This is Adam Schenk, and you are listening to This is Purdue.

Hi, I'm Kate Young, and you're listening to This is Purdue, the official podcast for Purdue University. As a Purdue alum and Indiana native, I know firsthand about the family of students and professors who are in it together, persistently pursuing and relentlessly rethinking. Who are the next game changers, difference makers, ceiling breakers, innovators, Who are these Boilermakers? Join me as we feature students, faculty, and alumni taking small steps toward their giant leaps and inspiring others to do the same.

There's a really proud alumni base on the golf course. On the PGA tour, all the time, I'll see Purdue hats, Purdue sweatshirts, Boiler Up all over the place. It's really cool to be a part of that spirit and to embody it, work hard, never give up, the Boilermaker way. That's something that I try and do every day.

In this episode of This is Purdue, we're talking to PGA Tour golfer Adam Schenk. Adam is a Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business Alumni and former First Team All Big Ten Purdue men's golfer who has spent nearly a decade dedicated to his full-time professional career on the golf course. During this time, he secured his PGA tour card and rapidly ascended the leaderboard, often competing alongside some of the world's top-rank golfers. The 2023 season took him to new heights, and during this 2024 season, Adam will be playing at the Masters for the first time in his career. You'll hear Adam reflect on his time playing for the Purdue Men's Golf Team, recounting his first collegiate tournament and what it felt like winning for a team, not just himself. He also shares how he prepares to play with iconic golf legends like Rory McElroy on some of the most famous courses across the country. Plus, Purdue Men's Golf Coach Rob Bradley joins the podcast to discuss his journey with Adam as his coach coach, mentor, and friend, From Purdue to the pros. Adam is a boilermaker who is taking giant leaps in the world of professional golf.

Here's our conversation.

Adam, thank you so much for joining us on This is Purdue. When did you first hear about Purdue? Let's kick it off with your Purdue journey. What made you want to come here?

So my family has always been Purdue fans. My dad has a sod farm and a grain farm. So with Purdue having a big agriculture tie, that was always a big portion of it for me. And the golf courses here are phenomenal. And I was recruited to play golf here, so that's a big reason that I came here as well. Close to home, but far enough away where I still feel like I got a good college experience. So I had a great experience, but overall, it was a great university, and it just made sense for me.

Adam grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, and he majored in business management within the Daniels School of Business. Going into his golf career at Purdue, he was named to the IHSAA Allstate in 2007 and 2009, and earned Indiana Junior Golf Player of the Year honors in 2006 and 2008. As a freshman, Adam became the second Purdue player ever, honored as a Big Ten freshman of the Year. Adam reflects on his favorite memory as part of the Purdue men's golf team, which also happens to align with his very first tournament as a Boilermaker.

The first tournament we played in was Turning Stone in New York. And I made the squad, went, and we were in the final day, and we ended up winning. But during the final round, I remember her playing for more than myself. It was the first time that I wasn't playing as an individual. I was playing for the team, for the university. And we had the Block P logo on our golf ball. And every time I would tee up a shot on the tee, I would always put the Purdue logo on top. That way, I remember that I was playing for something bigger than myself. And we ended up winning the tournament. And the van ride back, the flight back, it was really fun to celebrate it with teammates because I'd never won anything before as a team. So that was very exciting for me.

Adam also shares what he's most proud of during his Purdue golf journey.

Ultimately, the golfer that I became, the person that I became, the teammates that I have lifelong friendships with now, just the journey so much more than the destination. So many good things have come from Purdue, and it's better me in so many ways. So I owe a lot of that to my time at Purdue and just the different experiences that I was able to have here.

I asked Adam about his Purdue experience outside of playing golf, which involved living with several members from his close-knit team.

So we all We lived together. We had a ping-pong table. So during the winter, we would study a little bit on it, and then we played a lot of ping-pong. So one of my best friends, Stuart McDonald, we played so much, a couple hours a day, at least. We'd go to Mall and Cough and throw the frisbee around. The team workouts, which were really hard, and struggling through those together, feeling like they were never going to end. Looking back on those, they weren't always fun at the moment, but very fond memories of just hanging out with teammates. The fraternity, for me, without being in a fraternity, was just the other athletes that we were able make friends with. We'd go over to the tennis house, the baseball house, the volleyball house, and just those more friendships that you make. And I still talk to several of those people still a day.

