After four seasons at Jacksonville State, Quim Vidal Mora got off to a dream start in Nevada. The Wolf Pack first-year transfer golfer has finished in the top 10 twice in his first two starts to Nevada, including a tie for fifth at last week’s Husky Invitational, which saw the Wolf Pack come back from the top. ‘a deficit of 17 shots in the final. Washington alternately for the team championship. Nevada also finished second in its first tournament of the season, the Gene Miranda Invitational. Following Vidal Mora’s early success with the Wolf Pack, he is the Nevada Sports Net Wolf Pack Athlete of the Month for September, an honor presented in partnership with Champion Chevrolet.

You can watch our full interview with Vidal Mora below, or check out our Q&A below.

Q&A with Quim Vidal Mora

Nevada Sports Network: It was a really exciting week for you last week at the Huskey Invitational. You lose 17 moves before the final round and rally to win. Tell me about this moment with your team.

Quim Vidal Mora: We played well the first day, the day of the 36 holes. We played pretty well, but we knew we could do better. We have a great team and the coach (Jacob Wilner) told us, “OK, go ahead and our main goal was to be in the top four, the top five. So go ahead, do your best, do your best. You can play very well guys. So we went there, had fun, did our best and had a great day, came back from 17 shots. It was awesome. This feeling was absolutely amazing. “

NSN: You transferred to Nevada after four years in Jacksonville State, which is actually Alabama. It’s not in the state of Florida. We have already discussed this. But you have two individual top 10 rankings to start your Wolf Pack career. You tied for fifth at the Huskey Invitational. Were you surprised that you started off so well after moving to Nevada or is that what you expect of yourself?

QVM: I had no idea this was going to happen. I’m really glad I didn’t expect that because it’s a huge program here, great players, completely different from what I played at home in Jacksonville. And here the tournaments are much, much better. I didn’t expect to end up so well. But I have been very comfortable with my golf and played decently, have played a lot of golf with the team who maintain the level and just feel great, super comfortable and play good. I’m really happy for it. “

NSN: What was the big draw for you to want to transfer and come and play for the Wolf Pack?

QVM: My goal is to go and play professional golf, and I feel like in Jacksonville the level was not as good as it is here. So I wanted to have a team that continues to push me, to improve and the most important thing is to play better tournaments with great players. And this is exactly what I was looking for. Also, Coach Wilner and Coach (Mike) Paul are very good coaches, and of course they’re going to help me with that and keep improving to become a professional. “

NSN: You grew up in Barcelona. You didn’t move to America before entering college and wanting the opportunity to play college golf. We were talking a little earlier and you said that football is the most important sport in Spain, then tennis is way below and everything is way below and golf is between five and ten in terms of popular sports. How did you get into the sport?

QVM: Since I was little, my parents played golf. They started with golf, they bought me plastic golf clubs and they started playing. They took me to the golf course with them, just to hit some balls. I liked it. I liked it. So just when the summers came, I started to train more, to train more, to participate in tournaments. I love the tournament feeling and I thank my parents for being able to play this great sport.

NSN: Barcelona is two hours from the mountains. You are right there at the beach. You have a mixture of all these different things. And you grew up as a skier. Are you excited to have the opportunity, maybe not necessarily while you’re still playing, but maybe when you’re done playing here in Nevada to explore the mountains in this area and have the fun? chance to ski here?

QVM: I’ve heard that Tahoe and the ski resorts here are great, and I’d love to see them either. I don’t know if I will have the time, and I don’t know if Coach Wilner will be very happy with it. (Editor’s Note: Nevada athletes urged not to ski to avoid injury.) But I’d love to take the tour and see what’s around here.

NSN: The coach was here earlier and said it’s not a hard and fast rule, they just don’t recommend skiing. So it’s not a “no”, but it’s probably not a “yes” I guess.

QVM: We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.

NSN: You got a team second place and a team first place, so you keep doing it, maybe you can bribe him to go up in the mountains. What made you want to come to America. Was it scary for you to grow up in Spain and say, “I’m going to fly around the world?”

QVM: Basically if you want to keep playing the sport and want to keep improving and also want to graduate because you never know what’s going to happen (you have to come to America). Our colleges in Spain do not have sports departments. So if you want to graduate and practice at the same time, you can’t do it like that. The study part takes so long and it’s so hard, you have to spend a lot of time and you don’t have time to practice. It really is impossible. So I decided to come here and play for college and study at the same time as here. In the United States, it’s great. It’s just a great idea so I can keep improving and try to pay to play professional golf.

NSN: I am a big foodie and know that Spain is known as one of the best countries in the world when it comes to gastronomy. Are there a few things that you miss about your home and some things there? What is the thing that you miss the most?

QVM: So many things. My family owns a restaurant at home and the food is excellent. Everything is awesome. The local food there is so good.

NSN: I remember I went to Spain when I was 15 and I was struck by the quality of the beef, the steaks. The beef was just the different flavor.

QVM: It is completely different. The fish is great, and then we have local food which is great like ham and paella, I really miss that.

NSN: Have you found any places in Reno that come even closer.

QVM: No, it’s completely different. When I get to the United States, I know I’m not going to eat that kind of food. We don’t have fast food at home. It is not very common. Usually we will sit in a restaurant or cook at home. So here I just eat a lot of fast food or sandwiches that I do.

NSN: What’s your favorite fast food restaurant since you came to America? Chick-Fil-A is pretty good.

QVM: Yeah, I love Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A is so good.

NSN: One of the things I love about Spain is the concept that you don’t even really go out to dinner until 9 p.m.

QVM: Yes, it is completely different. When I talk to a lot of guys from here, from the States and ask them, “What time do you usually have dinner? They say, “Like 6, 7.” It’s like super weird. They say, “Restaurants here usually close at 9:30 am.” We don’t go until 9 a.m. or if we have a table, we’ll have it at 9:30 a.m., 9 a.m. It is completely different. We leave the restaurant around 11am.

NSN: You’re out all night, taking a nap the next afternoon.

QVM: Naps aren’t as common as you might think, but on weekends of course.

NSN: I want to ask you a question about football. You are a big fan of FC Barcelona. Obviously, Lionel Messi had been there for 17 years before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain. What was your reaction to this and how many games have you been to?

QVM: Well, I’m a member of Barcelona, ​​so we have a place in the stadium. I like to go and enjoy games. When this news came, I was really sad. It was shocking. I thought, “OK, it’s going to happen. It won’t.” You know that feeling that “This doesn’t happen. Is it not true? And then a week later you start to realize that it just happened and it was pretty disappointing. But the club is much more important than any player.

NSN: You are not done yet. I can say.

QVM: No, Barcelona aren’t doing very well right now, so we’ll see what happens.

To view previous Wolf Pack Athlete Q&A this month, click here.