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ALSTOM OPEN DE FRANCEJuly 1, 2015Martin KaymerPARIS, FRANCE SARAH GWYNN: Martin, thank you for joining us. Welcome back to the Alstom Open de France. You've had a lot of good memories here. MARTIN KAYMER: Yes, my first year here I had a top ten, which was back then my biggest cheque that I had so far. Then a couple years later, I won in a playoff against Lee, and yeah, since then, I always came back. For me, it's very easy to reach from home. I can drive. And again, it's a good golf course that I enjoy to play because it's very challenging. SARAH GWYNN: And you have such a good record here. What's the key to playing this course well? MARTIN KAYMER: In the past, it was always the key that you hit many fairways because the rough was very thick and some of the par 4s when you miss the fairway, you couldn't go to the green or there was some water in play. And this year, it might play a little bit easier because there's less rough on the course. So this year, I don't know what the key is going to be. Q. How do you like the weather? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, it's better than rain. You just need to drink a lot and eat a lot more, and maybe have some of those amino drinks to keep up your energy level and concentration. But in the end of the day, you know, when you play in America, you have that a lot of times, as well, with the humidity and stuff. It's not a big change. You just need to adjust a little bit. Q. Coming from Chambers Bay, how is it to play on this course, so green here and so different. MARTIN KAYMER: I made last week in Munich and that was nice to see some green greens again, and not burned. This week is pretty much the same. I think the greens, they are as good as they were last week, so I think you can make a few putts on those greens here. Golf course looks good to me. Unfortunately they took a lot of bushes out around the greens and around the tee boxes. Actually made the golf course look prettier in the past but I think they did it for The Ryder Cup already. So, yeah, it will be an exciting week I think. Q. How much sort of excitement do you sort of get from the fact that you've won on this course, in two weeks' time, going back to St. Andrews, where you've won the Dunhill Links, as well? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I always thought it was a good preparation here because the golf course usually plays very fast and very firm. I think if you play The French Open, the Scottish Open and then The Open, I think it's a great preparation. Unfortunately for me it's a difficult timing with The Scottish Open, because obviously you play the U.S. Open and then I play in Munich and I always play this week. I don't really want to play four tournaments before The Open. So I always thought more American players might come over and play the two weeks before The Open. It did happen a little bit in the past. I can remember that Bubba, he was here maybe two or three years ago. But if I would play only on the PGA Tour, I would come over here and play this golf course and get the experience and get a feel for that play. Q. Can you play the shots on this course that you probably expect to play on the Old Course? MARTIN KAYMER: Old Course you will putt a lot around greens that you can't do here. But some of the tee shots, you don't need the driver very often. You can, seven times, you can hit a 2‑iron from the tee, if you want to, which is very rare on a golf course these days. St. Andrews, you hope you hit the driver most of the time and you hope to pull it because left is fine. So in some ways, it is a preparation because of the turf is firm, but around the greens, it's completely different. Q. I suppose last week was a bit of a disappointment for you. What are your expectations this week in this tournament? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I try to play tournaments these days without high expectations. I know that I like that golf course. I know that I have been successful here before. I know I enjoy being in France. I enjoy the people, enjoy the food. So there's nothing really wrong about this place. There's no reason why I shouldn't play well. But on the other hand, if you try to have expectations, I think you only put yourself under pressure for very unnecessary reasons. So I just try to enjoy the week for what it is, because it would be a shame if you don't. Q. You said earlier, they should create a new story for this tournament‑‑ MARTIN KAYMER: No, they shouldn't create a new story. They have a story already with the golf course. They should just use it more to bring over more players, more of the Top‑10, Top 15 or Top‑50 in the world to give more credit to the tournament; to promote the tournament through the players, how good it is. I know that obviously the sponsorship will hopefully renew next year with Alstom and hopefully they will, because it is one of the greatest events that we play. So I think in general, you can do a lot more. You need to sit down, some creative hats and figure something out. I'm sure there's a very good possibility in a very natural way to make that event even bigger. Some tournaments, you need to create stories in order to make it interesting. Here, you have it all really. Q. What sort of players do you expect to be on top this week, except you, of course. MARTIN KAYMER: What players? Q. What other names you can think of? MARTIN KAYMER: I don't worry about that much. I can't change how they play. I'm sure‑‑ I hope a couple of French players will break through and play well. It always helps the tournament if some locals play well. Well, then, obviously you have a few Ryder Cup players here who always might‑‑ who always have a chance to win. But it would be quite nice and quite interesting for the tournament if maybe a young French player who is‑‑ I don't know. Obviously it was nice back in the day when Thomas Levet, when he won here. I think it's time for Alex Levy, as well, the way he plays golf. The way he has done recently, I think it would be a great win for him in his home country. Q. You have been No. 1 in the world, two majors and a lot of big, big performances and some bad play, too. We have in France Victor Dubuisson who is up‑and‑down this year. What can you say, compare your own‑‑ MARTIN KAYMER: Well, in general Victor, I don't know him as a person. I don't think no one really knows, he's a tough one to figure out (laughter). The way I got to know him at The Ryder Cup, he was very nice to me. We had good conversations, as well. If you sit down with him and get to know him very well, he's actually a very interesting person. But not really people I think give him a chance sometimes, too. What he does now playing‑wise, sometimes priorities, they shift during a season. Maybe you have some more time to practise and you have less time. Then other things, they are more important to you in your private life, then golf will suffer a little bit. I don't know what the story is with him, you have to ask him, but I think it's very normal for an athlete. Q. When things gets wrong, when you have bad play, is there something you do? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, usually you know the reasons. Everybody knows the reasons. You just need to be very honest to yourself and ask yourself the right questions. And sometimes you're not really‑‑ you don't answer honest to yourself because you don't want to show weakness. Sometimes you're lazy. It's just the truth. You don't practise as many as you did in the past when you were successful. So you need to, yeah, you need to get up again and practise and do the things what made you a good player and made you successful, and sometimes you forget, because when you play well, you just keep playing. And then practise is getting less, because you play well. But sooner or later, it will hit you, and then you might not finish Top‑10 anymore, you might miss a cut here and there and you think, well, that's fine. Then you forget and you have to go back to where you were or just ask yourself, what do I need to do and then just do it again. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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