What else did you like to do at Purdue? Did you have certain study places you liked, certain restaurants that How did that bring you back that nostalgia?

So triple X is obviously a staple. We'd study at Cranet and Rolls Hall, and at the Brea Center, that's where we received our tutoring, which I needed a lot of help. But that was so helpful to be able to have tutors help us out in athletics. I didn't drink coffee in college, which is a huge mistake because I've probably been a better student. I didn't find out about Slash of Words or I didn't like it. I like a lot of cream and sugar.

Adam discusses his academic journey while at Purdue and how he balanced Purdue's rigorous academics and athletics excellence.

It was hard. I mean, we were not a lot of school, but a good amount. Scheduling with your professors, I'm going to miss this quiz, this task. Can I take it early? Can I take it later? A lot of times, they were always helpful, but you'd have to take a week earlier, four days early. That was something that a little bit of diversity you had to face and get through. I wasn't a bad student. I had a 3-1, but just how hard I had to work at some point to even be in a class was pretty eye-opening. Teachers were great at helping us. The tutors we received, the Brees Center, I know Drew Brees has done a hell of a lot for this university. Great football player, even better person, and very supportive. Anything you needed, the resources were there to get help. You just had to seek them out and put effort, and you were likely to succeed.

In 2014, Adam graduated from Purdue, and by 2017, he secured his PGA tour card for the 2018 season. Today, he's playing with pro golf stars in some of the most famous golf tournaments in the world. Adam shares more about his PGA tour career.

So getting into your pro career, you're traveling a ton. People are asking for autographs and photos. Have you gotten used to that yet?

A little bit. I have to deal with it a whole lot less than or where I McAuroy, for instance. And that's a bad word to say, deal with it. It's a great thing to do to inspire a lot of young fans, sign autographs, and generally just being a good person. If there's 100 people there, just sign the autographs, take the 10 minutes. Most everybody on the PGA tour, almost everybody, if not all, do it. And it's a very small, easy way to give back to the game that's given so much to me.

When you're in these big tournaments and you're more and more successful every year, do you ever notice the crowds and the cameras and all the people around you? And how do you deal with that? Because golf is such a mental game, right?

It is. I got a two-part answer. I used to hate playing and practicing myself. I hated it. I love when there's a crowd, when there's people to entertain, like the buzz, there's an excitement. That's fun. But I've learned to love practicing by myself and going at competing at our golf course at home, Cypher Sills, with my dog, Munker. Every time I go, I take him out. Every time. He doesn't miss one time. Does he ride in the car? He rides in the car with me, he chases squirrels, he does all the stuff, runs him up, loves it. I try and make everything a tournament I I have consequences for every shot. I'm just never hitting a shot and not thinking about the result or thinking where I'm going to miss it. I'm always trying to prepare myself for the tournament. In doing that, I try and make myself as ready when I can, when the bright lights come on, when I'm playing with a big name. I made the tour Championship this year with playing with Roy McRoy on Sunday. It was really cool. Got to a really nice start. Hold a shot from 115 yards on three.

Super bonus. Made a long put on one. Didn't quite finish it I'd like to. Roy came back and beat me by four or five. But to know that I can get in those moments and play well, that's just something that continually improve upon. But I do a pretty good job of focusing on myself. And the bright lights are there, the cameras are there. But if you don't take care of your own business and play good golf and worry about yourself, you're most likely not going to play well, and the bright lights aren't going to be there for very long. So it's cool. Fans are awesome. They make it so much fun. But it's important to... You can use that stuff. Just enjoy it. But you need to take care of yourself and take care of business in the moment. And the cameras, the lights, all the stuff will be there afterwards if that's what you're into.

This question goes along with that, but what is it like playing with these absolute golf legends? I mean, at first Were you star struck, or was it just like you were saying, where you have to ignore all that and play for yourself?

