Harris English knew what he had to do to turn his form and fortune around.
He had to become Harris English again.
The two-time PGA Tour winner’s journey back to being himself began shortly after he lost his full playing privileges for the first time in seven years last fall in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. A dismal back nine on the final day of the final tournament of the season left him without his card for the 2019-20 campaign and dropped him into the No. 126-150 category for this season. He hadn’t won on Tour since 2013, was No. 369 in the world, and was staring at a season full of fewer playing opportunities.
“Instead of finishing it off, I didn’t pull it off,” English said. “I had it in my hands and didn’t get the job done. It hurt.”
Instead of wallowing in woe – just not his style – English, 30, got together with a few trusted allies and vowed to find the proverbial silver lining in his situation. Part of his blueprint going forward would be to stop trying to be someone else.
“I got into a bad habit, and a lot of golfers do this, of watching Dustin Johnson swing like he does, watching Brooks Koepka swing like he does, watching Rory McIlroy swing like he does, and wondering why can’t I swing like that?” English said. “I was thinking about what I can do to swing like them instead of thinking what I can do to make my swing be as good as it could possibly be. And I realized my swing can be just as good as any player’s swing in the world.”
Along with his coach, Justin Parsons, the two started to watch someone else – English – as they pulled up some video from his playing days at the University of Georgia (English won a Nationwide Tour while he was a Bulldog). The two kept their approach simple and just refined English’s swing.
“We’ve done a good job figuring out what makes my swing tick,” English said.
Well, things started to click. Along with sharpened focus and fitness, English had four top-6 finishes in the fall and kept rolling this year with a tie for 16th in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, a tie for 17th in the Honda Classic and a tie for ninth in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“I kept building up momentum,” he said. “I had more confidence in where my ball was going and I knew I could compete and win.”
Then the English Express next rolled into The Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship event, and he signed for a 7-under-par 65 after the first round to stand two strokes out of the lead. But then the world came to a standstill and the PGA Tour was shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As he drove up Interstate 95 to his home in St. Simons Island, Georgia, the day the PGA Tour was silenced, English again was determined to turn this undesirable time into a positive.
“My game was in great shape and I was peaking at the right time in one of the biggest tournaments of the year. Huge purse, huge FedExCup points at stake,” said English, who is now No. 155 in the world and 24th in the FedExCup standings. “But it does me no good to think of the negatives.”
Instead he found plenty of positives – spending quality time with his wife, Helen Marie, and their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Maisy, leading the way. He’s kept his fitness in top-top shape and his game in fine form with numerous trips to local golf courses and frequent money games with an abundance of fellow pros who live in the area.
“It’s the longest time I’ve been home since I’ve been a pro. I’m an actual resident of St. Simons now,” he laughed. “It’s been a good break.”
But he’s itching to get back to the PGA Tour. He plans on playing the first two events when the Tour resumes play June 11-14 with the Charles Schwab Challenge. He’s also in The Memorial, the PGA Championship and at least the first two FedExCup Playoffs events. Still, he’ll have to rely on sponsor’s exemptions to get into other tournaments.
But he knows he’s in a far better position than he was nine months ago.
“I’ve always loved being in a situation where my back is up against the wall, and my back was up against the wall back then,” he said. “I think I needed to hit bottom like I did to figure out that my way of doing stuff wasn’t working. I needed to change the way I thought, change the way I worked and I needed to get better.
“I knew when I got to tournaments I was going to be 100 percent prepared, 100 percent rested and ready to go.
“That’s what makes this game so cool. You’re never good enough and you’re always striving to get better and that’s what pushes me to work every day and try and be the best player in the world.
“I’m ready to get rolling on the road again.”
