|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ROLEXJuly 22, 2014Mark WiebeBRIDGEND, WALES Q. That victory last year, have you been celebrating ever since? MARK WIEBE: Well, I haven't been as of late, but I think I celebrated for a few months actually. It was the thrill of a lifetime for a golfer I think to win an Open. Back‑to‑back weeks, I'm kind of living in heaven right now, being able to play last week and then playing this week is awesome, is awesome. And then this kind of golf is inspiring. So I hope I play inspired golf this week. Q. Many people have a practise round to go and play at The Open. And you've had an Open to have a practise round to play the Senior Open. MARK WIEBE: My flight was messed up again this year so I only had one practise round last week. I definitely wanted to play better golf than I did last week, but it was a great way to kind of get on to the time and to get onto that brand of golf and hopefully bring something here this week. Q. Are the courses similar? Did you learn something that you can take into Royal Porthcawl this week? MARK WIEBE: I think they are similar, in a way the tournaments are similar, since they are both Opens and they are both played over here. I think that's the similarity. Golf course‑wise, I'm not too sure, and grandstand‑wise, of course last week was humongous and thousands and thousand of people. But it is the same brand of golf where you don't fly it on the green and backspin it to the hole. That's hard to do when you don't‑‑ when you have a limited time; you're trying to learn the golf course and how it's going to play for you, because everyone's different, and it's the same thing this week. Although, hopefully, with no rain or anything tomorrow, I'll get another practise round tomorrow. So I play today, I play tomorrow and hopefully I can come up with something to start the tournament. Q. And what's your impressions of the course? How difficult is it? MARK WIEBE: Well, we had a wonderful day today weather‑wise, so I would anticipate that it might and probably will play a little tougher, more difficult. Being that it was my first time, I didn't really know the nooks and crannies of this golf course. I will tell you, it is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It reminds me a lot of our Pebble Beach when you look at the coastline and see the rocks and the water, just awesome views. I think you can see the water from every hole. So the views are great and again, it's links golf, so day‑to‑day I would imagine it will change, along with pin placements and where they put the tees. Some holes, we might be bouncing it in and some holes, if the pin is in the back, we might be flying it on to the front of the green, but it's the same brand of golf where you don't fly the ball to the hole. And you have to know what holes it's okay to be long and what holes it is not okay to be long. For instance on the last hole in the Pro‑Am on 18 today, I hit it just left of the green. I mean, I was just left of the green and just left of me is some bushes that look pretty thick and my caddie said, "Hey, I think I like the right side better than the left side." So there you go. That's what I'm trying to learn and condense into two days, and hopefully I can come up with, again, some how to play the golf course and to my strength. Q. You're the reigning champion, it's a stellar field and great to see so many quality players here. MARK WIEBE: It's awesome. Colin has been playing wonderful golf, two majors so far this year. The fields are never going to get weaker. They are only going to get stronger because the more that come out and turn 50 and play on the over 50 circuit here, you're going to have names; you already do, and it's just going to keep mounting because there's great players that are going to be turning 50. The field is probably one of the strongest ones we've played this year. Q. Does it mean the same to win a Seniors Open as maybe it does an Open? MARK WIEBE: Well, I'll put it this way: Winning an Open, to me, you are the best in the world. Winning a Senior Open, you are the best over 50 in the world. So I'm not going to say it's‑‑ it is fantastic, let me tell you, there's no doubt about it, and if I had to prioritise tournaments, I would probably put the Open No. 1 because there is no age limit or age group. For instance, I played with a young man that was 21 years old and another Spaniard that was 30, and I'm 56. I won't be playing with any 21‑year‑olds this week. But The Open and the Senior Open are just such great tournaments, and I hold them dear to my heart. Q. Wales as hosted a Ryder Cup successfully won by Europe, and this is the first time Wales has hosted a major championship. What do you know of Wales as a golfing venue? Did you know Porthcawl before coming here? MARK WIEBE: I did not. I had absolutely no idea. I obviously knew I was coming back. We had a beautiful drive down. My wife's with me on the trip this year and we drove right through the middle of Wales coming down