Q&A with Dan McCarthy on his recent win and outlook for the rest of the season

Dan McCarthy has a calming, patient way about him. The way he talks invokes the kind of character in a movie who tells the protagonist that things will be OK, and then provides some calming wisdom to help said character to a heroic moment.

But McCarthy is on the verge of getting out of the bit-part role, and onto the big stage as a major player himself.

The 33-year-old has proven he can win, and win lots. He was a four-time winner on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada en route to winning Player of the Year honors in 2016. It was the greatest season in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned developmental circuit ever.

He battled injuries and father time the last couple seasons on the Web.com Tour, but finally broke through a few weeks ago to win the Savannah Golf Championship, his first on Tour.

Now McCarthy sits eighth on the season-long points race. He has his sights set on the PGA TOUR for the first time in decade-long professional golf career. He’s got off to solid starts in the past, but this year he’s looking to carry it through for the next four months, and straight onto the PGA TOUR.

McCarthy spent a few minutes with PGA TOUR Digital chatting about his big win, his support system, and why being a New Yorker helped make him such a hard worker.

You just won a big tournament after being out of the winner’s circle for a while, same with Tiger Woods. Did you watch?

It was hard not to feel a little emotional about it. He’s been through so much, and he was one of the reasons I got into the game as a kid. When he broke out I was 11 years old so not only this generation, but my generation of players idolized Tiger, that’s for sure. I remember watching (in 1997), but I didn’t watch from start to finish like this time (laughs).

What does it feel like to tee it up at a Web.com Tour event as the Tour’s most recent winner?

I’m still thinking about (the win) all the time. I hadn’t won in a while. I’m not going to say I was doubting it, but when you haven’t got into contention in a while, and with the start to the year that I had, it kind of came out of nowhere. I hit it good the first five events that I played, but I never got anything out of it. The putter was kind of shaky, kind of off.  Going into that week I was just looking for a solid week, a solid finish. I got off to a great start the first two rounds. The weather got a little bit tougher on the weekend but I was able to keep it going and hang on.

How important is it to get off to a good start, like you did in Savannah, and kick start a tournament with some momentum?

Guys are making so many birdies out here that 1, 2, 3-under par on a daily basis seems like you’re going to get lapped. Guys are so sharp and so good out here, it seems like you need to shoot 4-to-7-under just to keep pace most of the time. If you’re not doing that out of the gate, you set yourself up behind the 8-ball early on. Then if you make the weekend you have to go super low to get yourself in the mix. Getting off to a good start on any Tour is huge.

What have you been working on this year?

I felt like I hit the ball better in Louisiana, but I missed the cut. I had made a commitment before the season to pay a tremendous amount of detail to just the basics like alignment, swing plane, stuff like that, and my normal drills that have been successful for me in the past. I just wanted to continually work on those day-in and day-out and just try to be patient. It’s a long season out here, you start in January and you go to August. I just want to stay consistent all year and I just want to work on the basics. I’m trying not to change the process because it’s clearly working.

Does winning at this point in the year change your approach to scheduling for the rest of the season?

There are a couple of events coming up in the next eight or nine weeks that I was able to skip last year because I got off to a pretty good start. Those are courses I haven’t seen and those are probably ones I’ll take off again. I’ll play the next two and take the week off in Nashville, then play the next five in a row after that. I wanted to take another week off before I went out on a long stretch because I like those five events, and we’ll see where we stand after that.

Being from New York, is there something about that and how hard you work?

Being from upstate New York I think we’re very resilient, we’re gritty. We’re accustomed to working hard for what we get and what we obtain. Nothing ever comes easy. I’ve been instilled with a great work ethic that’s just been my upbringing. I’m not afraid to do the work. I’m not blessed with the tremendous gifts like Dustin Johnson or (Rory) McIlroy or Tiger Woods or some of the superstars, so it’s something I’m going to have to work for and work harder and better than other people if I’m going to achieve the goals and dreams I’ve had my whole life. 

Growing up you didn’t have the benefit of playing 12 months of the year. For the most part, you hit balls inside?

Some of the teaching pros I worked with growing up had nets, so a lot of the winter was spent doing drills or, well, most of the winter was shut down. I’d play basketball or do a little skiing growing up. I shut it down for several months for the winter and didn’t really touch clubs or think much about golf. It’s more of an advantage growing up in a warm-weather climate to become a professional golfer but there have been several people that have come from upstate New York before me who have done extremely well. It’s not impossible.

One of the lasting images from your win was you and your girlfriend Elizabeth embracing on the 18th green. How has she been as a key part of your support system?

She just moved down to West Palm Beach about a month-and-a-half ago after us dating for a couple years. We met in Florida originally but she moved back to Charlotte for about a year-and-a-half and has since moved back to Florida. She drove up Friday night (to Savannah) after she got out of work and was there with me on the weekend. It was great just having her around. We went out for dinner and got to talk through things that were going on in my head. She was a great sounding board and supporter – she kept saying she believed in me and reminded me to believe in myself. She said I had been there before, even though it had been a while, and been successful. She kept my head on straight.

What’s your confidence level at now, going through the rest of the season?

I’m really excited to get back playing. You don’t necessarily want to take weeks off when you win; you want to keep things rolling. But I was pretty tired after that event. The whole week and the whole experience about being back in the mix took it out of me. I was pretty tired when I woke up Monday morning. I’ve got off to pretty good starts the last two years, but this is by far the best start. It’s the best position I’ve been in. I’m going to continue with the process as I set out at the beginning of the year. I’m going to pay attention to fundamentals and basics and be truly diligent in following through with my drills and the things that make me tick.