|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE HONDA CLASSICFebruary 25, 2015Martin KaymerPALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Martin Kaymer into the interview room. He's making his third start at The Honda Classic. Martin. If we can get some comments on being back here at PGA National. MARTIN KAYMER: Well, they did a few changes here and there. Obviously the main change is the 14th green. But overall, I really enjoy it because usually it's very difficult. They have different grass here that we usually play on in Europe. I think it's a good preparation for the World Golf Championships event. The crowds are good. So there's nothing really bad about that place. We can stay right here, so it's very comfortable, but the biggest thing why I always came back was it was very, very challenging. I enjoy playing difficult golf courses where you don't need to shoot 20‑under par. Q. Why is that, Martin? You've said that a lot, and it's proven in your career. Why do you enjoy the hard track? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, because there's a reason why I sit on the driving range to hit the ball fairly straight and try to hit certain shots and not just spray it all over the place and get it somewhere up‑and‑down where it's only a putting competition. I like a golf course where you have to hit the ball fairly straight, where you have to manage the golf course, where it's not always driver from the tee box where you need to take some bunkers or waters out of play. So I enjoy that, where you have to think a little more instead of just hitting driver and bomb it down every single time and see where you are, just get it close to the green. And that is why I enjoy more tough courses. Q. What's on the horizon as far as German golf? I know you and maybe Marcel had Bernhard's example to look forward to. What's the state of things over there, are there some more young players coming up that have the potential that you and Marcel have, and do you feel like you can be the role model to them as Bernhard maybe was to you? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, it would be a pleasure, it would be nice if that would happen. There are several things happening this year with the Solheim Cup that's going to be in Germany this year. Obviously it's a big step for German golf, such a big event, and hopefully we will get the Ryder Cup in 2022, The Ryder Cup to Germany. And before I played in Abu Dhabi, I was in Dubai and practiced a little bit, and there was the German national team there practicing at the same course. I had the chance to play with them and I was surprised, some of them, they were better than me when I was in their age. By in the end of the day, it's all about how you‑‑ I think it's a very crucial time between 18 and 21 because you get a lot of distraction. Obviously at that stage, you get to know a few girls here and there. You finish school, you start maybe the university or whatever, so there's a lot of stuff that can distract you from golf. I think that was for me, at least, a time where there was a possibility to get away a little bit from the focus. Fortunately it didn't happen because I had a goal and I knew what I had to do. But you never know about those guys, the potential is there, and little things they made for me a big difference when I got some phone calls from Bernhard if I had success on the lower tour in Germany. So it gives you a little bit more motivation, and I learned from this, how much it helped me and hopefully I can do the same phone calls to some other amateurs or some young professionals who do well. Q. What was the best example that Bernhard gave you? What did you learn the most from observing him, whatever interactions you had with him over the course of your golf career? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, the funny thing is it probably has nothing to do with golf, just how you express yourself, how you are as a person, how calm he is, how much harmony there is around you. Because he always said, you know, you have to be happy golf the golf course in order to be happy on the golf course. You know, the outcome is obviously the result of the success that you have on the golf course. But in order to have that, you need to prepare and the prepare happens off the golf course sometimes. Not so much about course strategy or how I have to play tournaments. He always told me: "That's the reason why you are out here, you can play golf. I don't need to tell you much. You have to play your own game." So just general things that we should all know but we forget sometimes. Q. Obviously Tiger has taken a little time away to get his game together, tournament ready. He said a couple weeks ago that he didn't feel it was tournament ready. Have you gone into tournaments thinking your game is not ready for tournament ready and how difficult can that be? And as a follow, what kind of anticipation do you have for when he comes back to get himself back to where he was? MARTIN KAYMER: If I ever went in there without being ready‑‑ I think everybody sees it in a different way, if you are ready or not. I believe every week I play I have a chance to win. That is what I believe since I'm a professional every single tournament I played. But it can change obviously through the week. I don't know about Tiger. I don't know what he needs to have or how he needs to feel in order to feel like he can win. I don't know. Second question was? Q. What's your anticipation when he does get back out there, whether it's Bay Hill in a couple weeks or Masters or whatever, to see where he's able to bring his game back to? