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SHELL HOUSTON OPENApril 1, 2015Matt JonesHUMBLE, TEXAS AMANDA HERRINGTON: Good afternoon. We are joined today by our 2014 Shell Houston Open champion, Matt Jones. Got a pair of Top-10s so far this season, but really, what it's like being back after such a dramatic finish last year? MATT JONES: It's great. I actually just got the play 18 just then with the guys in the Pro-Am. It was a good experience to get out there and walk the hole and see it and have those memories come back from last year. It's always a great place to come, and I always love coming here as it is. Being a champion or not being a champion, I'll still be here next year. AMANDA HERRINGTON: Questions. Q. Good little run you've been on. Anything behind that, change anything or improve anything? MATT JONES: Probably putting has improved. I've worked hard on that, especially with my coach. He was at Bay Hill and I was putting really well before I finished third and I putted great in the tournament. And I just put it down the making more putts. Probably hitting it just the same but making more putts, which makes getting up and down easier as well. Q. Kind of going back to your dramatic victory last year, was there any point in time, maybe after it happened, where you realized wow, I just won that tournament in that fashion and that's the way it went down? MATT JONES: Yeah, definitely. Probably not the next week, I was so busy trying to understand and learn Augusta and figure out the golf course. But I'd say after Augusta and then the Friday night after I missed the cut, I got to sit down and saw how I had done it. I never really watched it before because I was too busy, and that's when it probably hit me, probably that weekend and the next week after that, that I had won in it that fashion and I finally won a TOUR event. Q. When you thought about it and what you did, you mentioned watching it, what thought came to mind when you watched it for the first time? MATT JONES: The shot was amazing, yes, but the way I actually I handled myself on Sunday, I knew I was a long way back. I never -- I never thought about winning because I was always so far behind Kuch and the other guy, Sergio. I can't remember who else was there. That's probably why I stayed so calm, knowing that I had to keep playing well and playing aggressively. I'm not a conservative player. I would say even in the playoff, I was very comfortable as well. I wasn't very -- I've been in the final group of four and I've been a little more uptight and a little more conservative, and in the playoff I had no fears or anxiety at all. Q. How did you celebrate that night? MATT JONES: After I won? I had two beers and jumped on a plane and got to Augusta, got to the house I was staying at probably 10:00, 11:00, went to bed and that was it. Didn't do anything. I didn't have time. Didn't have a chance. Too busy trying to organize so many things after you win here for family and friends and housing and everything you got to do when you're trying to get to Augusta and you've never been there before. You have so many people wanting to come and see you first time there. I celebrated -- I missed the cut, and we went out Friday night in Augusta and had friends and family and we went to dinner and had drinks. That was probably the first time I got to celebrate. Q. Anyone fly from Australia for the Masters? MATT JONES: My mom and dad and coach did. They flew over. They got there on Tuesday. Q. What's your coach's name? AGary Barter, B-a-r-t-e-r. Q. How do you envision this weekend going? I know if you saw yourself winning again this coming weekend, you would imagine in less dramatic fashion. MATT JONES: It be always nice to finish off, win a golf tournament in less dramatic fashion. I've got such a quality field here, not going to be easy to win. These players again, there's a lot of good players, lot of players here that are playing really, really well. If I can just play to my game, play the my strengths and keep putting well, I'll have a good chance. Depends on the conditions as well. If the wind is going to blow, it will be hard. Could rain. The course is going to play a lot longer. Pretty firm and fast out here. So it's a little softer right now than normal. You're going to be a little more aggressive going into some pins because the ball is going to stop. You're going to see some really good shots. Q. Last year you were one of three Aussies to win the Texas TOUR stops. We keep hearing the similarities. For those of us who haven't ever been to Australia, is there validity to that commonalty with some of the courses you guys play as kids growing up? MATT JONES: We're used to firm and fast, bump and runs, not a lot of flop shots. So that's why, I mean, Adam winning Texas, Adam, Colonial, firm and fast here is -- usually firm and fast what we usually play here. I'm sure San Antonio blows every day there, 20 to 30. So that place is going to be firm and fast as well. I'd say that would definitely be the most common factor between the two countries, why we play Texas so well. We're used to playing in the wind, too. Especially in Sydney. We get winds in Queensland as well. Q. Guys rent houses