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VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 11, 2015John SendenPALM HARBOR, FLORIDA Q. Okay. We welcome defending champion John Senden to the interview room this morning. John, thanks for joining us. Go back to last year, you won -- ended a lengthy victory drought winning here. You were in a tight battle with Kevin Na and birdied two of the last three holes to sort of have a little cushion. Just maybe a few thoughts reflecting back on last year and then talk about coming back to defend. JOHN SENDEN: Yes. Last year was one of the highlights of my career and I feel like it was one of the most rewarding weeks of my life knowing that I've won on the PGA TOUR back at the John Deere and then basically, you know, coming out and just consolidating with the win at the Valspar. I really felt that coming down the stretch I was pretty much in control through about -- you know, with about 7 or 8 holes to play and then the wind started swirling and couple of shots didn't go on line like I would like and I felt like I really got a little bit out of sorts, but then on 16 I drive into trouble and made a nice recovery and then, you know, played the shot of my life, chipped in so that really, that really felt like it might be my lucky day. Then birdied 17 and, you know, made a nice solid part up the 18th hole. So, you know, quality field last year as well as it is this year and it was nice to come out on top and, you know, returning here this year is -- it really feels great and knowing that I can go around this golf course and knowing I've done it before and I've had really good success here actually before winning and never got out of line. I think I'm really going to enjoy myself this week. Take it all in and just prepare like a normal tournament and then go out there and try to play my best. Q. Maybe just talk a little bit about this season and where you stand right now with your game. JOHN SENDEN: Yeah. This season I think I'm running like 62 on the FedExCup. My results haven't been fantastic. I've had reasonable finishes with the tournaments on the West Coast. I've actually you know, have one Top-10 in Las Vegas, sorry, McGladrey -- I'm sorry, Malaysia, finished Top 10. The rest of the tournaments have been okay. I played 8 tournaments, made 7 cuts. I feel like my game is in pretty good shape. I need to keep working hard on my game, the whole lot and, you know -- and I remember last year at this time I didn't really have, you know, tremendous form coming into this week and really sort of, you know, sky rocketed the year and -- but I feel pretty good. You know, got a good run through the Florida swing and going to be -- it's going to be a great next six weeks. Q. Is this your first time back since winning? JOHN SENDEN: Yesterday I got back here. Q. What is it like seeing your picture up there and can you envision what this week is going to be like defending? JOHN SENDEN: Yeah. I think I have to be focused on what I'm just doing with myself with my game. It's really great to see your name up there as it was at the John Deere Classic every time you roll into the TPC Deere Run, your name is always there and it's a great feeling but I do know that I have to focus on just preparing well and playing the golf course. But, the feeling is great. It certainly feels better after, you know, winning last year but I think it's a -- you know, it's a fun way to feel and I think I just need to, as I said, just go out there and do my job. Q. You said you know winning here kind of sky rocketed your year, kind of got you rolling and doing well. It's been kind of the case in the past, you and Kevin Streelman had a great year. Does this tournament feel like something, kind of feels like it's a good primer to get going into the rest of the year with The Masters just around the corner and that kind of thing? JOHN SENDEN: I think so. It starts to warm up in Florida so everyone enjoys that somewhat. The West Coast is pretty hit and miss with the weather and it seems easy to play because the ball is traveling further and the conditions are what I've grown up on with growing up in Brisbane, bermuda grass. I feel, you know, like the season really gets going right now. I think that -- I think that it's -- you got Doral, Valspar, Bay Hill and then leading up to the Majors is important to me and getting on a nice run now is somewhat what I sort of planned to do and I think that the -- you know, the Florida swing has been good to me. Q. You find it surprising not more well-known guys, higher in the ranks don't play this Florida swing less than The Masters a month away? JOHN SENDEN: The thing about the best players in the world, you know, they don't play every week so you got tournaments at Doral and Bay Hill and even this week. I think that the guys probably struggle to play three in a row so they got to pick and choose which ones. I think the Valspar has got a great date and you see it's a quality field. Look at the list is very good players playing and they enjoy playing right through the Florida swing and I'm not sure their plans on the Texas events but, you know, that's their real prime for leading into the Majors. Q. Do you think it's beneficial for this tournament to see guys maybe who hasn't won in awhile like you and Streelman had long spans between PGA TOUR wins, do you think it's beneficial for people to see new people win or people who haven't won in awhile or do you think a lot of people want to see guys with bigger names like Adam Scott or Jordan Spieth? JOHN SENDEN: Depends on what the attitude of what the PGA TOUR or the ratings wants. You know, you watch Adam Scott coming down the stretch and winning, well, it's possibly going to get better ratings than an unknown player winning but, then again, it's almost like a different story, it's possibly a better story because we all know Adam Scott's records and winning golf tournaments has been great but someone that comes from, you know, a great story of an unknown winning or hadn't won for a long time is somewhat a good story as well. Q. Kind of like you and Kevin where you guys hadn't won in five, six years but everyone now knows who you are. JOHN SENDEN: That's a good feeling, too. That's what we work hard to do. We work hard to sort of win golf tournaments. We work hard to stay on Tour and stay healthy. We love playing the PGA TOUR, nothing is better and that's why we're all out here to strive to win. I think it's not surprising to see, you know, guys that are even unknown really have the passion to try and win because even if they're unknown they're bouncing themselves into the spotlight which is a good thing for the Tour. Q. Have you gotten out for the practice round? JOHN SENDEN: Later today. Q. Have you seen the conditions or been out there? JOHN SENDEN: No, I have not. I'm staying right on the 15th hole and I've seen -- you can look out. Looks pretty good. Q. John, it seems like the history of this tournament there's a lot of veteran players have won it, guys in their late 30s or 40s, whatever, including yourself. Does it take a sense of maturity to go around this course for four rounds? JOHN SENDEN: I think so. I think you need to play pretty solid golf to do well around here because it's narrow in spots, the greens are smaller. You know, it's a very strategic golf course. I think you see players that say the veteran players that play win around here because it's not totally a bomber's golf course. Doral probably is. This place is not. It's narrow. It's different. It's got sort of shorter golf holes than, say, Doral. You can actually -- if you're smart around here you can actually do really well. If you try to sort of tear it apart by bombing it, it's much more narrow than probably Doral. Doral visually looks -- all you see is the bunkers. Here you see more tree line. Even if you do lay it back a little bit here you can still score well. Q. Do you feel that there's more pressure being the defending champion, even at this event or any event when you're defending a tournament? JOHN SENDEN: Yeah, I think so. I think it's just different. I think you have that feeling of, you know, little bit more expectation and you know the spotlight is a little bit more on you. I've always played being sort of coming up under the radar a little bit and it's different but when you get to certain levels in golf in your career you certainly get looked at differently so you have to accept all sorts of feelings and then when you're in contention any week you got the spotlight on you. So, people are watching. The world is watching. You have to try and go out there and do your best and that's all you can do. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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