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, you know, I wish him the best. I hope that he can win a few more majors; that he reaches his goal to hit the 18 or 19 majors. But on the other hand, it's very difficult for‑‑ I think people should not forget that he's as human as we are, and when he's out here, everyone is watching him. And if you have some problems with this or that, like everyone else has, he's so under the microscope and you hear it everywhere, you read it everywhere, you can barely watch TV without teeing your name; you know, we are all just humans. I would believe, it must be very, very difficult to try to avoid listening and seeing all those things because it's a lot of negative, because obviously when you don't play well, people, they exaggerate even more and they find reasons and they make up reasons, and that must be very difficult for him. And that will be very interesting to see how he deals with it. He's not a machine. He's not a robot. It's what I said; he's a human, as well, and I think we should never forget that and we should give him a little bit of space, as well. We all want him to play as good as we can. Q. After your amazing run at TPC and then the U.S. Open, Rory took the baton and kind of ran with it and has not slowed down. How hard is it to sustain the excellence that he's kind of showing right now, and what level do you feel like his game is right right now? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, he's playing excellent golf. I played with him in Dubai the first two rounds. There's nothing‑‑ no weakness. The only one who can beat him, I think is himself. He can only beat himself right now. You know, you have to give him a lot of credit, especially after the season that he had last year, to continue and play well again at the beginning of the season and how he handles everything else, you know, with his private stuff. It's very, very impressive I think. He will grow even more as a person. I don't really believe that he will get worse in golf. I think there's only one way for him, which is very, very nice to see someone being that good and continuing being good. You know, it's very rare. We'll see how determined he is, because in the end of the day, it's all about his own will and his own discipline and practice, how much he puts into it, because we all know he's good enough to win every week to win many more majors. Q. Are you 29 or 30? MARTIN KAYMER: 30, yeah. Thanks for reminding. (Laughter). Q. The 20‑something group, because you're no longer in that, but what do you see from the depth of kind of the young guys coming up, whether it's Koepka, Jason Day, Rory is obviously in that group. Is the depth more than you've seen in a long time? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, obviously in America and in Europe, I'm just surprised that not many more Asians are coming through. On the LPGA Tour for the last five or six there's years there are so many Asian players winning tournaments, and you see the leaderboards, so many Asian players on top. I'm surprised not many more are out here. There are a few and they play really well, but I was expecting them to come through even stronger. But in general, these days, it's very, very difficult to win the big tournament because they have so much competition. Playing‑wise, if you just talk about playing‑wise, the guys between 21 and whatever 26, 28, and even up to, yeah, maybe the mid 30s, playing‑wise, everyone can win, or I would say 80 percent, they can win majors. It's all about their head, how they handle the mental part that can be more difficult to win majors, because there are so many more guys that can handle it now. That's the tough part. But on the other hand, when you win a major, it makes you even more proud because you know you're probably playing golf right now in the strongest time, the last maybe 15, 20 years, because so many guys can win. Q. Would you mind talking about the changes to the 14th hole, and also the difficulty of the Bear Trap? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, we start off with the Bear Trap. As a combination, a lot of things, how you fit the ball. Today where the wind was coming from, the pin position, very popular spot is obviously the left bunker on 15 and 17. They are similar from a distance. Maybe 15 is a little bit shorter. But I think a lot depends on the wind and the gust that you get. There's not really a safe play, because the greens are so small. So I think the left area will be very popular the next four days. And 14, I think it became a lot better hole. In the past, it was already a strong hole because it was always fairly long but the green was not so difficult. It was okay. And now, they made it really like the vision, it looks really nice for us players, and they have the big ridge in the middle that can actually help you to get the ball close to the left‑to‑right tier when the pin is down there. It looks better with the grandstands and with the bunkers, and I think they did a very good