s such a tight, tight golf course with the smallest greens on the planet, and he’s a big hitter, big golf course, big swinger, let her go, and he’s the modern player.

By him winning on a short, tight golf course speaks volumes to me because he can always play the long game. Playing the short game there shows me a great deal that he does have the confidence to hit these shots. He does have the confidence in his game. We’ve seen it come back, and as you were saying, getting close, but to get over the hump at Harbour Town, I just can’t put into words what it does for you and your confidence, your ability to hit the shot the next week.

He’s changed a great deal mentally from the week before Harbour Town to now at the PGA because he has won, and he truly believes now that he can get it done.

SCOTT VAN PELT: There’s another piece to that that we were talking about with Jordan, he’s a dad now. Your world changes. Your world changes. You aren’t the most important person on this planet anymore. Hitting the golf ball ain’t the most important thing in the world anymore. It’s another little human.

I think that is — it’s wonderful to see that. I mean, being out here as long as I have, it’s cool to see these young guys now become husbands and fathers and how that changes their life in a really positive way.

Q – Quail Hollow had gone about 25 years without professional golf before the annual tournament came back in 2003, and now they are going to have had two PGA Championships and a Presidents Cup. For each of you, I’m curious if that is a fast advancement for a course, relatively speaking. And then secondly, how do you think Charlotte and Quail Hollow fit into the world of professional golf overall at this moment?

CURTIS STRANGE: Let me go here for a second. There’s one person that’s responsible. His name is Johnny Harris, okay. He’s been the leader at Quail Hollow. His daddy started it. He’s the one that’s inspired the club to do all the work on the golf course over the years to continue to improve. We laugh with Johnny, he never lets the dirt settle over there. But he’s been the one to get the TOUR there, back to Quail Hollow. I played two or three Quail Hollows back in the late ’70s. It was a hard golf course then.

But to get the TOUR there, to get the PGA. I read the other day that on the horizon, maybe a U.S. Senior Open, that type stuff. He’s never stopped moving the needle there in Charlotte.

And Charlotte, in return, has just been hugely supportive. Look at the Truist and how well they’ve been supported over the years, all the sponsors and people. That’s who I congratulate, not only the members but Johnny for a job well done.

Q – Scott, I know you haven’t been there, but do you have some thoughts on what Quail Hollow has done?

SCOTT VAN PELT: The gentleman Curtis mentioned is the driving force behind it, clearly. But the thing about Charlotte, it’s just a big-time venue and a big-time town that supports a big-time event. It was obvious when — what do we talk about when we go to these venues? Who do they identify? That’s the old saying about it as it relates to the U.S. Open, like, oh, you’re trying to embarrass the best players in the world. No, I’m trying to identify them.

Well, when a venue identifies players like this one has identified, then it speaks to what kind of course, what kind of talent is required to win there.

I’ve always admired the tournament just because it feels big. It’s a big ballpark, and it tends to identify big-time winners.

I think once you kind of get on — once you become the stage and then people like this win at that place and then you sink the commitment to making it not just good, not just great but truly world class, that’s when events like this keep turning up.

Again, that’s why I’m so very anxious to see it. It’s one of those places like Phog Allen Fieldhouse. I hadn’t been there, but I knew what it was. And then you walk in, and then you see it and you smell it, right, and then it’s different. So I know what I’m walking into, I just want to walk it.

I’m looking forward to it, as I’ve said, and I’ve said that 100 times.

Q – I’m curious on the PGA TOUR, LIV, PIF negotiations, how you think that could possibly come together per an agreement, if at all?

CURTIS STRANGE: I would prefer to talk PGA, but since you asked the question, I don’t think there’s been any movement there. I come from a different position, as a lot of other people, because I played this TOUR since ’77. It’s been my life. It’s made me — given me the opportunity to play the game for a long time, and now talk about it.

I just don’t think LIV and the TOUR will ever get together, nor do I know if they want to get together. I just think the question is does the Saudi money come in and support the TOUR, gets a part of the TOUR, gets what they want. I have no idea.

The way I hear negotiations are going, it’s going to be a long shot right now. We don’t know any more than you do. I don’t talk to anybody. I would love to know more, but it’s a secret society right now. I read in the paper what I know.

SCOTT VAN PELT: I appreciate and respect so much the people like Curtis that made their living doing this. It’s easy for me. My opinion is very different just because I didn’t live it, but I respect someone who is who he is because of how great he was at this particular profession and that particular Tour.

I just look at it from just a — I don’t know, I just apply what I think is common sense and reason and things tend to get sorted out and money tends to be a driving factor. I don’t know anything. I’m not privy to anything.

I go back to a couple years ago, I woke up one morning, and guys on CNBC said, hey, we’re going to do this thing, and all the best players in the world are calling me and going, What’s going on? I’m like, You don’t know? You think they told my dumb ass what’s going on? Because I certainly don’t.

I don’t have a clue other than I sit back and assume stuff gets figured out. But then I figure that the NCAA is going to figure out NIL, too, and then I just keep waiting. Every coach I know is like, Do you think this is ever going to get fixed? Because it’s a catastrophe.

It’s a completely different conversation; but, again, the same thing is involved. It’s money. I just assume it gets figured out. But when and how, I don’t know.

