home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 15, 2004

Thomas Levet

ROYAL TROON, SCOTLAND

STEWART McDOUGALL: Thomas Levet, 5-under par, the last time at The Open you finished 2nd. That's a good start to getting one better than that. How do you feel now?

THOMAS LEVET: Pretty good. I mean what can I say about that, when you play so well at the start of The Open, your confidence is right there really at the start. And I know that I can be there until the end, so I just hope my game stays the same and my mind stays the same. And when you play that well you don't really feel the pressure, because you know you're going to make things happen. So it's just a question of staying patient and just relaxing on the golf course and basically what I tell myself is just keep smiling.

Q. Do you see this as kind of a continuation of your win, of your last tournament?

THOMAS LEVET: A little bit, but the course is so different and the situation is so different that you have to play a bit different than Loch Lomond this week. You have to be very, very straight off the tee because it's punishing. The bunkers are really awful. I don't think there is a fairway bunker you can go at the green from, unless you are 50 yards from the green. You can't do more than 50 yards from them. You have to be patient off the tee. I hit 6-irons, 5-irons, 4-irons off the tees to make sure I'm on the fairway. It doesn't matter what shots you get, you just need to hit the fairways, otherwise you can lose your game really, really quick.

Q. Did you have momentum?

THOMAS LEVET: Kind of, because I know I can shoot low. I know I'm hitting the ball really, really well. And I know that my putting is set, and my chipping and bunker shots are good. When you put a mixture of all that on the course, you know you're not doing too many bad scores.

Q. You told us on Sunday night that you don't have a hotel room booked and you don't have any clean clothes; you didn't expect to be here. How hectic were the 24 hours after you won at Loch Lomond?

THOMAS LEVET: When you win a tournament you get really lucky, as well. What happened is I went out of the course at 7:00, my flight at 7:25 at Glasgow Airport. It takes at least 25 minutes to get there. I arrived at the airport and I got the flight I was booked on, because it was delayed 30 minutes. They put me on the flight and I was home by 9:15 in London. It was my lucky day. And then I rested all Monday. I went gardening with my wife. And then we took care of my fish and the aquarium, just relaxed. I went to see my son play tennis. And just didn't speak about golf, didn't speak about the win and all that. We bought the papers, looked like a kid at the pictures, and they're really nice, if I could get some samples, that would be great.

But I just enjoyed it. And I spent the morning on the phone with most of the journalists in France. And I just relaxed and took it easy, and had dinner in the evening. I knew it was going to be a long day with all my friends calling, and the phone was ringing all the time. That's why I didn't come here too early, because I knew it was going to be a tough day early. And I just relaxed, take it easy. And my energy was pretty low, so I didn't want to waste it. I just showed up here on Tuesday, lunchtime, and I was feeling fresh and it was nice.

Q. When you finished second at Muirfield, obviously it was a tremendous achievement, but were you haunted by coming so close to winning and yet not winning? Did that stay with you?

THOMAS LEVET: Sometimes you feel like I was not too far from winning. But sometimes you learn from that, as well. And I took it on that side. I said, look, it's the first time I was in a major in contention. It's the first time I was about to win something and there is nothing to be ashamed of. And I took it on the normal side. He won because he was the best, and that's what sports is all about, and golf as well.

Sometimes you feel, yes, of course, I was second in The Open. But when I started the tournament, and even this week, it just -- after 50 second places, maybe you would be a bit mad. But after one second place, life is going on and just try to enjoy the game and take experience from that instead of crying in your locker saying, Oh, I lost The Open, I lost The Open. Otherwise I wouldn't be here today, I would have retired probably three weeks later.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the mindset you'll take into tomorrow and the whole psychology of not trying to look ahead and thinking about being the Open champion, as it's so early?

THOMAS LEVET: It's way too early. Today there was not even pressure about that. Seeing your name on the top of the loader board is a pleasure, but there is a long way to go and you have a few guys that could win the tournament, but we're in the lead. It means we have a few strokes in our pocket in case things are turning wrong. But it's just one step, and there is still one big step tomorrow, two big steps Saturday, and an enormous marathon on Sunday. We've done three steps of the marathon, it's nothing.

Q. You said on Sunday at Loch Lomond there's a special atmosphere when you come to play golf in Scotland. Did you feel that today?

THOMAS LEVET: Not only today, yesterday and the day before, when you show up in the streets and they say, well done, in Loch Lomond. I must have heard it at least 50,000 times this week already. And it's nice. It's nice. But I just have to stay focused on what I do, as well. Sometimes I just have -- like I did yesterday, I played early and then after the game I signed autographs for a bit of time, so everybody had a little share of it. And then I went practicing on my own on the range just to make sure that nothing is disturbing me. And I answered the interviews after I was finished. So I just tried to do what I have to do. I was ready to play good golf. And it's for that I won last week that I wanted to prepare differently this week. I tried to do the same thing and be the same guy, because I know that's the way I play the best. So I just try to put everything on my side to be ready for this week and play good golf.

Q. Do you still have the lucky ball marker?

THOMAS LEVET: It's in the cup, actually, at home, the one at the British Masters. I put it in the cup to make sure I don't lose it anymore.

Q. Two of the last three years you have flown into Atlanta to qualify for the U.S. Open, and in a sectional qualifying that only had two positions for The Open, and both times you made it. Took some sort of guts, why?

THOMAS LEVET: Why? There are a few explanations for that. To qualify for the U.S. Open, you play Monday morning, because you're playing a tournament before, and you have to sacrifice a tournament in Europe. If I try to make it on the qualifying on Monday I have to sacrifice another tournament to try to qualify. And the one in Atlanta is always held on Tuesday, so it gives me one day of travel. And the first time I came there, the course is a very, very good setup, really, really well, and it kind of plays in my game. You have to be precise off the tee on the second shots, and I like the golf course.

And this year I came back to that golf course because I knew it and it was the only one I knew. And when you play good on a golf course you always come back and play good again. I don't know if you've seen when somebody comes back to defend his title on the same golf course, usually the guy plays good at the start. So it's -- when you like things and you like the golf course it's a lot easier to do good scores on it. So that's why I went to Atlanta and qualified.

Q. In practice, Jean Van de Velde was walking around with you. Can you talk about your friendship with him and how long you've known him?

THOMAS LEVET: I've known Jean for probably now -- I'm not that old -- 25 or 24 years. And we played on the French team, amateurs together. He turned pro in '87, I turned in '88, and we've been on the Tour most of that. So yesterday he was on the course just because he's working at the BBC, just to look at it, and we discussed a bit about that, but he'll be back on the Tour, and I know he still has the spirit to play golf really well. We have a nephew in common, because my wife's sister was married to Jean's brother. We have a little nephew in common. So we see the family, not all the time, but I have news and contact from his family sometimes. So I hope he'll be back soon, because what he did in Carnoustie was something that will be with The Open for a long time. Everybody remembers it. He's a good player and I think he'll be back soon.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297