job there. They brought the water a little more into play. So it's a very tough finish now. Obviously 18 is a par 5 where you hopefully make birdie but the other ones, 14 to 17 is a very difficult stretch. Q. Much was made about the patience you showed in your swing change to become able to draw the ball better. How long would you say that process lasted? MARTIN KAYMER: To be able to draw the ball, only maybe three months or so. But it took me two years in the end. But the last 18, 19 months had nothing to do really with golf. It was more off the golf course, handling all the situations that Rory went through when he became No. 1 in the world. For me, it was even more dramatic, more difficult, because I was not‑‑ I'm not that kind of person who is always in the spotlight or who likes to be in the spotlight. I like to have dinner somewhere at a place where not many people recognize me where I can actually eat. So for me, it was very difficult to be all of a sudden the German golf face, and it took a lot of time to realize my new position in Germany and to get used to it and to feel comfortable with it because in the end of the day, you can't avoid it. You just need to find a way to feel more comfortable with it, and then you can move on and focus more on the golf again. Q. The draw, last year at Augusta, did that start clicking in? You made the cut; did you feel a difference with your ball flight there? MARTIN KAYMER: I think in general if you are a more complete player, it makes you more comfortable when you stand on the tee box. You know exactly that you can trust every curve you want to hit, and it makes you more relaxed. You know if you miss the fairway on left or opponent the right, you don't have any problems to get the ball on the green. It calms you down a little bit, and therefore, you have a little bit less stress and all of the sudden you play a little better because you are more free. So therefore, I could enjoy playing Augusta a lot more the last two, three years. Q. Following up on the question about the younger guys. Has the game changed in any way that maybe favors guys in their 20s more than it used to, or is there just something about that group now that makes them better equipped to win on TOUR early than the 20‑year‑olds of ten years ago? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I'm surprised how far they hit the ball. Obviously the equipment, that helped a lot. But in general, you know, you can't really make a golf course long enough anymore these days it feels like, because on the weekends, usually the tournament, they set up the golf course even firmer; that the ball gets more roll. So therefore, the golf course gets shorter. I'm just surprised how far and straight they hit it. I talk about them; just out only two months, right. I think it would be very interesting in the next ten, 15 years. I think it's a great thing for golf worldwide with how much competition and how good the competition is for the next few years, because it will be difficult, what I said to win tournaments, from there and from everywhere, from Asia; Jason Day is obviously from Australia, a few American guys, a few from Europe. So they are all over the place, so for the game it's very good. Q. Curious what were saying about the difficulty of handling the pressure of being the face of German golf‑‑ MARTIN KAYMER: Well, it might take 20 minutes to explain properly. Q. But I just wonder, how did you get the help on that? Were other people inside golf able to help you, and did you look to people in Germany and other sports, as well? There's been a bunch of Germans, as well, and in American sports that had to go through that. MARTIN KAYMER: I talked to a few athletes, a few guys from the older generation, how they handled it from different sports. Q. Can you give us any names? MARTIN KAYMER: No. I mean, it's fairly private, as well. It's such a‑‑ it's a very sensitive topic, I think, as well, because you can't‑‑ one guy, he's whip of the better, or one of the best athletes in Germany, he just said, you know, I was going through the same thing, and I can tell you how my reaction was and how my experience is and maybe it helps you. But I believe that you can only learn by your own experience. You have to listen to yourself, and he said, you know, it's very rare that people are able to do that. They don't listen enough to themselves and they always do what other people tell them to do. And then you will never get calm inside because you're like a ping‑pong; you know, you do this, you do that and you just function. And then all of a sudden, your career is over and you don't really know what actually happened, so you cannot really enjoy the whole journey. And that is something that I needed to, first, reflect on, what it really means, and therefore, when I won the U.S. Open last year, was probably the most enjoyable win that I ever had, because I could really‑‑ I was really part of the win. I was part of the whole journey. I was there. And that's why it was such a great experience for me to be the No. 1 in the world and go through all this, and then it was a great experience for me as a person, and obviously if you are growing as a person it makes you better playing golf, too. JOHN BUSH: Martin Kaymer, thank you, sir. 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
|