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OHL CLASSIC AT MAYAKOBANovember 16, 2014Charley HoffmanEL CAMALEON, MEXICO DOUG MILNE: We're joined by Charley Hoffman, the winner of the 2014 OHL Mayakoba Classic. Third career PGA TOUR win. With the win here you move to No. 6 in the FedExCup standings, certainly a long way to go, but off to a great start as you head into a little bit of an off season. So, congratulations, on your victory here. And with that I'll turn it over to you for some comments. CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, obviously nice to win. It's been a while. It's been four years. Expectations were probably a little bigger after the win four years ago at the Deutsche Bank and then coming off a fourth place finish in the FedExCup. But it's nice to get back in position. Sixth place is good, but, obviously, only after four or five events or something like that. So, happy, but got a lot of work to go forward. DOUG MILNE: We'll do some translating and then take questions. Q. I want to ask a few questions about the back nine. So bear with me. If you can take us 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18. So 13 you missed your tee shot to the right and then and ended up making birdie. Walk us through that? CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, 13 doesn't really setup that well for me. Thursday I hit it about the exact same tee shot, got the same break and was able to make par. Today I didn't know, walking down there, where it ended up, if it was in the hazard or in the mangroves and obviously had a shot and was able to take advantage of that and got it back in play. Had about I had 61 yards to the flag and was able to hit it close, which was nice. And Shawn was in the middle of the fairway and thinking he was in sort of control, and he ended up hitting it into the hazard and he ended up making bogey and I made a birdie. So that was definitely a big momentum change in the golf tournament. Q. Talk about 14 and 15. Missing those birdie putts. CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, you know, hit good drives on 14 and had a great shot in there. Just didn't give it enough speed to go in on that hole. Pulled it maybe a slight bit. Then the green ‑‑ hit good shots in on 15. The grain got me, it didn't go in. It was just nice to have birdie chances. Then, obviously, on 16, I didn't want to aim to the middle of the green, I wanted to hit a good shot in there, and was able to hit it real close and convert on that one, obviously. Q. Finally, on 18, after your tee shot, you walk down there you see your ball, walk us through the entire hole, making bogey and still winning the tournament. CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, Shawn made a good birdie on 17. Obviously, put the pressure down to one shot. He had the tee and pulled his drive and I knew he was going to be in a little bit of trouble. That bunker‑‑ I didn't know he was going to be underneath the lip. I was trying to aim down the left side of the fairway, knew I could carry that bunker, and didn't think there was much trouble left. Was a little unfortunate to end up next to the base of a tree. But obviously watched Shawn end up short of the green. I wanted to get the ball back in play. And I could only think of my score and, fortunately, bogey was good enough. Obviously would like to finish off in a little bit different way, but very happy. Q. When did you know you had a bad lie? CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Not until I walked up there. There was no sign or anything like that. So I didn't know I was stymied until I got to the ball. Q. Very impressive day. What do you think when you find your ball on 18? All the people watching through TV, we see the expression of the people, because they were absolutely looking at a very bad position of your ball. But you make a very good smart golf. I like your second shot, it was very smart. And you go for everything out there. But what was the feeling at that moment? CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Well, I walked up and, first of all, I saw Shawn's ball under the lip of the bunker, so I knew he wouldn't make birdie. Then I saw my ball behind the tree. I knew, most importantly, I could only control my score on the hole. So I just tried to get the ball back in play and knowing, if I did, I would have some sort of a wedge into the green. Then I was able to get it back in play and there's a side of me that wanted to be aggressive with that pin with ‑‑ I had 120 something yards to the hole‑‑ but knowing Shawn was still short of the green and would have to hit a good chip to get up‑and‑down for par, I sort of took the conservative line, making sure I would have some sort of putt at par, instead of taking a real aggressive line with a sand wedge. It worked out and I was able to make a bogey and that was good enough. Q. Today was a windy day. I think today is the most windy day of all the tournament. Did that affect your shots with all this wind? CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Usually the last few years I played here it's been windy, so I'm a little more familiar with the wind than the calm of the first two days, they were very calm and then yesterday, obviously, with the rain and a little bit of wind, and today was, I would say, back to sort of normal weather for here at the golf tournament. Q. What does it mean for you to get this victory? Because the last time you won was four years ago. What does it mean to you to win after four years that you've been waiting this long? CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Yeah, to be honest with you, you sort of wonder if it's going to happen again. I've been close, obviously, more than a handful of times and never closed the door. You sort of sometimes wonder if you're ever going to win again. I'm not getting any younger, I'm about to turn 38, and it's special to have the family out here. We're fortunate enough to have them travel the majority of the time with me. We love Mexico and it was sort of, we add this tournament, not just because I think I can win the golf tournament, but we know we're going to have a great time here in Mexico and have a good family vacation, even if the golf doesn't turn out. And it's definitely very special to have a nice little vacation and win a golf tournament. Q. I want to know, how do you feel the pin positions today were? Were they more difficult than yesterday? CHARLEY HOFFMAN: It was obviously just sort of a battle yesterday to get in the position to even win the golf tournament. I was able to hold on through the rain, played some good golf on the back nine. Chipped in for eagle on 13. And then today I was a few shots back. Jason got off to a rough start, unfortunately, and it turned into Danny Lee, I saw he played really well on the front nine, through a couple scoreboards. You got to make birdies out here. Everybody was making birdies all week. So it was nice to be able to be in the position to make some birdies. It would have been nice to make a few more putts and have a little more comfortable lead going down to the last hole, but happy with the way I played and my composure felt very comfortable and I hopefully I can get a few more wins here after. DOUG MILNE: Okay, Charley, congratulations on your win. CHARLEY HOFFMAN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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