|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
FRYS.COM OPENOctober 7, 2014Jimmy WalkerNAPA, CALIFORNIA JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Jimmy Walker into the interview room here at the Frys.com Open, our defending champion from last year, and fresh off of a really strong showing individually at the Ryder Cup. Jimmy, welcome back in your title defense, new golf course, but I know you'd still love to win two in a row. JIMMY WALKER: Yeah, just excited to be back. Never been in a position on the PGA TOUR to defend. I don't think I've been in position to defend anywhere. Seems like on the Web.com if you played well and you won, you got to move up and that type of thing, so this is a first for me. It's nice to be in Napa. If you can't enjoy this place, you need to get out of here, I think. JOHN BUSH: This tournament last year was really a catalyst to just a tremendous season for you, three wins, you finished seventh in the FedExCup. Just comment a little bit about what your win did for you in setting you up for a great year. JIMMY WALKER: You know, it was nice‑‑ it's always nice to start quickly and play well. I couldn't have scripted it any better the first couple months of the season. It would be nice to do that again, obviously. Q. Have you had a chance to play this golf course? If you have, what are your impressions of the golf course? JIMMY WALKER: I have not gotten to play it yet. I'm going to get out after we get done doing this and play nine and then play the pro‑am tomorrow. But from what I've seen from aerial photos and just from some of the stuff that I've talked to guys about that it seems like it's fairly demanding off the tee, and I've been out on the putting green. The greens are fast it seems like. It looks like it's in great shape, so that's about all I can really say about the golf course right now. Q. There's some of the greatest golfers in this country, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods, each have a tournament named in their honor. This week Johnny Miller was an honoree. What does that mean to you as the former champion, defending champion, playing a tournament that's honor Johnny Miller? JIMMY WALKER: That's huge. Johnny Miller has been a huge figure in golf, and still to this day with all his commentary and stuff he does for NBC, I think that shows that you've reached a level of‑‑ a certain level when you have tournaments, you're keynote of the tournament, you're the sponsor honoree. It'll be cool to see Johnny out here this week. I got to see him at the Ryder Cup a couple times, and he's always been really nice, and I know he's excited to be back home here. Q. The Ryder Cup thing is kind of a little bit messy for the United States, a lot of controversy, a lot of back and forth. You played well individually. When you walked out of there, did you feel that you needed to kind of reassess the whole situation the way it went down in the end, or how was your mindset after all that went down? JIMMY WALKER: You know what, it was an amazing week. First class all the way, from showing up in Atlanta, flying over, the whole week, the hotel, the golf course experience. I know we all gave it everything we had, and it just wasn't enough. But as far as for me, and I know all the guys on the team, I think we all had a great week. The outcome wasn't what we wanted, but I wouldn't change anything that happened that week. It was everything I wanted it to be. You know, you go into events and you have all these preconceived notions and hopes of what it's going to be, and it was like that at Augusta last year. That was the first time I had played and you build it up in your head what you want it to be, and it lived up to everything that I hoped and dreamed that the tournament was going to be. And it was the same thing for the Ryder Cup. I think once you play in one, you really don't want to miss it again. Q. How did you spend the week off, mostly rest, or did you practice? JIMMY WALKER: It was mostly rest. I started playing again about Thursday. I played Thursday, Friday, and that was really about it, just a little bit of practice in between there. I was out putting at night with the kids and stuff. Just kind of trying to rest and detox, because it was a tough week. I liken it to every shot you hit seems like it was back nine of a major type deal. I mean, that's kind of what the pressure felt like, and you definitely didn't want to hit any stray balls or miss any putts. Everything you did felt like it meant something, even more so than any other shot you would hit during a regular tournament. Q. Have you had some time to think about how much life has changed for you? JIMMY WALKER: Yeah, things have changed. It's funny, you get recognized more, especially after the year that we had, out and about, and different tee times, different categories, and Thursday and Friday getting to play with different guys. But nothing has really changed for me as far as going about doing things that I do, golf, how I do it, how I practice. I feel like I've got a good formula going, but I'm always continuing to try to get better, and looking at the stats for last year, where can I improve, what can we do, as far as that goes. Still always trying to keep the pedal down and look down the road. Q. Patrick Rodgers obviously had a great college career, a Stanford guy, young, 22 years old, and you've had a long career and so much experience, and I'm just kind of interesting when you look at the young breed that's coming through and then also somebody who's been down the road a little bit with the TOUR, if you were talking to him about what he might expect or some things that might help him that might tie together with your experience a little bit‑‑ JIMMY WALKER: You know, I think sometimes less is more out here, especially when you're young, because it's new and it's fun, and it still is for me, but I think you spend too much time hanging out talking. I've learned to get in, get out, do my business, quality over quantity, that type of practice, and it's about learning how to manage your time out here. When you come out of college, you've got your coach kind of doing everything for you, and whether or not you have your manager running around with you, which I know I don't do, but a lot of these younger kids have their managers with them and trying to show them around, get them in and out, manage their time for them, and that's key is time management out here and getting rest and being healthy. Q. When you were his age, where were you in your game? JIMMY WALKER: At 22, I mean, I don't think I was quite ready to play out here. I was right on the verge of starting to play really good. I think my senior year of college is when I started really learning how to play golf, and then couple that into turning pro and playing in some smaller tours and then working through Monday qualifiers out onto to the Web.com, and eventually working my way out here. And through injury and stuff like that, it's taken me a while to feel back to normal, and the last four or five years out here have been a nice, steady climb upward, which has been nice. Q. Is there one highlight out of the last two years and maybe one thing that you gained out of that? JIMMY WALKER: You know, one of the memories that sticks out the most is being in Hawai'i when I won at Sony and having my whole family there. That was very cool. I think that was one of the better moments of the year. When I made the final putt at Pebble on the last day, on Sunday on 18, that to me felt like it was a big moment in my‑‑ a big moment that year, and really for the career because I had a six‑shot lead and it kind of dwindled and I had to come down the last hole and make a putt. To be able to do that was‑‑ I feel like it showed me a lot of what I can do. So you try to take something‑‑ you try to look at every situation that you're in and try to take something out of it, learn something from it, and I think that's what I cherish the most. Playing all the majors last year, I played really well, so that was cool. So it really let me know that the game is right there, and it's where it needs to be. Q. You played well in California at Riviera, Pebble, here last year. Is there any common denominator to California? JIMMY WALKER: I don't know, honestly. Everybody jokes about it. All my friends do. I don't know what it is. All the greens seem to be poa annua and everybody kind of hates that it seems like. But at the same time, it's just golf. You've got to pick your line and hit it. There's really no grain in poa annua, so I feel like my reads are always pretty good. Not that they're not anywhere else. But I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the error what. I don't have a clue. Sunshine? I don't know. 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
|