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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AMFebruary 15, 2015Nick WatneyPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Nick Watney to the interview room. Great playing today. Great birdie at the last hole and I know you didn't quite get the victory, but this is your best finish since 2013 BMW. If you could, just talk about your week. NICK WATNEY: Yeah, it was ‑‑ overall, it was a great week. I played very well. I putted really well the whole week, really. So, it's a little bitter sweet right now, but my hat's off to Brandt and onwards and upwards. THE MODERATOR: All right. Open it up for questions. Q. I know being from Dixon, California and being a bulldog, this is home game for you. The AT&T, speak a little bit about what that means to you and what it might do for your game as you go through the week. NICK WATNEY: Well, it's certainly nice to be here. I look forward to this event every year. I have a lot of friends and family out. Since I was little I remember coming to watch a few of these and so it's always nice coming back. It's a little bitter sweet sitting here right now. But I'm very excited with the way that I'm playing and maybe next week. Q. Having been awhile since you've been in that kind of spot, you pleased with how you held up? And secondly, and more directly, I guess, camera on five and then the shot on six seemed to be kind of the turning points for you early. NICK WATNEY: Yeah. I'm happy and I'm not with the way I held up, to be honest. Obviously the start, I couldn't have drew it up any better. Number 5 was a little disappointing, but I guess that stuff's going to happen. No. 6 was a huge error. Probably worst swing of the week. Just wasn't as committed as I needed to be. Q. What was it? NICK WATNEY: A 4‑iron. So even though I only lost a shot there, it was kind of a momentum stall, along with making bogey on No. 9 with the pitching wedge. Those two, if I could have two back, it would be that swing on 6 and the second shot into No. 9. Q. Did you go long? NICK WATNEY: I went long on 9. Q. Chipped back? NICK WATNEY: Um‑hum. So, just things I need to improve on. I thought Brandt handled himself really, really well. Maybe in trouble one time, but very solid. So, that's what I need to be like next time. Q. A life‑long Giants fan as you are, it's tough missing that. But what kind of week was it playing with Posey? NICK WATNEY: It was incredible. Coming into the week, I‑‑ after my year last year, I didn't think that I was going to get the pairing. He was pretty much the marquee draw, for this area anyway. I don't know, maybe some movie stars people want to see on TV. But everyone around here wants to see Buster. So when I got the pairing, I was thrilled and ‑‑ but then I was a little worried about being too happy being paired with him because he's somebody that I look up to and I root for really hard. And I've heard the saying don't meet your heroes because you'll be disappointed. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. He's a better guy than he is a baseball player. That's saying a lot. So, we had a great time. Q. What did he think of you? NICK WATNEY: I'm not quite sure, but. (Laughter.) Q. Did he invite you to the locker room or something? I overheard somebody talking about that? NICK WATNEY: Yeah, he said if we're in the area that to get a hold of him and I could watch him take BP or come into the clubhouse or whatever. So, that would be‑‑ I would be like a kid on Christmas for me. Q. You mentioned Brandt earlier. Obviously everyone knows he's a great putter but what else do you like about his game and him as a competitor? NICK WATNEY: Well, today, it's been the first time I played with him in a while. I've heard different things about he was falling in the World Ranking and whatever, so. I'm excited for him. I think he's ‑‑ I like him, I consider him a friend, and he played great. He didn't really show a weakness. I don't think he made a bogey. The tough holes he hit good drives, the tough driving holes‑‑ even he hit a good shot into 13, it skipped over the back, he made a really nice up‑and‑in. There's not much to not like about today. He played really well. He made the putts that you would expect him to make and he got the W. Q. Today, obviously, it's always tough to win on TOUR. But today is seems, this, as it is now, there's different winners constantly. The competition just seems ultra intense. Is it just a matter of you guys, as you kind of sort this out, finding that extra gear on the final day to have that winning mentality rather than ‑‑ I know you want to win every time but doing what it takes to win. Is that kind of like the important thing that you were going to focus on? NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I think that one of the best things about our sport is that every day ‑‑ some weeks you feel great, you extend the lead like Brandt did today, other weeks there's a four‑way playoff. So nobody really took the title until Jason did in the playoff last week. Yeah, it's funny, when you do win, sometimes you don't feel like you do anything different than when you finish third. It's just you make putts throughout the week and ‑‑ but, to me, being in the hunt is really special. It's a great feeling, it's a great test, and it's when the game is the most fun. So the more you get there, the more comfortable you are and the better you perform. Q. When you're here playing with the home crowd, do you feel the anxiety of trying to perform for them or is it the competitive, just the competitive juices? Do you feel the same anxiety here at home as you do on a course in another part of the country? NICK WATNEY: Well, I definitely want to do well here. It's the closest that I get to home. All my family is out. So, yeah, I definitely want to do well. But at the same time, this is my, I think, maybe my 12th tournament, 12th time playing here, so I've played bad and they still come back, so. Q. If you could sum up shortly as quickly as possible, why did you have the year you did last year? NICK WATNEY: Well, I got‑‑ Q. Not in a rush but‑‑ NICK WATNEY: Well I got injured. I was playing pretty well at Doral. I got injured. We had our baby in March. I took five weeks off. I came back and just wasn't‑‑ I didn't play well. I putted awful all year. It was just kind of a snowball thing. Putting bad and then you try to hit it closer and you miss short side, you make bogeys. Then you try to make birdies, you make more bogeys. It was just a ‑‑ I don't know. I thought about it, and I'm kind of for whatever reason, I played poorly last year and ‑‑ but I know that. I know what I need to work on, I'm doing it, and so the more distance I can put between myself and last year, the better. Q. What did you‑‑ I know it's early in the year, but do you have any early indications besides this week that you were working on the right things and tide was turning? NICK WATNEY: Well, at home I was practicing hard. I played well at the Humana and then I played well last week. I putted very poorly on Sunday and I finished two shots out of the lead. So, yeah, I just hope that I'm ‑‑ I really would love to get into the World Golf and the Masters. That's my goals early this year, and winning would have taken care of that. But hopefully next week I can get back in the hunt and maybe do one better. Q. Is there a part of you that's irritated that you're not in the things you're used to being in? NICK WATNEY: Absolutely. Yeah. I watched ‑‑ I didn't want to watch HSBC, but I watched it. Yeah, I hate not being able to compete. I hate not being qualified for tournaments. I want to play against‑‑ I want to play against the best guys. So, yeah, it's definitely very motivating. Q. You didn't watch it live, did you? NICK WATNEY: I did not watch it live. Although I was, I was in Asia the previous two years the Giants won the World Series so I thought about going, but it worked out last year. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Nick. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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