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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPENJuly 11, 2014Mo MartinSOUTHPORT, ENGLAND COLIN CALLANDER:  Good evening, we have mow Martin, leader of The RICOH Women's British Open, two successive rounds of 9 for a 6‑under par total of 138. How do you feel about your first two days' work? MO MARTIN: Well, it was quite fun. It's always nice when your plan pans out. So it's fun to be here. It's a fun day. I had a great pairing. It was a beautiful day. I didn't know the weather was this nice here, but it is, so it's been really fun. I'm graduate I'm here. COLIN CALLANDER:  You've played this championship the last couple of years. Have you had any other links experience before that or are you fairly new to this game? MO MARTIN: No, first year here at Royal Liverpool, that was my first exposure to links golf, and we definitely had quite the weather with 36 holes on Sunday. I'm pleased that this weather is better and it's been nice. Q. You made it look quite easy, but can you explain, can you put into words, what is so bloody difficult about this golf course? MO MARTIN: What is so simple about the golf course? Q. No, you're making it look simple, butwhat makes it so bloody difficult? MO MARTIN: Every hole you have something to think about. Every single shot you have something to think about. And then the wind gets a little bit tricky here. I've really been watching the flags because the layout of the course it subtly turns you into the wind or turns you away from the wind and you can't necessarily feel it from some of the tee boxes, some of the approach shots. But there's fairway there and there's green there and that's what I'm focusing on. Q. (Inaudible.) MO MARTIN: For my particular game, no, it's not the most difficult but I think it's a fantastic layout. It's very demanding and I think the way the officials have set it up is phenomenal. It complements the layout perfectly. It's a wonderful golf course and it's very challenging. Q. Can you expand on your plan that you had going into the week that's panning out so well, and can you talk about the rough, because it's unusually thick this year and how that might play to your advantage. MO MARTIN: Well, strategy, my caddie, Kyle, and I, just figured out where the widest parts of the fairway were, where I would have the best approaches into the greens. I don't hit it particularly long, so just capitalising on my accuracy. And then on a course like this, I think I hit the last two‑‑ I think I hit one more 3‑wood today, so four and five 3‑woods off the tee, and that's particularly unusual for me. I'm usually driver all the time. But just picking good targets, that's really key on this golf course, and executing it. And you mentioned the rough. Fortunately I haven't met it too much this week, just a few times. And you can get some funny lies. But you can get some funny lies in the fairways, too, and I think that's just part of links golf and part of the breaks you get. I've had some good breaks these last two days. So I'm thanking my lucky stars and all my family and friends following. Q. What did you think of LeBron going to Cleveland‑‑ just kidding. Do you have a plan at every tournament you play and have you ever had one work out? MO MARTIN: I definitely have a game plan every single tournament. So that's something specific I do. That's something I focus very much on, and I've had three wins on the FUTURES Tour, which is now the Symetra Tour. I said earlier that a win is a win, and I think‑‑ of course a major is absolutely more of a challenge and there is a lot more on the line here, but I mean, when I started playing golf, I mean, there's some things‑‑ you pick out your strategy and then you work on executing that to the best of your ability. And I think any golf course you go to in any tournament, that's the objective, and whoever does that the best is going to win at the end of the week. Q. Have you ever been in a position like this before, leading going into the last two rounds, and how nervous will you be for the weekend? MO MARTIN: I'll definitely be nervous, there's no doubt about that. But that's part of the game. I think everybody playing on the weekend is going to be nervous, too, and I'm going to embrace that. That's part of what we do and part of what I'm blessed to do. I have never been leading in a major. Earlier this year at the Kraft I had a good second round and I was definitely in the Top‑10 going into the weekend, so I'll pull on that experience. Q. You said that a win's a win and that's important. How much can you draw on that going into the final 36 holes? MO MARTIN: Well, my first win was in ElPaso, Texas, and that was extremely windy. I actually was talking to my caddie about that and just talking about shaping the ball against the wind instead of turning it into more of a straight shot, and I did that in ElPaso and that's been my strategy again this week. So sticking to that. Q. What was your first impression of Birkdale when you got here? MO MARTIN: I thought it was lovely, I really did. I liked it from the first time I saw it. Every hole is so unique. It's definitely my Top‑5 that I've ever played, Top‑5 favourites. Q. What are your other favourites? MO MARTIN: Royal Melbourne and Sebonack are definitely in my Top‑5. I don't think I can call a No. 1 yet. Q. Might change at the end of the week. MO MARTIN: Ask me again on Sunday (laughs). Q. You had back‑to‑back bogeys on 11, 12, what happened there, and was there anything important that followed that steadied the ship? MO MARTIN: Like I talked about executing, just had a few things‑‑ I 3‑putted 11, and I actually hit my second putt‑‑ my first putt wasn't great. It was just more uphill than I thought it was. My second putt I hit a little too short and hit the edge. Nothing I can do about that, and similar on the next hole. The plan just didn't work out and I didn't think that over too much. I just stuck to my strategy. COLIN CALLANDER:  Birdied the 6th, can you remember the details? MO MARTIN: Birdie on No. 6, I hit a good drive down there. That was actually reachable for me but the wind was coming right‑to‑left and from the angle I had, it wasn't going to be the best run up there. So I just laid it up just short of the front left bunker and had a little pitch up there and had a nice maybe 6‑footer for birdie. No. 7, the wind wasn't quite as far or as much down, and so I hit the same club I've been hitting. I had to hit it a little bit strong and it came up actually just short and got a good kick towards the pin. That was a 9‑iron, and made about a 15‑footer there I would say. 10, that's one of the 3‑woods off the tee. The wind switched a little bit. It was a little bit more into today. I had a 5‑iron and then I made at least a 20‑footer there. Then another birdie at 16. I hit a wedge to maybe eight inches so that was a nice easy birdie. On 18, I hit it close to the same spot‑‑ well, a little bit closer and a little bit further right but I putted that again. Big advantage of a links golf course. Q. How far? MO MARTIN: 71 yards. Q. The win in ElPaso, was that your first? MO MARTIN: That was my first. Q. What was the actual name of the tournament so we don't have to look it up? MO MARTIN: I think it was just the ElPaso Golf Classic. My grandpa was there. He was there for all of my wins. COLIN CALLANDER:  Have you got your family here this week. MO MARTIN: My grandpa is here around my neck in spirit. Q. What has that been like over the past few months with your grandpa gone and how much do you feel like your strong play of late has been reflected, knowing that he's up there having a good say in what's going on down here? MO MARTIN: Well, it's been‑‑ for those of you who don't know, I had an extremely close relationship with my grandpa, and he was an absolutely phenomenal man and influence in my life. He passed away in March. So I think the positive that came about with so many people came up to me and talked about how important he was to them and people told me that just meeting him has made them a better man, a better person. So just reflecting on those memories, I mean, they have made them even stronger for me. So I've just been so blessed. I've had a lot of opportunities to count my blessings. COLIN CALLANDER: Thank you very much and good luck over the weekend. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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