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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIPSeptember 1, 2014Chris KirkNORTON, MASSACHUSETTS JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Chris Kirk into the interview room. 2014 Deutsche Bank Championship winner. That was quite a day. Get some comments on your round, 5-under par, 66, No. 1 in the FedExCup. CHRIS KIRK: Thank you. Obviously a pretty big day for my. Definitely hasn't really sunk in well what this means. But very proud of the way I played the last three days and to give myself a chance to win, and then pull it off. JOHN BUSH: Talk about your expectations now moving into the top spot on the FedExCup heading into the BMW Championship next week. CHRIS KIRK: My expectations haven't really changed a whole lot. I'm not a really big goals guy, just process. Try to do as well as I can every day. But this is incredibly unexpected for me, to be honest with you. I've had a great year, but I really haven't played my best golf over the last month or so, and struggling with my iron game a little bit. I think like last week I hit about eight greens in regulation every day at the Barclays, and struggled again the first round here, shot 2-over. And to be honest with you, this is going to sound ridiculous now, but usually I would have gone -- after playing a poor round, I would have gone to hit some balls and worked on something. But I just told my caddie, I said this isn't any fun. This is no fun, I don't feel like going to hit balls, I'll see you tomorrow. Shows you how ridiculous this game is to come out and play three rounds, 66, 64, 66 to win, is beyond belief. Q. Yesterday you said you didn't think you had done enough this year to make the Ryder Cup, have you changed your mind? Do you think you've done enough now? CHRIS KIRK: I certainly don't feel entitled or feel like I'm a shoe-in to get a pick. I'm obviously really put myself into consideration and it's something that I would love to do. But like I've said before, I mean the nine guys that made it are automatic picks, those are the guys on the team. The other three, if you get in, it's a bonus. Q. Is this a nice consolation prize if you don't get into the Ryder Cup, winning this tournament? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, winning the Deutsche Bank and going No. 1 in FedExCup, and $1.4 million, that's plenty for me for one day. Q. After opening with the 73, Chris, when did you first think that I might just be able to win this tournament? CHRIS KIRK: Probably not until after I finished my round yesterday, you know, I wasn't paying attention to the leaderboards today or yesterday. Yesterday Rory and I were both just in such a zone, both shooting 7-under, with no bogeys. And it was pretty easy just to get lost in what we were doing, which is an amazing place to be. So obviously I saw after -- at the end of the day yesterday that I was only two back. So I knew I had a chance and played a good, solid round today. I kind of thought that I would maybe need one or two more but thankfully was able to pull it off. Q. A couple of things. You had a couple of really big putts on the back nine, a couple of important shots. Which one stands out to you as the most critical of that lot? CHRIS KIRK: I think looking back on it my par save on 15 will probably be the biggest one. My birdie putt on 13 definitely kind of got me going, got me a little bit feeling like I could do it. And then to hit a horrible wedge shot on 15 was obviously very disappointing. And ended up in a spot where -- I hit a pretty good bunker shot, it was just in a bad spot, I couldn't get any closer than that. To pour that one right in the middle kept my momentum going, for sure. Q. When did you play with Tom this year, where was that? CHRIS KIRK: With who? Q. Watson. CHRIS KIRK: I played a practice round with him at the British Open. Q. This is right after you got off the plane? CHRIS KIRK: Not right after I got off the plane, but I wasn't really feeling a hundred percent. We played on Tuesday. I guess I got there on Monday, but, yeah, it was -- I played reasonably well all week, finished about 20th or maybe 19th, something like that. But I didn't play particularly well on Tuesday, particularly on the first nine. Made probably three or four bogeys on the front nine. And then thankfully made a few putts and played a little better on the back nine. Q. Have you had any contact with him since that day? CHRIS KIRK: I have not, no. Q. You're being super diplomatic about the Ryder Cup and saying all the right things. Can you talk about what the event has meant to you maybe as a kid watching it or even now as a golfer, how big it is in your esteem as a golfer? CHRIS KIRK: I probably don't put as much importance on it as a lot of guys do, maybe. And maybe that's -- Keegan Bradley is a good friend of mine and I've talked to him about this a good bit. And he said wait until you play on one, and you'll feel different about it. Obviously I see it as a huge honor to play on that team. And I would absolutely love to do it, but I'm not going to really base how happy I am with how I'm playing or how my year has gone on whether I make the team or not. Obviously I would love to do it. I would love to maybe be making a bigger deal out of it than I am, but that's just honestly how I feel. Q. On 14 I think you hit it in the right rough. And you hit a pretty good shot out of that. Can you take us through that shot? And also was there a question -- ever a question that you were going to hit driver or not on 18? CHRIS KIRK: Never a question of hitting driver on 18 because the way I see that ball, obviously I would have to hit driver where I hit it yesterday, the fairway is about five yards wide with a 6-iron in. With how treacherous that green is and how bad it is to be over that preen, if I hit 3-wood I'm going to have a 3-iron in off a downslope. And I'd rather layup than have that. I figure it's worth taking a chance off the tee. If you hit a great drive you've got a middle iron in, if not you'll layup and have a wedge in. Q. You said that after your first round you chose not to go hit balls, which is what you would typically do. What did you do that day? Sort of secondly, related to that, after hearing you say that at the Barclays you didn't hit the ball that well, and you didn't the first day, how can you explain sort of the flipping the switch from that to your last three days? CHRIS KIRK: I wish I could explain it. I wish I knew what I did different and I would choose to play like I did the last three days all the time. But maybe just tried to simplify my thoughts little bit. The work that I've done over the last year with my teacher, Scott Hamilton, has really elevated my ball-striking to give me a chance to win tournaments like this. I've driven the ball unbelievable the last year compared to how I did before. He's absolutely helped me a ton. And we talked a lot earlier this week about just trying to make it a little bit more simple. Maybe been working on it a little bit too much. So that definitely, definitely helped me, some of his words of wisdom, a little more point-and-shoot type of golf. Q. Could you go back to the 18th tee and just -- did you know how you stood? And more importantly could you talk about that third shot? Kind of an awkward uphill lie in that rough, could that shot have gotten away a little bit? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, that was definitely a very dangerous shot. But I didn't know where I stood on 18. But it didn't matter. Like I said, my game plan wasn't going to change there. I was either going to hit a great drive and have a middle iron in or I was going to lay it up if I missed the fairway. My second shot there somehow kicked about five yards to the right for it to end up in that rough next to the bunker. I thought I hit a pretty good layup shot. A little bit of bad bounce and thankfully had a pretty good downgrain lie in that rough next to the bunker. But there was a lot of calculating going on as far as how hard to hit that one. I had 90 yards to the front and 104 yards to the hole. I hit a lob wedge about 97 or 8 yards. By the time that I calculated in coming out of the rough a little bit and a little bit downwind and a little bit of adrenaline, 104 yard shot turned into 80 yards in my mind. That was where I ended up adding it all up to. Probably I took a little extra time there and had a drink of water and did a little math to try to figure out how hard to hit that one and thankfully ended up just right. Q. Were you a math major at Georgia? CHRIS KIRK: No, definitely not a math major. Q. What means the most about this win? CHRIS KIRK: I don't know, really. I'm still just in such shock that I actually won this tournament. It's going to take me a little while to figure that out. Obviously golf is a game where once you accomplish something you want to go to the next level, go to the next level, go to the next level. So this is definitely the biggest win of my career against the strongest field under the biggest spotlight. So I'm very proud of that and I'm very excited that I was able to accomplish this. And so now I'll just keep plugging away and work really hard and try to take another step up. Q. When you talk about being the strongest field, which is obvious, do you take any extra sense of satisfaction given the run he's been on to have gone the last 36 holes with Rory, is he just the guy that happened to be playing with you? CHRIS KIRK: To be honest with you, I think it probably helped me play better. Being in the group with him and watching him play so great yesterday and he was a little bit up and down today, but still hit some great runs and some great shots. And just the huge crowds that go along with that, it's really just kind of heightens your focus a little bit. And that's something that I do struggle with every now and then, really getting myself into it and getting focused, playing how many tournaments we play every year, every single shot, it's hard to get to that extreme level of focus where you don't even see anything around you or hear anything. And it was a lot easier to get into that zone, I guess, we would call it, the last few days. Q. You won tournaments before, but does today answer any questions you may have had about yourself? CHRIS KIRK: I guess so. I always believed that I could do this. But it's just been a pretty cool run. My fourth year on Tour and I changed equipment companies two years ago to Callaway Golf and just been unbelievable how well I've played the last two years since switching to them. The best golf of my life, really. Their team has really supported me. It's a group of guys on that truck that they're not only there, to build clubs and do whatever you want. You can feel it that they really, really pull for you. And they really support you. And it's an incredible sort of family-type of environment with those guys. So I'm very thankful to be a part of Team Callaway, and hope for many more years to come. Q. Can you take us through what you did yesterday after your round and up to this morning, leading up to the round today? CHRIS KIRK: Yesterday I went and picked my kids up from daycare. And then went and got a little bite of -- picked up some dinner to go and tried to control my two year old's temper tantrums that he has every now and then. And I hung out with him a little gave him a bath and got him to bed. My wife got our 8 month old to bed. It was a pretty normal night for us. And then this morning was the tragedy of every week of having to pack up the toy bin to put on the trailer to go on to the next tournament. Sawyer is never too happy about that. But just sort of getting ourselves together. We'll stay here tonight actually and my family will head home tomorrow and I'll head to Denver tomorrow. Having them out with me on the road, especially when you're in a situation like I was in, when you know you have a chance to win, you can very easily spend way too much time thinking about it. I don't even have a chance to do that because with having my wife and two kids with me, they definitely keep me busy and we absolutely have had a blast this week and playing with them. So it definitely helps a lot to sort of -- once I leave the golf course, the golf course is gone until I get back there the next day. Q. Did you watch Billy's approach on 18, and what was that sequence like for you? CHRIS KIRK: I didn't see it, no. I was still sort of making my way through the crowd. I was talking with my family a little bit. And then by the time I walked into the scoring area my caddie was celebrating. I didn't know what Billy did, but it didn't really matter at that point. Q. What's the most nervous you've ever been waiting on a phone call? CHRIS KIRK: Waiting on a phone call? I don't know. Probably never. I can't think of one, to be honest with you. Q. You talked outside and you spoke well about not being entitled and if it happens, great. And if it's not, look what you've done this week which is great in itself. Is there any part of you that's a little bit antsy about a phone ringing with news one way or the other? CHRIS KIRK: No. Q. If not, can you make something up for us? CHRIS KIRK: Like I said, I wish that I was a little bit more excited or freaking out about it, but, you know, I mean I don't really know what else to say. I'd love to do it, but, I don't know, I'm not worried. It's not like there's anything that I can do to sway it one way or another. I can't say, hey, Tom, please, please pick me now. I don't think that's going to change his mind a whole lot. I think he's probably got a pretty good idea of what he wants to do regardless of what I want to do. JOHN BUSH: Chris Kirk, congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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