A little bit. I'd met Rory before, and he's such a nice guy. He's not overly intimidating, but he's obviously so good at golf, and he had a little back injury on the Wednesday before. So he wasn't able to hit shots. He normally hits his driver quite as far as he does, but he was still hitting it 20 yards by me. And just to see how he handled himself with getting off to a pretty poor start for his standards. I'm always learning something from him or another big name that I might be playing with, but it's cool. My first year on two were a little more star-struck, and it's very cool when you're around the big names, but you want to become one of those big names. They're your colleagues, you're with them all the time. So you do get more of a normalcy being around a lot of the stars in the game. But your goal is to become one of them, to beat them. So at the same time, it is cool. But I wanted to be Rory on Sunday, and that was my goal. And got off to a great start and thought I was going to do it.

And then he got me by a lot in the end. So something to push me to be a little better.

You've called 2023 a life-changing year. What do you mean by that? How has everything changed for you?

Well, I have two full years exempt on tour. Next year, I'm in all the majors, all the signature events, I think they call them. So that's nice to be able to set my schedule. I get to to Augusta National and play the Masters. I'm very excited about that. That's going to be really cool. I don't know if it's chunk in yet, but once you start seeing the Masters commercials this spring, it'll start to get more real. Just to see a lot of hard work come together for five or six years, the process I've been building with Coach and my catty. It's been a long time coming and it's just nice. It's nice when a plan comes together because in golf, I feel like it doesn't. Every week I play, I try and win, and I've never won. So in a sense, every week has been a failure. But it's hard to look at it like that in But next year, I would love to not get the monkey off my back. If I never win, that's okay. But that's my number one goal for it, is to win next year and to perform better in the majors.

Very much so looking forward to it as well.

What would you say your most memorable experience was with the 2023 season?

Two come to mind, the Valspar where I finished second, being in a playoff at Charles Schwab, got extremely close to winning again, didn't quite get it done. Emiliano got me. I made a put maybe 20 feet for par on 18 at FedEx St. Championship in Memphis, and that was to ultimately get me in East Lake. And if I wouldn't have made that put, and then I don't know what I would have needed to finish the BMW the next week, but to make that put, it might be the most timely put of my career to have fallen. So that was very fond memories of that. Looking back, I knew it was a big deal to make it. I didn't know how big a deal, but it turns out it was everything. So that could have been the put that got me in the Masters. So it was like winning without winning.

Adam says he loves seeing plenty of spectators in Purdue clothing and often hears a few Boiler Ups from the bustling crowds at PGA tournaments. He shares more about what the Boilermaker spirit means to him.

I love it. I love the university. Purdue people are just really proud. There's a really proud alumni base. And on the golf course, on the PGA Tour, all the time, I'll see Purdue hats, Purdue sweatshirts, Boiler up all over the place. It's really cool to be a part of that spirit and to embody it. Work hard, never give up, the Boiler maker way. That's something that I try and do every day. And I don't succeed in it every day. But if I'm trying to put three or four or five good days together, then that's how you can hopefully build something that can last.

In 2023, Adam told a PGA to a reporter that he had been to the covited course, Augusta National, one time in his life. And it was as a spectator. He was sick, and he lost his wallet, so he didn't have the best time. Now, in 2024, he's going back to this famous course as a player. Adam will play in the Masters, one of the world's premier golf tournaments for the first time in his career. He shares more about his excitement for this PGA Tour signature event.

What is something you're looking forward to the most? The Masters? The Masters, yeah.

Hands down.

What does that mean to you to play at Augusta?

Just all the memories of seeing it on TV and finally getting to go there and play the par three course. And my wife will catty for me. My son, AJ, will hopefully be walking by then, maybe. I mean, if he's not great, he'll be crawling around. But to see all the different golfers before me that have had those experiences. And then you of the lifelong pictures and memories. So that'll be something that I will cherish forever and to go compete in the majors. I'm there to win the Masters, to compete. I might not win. Who knows? I think there's been one or two first-time winners, Fuzzy Ziller comes to mind. But it's It's really cool to have a set schedule, to be in the Signatures, to be in the majors. But now it's time, what's next? It's time to go compete and try and get up in the mix in a major, which I've never done before. So that's what I'm very much looking forward to as well.

