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CIMB CLASSICNovember 1, 2014Kevin NaKUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA THE MODERATOR: Kevin Na here with us, in with a 67 and 2‑under for the third round. Kevin, must be quite pleased with that bogey‑free day, five birdies on the card? KEVIN NA: Yeah. It's always nice to play bogey free, and today I was trying to go out there, and I thought if I shot 67, somewhere around in there, I'd be very close to the lead, and I was able to do that. THE MODERATOR: What it the shot making that was creating all the confidence for you? It caused you to hit lots of fairways and greens; right? KEVIN NA: Yes. The front nine I hit both par‑5s in two, two‑putted. I actually had really good chances for eagle on both of them, and the par‑3, 4, I hit it to about I'd say three‑and‑a‑half feet and birdied. So I really didn't make much putts on the front nine. I hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in, left a lot of them short because I felt like the greens were slowing down with the rain and the grain, especially with the grain, it's really tough to get it to the hole. And on the back nine there was a delay on ‑‑ I was on 11 tee, and came out, and parred 11, parred 12, which is a very difficult hole. I actually had a good look at birdie. Another difficult hole on 13. I finally got a putt to drop, and 14 I hit a beautiful drive, just over the green, chipped it up inside four feet and made that. And then parred the rest of the way in. THE MODERATOR: Okay. We'll take questions for Kevin. Q. I just want to check, you played the Shriners and withdrew. What was the problem there? KEVIN NA: Well, it was a combination of a few things. My back, and I wasn't feeling well at the same time, and I'm sure that had to affect my body as well, so I figured it was best to save myself, save my back and body, I guess. Q. Kevin, good to have you back here. Thanks for taking time out this afternoon. KEVIN NA: Thank you. Q. What did the break, having had a break in the middle, your momentum obviously is affected. What do you do to keep focused on the holes that you had to play afterward? KEVIN NA: It's difficult. Out of the three rounds I had two delays, and yesterday I had a delay, and went back out and I actually wasn't hitting it all that great during the round, was putting well, and I went back out there, and before I went back out I went to the range and kind of found it, and the next three holes I flagged every shot. And today there was a delay on 11. It's not actually an ideal shot to start on on 11, the par‑3. But you know, I was striking it well all day, went to the range, trying to maintain that same feel. If anything, I worked on my putting a little bit, trying to get it to the hole before I teed off. But it was nice, I was able to keep what I had before the rain delay. But yes, it is difficult at times, but you just gotta stay focused and go warm up. Q. One more question, you're going to be in the last flight tomorrow. Who do you see as your biggest opponent in terms of who you're most worried about, and what's the score going to be at the end of the day? KEVIN NA: Well, in the game of golf the biggest opponent is Mother Nature, isn't it? And yourself. You know, all these great players are out there right now, obviously Sergio, Ryan Moore. I saw Kevin Streelman was up there, Chappell. Any of these guys can go out there and play well, so you can't really set yourself an opponent, I think. You just gotta go out there and play the golf course and do the best you can, and hopefully at the end you're on top. Q. What do you think will win it tomorrow? KEVIN NA: Well, how is this? I'm at 12. If you give me 17 right now, I'll sit in the clubhouse. If you give me 16, I'll probably take it‑‑ I'll think about it. How's that? So I think 17 is a good number and 16 you have a good chance to win. Q. One of your earliest professional wins came here. KEVIN NA: My first one ever. Q. When you won the Global Masters in 2002. Does it feel good to be‑‑ do you feel comfortable on Asian soil? Is that something that you think about? KEVIN NA: Yeah. I mean I think about it all the time. We were just talking about it, you know, after I signed my card. I remember my dad was caddying. I was just a kid, made the turn and looked at the leaderboard and I was like, man, I looked at my dad and I was like, I got a chance to win this golf tournament, birdied 10, 11, 12 and 13. Looked at the leaderboard, I had a two shot lead. It wasn't the easiest last two holes coming in, but I hung in there, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Q. Can you talk about how the Asian Tour has helped in the early development of your professional career? KEVIN NA: Yes. When I first turned pro, I came out to the Asian Tour. I got experience, learned how to play competitively in the professional world, travel. I won a tournament, which led many, many doors for me, hoped many doors for me to go play in Europe. Even got in the World Championship in Firestone because of the win. A lot of the youngsters that play in the United States that turn pro, whether during college or after college, they go to‑‑ they only sign up for U.S. tours. I said, what are you doing? I said, yeah, great if you get through U.S. TOUR school, but you should also sign up for the Asian Tour, because over there, I mean it's basically‑‑ you don't want to go play Monday qualifying mini tours. You have to play a big major tour. You go win out there gets you into the European Tour, world events and get world ranking points, and I tell them, this is a great tour to develop your game and to get to the top of the world. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Kevin, many thanks, and all the best tomorrow. KEVIN NA: Thank you. Hope to see you guys tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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