here and had to stop for the sheep in the road. It was awesome. I'll tell you, we did get lost a couple times. I think in America, I might be a little perturbed that we got lost. But here, it was okay, because it was country. I had no idea how beautiful, I'll tell you that. The drive down was spectacular. We stopped and took pictures because it was just breathtaking in some spots. So I didn't know. I really didn't know. I just knew that it's pretty close to where golf originated and I think the closer you are, the more tickle it gives you. Q. When you also were making your way down, I understand that you may have stopped at a certain golf course; tell us about those memories. MARK WIEBE: Well, I had been talking to Mike, who is the secretary at Birkdale, and he asked me if I might be able to donate a club to their golf club. So I went home and I thought about which club. There's 14 of them, you know, so I had to pick one. And my son is actually the one that we went over each round hole‑by‑hole, probably for weeks. It kept coming up that my 5‑iron I kept hitting really good. In fact, after each tournament, I think of what was my strongest club, and without a doubt, my 5‑iron was my strongest club last year at Birkdale, for whatever reason. I birdied 18 the second round hitting 5‑iron in. I birdied No. 12 the last day hitting 5‑iron in and after playing 18 a bunch of times, I think I hit 5‑iron maybe three or four times that week on 18. I thought, well, it's kind of a weird club to give. Usually you donate maybe a driver or putter or a wedge, but my 5‑iron without a doubt was my strongest club. So I thought, I'll give him the best club I had that week which was the 5‑iron. Coincidentally, we went out on Saturday, because that's the day that worked for my wife and I and we were going to start our drive down. We just kind of went out there on a whim. They kind of knew I was coming but didn't know when. So we just showed up and I ran into the head pro, Brian, and I ran into a captain of golf from a couple of years ago and his wife who is the current ladies captain of golf. They forced us into going in and having a pint, which was okay with me. And then after a pint‑‑ and I gave him the 5‑iron. Cathy and I walked out to 18 and kind of relived‑‑ well, she was watching on TV. So to be there and to walk out on the golf course was great for her to see, you know, just the ground and what it was like and the views and what kind of shot it was. She thought it was a lot easier driving hole because she plays golf, also, because I kept hitting it in the fairway and she thought it was just this big, wide open hole and when she saw it, she said, wow, you did drive it good that week. So it was great. It was wonderful. It was great to be back there. It's a special feeling. Now, they were taking down everything from the ladies open so there were a few grandstands still up and the rough may have been a little higher for the ladies, actually, and that's fine with me. It worked out just fine. But that was neat. That was neat to go back out there again, and being that we were so close, it was a 40‑minute drive up. The hardest thing for me was driving on the opposite side of the road and the opposite side of the car, and I think I only hit two curbs and I didn't hit any other cars, so I was successful. Q. The feelings of returning to your victory; inspiration ahead of this week? MARK WIEBE: Yes. I've had an awfully tough year. I've had injuries that have been not devastating but close. I've had a lot of time off. I've never withdrawn from so many tournaments before, especially after being 50, and it's been a tough year injury‑wise. So I just don't want to jinx myself but I feel good this week. I'm not hurt. Hopefully a lot of these injuries that I've given so much time to just stop and let my body heal that I do feel inspired. And it's hard when my picture is everywhere around here. And the let me tell you, all my buddies let me know about it, too. I've heard from everyone saying, man; and I said, I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. They all said, no, I wish that was my picture. Q. And I bet they wish if it was their picture after 2013 it would say 2014 after it, also. MARK WIEBE: Right. I think we are all here for the same reason and that is to hopefully win and if not do as good as we can. Q. Did you bring two 5‑irons to donate another one? MARK WIEBE: I didn't think of that. That's quicker than my mind works, but if that were to happen , believe me, I will work something out for sure. Q. How is the course different from last year? MARK WIEBE: Visually it's a little bit different. This seems to be kind of on a hillside, not a huge hillside but it just seems like we're always facing the water or we're leaning down towards the water so to speak, where Birkdale, you didn't have that. But the traps, the bunkers, are pretty similar and you do not want to be in them there and you don't want to be in them here. And it's that links brand. I think there's some