I know our Boilermaker community will certainly be cheering on Adam to win that Covited green jacket. Now, we had the opportunity to interview Adam in the Indoor Pudding Green facility right next to the Camp and Kostler course on Purdue's campus. And Purdue men's golf coach, Rob Bradley, was able to join this interview as well.

Coach Bradley, thank you so much for joining us. What has it been like for you watching Adam play here at Purdue and then go on to this incredible professional career?

Yeah, it's been awesome. Obviously, it's like A goal of mine to help our players get to the PGA tour. I find a ton of enjoyment being part of their journey, whether it's mini tours or Canadian tour, whatever it might be. But then obviously, when guys can make it to the PGA tour, it's pretty special. It's pretty special for Purdue. It's special for our program. For me as a coach, it's been really fun.

Did you know right away when you met Adam that he had the potential to go on and have this pro career?

He does a lot of things. He has a lot of characteristics of a PGA tour player. He hits it really far. He puts really well. So I think when you have guys with those characteristics, you always know there's a chance. But it's obviously a long shot to make it to the PGA tour. There's not very many players out there. So I think going in, it's hard to really say, okay, if somebody is a camp miss player for the PGA tour, unless that they're just winning all the time when they play in college, things like that. But I knew with Adam, with his length, the way he puts it, he generally plays well when he's in contention, things like that. Those are all really good starting points for sure.

Adam was back on campus to catch up with Coach and play around with the Purdue men's golf team. I asked Adam what it means to him to be able to come back and play with these younger Boilermakers.

It means a lot. I don't know as many of the guys as well as I would like to, but it's fun to come back and help them with different things they might be struggling with or talk through them, freshmen, sophomore, junior, seniors, because I've been through everything they're most likely going through. So if there's any little advice I can give them, I'm happy to help or just to be a friend of them and just to play golf and come hang out and be with the boys. So it's like being back on the college team without all the other stuff that goes on. But it's something that I cherish. It's three hours from home, so I come up five or six times a year, at least. It's very special getting back and playing these golf courses because that helps me to get ready to compete. For example, last year, I came up for the US Open for two or three days and played, and then ended up going playing well at Brooklyn. So I would attribute the Purdue facilities a lot to allowing me to be able to be prepared.

Here's Coach Bradley on what it means to the team when Adam comes back to Purdue.

Obviously, their goal was to play on the PGA tour. It's special for them to be able to know, Okay, we can do this. We've got two guys right now that have had a lot of success on tour. It's a bit of a fight on who's going to play with Adam when he comes back, and they're all trying to decide who's going to get to be in the group. And it's so much fun for them. I mean, they follow just like I do or like the other coaches do when Adam's playing well and in contention, we're always obviously watching very closely. So for him to be able to come back and talk to the guys and let them know like, Hey, guys, you can do this, too. So it's pretty special for sure.

And as Coach just mentioned there, Adam isn't the only Boilermaker taking giant leaps in the world of professional golf. Former Purdue golfer, Academic All Big Ten honoree, and Indiana Amateur winner, Tyler Duncan, is also a PGA Tour player. He won his first PGA Tour title at the RSM Classic in 2019. Adam shares more about Tyler who is also a Daniels School of Business graduate, and their long-standing friendship.

We had a lot of stories. Took my under his wing. He was great to me. So we just hung out all the time, and obviously, we were with each other on the golf course, off the golf course, living together. So that's how that friendship struck up, and we've been good friends ever since. We've both played the PGA Tour for six years in a row, so that's been extremely fortunate for, I'm assuming me and him, to have a great friend for six years because he could have played three, and I could have played three, and we could have maybe overlapped for a couple of years, but he's played in the Masters, so hopefully, you can give me some tips.

What does it mean to Coach Bradley to have two former Purdue golfers on the PGA Tour?

Yeah, it's great. Obviously, that's a goal. Being at Purdue, we're lucky. The athletic Department gives us tons of resources to be able to get things done. My goal as a coach is to go, Hey, how can I get these guys to the PGA tour? We've added to a strength coach that works specifically with them, and we have phenomenal facilities. And Purdue has just been great about giving us the resources to be able to help those players get to the PGA tour. So we're really lucky. Our athletes are really lucky. I'm sure if you took the people that Adam was paying or that other tour players were paying, whether it's strength coaches and instructors, nutritionists, all these different things, I think you're putting a lot of your time and money into these resources, and Purdue is doing that for you when you're here. It's definitely a great situation to be in, for sure.

