|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPENFebruary 1, 2015Brooks KoepkaSCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA Q. Winning for the first time on the PGA TOUR. Pretty special occasion. Half a million fans this week. Describe how special this one is. BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, this one goes down -- this one is very special to me with all the fans here. Just incredibly run tournament. It's a fun week. Happy to have this one as my first week. Q. You started three shots behind. You make this tee shot at 7 having made birdie at 6. How big was this? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, this was big. I just made a birdie the hole before. We were kind of in between clubs. I hit a 7-iron in there, and it just happened to go a couple of feet, four feet. It was nice, because we were in between clubs all day, it felt like. You know, I was pulling the shots off, but they weren't good numbers. Q. Birdied par-5. Then a crucial moment. BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, this was it. I left every long putt short today. I just told myself I was going to hit it. It looked good with six feet to go, and luckily went in. It kind of built momentum, and, you know, helped ease the last few holes. Q. You told us you felt like you should have won more already. What was the secret today? BROOKS KOEPKA: Just stayed patient. After everything I have learned over the years -- well, the two years, just to stay patient. Everything kind of comes to you. Slow start. Just hang in there. Good things will happen. Q. You work with one of my colleagues. BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, Claude worked with me, and Jeff Pierce, one of the guys works with him was working with the putting, so we have a good duo and a good team behind me. Q. A group of American journalists were asked who of the youngsters was the most likely to win a major first. Many of them said you. Do you feel you're getting to that position now where you're challenging? BROOKS KOEPKA: I think so. I'm trying to peak my game around the majors. We came out trying to get a little bit of the rust off, and luckily we did that the first week. Just trying to prepare for Dural and then Augusta, because that's the main goal. You want to play well there and you want to keep your game around those tournaments and the majors. Q. Final round 66, bogied 3. What a clutch round. The fact you won on the European Tour already, do you think that helped you calm your nerves? BROOKS KOEPKA: Absolutely. Even the failures I have had, I attribute to that, just staying patient and letting things come, a little bit of a slow start. Everybody kind of got off to a hot start, especially with Hideki holing out in the first hole. Same thing with Frys two years ago, so we were laughing about that in the fairway. Just being patient, waiting for your opportunities. Q. Winning in Europe is big, but you have won on the PGA TOUR. Must have dreamed of this as a young man for a long time. Can you formulate a response, what it means to you? BROOKS KOEPKA: No, I can't. I don't think it's sunk in yet, but it's special. It's special to have it here with such an unbelievable crowd and unbelievably run tournament. I'm thankful this is my first win. Q. Eagle at 15. Did you think you were going to make it? BROOKS KOEPKA: Six feet, I knew it was tracking. Glad it went in. Q. Your driver, hit your last 11 fairways with that club. Man alive. That won you the tournament today. BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it did. I was hitting it terrible the first two days. I couldn't find a fairway. But luckily I was able to find something yesterday. That kind of keyed it up and led over to today. Q. Congratulations. BROOKS KOEPKA: Appreciate it. Q. At the beginning of this final round, Brooks told me patience was the key to success. How much was your patience test here in the final round? BROOKS KOEPKA: A lot. Especially early. First five holes were very boring. Everybody got off to a fast start. Hideki holed out on the first hole. Reminded me of Frys, same thing. As far as staying patient, I just kind of had to wait to the back 9. Nothing was really happening. Nothing good, nothing bad. It was just kind of boring. Q. Speaking of the back 9, you hit all 18 greens on the weekend. What's that say about your ball striking especially in the clutch? BROOKS KOEPKA: I was striking it really well. I have always been a good iron player. I drive the ball far, so that helps. But the putting has been huge. I have been able to stroke the putts very well, get them rolling end over end, and I have worked hard on that. I'm happy to see some results. Q. You turned professional a couple of years ago going all around the world, playing the Challenge Tour. How rewarding is it to see the victory on the PGA TOUR, considering where you started? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it's unbelievable. I didn't think I would work my way up this quickly, but playing the Challenge and European tours led to this. And especially the failures I have had. I look at Frys two years ago. I can't tell you how much I learned from that. The failures I think are what really held me. 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
|