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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 7, 2015Antonio MurdacaAUGUSTA, GEORGIA MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are pleased to have with us an outstanding young man, Antonio Murdaca, whose dream of playing in the Masters was fulfilled last October after he won the sixth annual Asia‑Pacific Amateur Championship. A two‑time Australian Junior Champion, Antonio is the first Aussie to win the Asia‑Pacific Amateur Championship, winning by an impressive seven strokes, the largest margin of victory in the Championship's history. Before we take some questions, let me first of all say congratulations, Antonio. We are glad to have you here. Would you tell us what it feels like to be competing in your first Masters Tournament. ANTONIO MURDACA: You know, it's pretty amazing for me to be playing in the Masters as my first major. I never thought I would be playing as a 19‑year‑old. After winning the Asia Pacific, that was a big stepping stone for me. So it's definitely fast‑tracked a lot of things for me, and playing the Masters this week is pretty exciting. Q. You've obviously got the news today that you'll be playing with Adam Scott. It's a bit of a baptism of fire, but a good one to be with him in the first two rounds. ANTONIO MURDACA: Yeah, I played with him on Saturday, Saturday afternoon. A bit of a joke, he said, "You might be playing with me and Tiger." Looking at the sheet today, I'm playing with him and Dustin. So it's pretty cool, pretty exciting. Can't wait for the first round. Q. What's your first memory of this tournament? I take it it's watching it at home on TV, but can you remember which year it was? ANTONIO MURDACA: I remember what year it was. It was Tiger's chip on 16, that one he holed. That stuck to me. That chip I've watched over and over on YouTube. Hopefully something like that can happen to me this week. Q. Were you one of those kids who religiously got up on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday mornings when the Masters was on and as soon as the coverage started? ANTONIO MURDACA: Yeah, I was into the last round more than anything. I always thought that was pretty cool to watch, especially watching Adam Scott win, firing daggers and Cabrera holing that putt on 10, that was a pretty cool thing for me to watch. Q. Tell us about your preparation a little bit. When did you get here and what have you been doing since you've been here in terms of practicing and playing? ANTONIO MURDACA: We got in Friday afternoon. It was a long trip for us. We got delayed ten hours in Sydney. I think it took us about 48 hours. Body felt a little bit different when I got off the plane. Lost a bit of swing speed and ball speed went down a bit. But over the last few days, it's been getting back into it. A bit of stretching and got a bit of physio done last night and so that's definitely helped. The swing is feeling a lot better now and slighting starting to peak. Q. You're playing in a group with two of the biggest hitters in the game. How does that modify your thinking or do you just play your own game? ANTONIO MURDACA: I just have to go out and swing it smooth, aim for the fairway and do what I was doing today. I was pretty happy with that. I had the chance to play with Westwood and he's not a short hitter, and I felt pretty comfortable playing with him. So obviously they're a different level length‑wise, but it should be a lot of fun playing with them. Q. Has it been different playing the course these last couple of days with lots of people on the course compared to those couple of quiet holes you played on the weekend? ANTONIO MURDACA: You know, a little bit, the energy is definitely a lot better. It's pretty cool to hit shots when you hear a crowd roar. Even skimming the ball across the water on 16 is pretty awesome. Hopefully do one more of those tomorrow. Q. Who else have you played with in practice rounds? You said Westwood you played with today; played with Adam on Saturday. Anybody else? ANTONIO MURDACA: We played nine with Billy Horschel and Matt Every and also Kevin Na. Q. You have your coach on the bag, it's a caddie/coach relationship, similar to Jason Day and Col Swatton. How important is that to you in your game as a whole? ANTONIO MURDACA: It's pretty important to me. I've been with Gareth I think now almost eight years, I think. We get along pretty well and he knows my swing inside out. He knows how to keep me focused and concentrated on the golf course which is good. He keeps me in tempo. We don't really talk about any technical things on the golf course, so that seems to help. Q. So it's like a mate of yours on the bag? ANTONIO MURDACA: Yeah, and he understands about the game and obviously reading greens. It definitely helps. Q. Not to jump ahead too much, but what are your plans for after the Masters? I know you've been playing a lot, finished high school, not going to college as I understand. What are you going to be doing the rest of the spring and summer? ANTONIO MURDACA: I think I'm just going to keep playing some amateur events. I'll hopefully do the U.S. Amateur again and hopefully