next week. After you win last year, do you have to hope someone got an open room or how does that work? MATT JONES: Yeah, I was lucky. My agent spoke to the people in charge of housing at Augusta and they spoke to someone and were lucky enough to ask someone to leave their house and go to their second house somewhere, and I was able to get into that place Monday afternoon at 5:00. Had to do some cleaning. I stayed with Kevin Stadler Sunday night when I won and stayed at his place that he was renting. Q. Have you gotten to know Patrick Reed at all? He didn't play this tournament last year. He lives in Houston. He's kind of a focal point. He's a confident young man, taking some heat for that. MATT JONES: There's a lot of confident players out here, confident young men. Billy Horschel is a very confident person, Paul Casey, I grew up playing college golf with him. He's very confident. That's what makes the golfers very good and very special as well. Some players out here could be better golfers than them but don't have the confidence that they do. I think that confidence goes a long way with a lot of golfers. But no, I've played with Patrick once and that was at the Phoenix Open this year and we talked. He was totally fine. He probably keeps to himself when he's out here, and he's not one of the people that I think is going to go off and start a conversation with someone like some other people do. He does his work, and I respect him for that. He's got a job to do and do it well. Q. He doesn't give off any particularly obnoxious confident airs with a fellow golfer on the course, I guess. MATT JONES: No, not at all. Q. You don't see that possible side of him? MATT JONES: No. I think you guys see it with some of the statements he makes, but -- Q.Doesn't manifest itself when you're on the golf course? MATT JONES: No, not at all. He's very confident in what he does, and looking at his results, he has every reason to be confident. He was very confident. Q. Putting, was it new putter? What it form stuff? MATT JONES: It was just a little bit of technique, yeah. Very simple, but sometimes the simplist things are the hardest things for us to fix. We're always looking for more complicated, difficult things, and sometimes it's just very simple and basic. Q. You must have followed the Cricket World Cup. With Australia winning recently, is there a little more Aussie pride right now? MATT JONES: I definitely followed it, especially out here with a few New Zealanders, couple of Indians that we know, South Africans, Ernie, I'm always speaking to Ernie about it. We've got another World Cup coming up in September, Rugby World Cup. So we're going to have a tough time with that World Cup against New Zealand and South Africa. Q. Your next Masters opportunity, what will you do differently? MATT JONES: Hopefully it would be next week, but if it's not, have a chance to go there and prepare and see the golf course and get a better understanding. I mean, last year Monday was washed out so I never got to go on the golf course. I played 18 holes on Tuesday. You don't want to play 18 holes. Wednesday because I'm exhausted from winning the week before. So to be getting there and having the opportunity to spend 45 minutes on each hole, chipping, putting, figuring out where to miss it, because I missed in it spots that I had no chance getting it within 15, 20 feet on the next shot. Q. You'll be in the same boat. At least you have -- MATT JONES: Exactly. I'll have a little bit more familiarity. I played with Sandy Lyle last year, and he hit it everywhere, but he missed it in the right spots. I think he made the cut. It's a course that you need a lot of knowledge on to be able to manage yourself around it, and I didn't have that last year. Q. What's the biggest difference for you coming back here a year later as a winner? MATT JONES: Biggest difference, having the title of a PGA TOUR winner. But the biggest difference, I don't really have any -- everything I do is the same. I act the same. I'm the same person. It's just probably having the title and having people, especially at this golf tournament, know who you are. I go to other golf tournaments, it's different. You come here, people want your autograph, know who you are. Everyone is saying, "Congratulations, good luck, we hope you defend," which is a nice thing to have and I look forward to it. Q. What did you do with the club that you holed the shot with? MATT JONES: It actually got changed the next week at Augusta. It got taken out of the bag, and I got a new wedge. It's at home in the garage somewhere. Q. For the bounce or grooves? MATT JONES: Grooves. I just wanted something with a little more spin that I could try, and I needed it there. Q. Do you know where that club is in the garage? Are you holding on to it? MATT JONES: No, it's in a bag. I think it's beside my bed. That's where it is, beside my bed, just thrown in there. Took it out, put it down. But I'm sure I'll keep it. I might frame it. I might put in it in my office. I'm not sure. AMANDA HERRINGTON: All right.  Thank you very much for your time. MATT JONES: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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