similarity off the tee. I had a wonderful week last year of driving the golf ball off the tee. It's the best I've hit my driver, maybe ever as far as my strategy and staying within myself. This golf course might be a tougher driving golf course, but we don't always hit driver. There's some holes that are 3‑woods and a couple 2‑irons off the tees, but equally as difficult, no matter if it's a driver or a 3‑wood or 2‑iron. They are tough driving holes. I can only imagine that if the wind blows, or when the wind blows, it's going to be hard. Q. When did you actually arrive here? MARK WIEBE: We drove down, we started our drive down on Saturday. We stopped just to take in some sights, and then we got into Porthcawl here about four o'clock yesterday. So I only came out and hit a couple putts. I knew I was playing in the Pro‑Am today and then Wednesday. Since we are a little older, it's hard to play Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So I wanted to be ready and have some energy for the week so I took off yesterday. Q. Could you give us your thoughts on the draw for the first couple of rounds, playing with Bernhard and Miguel? MARK WIEBE: Haven't seen the draw. That's who I'm playing with? Well, Miguel has won his first tournament and we all know what he's done, and he continues to play wonderful golf at 50. He's kind of a timeless player, isn't he. He never plays like he's older. The only thing that comes across to me for him is he's older so he's wiser and he's more experienced. But I think he plays like a young man. I didn't know until right now who I was playing with. I hope we don't get timed for slow play and I'll leave it at that. Q. Nice to go up against Bernhard again? MARK WIEBE: Yeah, Bernie is a wonderful man and obviously an incredible golfer and I'm honoured to play with both of them to tell you the truth. That's a great pairing. I don't know who I would pick that would be a better pairing than that. Q. Nice not to play on a Monday, though, isn't it. MARK WIEBE: Yes, and when there's light, is also nice. Q. Always helps seeing the ball, doesn't it? MARK WIEBE: Yeah, it's nice to say, did anyone see that. I'm excited for that. Do you know what time we play? That's exciting. That's one of the things that I would imagine winning this tournament brings is a great draw, and that's a great draw. It's 1.50? So late/early? Great. Q. It's a unique feature of Porthcawl that you can see the sea on every hole. MARK WIEBE: And you know what, I don't know about the other guys but I saw it every hole today, and it's, why wouldn't you. Along with we had a little special deal was the air show. I don't know if you noticed the plane that was ripping around and going up and down, and all we could think about was, oh, no, no chance for me to ever do that. That was hard enough to watch it from the ground, but did you guys see all that going on? Incredible, absolutely incredible. They were ripping. The sound would come and you would have to look way ahead because the sound was way back here, so imagine they are going pretty fast. But you're right about the sea, and it's not just the water. It's the coastline with the rocks; it really looks a lot like Pebble Beach, which is my favourite course in the United States, for sure, to play. So it gives you that‑‑ it's just neat. We don't get that every day. Q. Do you like links golf? MARK WIEBE: Well, I love it. I think that when you play golf and you're not forced into hitting it to a spot, or to a plateau or to where everyone goes, for instance if there's a par 5 that's not reachable, we are all going to probably lay up in about the same area; then it becomes‑‑ nothing wrong with that but then it becomes more of a wedge contest than it does golf. Links golf brings out and the weather dictates how much you can bite off; playing links golf is just so unique for us coming over here, maybe not the Europeans, but for us it's very unique. From what I've heard with all my buddies, we love and I think we love it because it seems more the brand of golf that maybe we grew up playing a little bit more. You can have long holes but when it's a links golf course and it's been a long hole, it seems okay, because you can chase it along the ground. It's just not anything like what we play anymore. You have to use your imagination and you're probably going to use every club in your bag maybe twice. It's not a course that you're going to have driver, 7‑iron to this hole every round. There's so much to it, and then again, the bunkering and pin placements on the greens really dictate what you need to do. You have a strategy. Your strategy might change throughout the day depending on the conditions, so your strategy might be a certain way and then all of a sudden you may have to change that. So you have to be prepared to do that. So it just brings out a lot. There's so much more to it, and I would really think, although it's extremely difficult, I think that it's way more fun. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|