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I've had opportunities to step foot on the grounds and play Augusta and watch the Masters. But I always, since I was a kid, I always told myself I am never going to set foot there unless I am playing and a participant.
When I got on tour in 2014, I was hitting a slice off the tee. No joke. Yeah, I had plenty of power, and I knew how to play the curve, but I was a tour player who was watching his tee shots peel 30, 40 yards to the right.
How you think, and how much you think, is so important in golf. There are countless things we can work on and think about in the swing, but when it's time to play in competition, you don't want to think too many thoughts.
In 2013, I changed to left-hand low, or cross-handed. And it's helped a lot. At the time, the reason I switched was just a lot of inconsistency with putting. I was either making a lot of putts, or I was missing a lot of putts.
I know a lot of kids following in my footsteps, not only from my heritage, but there's younger generations trying to follow in my footsteps, so it's really cool just to be the start of something pretty special for our culture.
I just had different circumstances than most players, and I think that has been an advantage - maybe I carry a little chip on my shoulder with just how tough it was for my parents to overcome some of those financial situations.
It will be a great accomplishment if I become the best player in the world. But if my children can grow up with great core values and become great people and do good things and are happy, then, man, that would bring me great joy.
For so many years, I was watching my tee shots slide hard to the right. I used to think I was hitting a draw at times, and the ball was still curving to the right! I still prefer to play a little fade, but I've had to recalibrate my visuals.
It was tough, and sometimes you had to find some sponsors for a percentage of your winnings. There are a lot of variables to playing mini-tour golf because of the finances. If you don't play well, you're often losing a lot of your own money.
I don't really get to attend church. That's definitely one of the challenges. I'm always playing on Sunday, and that's tough because I really never get to take the sacrament - maybe once every three or four months when I'm home and have a week off.
Needless to say, the Masters is the tournament I'd like to play in and win the most. I've never seen it in person and wouldn't go even if you gave me tickets, because I made a promise to myself as a kid that I wouldn't go until I played my way there.
It's the Tiger Woods effect. What he was able to accomplish at such a young age - he drew me to the game, and I can only speak for myself, but a lot of the players that are my age saw Tiger in his prime when we were all teenagers. We all wanted to be like him.
I've taken two weeks off before I've played a major, and I've played two straight weeks before a major as well. I definitely feel it's important, whether I've taken time off or played right before, that I take necessary rest time in the weeks before the tournament.
I think it's a cool thing to have kids look up to me and to know that it doesn't matter, your background or your ethnic background. If you have goals and dreams, you can achieve them. I am extremely proud to be Tongan and Samoan, and to be the first on Tour and the first in the Masters is a cool thing.
The crazy thing is, the last club I ever learned to hit was my driver. My brother and I ended up being known for our distance, but we had no idea how far we could hit the ball because we hit it the same, and all of a sudden, we're going to tournaments, and we're driving the par-4s. At 10 years old, I was hitting it, like, 240.