Q&A with James Nicholas - Korn Ferry Tour

Alex Elias

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(https://www.instagram.com/p/CS9bdTgrH3a/)

Following your first season the Korn Ferry Tour, what advice have you received? 

Morgan Hoffman told me, 'Don't try to change your game to play like other people. What you do well is what got you there so just try and get better at what you do well. If you're a great driver of the ball and everyone's hitting iron off the tee, but if you feel more comfortable hitting driver, then hit driver.' 

What is the biggest difference between collegiate and professional golf?

The biggest difference is that everybody's better. The worst player is better. The best player is better. The average score is lower. Obviously, I went to Yale and we didn't play against the best teams in the country, so it might be different for others, but on the Korn Ferry Tour all these guys went to the best schools and are the best players from each class year. It's definitely a bit of a change, going from college where you can play your B-Game and win to if you're playing your B-Game, then you're missing the cut on the Korn Ferry Tour. 

Recently, I read that your motto was "Control the controllables", what does that mean to you exactly?

It was my first time ever playing four round tournaments and it's such a long stretch of golf, where so much can happen, so if you're thinking about it like that then it's overwhelming but if you take it one shot, one moment at a time a time it becomes much easier.

What are a few goals you have set for next season? 

Less bogeys. That's obviously a very simple way to say play better, but most of my bogeys come from hitting poor shots off the tee or into greens, so limiting the mistakes in those two aspects would be big for me.