Some additional background here. Coach Bradley is more than just a former coach for Adam. See, in the midst of Adam's PGA tour season in 2021, he reached out to Coach and enlisted his Now, the PGA tour is a grind for dozens of players trying to make it big, and Adam felt his game was just slightly off. He was in a rut, and he needed a mental boost at the time. Adam said Coach Bradley had been so influential in his golf career at Purdue and that he truly knew his game. So Coach served as Adam's caddy, Coach and sports psychologist all in one during that summer of 2021. And he continues to be Adam's instructor on tour.

You and Coach Bradley have a really unique relationship. You played under him at Purdue here, but now he's also your professional instructor when you go on tour. Tell us about that relationship and what that means to you.

Yeah, it's grown. I remember the first time we met was on the back range. I was getting ready to go to the USAM, and he helped me with a few things before I took off. But we talk probably every day, probably two or three times a day. I'm one of my best friends, so it helps him my golf game a lot. And talk to him a lot about golf course management, but more so we're probably better friends and just a really good person to have in my life that keeps me on a straight and narrow. He tells me the truth about something if I need to hear, I'll tell him the truth about something if he needs to hear it. He may not like it, I may not like it, but someone that can help hold you accountable, I think is a pretty good friend and a unique relationship to have because I can tell him something that he doesn't want to hear, and I might be wrong, and he can tell me a lot of things that I don't want to hear. And he's generally always right. But sometimes I am, too, and sometimes he needs to hear something.

It's just a really beneficial relationship tap for me and him, I think.

It's like having a really honest friend when you need it. It is, yeah.

They're not scared to tell you the truth.

Coach Bradley shares more about their unique bond and what it means to him to serve as Adam's instructor.

I was thinking about that a little bit the last few days. For me, It's not really different than how it is with our players. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I just want him to be successful, and I want to be able to help him in any way that I can. Whether it is with our players, whether they have an instructor, or whether I help them, it's my job just to come alongside them and maybe talk through things with their golf swing, talk through ideas that they have, talk through ideas that their instructors have, and be able to help them process those things, help them put them into play. And that's basically what I do with Adam. I think day in and day out on tour, it's not like I'm standing on the range with him saying, Hey, do this and do that. It's much more of he'll say to me, Hey, I've been thinking about this with my grip, I've been thinking about this with my golf swing. What do you think that's going to produce? And we'll just talk through those things. But Adam's on the PGA tour because of Adam. He's a hard working guy that knows what he wants to do with his game, that has had a great progression where he's getting better every year and learning the golf courses and doing all that.

I'm just there to help him in any way that I can to improve upon what he's doing.

And speaking of hard working, Coach Bradley touches on this special Boilermaker spirit here at Purdue.

And you've been coaching at Purdue for over a decade. What is this Boilermaker spirit between athletics, the fans, the education that you can get at Purdue? What does that mean to you?

It's really a special place. I generally think of Boilermakers as hardworking and gritty and just people that are willing to roll their sleeves up and get to work. I love it about this place. I think that Adam is a true Boilermaker. He's always gotten a ton out of his ability. He's always worked really hard, grew up on a farm in Indiana, always been that type of kid. If you said to me, what's a model, produce student-athlete, I think this guy is it. You don't really necessarily see that in somebody when they're playing golf at a high level like he's playing, battling to win the tour championship or whatever that might be. But he's no different than the guys on our team or our coaching staff or whatever, he can come back here and blend right in just like anybody else or going to a Purdue football game and sitting out in the crowd with everybody and having a great time, I think, is what he's all about. And it's what we're all about as a program, too.

I loved getting to see Coach Bradley and Adam's relationship in real life, and it was really a testament to who Adam is as a person. So throughout Adam's collegiate and professional golf journeys, he's embodied the Boilermaker spirit and also that Purdue persistent Persistence. Here's Adam.

