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BMW MASTERSOctober 31, 2014Nicolas ColsaertsSHANGHAI, CHINA SARAH GWYNN: Thanks very much for joining us, fantastic round, take us through the highlights of that one. NICOLAS COLSAERTS: It was pretty steady all day to be honest. I kept on hitting good drives which for me here is a big bonus because it's pretty soft. If I keep it out of the short stuff I'm going to have a lot of shorter clubs in than lots of the other guys, so I can see this course a bit more takable than the others. Most of my second shots were very, very good all day, which was key. There's a lot of undulation on these greens. So if you hit it on the right zones, plateaus or whatever, you can actually have a‑‑ well, with the clubs I was coming in, you can have a lot of birdie putts. So I'm quite happy with the way I kind of switched off of where I was in scoring‑wise or whatever because when you go this low after two rounds, you kind of don't really know where you stand. So I did pretty good just to switch that off and just kept playing the shots. SARAH GWYNN: And you and Alex at the top of the leaderboard, which is exactly the same as Portugal when you shot 60 and kind of went a bit wrong, and he ended up winning in two rounds. Do you feel like there's sort of something to revenge there? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Payback? (Laughing) He's been playing well for a while, too. He's had a really good season. You know, I felt like I've been in the zone a couple of times lately and it doesn't really happen in such a short period of time like this. So it's pretty nice when you can get it going like this. And I've been playing quite well for the last couple of months. I'm comfortable being back here now. I'm quite happy being here and I guess, you know, playing together makes a bit of a difference and I'm capable of playing the way I can. Q. On the leaderboard today, quite a few players on the top of the leaderboards all have won the Volvo China Open. Is there some kind of reason, including yourself, that have had some good results in China before, is that also one of the reasons that you play well this week at the Lake Malaren? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, if you look at golf is pretty new in China and every course that we go and play are very modern golf courses that maybe suit a category of players. You know, it's very different than the courses we play back in Europe. And I was always very comfortable playing these modern American‑type golf courses that we don't really have much in Europe, or only lately. I've always felt very comfortable playing in China because we play these types of courses and they suit my game pretty well. I know Alexander won in China earlier this year, similar kind of stuff, maybe a bit open, long and soft. So, yeah, I think that's why you see a lot of guys that have played well in China back on the leaderboard again. Q. It seems that the par 5s are absolutely perfect for you. Do you get on to every one and regard them all as par 4s and a birdie on one of them as‑‑ NICOLAS COLSAERTS: No, no, because they are still pretty long par 5s. The ball doesn't move much. The hair is pretty thick. So the ball doesn't travel as far as it normally would. You know, two of the par 5s are still, maybe the shortest one is ‑‑ probably 12 where I can get an iron in but all of the others are going to be 3‑wood. So it's still ‑‑ maybe not 7 today because it's downwind. But yesterday I had to really give a rip to 3‑wood to get to two of the greens in two. They are still pretty tricky. There's a lot of movement around the greens, so you really have to make sure you sit on the right side or don't short‑side yourself. But I was actually surprised of how well I've managed them, because for somebody that hits it as long as me, I don't really think my stats on the par 5s are as good as they should be. There's probably guys that hit it a lot shorter than I am and have a much better scoring average on par 5s. So it's just a mind‑set of, you know, I always get tempted of hitting it really far on the par5 and try to give myself a shorter iron in and the others hit the fairway and play two seconds, or play the second just very gently on the green. I'm quite happy with the way the par 5s have been going because I've been going pretty low on them, yeah. Q. How important was it, or how motivated were you from commentating at The Ryder Cup, to then getting back out on the course and thinking, I should be one of those players in that team and this spurs you on to very great things and go forward to the next one? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, of course. You know, even though I was far out of making that team, I still felt that I was that type of calibre player. But yeah, when you get to see it like that from the outside, and actually enjoy it from a different angle, I certainly was missing it. I wish I could have been playing in it and yeah, you feel like you belong. So it's almost like you go back the week after and you just keep that intensity that you've seen at The Ryder Cup and bring that out on the next tournament, and just realise that golf should be played on some of the courses and not be afraid of taking command and just basically‑‑ because when you see match play for a week like that, it's actually quite interesting to see how low you can go and maybe stroke‑play sometimes we're a little bit more playing on the safe side of things. So, yeah, I think that probably would have had an impact. Q. Have you ever looked upon your length off the tee as like an intimidation in terms of your rivals? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, I've never seen it that way but I think it could be because there are guys that look like they hit it far more aggressively than I do and I hit it past them. So yeah, especially when I play‑‑ when I get into the zone like this and I start hitting very good shots, it's funny how my rhythm even goes slower and slower when I am into this prime striking kind of feeling, whatever you want to call it. So yeah, I think it could be, especially on courses like this, some of the lines that I can take on are much more aggressive than some of the other guys, or they realise that I don't see the hole the same way they do. There's a couple of holes here, if they keep the tee boxes at the back, I can take lines that maybe another three guys or maybe five guys, not even that, can take on. So, yeah, it's a different golf course. Q. And going back to the Wales Open where you unofficially hit the longest club on the Tour‑‑ NICOLAS COLSAERTS: What do you mean "unofficially"? Q. Officially then. NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah (laughter). Q. Were you hitting the ball better‑‑ your results in recent weeks are you hitting the ball better and longer than before? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: No, I don't think so, no. I think‑‑ you know, it's difficult to compare because you play here, it's thicker air, the ball doesn't go very far, tomorrow we might show up it might be 20 degrees and the ball is it going to travel further. It's like when people ask me who is the longest between this guy this guy and that guy. Sometimes you catch it, sometimes you don't; you see it in the right shape, has the right bounce. It's very difficult to say. So I'm quite happy with the way I'm striking it definitely, but I think I've probably strike it better than that. Q. On the same thing, really, seems a lot of the guys at the top of the leaderboard, yourself, Alexander, Marcel Siem, all long hitters. Do you think it's the way the conditions are this week, it's made for a long hitter to win this tournament? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, it's not a tight golf course. It's very soft. You know, maybe when you're playing in this kind of conditions where the ball doesn't travel as far, the difference between a long hitter and a short hitter it becomes a bit more significant where if you play a bouncy place, these guys can put 20, 30, 40 yards of run on some of their tee shots. The difference since the equipment has changed, the difference between the long hitters and the short hitters is not as big as it used to be so maybe these conditions make a bit more difference and allow some of us to come in with way different clubs than some of the other guys. We spoke the other day, some guys in the mornings had 4‑irons into 10 and I hit a gap wedge in the afternoon. Yeah, there's always the draw issue, but I think the condition of the golf course and the way the air is here makes a big difference here. So yeah, they will definitely suit long hitters without a doubt. SARAH GWYNN: Thanks, Nicolas, good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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