STATESBORO - Brian Harman shot to the top of the leaderboard at last month's Open Championship on the second day and never looked back, winning his first major championship. By his side the entire time was his longtime caddie, Scott Tway. While Tway wasn't the one swinging the clubs and making the shot, he was equally important to Harman's success, especially on the final day when the weather took a turn for the worse.

It was a great success story for two Georgia guys as Harman hails from Savannah and Tway played for Georgia Southern in the mid-80s.

Recently, GSEagles.com got a chance to catch up with Tway to get his thoughts on The Open as well his time in Statesboro.

Q: What drew you to Georgia Southern from Oklahoma?
A: I'm from Oklahoma, but I actually grew up in Marietta, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. I cut my teeth playing in the Georgia State Golf Association and the AJGA as a junior golfer. My sister was already attending Southern and I was familiar with the program. It was an easy decision!

Q: What were some of your best memories of Statesboro during your time here?
A: I was at Southern during the Erk Russell days. We would be hitting balls down at the practice football field and he would be out jogging. He always stopped and shot the bull with us and that was cool. But probably my favorite thing was the people I met while I was there. I made some lifelong friends and had some good times.

Q: What did you enjoy doing away from golf? 
A: I did a lot of hunting and fishing while I was there... it's a pretty good country for that. Statesboro also had a lot of social activities!

Q: Rumor has it you used to love fishing at Forest Heights Country Club. What was the biggest fish you caught at FHCC?
A: The biggest fish I ever caught out there was probably only 6 or 7 lbs.  No hogs, but we caught a lot of fish. There are great places to fish all around Statesboro!

Q: Who have you caddied for on the PGA Tour?
A: I started out caddying for my brother (Bob Tway) and we worked together about 10 years. Then I worked for Scott Verplank for 12 years. I did a short stretch with Chris Kirk for about 1 1/2 years. I've been with Brian Harman now for 10 years.

Q: What is your favorite caddie experience, before The Open?
A: I've done two Ryder Cups and two Presidents Cups. Those are great experiences. Winning the Heritage in '95 with my bro was pretty special. I've been very fortunate to get to experience a lot of really cool things during my time out on tour.  

Q: How did a Bulldog and an Eagle come together to make a great pair of golfer and caddie?
A: I actually met Brian for the first time when he was a 16 year old playing in the PGA Tour Heritage Classic. I was working for Verplank and he was an Okie State guy. Oklahoma State was trying to recruit Brian so we played a practice round together. I didn't see him again until he was on tour. I was working for Kirk and we would sometimes play practice rounds with Brian. After Kirk and I split, Brian and I got together.

Q: When did you think that the tournament was over and how hard was it to stay the course on Sunday with a big lead while dealing with the weather?
A: I didn't think it was over until we came out of the bunker on 18. There were times when I felt pretty good about it but if there's one thing I've learned it's never get ahead of yourself. The bad weather turned out to be a positive thing; I think it kept guys from having an opportunity to shoot a super-low score out in front of us. And the weather also kept us busy so many extra things you have to do to try to keep things dry and we got into a pretty good rhythm, but it kept us occupied. Where you just didn't have a whole lot of free time to have erroneous thoughts.

Q: What is your favorite moment from The Open?
A: After Brian came out of the bunker on 18 he walked over and smacked me on the chest and said "come on country, We got this."  it was the first time we were able to let our guard down and really just enjoy the moment. And then, of course, there's drinking Guinness from the Claret Jug!! And I can tell you, it doesn't get any better than that!!