When you talk about your professional career, your career here at Purdue, you've gone through a lot. You've had to show a lot of persistence. What does that word persistence mean to you as a professional athlete now?

Persistence, it's similar to a Boilermaker. It's not giving up, always working hard, putting your best foot forward. I think where I've learned a little bit with persistence is you're always trying to continually improve yourself. And if you have the saying, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Sometimes You just need to keep working hard and putting one foot in front of the other. But in my profession, in the way I see my golf game, I'm always looking for ways to improve, small little ways. It doesn't have to be a complete wheel reinvention, but persistence to me is understanding that failure is okay, and it stinks pain hurts. But pain is a great teacher. And when you're continually trying to learn better yourself at home in your professional life on the course, that is a tenacity and something that you can attribute to most people's success rather than most people think of persistence. Just keep going forward and keep trying. And it is. But failure is a great teacher and understanding that sometimes good and great isn't enough. And you're going to fail. Pain is a great teacher, like I said, and that's okay.

But when you're continually improving yourself, you're going to get to where you need to go.

As a very amateur golfer in the beginning stages of learning the game, I asked Adam about the best golf advice he's ever received.

It was probably when I growing up. I used to take some lessons from nick Bianco in Indianapolis somewhere. We went to a bunch of courses, but he told me, You've got a canvas, you got a blank white canvas. It's your picture to paint, and you do it your way, and don't do anybody else's. That way, when you look back, if you fail, if you succeed, whatever, take all the advice you want, pick and choose, but make it your own. This is your canvas. This is your golf career. Do with it how you want to do with it, what you want to do and how you want to build it. That way, there's never any regrets and any excuses. You're taking your full accountability in your golf game in your life. So that's how I looked at a lot of things. I'm a little more hard-headed than most, which is a blessing and a curse in golf. Very stubborn in my ways. My coach knows that and knows how to coach me, knowing that's one of my... I don't want to say it's a shortcoming, but knowing that that's the way I am.

And for all of our listeners out there who are golf fans or are maybe trying to step up your game, hey, I know I am. I asked Adam for some advice for all of us recreational golfers out there.

So there's a lot of, I'm sure, Monday morning, quarterback going on when people are watching golf. What should a recreational golfer know about what it takes to be a pro golfer? What would you say?

I would say that it's all relative, but for the amount of work and effort we put in, we still play really bad golf sometimes, too. Our bad golf might be 72 to 73, four or five, or sometimes it's 80. And understanding that it's just a hard game, and they don't get to play it all the time. So when they go shoot a 70 or a 75 or an 80, whatever a great score might be for them, it's just probably not going to happen all the time. So if you shoot a 75 and that's pretty good for you and you shoot an 80 the next day, why is this happening? I don't know why I can't play good every time. Well, there's a reason I can't shoot 66 every time, or else I would be the Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus. So just, there's a guy on Twitter, Lou, I forget his last name, but his hashtag is always manage your expectations. So I would say manage your expectations.

I love that. With his Golden Retriever bunker by his side on the golf course, Adam continues to persistently pursue his next giant leap of winning a PGA tour event. But he's also leaning into the time he gets to spend with his wife, Courtney, and their son, AJ, while on tour.

It means a lot just to be able to travel together. And my wife is such a rock star, and she makes it so easy on me and AJ. And to be fair, AJ makes it really easy on us. He's been such a good baby. He's been sleeping through the night. I shouldn't say this out loud, but all the parents out there that don't have great luck with sleeping babies. But he slept through the night since he's five weeks old. Having them with me, being able to share those experiences, the pictures we take, looking back even from two months ago, just like, Oh, we did this this week. I can't believe how little AJ was. Being able to share that with them makes the entire experience.

By the way, if you want to see Bunker in action at Purdue's Camping, Kostler course, trust me, you do. And he looks great with the This is Purdue hat on, too. Be sure to check out some of our YouTube video clips with Adam and Bunker on our podcast YouTube page, youtube. Com/atsignthisisp urdu. I asked Adam what role Purdue University has played in his life.