Q – I want to ask Curtis, you had mentioned you had played some of those early Kemper Opens at Quail Hollow. You said it was hard then. Did it ever occur to you that this could be a major championship venue?

CURTIS STRANGE: Man, I was trying to put three squares on the table for my wife back in the day. I was 21, 22 years old. I was just happy to be able to play somewhere. But you never know.

Especially when the Kemper left Charlotte and went to D.C., and you think — we don’t think, you just don’t know, but it doesn’t happen very often where it comes back and becomes such a big venue for big events. I don’t know. I’m glad it did. I live in North Carolina now and have for a long time, and happy for the people there.

As Scotty referenced earlier, Charlotte is a big-time sport town right now. It has grown. The people support all of them. They have just about every sport there is. I’m just glad it’s golf.

They have a venue — we have a lot of great sports towns, but do they have a venue that can handle big-time golf, corporately, TV-wise, spectators, and players like it. Right now they’re hitting on all cylinders because everybody enjoys it there.

I see it getting bigger and better because what I read the other day, when you read these things, I always believe where there’s smoke there’s fire. There’s talk about a U.S. Senior Open. There’s talk about this, there’s talk about that. Johnny will not rest. Johnny wants to do everything he can for the town of Charlotte, so I expect it to happen.

Q – How much has Quail Hollow changed from those days when you were cutting your teeth?

CURTIS STRANGE: Well, I played the first one when it came back in — what was it? I was 48. I was actually just getting ready for the Champions Tour a little bit, and I bit off a little bit more than I could chew. It was like that dog that finally caught the car and now what the hell are you going to do with it. It was way too much golf course for me at 48 years old. But it wasn’t for the other young guys.

So it’s improved. Obviously the routing is a little bit different, 16, 17, 18 a little bit. But it’s just a big-time golf course and challenges the best players in the world with length, with strategy, with the demand to hit shots. It’s everything you would want, but I don’t want it.

Q – It feels like nobody is talking about the defending champion, Xander Schauffele. He’s coming off the injury, finally had a good week at Augusta. I’m curious if you guys think it benefits him to be kind of coming into this tournament without any pressure, but he was also the runner-up the last two years at Quail Hollow, so he’s comfortable here.

SCOTT VAN PELT: I think it’s the question only he would know is sort of how much he would — just a rib situation, how much does it still bother you. It was back in the winter, but that’s the kind of thing — I wrecked on a damn moped, fell off a cracked a rib, and that was Thanksgiving, and I’m old and feeble, but it still bugs me.

I think the question of how much the injury set him back, only he truly knows. I would say that he’s one of those guys — I mentioned walking with the guys during this week. Xander is a guy typically I’ve always walked with during practice rounds. And we didn’t last year at Valhalla, and I said, well, I guess that means we’re done for walking ever again. He’s not superstitious. I said, cool, we’ll see you at Quail Hollow.

But him winning one and then two, we talk often about how does it change your perception, he’s halfway to the Slam. He went from none to halfway to the Slam in a summer.

My answer to the question, I just assume Xander is a factor any week he turns up because he’s that good a player. But what I don’t know is sort of where is he sort of health-wise, game-wise relative to where he was prior to this issue. And again, that’s something only he truly knows, and maybe he’s fully past it.

But you’re right to point out that if he’s there on the Thursday or Sunday on that first page, you go, well, of course he is. He’s Xander freaking Schauffele and he’s that good.

CURTIS STRANGE: I apologize for not talking more about Xander. We always go through this phone call twice a year and we don’t talk about somebody enough, and Xander is that guy today. I personally think he’s probably healthy. I also think coming off the year last year, it’s understandable and human to have a bit of a letdown. That coupled with the injury.

He got a little bit behind the 8-ball this year, but I think he’s playing well now. He has to get the mojo back.

This guy, it’s not only the ability to hit the golf ball at the right time, at the right place, to be mentally prepared and strong enough to hit the shot that you only think you can hit and nobody else in the field, have that kind of inner confidence.

But it’s also the momentum, feeling like you’re playing with house money sometimes, feeling like you’re playing like you don’t care. I love the comment “play like you don’t care” because you free yourself up.

Why do you play well in practice rounds and pro-ams? Because you play like that. We get in our own way sometimes, but I think he’s going to do well. He’s a world-class player. As Andy said, twice a major last year. It wouldn’t surprise anybody if he played really well this week.

SCOTT VAN PELT: I think the coolest thing about Xander Schauffele is seeing it up close, he didn’t change anything. You know how hard it is to be close, not have broken through. And this is a sport where you’ve seen people, they change clubs, they change caddies, they change everything. They change, just because you think you’ve got to change to break through.

Xander is like, Nope, I’m just going to keep my head down and I’m going to keep doing what I do because

I think it’s going to be enough.

When you think it’s enough and then you get validated in that way not once but twice in a summer, I think the message there is awesome; that he believed his good enough was good enough, and he was right.

Click HERE to visit ESPN Press Room’s golf media kit for announcer bios, photos, programming schedules and more.

(Photo courtesy PGA of America/Gary W. Kellner)

-30-

Media Contact: Andy Hall, andy.hall@espn.com