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HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONSJanuary 12, 2015Jimmy WalkerKAPALUA, HAWAII THE MODERATOR: Like to welcome Jimmy Walker into the interview room. Jimmy, I know a disappointing finish to you. If we can just get some thoughts. JIMMY WALKER: Thoughts are it was there for me to win. It was a bummer I didn't close the door on it. I got to watch Patrick play the last couple of holes and had the chance on 18 to birdie and win it. Had a good look in the fairway and just didn't happen. I missed a couple of putts I should have made, on 14, 15; had a good look on 16. It had a lot of break on it, but it was a tough putt. But I should have made one of those two on 14 or 15. Bad tee shot on 14, but continued to drive it well, hit good shots where I needed to. Just a couple of putts. THE MODERATOR: Okay. We'll go into questions. Q. This is what they were saying on television, that they thought maybe the pressure at some point got to you down the stretch and even on the playoff hole. Can you talk about that? JIMMY WALKER: Yeah, you feel pressure. I mean gees, you're trying to win a golf tournament. So yeah, you feel pressure. If you can't‑‑ that's what you're out here to do and get in that spot. I've been there, done that, and you handle it the best you can when you do it. I felt like I was hitting good shots, driving it in the fairway, hit good wedge shots, good weights, good look; just didn't make any putts. I felt like I hit a good putt on 16. It's a tough putt to make. 18, the chip out of the rough, I thought it would jump out of there a little bit, but it came out a little fluffy and soft, and I didn't hit a good putt. It's so hard, it's slow and looks downhill. But anyways‑‑ Q. So you feel comfortable with how you executed then? JIMMY WALKER: I do. I hit good shots. I mean I don't know what else to do. Could I have tried to swing one in there harder on 17? Yeah. But at that point we were just looking for par and then go birdie 18 and win it. So I put myself where I needed to. I just didn't get up and down on 18 and I didn't do it again on the playoff hole, I hit another great drive. It's a tough second shot, especially with the wind coming hard out there, and you're on that downslope and you're trying not to overdraw it into the wind; and it seemed like everybody was kind of hanging it right, and I really hung it right the second time. Q. What happened on the chip on 18 in the playoffs, and going back to 15, was there any thought of trying to get there in two? JIMMY WALKER: On 15 I had two‑‑ I was 260‑ish adjusted with the uphill, and with the wind coming, I mean that was at least a 280‑yard shot with the wind. And I just have to hit it dead notperfect. I've been wedging it so dang good and putting good. I was like, let's just get it up to the fairway and wedge it in close, which is what I did. And I thought that putt, you could really say the grain coming hard from the right and into you, and I thought that just to ball out the right edge, especially with the wind coming up, it would move, and boy, it just stayed right there. So I did what I needed to do. The putts just didn't go in. Q. Did you know you had a three‑shot lead at any point early on the front nine and at what point did you realize that Patrick had caught you? JIMMY WALKER: No. I didn't know anything on the front. There really weren't any leaders boards out there. And then on the back I saw that I had a three‑shot lead on like, what was it, like 13‑ish right there on that scoreboard. And I saw Jason had gotten to 20 like right there or something. He birdied that hole. But the big bummer was, you know, I thought‑‑ I didn't hit a very good drive on 14 yesterday, and we just started to hit 4‑iron out there, kind of like we did on the previous hole and hit a really good 9‑iron in there and had a good look. I figured I had an 80, 90‑yarder that I could handle, but just hung the 4‑iron out there and it didn't move with the wind. But I hit a great chip and just missed the putt. Kind of quit on it a little bit. Q. On the positive side, this tournament's all about getting iron shots and getting close. I mean for four days your iron play was spectacular. Would you comment on in terms of your own feeling about your game at this stage of the game because, you know, you went low, and it was that iron play that you were making and that's what you gotta do out here, you gotta hit it close to give yourself a chance. JIMMY WALKER: Yeah. I was hitting it good. No doubt about it. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted with the golf ball with an iron. Even so much off the tees here, it felt good. And that's what I commented on yesterday, that I was hitting the ball good all week. So I look forward to taking that into Waialae where it's even more of a premium there. That's a real shot‑shaper golf course. Q. Jimmy, in the playoff when you're looking at Patrick over that putt, are you thinking, man, this is the wrong guy to give an opportunity like this? JIMMY WALKER: Oh, I didn't really think that. I can't do anything about him. I mean I can't control that. I can control what I was doing, and I wasn't doing my job. I mean that's what I was‑‑ you know, if I get the chance, I'd like to have the chance to make a putt. Obviously he does it. So no, I wasn't thinking like this is a gimme or a given for him. THE MODERATOR: All right. Anything else? Okay. Jimmy, play well next week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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