go to the U.K. and play in the British again. I'm just going to take as many tournament opportunities as I can and hopefully play as many international amateur tournaments as I can and hopefully gain a bit more experience and see how we go from there. Q. You won the Asia‑Pacific Amateur by seven and you won your recent South Australian Amateur by seven. Obviously when you get out there and you're on, you're on. Is that how you feel; you're obviously comfortable being out in front? ANTONIO MURDACA: Yeah, I've always felt quite confident being out in front. When the game feels good, it's good, so not much goes wrong. Maybe a different story playing a major, so it should be a good experience for me. See how we go from there. Q. At what point in the Asia Pacific, did you allow yourself to think, oh, man, I'm going to get to Augusta if I can just close this out. ANTONIO MURDACA: It would have been definitely the last couple holes. I think after that tee shot on 18, I know it went a long way right but I couldn't make a silly number from there. I felt pretty comfortable after the tee shot on 18, it a good shot in, so it was an easy par in the end. Q. Was it hard to temper your emotions in the last nine holes, just keep it together, nine more? ANTONIO MURDACA: Yeah, you know, I heard that, I think it was the Japanese guy that came second. He got it going a little hot, so started thinking about it a little at the start. After I holed that putt on 1, which I think was like a 20‑footer for par or 15‑footer, made a couple of birdies that definitely helped. Coming into the back nine, I knew what I was doing and I knew what was going on with my swing at that stage and I felt pretty confident with everything. Q. You've had more or less six months to think about this since the Asia Pacific. How much of your thinking has been preoccupied by knowing you're coming to this tournament? ANTONIO MURDACA: Not a lot back home. There's more during the media stuff that I've thought about it. I try to keep it pretty casual. But friends and family talking about it, it was pretty exciting. I felt pretty comfortable with everything. My nerves, I've kept them pretty shallow, so pretty happy with everything. Yeah, not too fussed about anything at the moment. Obviously standing on the first tee Thursday morning, might be a little pumped up, but see how we go. Q. Has it lived up to expectations this week? ANTONIO MURDACA: Yeah, definitely just walking out here on to the golf course, everything is lush. Coming out Monday after playing Sunday with the crowds, seeing how many people there were, it was pretty surreal. Q. To that point about how surreal it was seeing it in person versus in your perception of Augusta, maybe watching on TV, how different is it here in person? ANTONIO MURDACA: I think it's better in person to be honest. Obviously you see a lot more of the crowds and stuff on TV. Whereas here, when you're standing there hitting your shot, you can see the first rope‑‑ you can't really see past the first rope so it's not as bad as I thought. Standing there on 16, with the crowds all the way down the left in the stands and behind the green, that's pretty intimidating. Q. What are your plans for tomorrow? Are you going to playing the Par 3 or hitting some balls? ANTONIO MURDACA: I think I'll come out a little bit earlier tomorrow. I might do the back nine tomorrow and do some practice and then do the Par 3 and then head on home and relax and get ready for Thursday morning. Q. Who are you playing with in the Par 3? Have you got that arranged? ANTONIO MURDACA: I think I'm playing with Lahiri and Weisberger. Q. Is that hayfever or just a cold? ANTONIO MURDACA: I think just a bit of a cold. Maybe something off the plane, a bit of a bug that's going around but keeping it under control. MODERATOR: We are glad to have your mom and dad here with us here from Australia. Welcome to Augusta. Q. You had mentioned intimidating, like on 16. What other parts of the course are intimidating? ANTONIO MURDACA: 18th tee. That's a bit of a scary tee shot. But yeah, I've got driver worked out, so I'm pretty comfortable with it I think. I think the first hole will be a little bit like that, as well. With the crowd, don't know how many people are going to be there, playing with Scott, so yeah, it's going to be amazing, so I can't wait for it. Q. And when it comes to the Australian game in general on the pro level and just as we are looking at the biggest stages, what's your assessment of the state of the Australian game? ANTONIO MURDACA: I think we have got a lot of great players. Got a lot of good amateurs coming through and got a lot of good professionals. I think the programs that we have back home are probably the best in the world, so we're lucky to go through those ranks. The support we get is phenomenal. So without them, it would be a bit tough for us to get here and play these tournaments. But we're lucky to have all that support back home. MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much, and Antonio, best of luck to you this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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