"Here Comes Tiger Woods. He Drops Balls Next To Me Literally Right Next To Me On The Range. Growing Up In his Era, Watching Him Play Golf On TV, It Was Really Cool To Have One Of My Idols Hit Balls Next To Me' - Club Pro Tyler Collet On Woods Encounter

Tyler Collet, the Assistant Professional at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida, is making his fourth PGA Championship start this week at Quail Hollow after storming to victory by a record 10-stroke margin at the PGA Professional Championship late last month.

He's one of the 20 club pros in the PGA Championship field, and he spoke to the media on Wednesday in Charlotte as the lead player from the 20 professionals who make up the Corebridge Financial Team.

Collet discussed his game, the course and his mentally, while he also revealed an interesting Tiger Woods story from his 2022 PGA Championship appearance at Southern Hills - where he learned that the great 15-time Major winner was human.

"I think if you would have asked me that four years ago, I would have told you a different answer," Collet said on how he deals with bad shots, which prompted his Tiger Woods story.

"But now I would just say golf is just a game, and it's a game that we love to play, and it's supposed to be fun. Just try to be light with it and try to have fun with shots. Everybody hits bad shots.

"I'm going to tell a story that I probably shouldn't, but I'm going to. In 2022, I was at Southern Hills, and it was Sunday afternoon before the week started. And it was me and one other person on the range hitting golf balls.

"Here comes Tiger Woods. He drops balls next to me literally right next to me on the range. Growing up in his era, watching him play golf on TV, it was really cool to have one of my idols hit balls next to me.

"But he's a human being, and he was mis-hitting shots just like I was. He's the greatest to ever do it, but he does hit bad shots, too.

"Just kind of take the shots how you have it. Everybody hits bad shots, but just try to have fun with it.

"Yeah, as we play on this level, we know what a thin shot sounds like, we know what a fat shot sounds like, and listening to the sound of the golf ball.

"Obviously when he hits it good it's a different sound; obviously he's the best ever to do it. But I know what a thin shot sounds like, and I know what a push sounds like or a pull.

"And he was hitting those shots just like everyone else would. That's all I meant by it."

Collet credits his mentally for his new-found elite golf game, having graduated from the PGA Golf Management program in 2017 before qualifying for his first PGA Championship four years later.

Since then, he's managed to make his way into three more in the space of just four years, with the 29-year-old teeing it up at Kiawah Island in 2021, Southern Hills in 2022, Valhalla last year and now Quail Hollow.

His scores have got progressively better, too, having gone from 26-over to 10-over to just three-over last year. His goal this week will surely be to make the cut after his incredible 15-under-par score at the PGA Professional Championship, where he became just the fourth wire-to-wire winner in the tournament's history.

Collet is the 2023 and '22 South Florida PGA Player of the Year, having also won the 2023 South Florida PGA Professional Championship, 2023 South Florida PGA Stroke Play Championship, and 2023 South Florida PGA Assistant Championship.

He also made three PGA Tour starts in 2024 and has six more to look forward to after his win at the PGA Professional Championship. He plans to attempt to qualify for both the US Open and The Open later this summer as well.

"I don't think I got good enough until a few years ago, and it all kind of changed on how I approached and viewed the game of golf," Collet told media of his progression.

"I would say in junior golf, college, maybe a year after college, I always had the dream to play professionally and play at the highest level. But I viewed it as, like, my 100 percent job, which it is, but I never had fun doing it.

"Now I enjoy what I do, and I think my mindset is it's not the end of the world anymore. It's a game that I love to play, and it's obviously the highest level, but it's not like it's life and death out there.

"And I think that calms me mind down and calms my approach, and I play better because of it."

Collet plays with 2016 PGA Champion Jimmy Walker and 2024 Senior PGA Champion Richard Bland over the first 36 holes. See all the PGA Championship tee times for the opening two rounds.