Technique: How old were you when you started playing golf?
Andrews: When I started playing golf I was twelve years old, which is pretty late for a normal golfer.
Technique: Do you have any pre-match rituals or superstitions?
Andrews: I always try to do everything really slowly. Before the tournament round I always try to move slow and think slow because you’re pretty psyched up and you’re ready to get going and to calm myself down I intentionally go slower. I [also] draw a dot on my glove for when things are going bad to remind me and help me get back on track.
Technique: How did you end up at Tech?
Andrews: I chose Tech because it’s a great academic school and the golf program is incredible. They’re always ranked very high and have a chance at a national title. I wanted to be a part of a team that could maybe win a national title.
Technique: What is your major and why did you choose it?
Andrews: I’m a business major. I honestly think, for me, if golf doesn’t work out I can always fall back on a business degree.
Technique: What other schools did you look at coming out of high school?
Andrews: I’m from Raleigh, North Carolina so I looked at UNC, NC State, Wake, Duke, Virginia and Georgia.
Technique: How do you prepare in the offseason?
Andrews: We’re actually in the offseason right now. So a normal offseason day or week is just basically an hour and a half workout as hard as you can, with a lot of heavy lifting for us and a little bit of conditioning. We go from January to the end of October straight for golf, so by November 1st we’re super tired; we’re beat; we’re ready to put the clubs up. So for us, the offseason is more of a downtime. We get to be normal students and just work out and sleep.
Technique: Usually you don’t picture a golfer going to the weight room.
Andrews: What has happened is that Tiger [Woods] has changed the whole game of golf. He’s created this physical, athletic image that people now look at and say, “this is where we need to get better.” Everybody starts doing it and the next thing you know, if you’re not [working out] you’re falling behind.
Technique: What does your typical day look like during the season?
Andrews: Typical day during the season would be working out from 6:00-7:00, breakfast 7:00-8:00, class at 9:00 until 12:00, lunch 12:00-1:00, then from 1:00 to 7:00 practice at the course. And then come back, eat dinner, do two hours of schoolwork and go to bed.
Technique: What are your hobbies outside of golf?
Andrews: Outside of golf, I really like to go to the movies. During the summer when I don’t have school, I’ll go to a movie every other night.
Technique: What’s your favorite movie and actor/actress?
Andrews: I love the Bourne series; those are the best. My favorite actor is Liam Neeson—he’s from Taken and Grey, and he’s been in a lot of movies. As for actress, [it’d be] Jennifer Anniston, but that’s just based on looks, not acting skills; that’s a different story. Gweneth Paltrow in Iron Man was pretty good, and she looked pretty good.
Technique: What is your most memorable sports experience outside of golf?
Andrews: [As a big Carolina Panthers fan], definitely going to the Super Bowl in 2003 at Reliant Stadium in Houston. I watched the Panthers tie the game with about 1:20 left. [The score was] 29-29 I believe, and John Kasay, probably the only guy who had been with the Panthers forever, kicked it out of bounds on the kickoff. You’re giving it to Tom Brady, who had won a Super Bowl beforehand, at the forty with enough time to drive it down and kick their field goal. That was also the whole scandal with Janet Jackson at halftime, so that was a very memorable Super Bowl for me.
Technique: If you could change one rule abut golf, what would it be?
Andrews: I would definitely allow you to move your ball out of a divot in the fairway. Normally, my logic is that a divot is “ground under repair,” is it not? It’s ground that has been messed up and then you’ve put sand in it to let it grow back. In golf there are ground-in-repair areas that you can get relief from, but a divot in the fairway [penalizes you] for hitting a good shot.
Technique: Who is your favorite athlete?
Andrews: Just based on the Panthers, he’s a new addition: Luke Kuechly. He’s a linebacker, and it’s between [him] and Greg Olsen, the tight end. Kuchely went to Boston College and was captain there, and basically came into the pros and started dominating right away, and to see that is incredible. He plays so hard every day, and it’s fun to watch.
Technique: What are your personal and team goals for this year?
Andrews: For personal goals, I just want to put all I can into every round, every shot of every practice and every shot of every tournament round because at the end of the year, one shot could be the difference between first place and second place. So if you practice leading up to it like you’re going to play that will be great. As a team, the team sport of golf is a bunch of individuals that create this pyramid to the team goal. So I just want everybody to try to get better every day. If you have five people playing in a tournament and all five are getting better every day, after a hundred days that is a lot of “getting better.” So as a team, if we can get better every day I don’t think it’s fair to put a limit on what we can do.
Obviously, any team’s end result is to win a national championship, but I think to put a material goal on it is not really good for it because you just have to do the best you can, and what happens, happens. I feel like if you focus on what you can do, the other stuff just happens.