A lot. It's giving me all the experience that I've had for four years to better develop my golfing career, help me grow up from coming in as a young boy, starting to turn into a man, and competition we played against, the courses, the phenomenal schedule, all Also, as well as the academics, which were pretty strenuous for me. I had a pretty well-rounded experience, and whether golf wouldn't have worked out, I still had a great education to fall back on. And that's one thing that I will always be thankful for Purdue. A little bit harder in in the winter, but you get the four seasons. You still travel south a lot in the winter, which is helpful. There's a beautiful facility here that the golf team gets to use. All those things. It really allowed me to just become the first name today.

Why are Adam and Coach Bradley proud to be part of this Boilermaker community?

I just think there's so many things that Purdue has going for it. The administration here has been awesome, and the facilities, the spirit, the different teams, I love going to football games, basketball games. There's just so many different things about Purdue that I love. I heard Tim House say it to some recruits this morning. It's really easy to sell something that you believe in, and that's probably the easiest thing for me about being at Purdue is being able to talk to recruits and believing so much about what we're doing here and the resources that they have available to them. It's just such an easy sell.

Exactly what he I had. There's just so much opportunity, and there was a lot of opportunity when I was here. I would say there's even more opportunity now. I think Coach was a big part of that, and I wish that I could come back and do it all over again, to be honest, so I could go back to 17 or 18-year-old Adam, I would do the experience again. Maybe I'd do a couple of things a little differently, but I had such a good time with the golf team. That was my fraternity. We had so much fun. And as I mentioned, it's so much more about the journey as opposed to the destination. Once you get to a destination. It feels good to maybe... They win a Big Ten Championship. Awesome. It's been too long. They're going to get it done. And once you get there, it's like, Okay, what do we do next? Well, the fun and the enjoyment was in the process of getting there. And then ultimately getting there is really fun. But the most enjoyment that you'll take out of that is enjoying the process, not necessarily the final destination. Just a great place to learn, to grow, and just very thankful that I came here and get to come back.

We ended our conversation with this dynamic duo's goals for their next giant leaps.

I think for me, professionally, winning a Big Ten Championship at Purdue, it's been way too long since we've done that. I feel like our team is continuing to get better and better and continuing to learn as a coach. So that's something that's super important to me, competing to win a national championship. I really feel like that we have the resources and courses here to be able to continue to get better and compete at that level. It's something that is super important to me. Obviously, continuing to be a part of our players' lives after college is important to me, and being part of Adam's journey has been really awesome.

For me, it would just be winning, personally, be my next step on the PGA tour, and also helping coach win a Big Ten Championship, win a national Championship, compete for a national Championship, make match, play, all those. There's steps through a progression that a golf program makes. And he's had a lot of good teams, and he's getting closer, and And like Coach said, always continuing to learn and how to make his players better. And I think that's something Coach does really well. And if I can play a small part in helping the team win a Big Ten Championship, that's what I want to do because I like helping people more than I like playing golf. And I don't always get the opportunity to do that because golf is the most selfish sport in the world. It's team event once a year, the Ryder Cup and the Presence Cup. So that for me is one thing that I want to help make happen soon.

Well, we can't thank you enough for your time, and we'll be rooting for you.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Which golf legend is Adam most star struck by? And what's his favorite course to play? And by the way, does he prefer a hat or a visor while playing on tour? Be sure to check out our rapid fire questions with Adam on our podcast YouTube page to find out these answers and more. Head over to youtube. Com/@thisisp urdu and hit that subscribe button while you're there. And as always, be sure to follow us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever get your podcasts. This is P urdu is hosted and written by me, Kate Young. At this special podcast shoot, our podcast videography was led by Ted Schellenberger in collaboration with John Garcia, Bad Boon, and Matt Kirkoff. Our social media marketing is led by Maria Welch. Our podcast distribution strategy is led by Teresa Walker and Carly Eastman. Our podcast photography is led by John Underwood. Our podcast design is led by Kaitlyn Freeville. Our podcast team project manager is Raine Gu. Our podcast podcast YouTube promotion is managed by Megan Hoskins and Kirsten Bauman. Additional writing assistance is led by Sophie Ritz. Our This is Purdue intern is Caroline Keim. Thanks for listening to This is Purdue.

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