Transcript: Nationwide Tour Player of the Year de Jonge

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JOEL SCHUCHMANN: At this time we'd like to welcome the Nationwide Tour Player of the Year, Brendon de Jonge. Brendon earned the Nationwide Tour Player of the Year honors after finishing second on the Nationwide Tour Money List and after posting a win at the Xerox Classic. Brendon returns to the PGA TOUR for the second time next year after having been a rookie on that tour in 2007.

Brendon, I'm sure it's an exciting day for you in your golf career, and hopefully the start of something really big on the PGA TOUR next year.

BRENDON de JONGE: Yes, sir. Obviously very exciting for me. I just want to start off by saying a big congratulations to Matt Bettencourt, Jarrod Lyle and Jeff Klauk for the wonderful years they had, being nominated for this award. I have no doubt they'll have continued success next year.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Maybe some comments as far as yourself on your season, some comments about playing on the Nationwide Tour this past year.

de JONGE: Yeah, you know, it's a great honor obviously. It's nice to see the Nationwide Tour, what a great proving ground, what a great tour it is. Hopefully more and more people are getting to see that.

As far as my season goes, I'm very, very thrilled at how consistent it was, how often I put myself in contention. The biggest thing is for me to take that same mindset to the PGA TOUR next year.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We can go into questions now for Brendon.

Q. I want to get your sense, what areas of your game do you think you improved this year coming off of your PGA TOUR experience in '07?

de JONGE: I think the mental aspect definitely got a lot better. Just pretty much my all around game. I learned so much on the PGA TOUR in '07. Thankfully I was able to carry that down to the Nationwide Tour with me. I think that bred a lot of my success.

Q. After having to go back to the Nationwide Tour this year, was it hard to have the right frame of mind? I'm sure some people might have been pretty much down after not being back on the PGA TOUR this year.

de JONGE: I made a very, very conscious effort at the beginning of this year to embrace the opportunity I had of playing the Nationwide Tour, playing my way back onto the PGA TOUR. I think it was obviously very important to get into the right frame of mind.

Q. Moving forward to the PGA next year, what were the key things you learned or got better at that you want to keep up next year when you go back to the PGA TOUR?

de JONGE: As I said, the mental aspect of it, the patience, just telling myself that I'm good enough to be out there and compete out there, try and play with the same consistency I played with this year.

Q. Do you have a feeling this will be your swan song on the Nationwide; you won't be back in 2010?

de JONGE: Yeah, I would certainly like to feel like that. But, you know, things happen.

Q. This year was there a certain point in the year where you felt, I'm really in a zone here, really feeling it?

de JONGE: There was a six week stretch right around the middle of the summer where it didn't matter how I played, I managed to get a score in under par. As I heard Padraig talking earlier, you get in that zone, and it's a nice place to be, but it is very mentally draining.

Q. Obviously with the success that Johnson had this year on the TOUR, is that nice to see, now next year you'll be on the TOUR as well, give him a run for his money?

de JONGE: Very much so. Johnson and I are very good friends. We actual played today. It's obviously great to see the success he's had. You know, it's nice for me because I know how our games match up and compare. You know, seeing him do well also breeds confidence for me.

You know, it's going to be great to be out there playing with him. There's always a healthy competitiveness between us.

Q. Where did you play today?

de JONGE: We played out at Piper Glen here in Charlotte.

Q. You're living in Charlotte these days?

de JONGE: Yes, in Charlotte.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Brendon, thanks for your time today. Again, congratulations. We hope you enjoy a little bit of time before you kick things off probably at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Best of luck next year.

de JONGE: Thanks very much, guys. Appreciate it.

Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports.