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QUICKEN LOANS NATIONALJuly 28, 2015Jimmy WalkerGAINESVILLE, VIRGINIA AMANDA HERRINGTON: Only four weeks away from the Playoffs. You're No. 3. Have led for most weeks in the Top-5 of the FedExCup standings. Talk a little bit about your game plan going towards the Playoffs. JIMMY WALKER: The game plan is to, you know, maybe learn that it's about playing well in the Playoffs and I have a chance, and to have a chance to win it all you got to win -- to have a chance to win it. That's the game plan. Go in and try to win won and that gives you a really good chance to finish it off. But you really got to play good at the Tour Championship. AMANDA HERRINGTON: Get some questions. Q. One part of your game that's kind of got you sidetracked from playing your best golf until recently or how have you gotten back to where you are right now feeling good? JIMMY WALKER: Just a combination of just driving a little better and making a few more putts and when those two things kind of come together it bleeds into the rest of the golf game. I think when you get off the tee well, just kind of just a little bit of a trickle down, start making more putts, everything is good. I don't feel like I've played a lot since about after Augusta, just been kind of taking some time off and played a lot early, played really well and took some time off, played a few in between there and had a really good tournament in Dallas. It's all been kind of right there. Q. Since you haven't played much lately, do you feel like you need to play a lot to play well? Do you play better on your 2nd or 3rd week in a row than you do your first week back after a break? JIMMY WALKER: It's funny, in the past I felt like I always got better as I played more, sometimes on a four week stretch, 3rd and 4th events were better but, you know, you can always see trends and stuff like that. I've had years where I've taken time off and played well right away and -- but, typically, I like to play golf, I'm a golfer. I just love playing golf. So, I'm really looking forward to the next three weeks. I'm going to play a lot of golf here in the next three months. Q. Do you feel like the course here sets up well for you? JIMMY WALKER: I do. My wife had a horse show here about a month and a half ago. It was very close to here so I was up here for that and came over and played a couple times and really enjoyed it. I said yeah, definitely like to come back and play here, play the event. Q. What was it you liked about it in general and what was it that suited you? JIMMY WALKER: I think for golfers it's a lot about sight lines and what looks goods to your eye off the tee. The golf course looks good to me off the tee. The greens are -- they seem to have every kind of quadrant on them, every green got a section and a section and a section, sometimes three, sometimes four, and really pleasantly surprised to get here, the golf course is in amazing shape. When I played it a couple weeks ago or month and a half ago, it was kind of cool, cool and it was very wet and rainy. So it played very long. Definitely sped up with the heat and the greens are -- got a little bit of firmness to them right now and supposedly they're going to get a lot firmer as the week goes on. The greens are fast. I don't think it's just me coming from playing the Scottish and The Open. They're quick. Q. Jimmy, when you came here a month and a half ago, were you using those rounds, those practice rounds as a factor to determine whether you were going to come here this week and how often do you sort of prep for a non-major, if you will? JIMMY WALKER: Yeah, I used it as a barometer on whether or not I was going to play and I enjoy playing golf courses I like to play, that suit your golf game. It's not that I don't play well at courses that I don't like, but it was great. I came here and I met some great members and the head pro was great. I had a good time, it was a good experience and definitely wanted to come back. Q. You didn't get to play a lot of Majors earlier in your career. Now you've been qualifying for them all. What have you learned in the cash course that you have that you can take to the PGA as to how you might change your preparation and what works or doesn't work? JIMMY WALKER: Like I played great in all the Majors last year. I think I had three Top-10s and was right there and this year just hasn't really happened. I hurt my wrist at Augusta and that was a bummer and Chambers Bay was Chambers Bay and I just couldn't quite get -- I didn't get it going on the weekend at The Open. Everything was really starting to feel like it was falling into place. So, as far as taking everything into the PGA Championship, Whistling Straits is a golf course I think you really need to get off the tee well at and that kind of sets up the whole round, I think there. So, that will be more prep, working on the tee ball and making putts. It's just a golf term. It's got more pizzaz but it's still just golf. If you go out and hit the golf shots you can do it anywhere, anytime I think. That's how I gauge it. Q. Going earlier help you or does it make a difference? JIMMY WALKER: You know, I think it can help and hurt you. You can get there and you kind of feel like you're there too early. "I came here too early, I did this too fast. Should I have come? Should I have not have come?" I still think that we're all pretty good at what we do. We know how to dissect a golf course, know where to hit it, know how to play it. You know, we've done this our whole career. Done a lot of qualifying where you just show up and play and never seen the golf course before. You just figure out how to pick a golf course apart. It's kind of the same thing but that's how I approach it. But I'm not going up early to play. I played there last time. I'm actually looking forward to playing again. When I was there I had a torn meniscus. I was limping around the whole time. It's not a fun place to limp around on. It's a little hilly hill and sandy. Q. I'm curious with next week at the World Golf Championship before a Major, the way they schedule it, is that a good lead in to a Major? JIMMY WALKER: Sure. I think so. Lot of guys like to play the week before, some guys don't like to play the week before. I've done both and they both work for me. There's no strategy involved in that for me. I was telling everybody I'm really excited to play three weeks in a row. I'm ready to play. Q. One more on a different topic. I don't know if you believe this or not. They were calling this the era of the bombers, long drive guys. Do you agree with that or do you think that the people relate -- that's what they want do see, I guess? JIMMY WALKER: People enjoy watching -- I think people enjoy seeing good shots and good putts and birdies and I think that's what people enjoy. I know some people enjoy watching the U.S. Open and watching guys struggle, too. But I think for a fan excitement or excitement of the tournaments, people like to see good scores shot, I think. I know sometimes the golf courses don't appreciate it but kind of get taken advantage of sometime but it's all weather-dependent and that's just kind of the way it is for the golf courses. If it's nice and soft and there's no wind, it doesn't matter what you're going to do, the course is going to be torn up because they're good. It's all about firm and fast. Firm and fast makes it hard to control the golf ball and when you take that away from us that's when it gets hard. I think people enjoy seeing good scores. As far as bombers, you're bombing it and hitting it good it definitely gives you an advantage. There's no doubt about it. There's whole different kinds of ways to play golf. Actually saw that a couple weeks ago, Zach won at Augusta where everybody thinks you have to hit it so far. He won that one year when the ball was cold and nasty and nobody was kind of -- took a little bit of the bomber out of it, I think. Q. Do you have any memory of watching any of the four Presidents Cups that were played here, anything that stands out from those other than maybe wanting to be part of it? JIMMY WALKER: I don't remember watching it. I know I had seen it and to know that it was here four times now, I didn't really know that until I showed up here. Q. I don't think you played this event when it was at Congressional. Do you like this course better than Congressional? JIMMY WALKER: I have played Congressional. It's tough. It's obviously a U.S. Open caliber golf course. Not to say this place couldn't be, tighten it up and what they do for a U.S. Open. I think it's great. I really enjoyed it. Everybody come here and played it that I've talked to so far in the last two days, wow, this is cool. Q. This is this is Tiger's tournament, has his name on it. Wonder what you see in him and his game this year, just what your thoughts are? Everybody in golf watches and has thoughts. JIMMY WALKER: Yeah. I don't know. Rickie and I got out here and practiced yesterday and it's on Monday and Tiger is out there right next to us working hard, chipping, putting, working on his game and I know he wants to get back to playing the way he was and we all would. So, I know he's working on it, grinding on it. It sure seems like -- I played with him at Augusta this year. You could tell he really wanted to make the putts and hit the good shots. So, it looks to me like he's got -- it looks like he's got the drive to get things going for him. I hope he does. Q. We know about your golf highlights this year. Give us your single highlight from your space photography this summer. You got one? Anything you shot this year that you were pleased with or something you hadn't shot before? JIMMY WALKER: I did get -- I think I've had two astronomy picture of the day from NASA this year. That's pretty cool. One of them was actually -- one ever of favorite pictures I've taken kind of looks like -- I always thought these are like Rorschach testing. I always thought it looked like a W. I got it hanging at the house, matted and -- Q. What did you shoot? JIMMY WALKER: The Cygnus Wall. That finally got picked. I kept sending it in, sending it in. This is my favorite. Keep sending it in. Finally he bit. Q. How many have you done now with NASA? JIMMY WALKER: I think I've had five over the last like three years that I've been submitting. That's pretty good. Q. That kind like winning a Major? JIMMY WALKER: No. They give one out everyday. They only give out one. It's definitely not like winning a Major. It is very cool. Thousands and thousands of pictures are submitted daily and to get one picked is pretty cool. Q. Winning a top Major or Pro-Am? JIMMY WALKER: You know, you could always say like it is, some of the best guys in the world have 20 to 30. That's a stellar, stellar career. Not a lot of guys that have done that. It's few and far between. That's kind of the way the whole deal works because there's -- it's not just space photography, it's anything that has anything to do with astronomy or being outside or something that is related to astronomy. It's not just about kind of what I do. Q. This Cygnus Wall, the galaxy? JIMMY WALKER: It's a nebula, not a galaxy. Q. I was just going to ask you, there aren't a whole lot of pro golfers that are into that as a hobby. Do you get preferential treatment towards getting picked as the photo of the day? JIMMY WALKER: I don't. I don't know. I submit just like everybody else. This is me, who I am. I just put my name on the bottom. I don't link a golf website to it or anything. Q. Maybe you should. JIMMY WALKER: Yeah. I'm okay. Q. I was just wondering when you saw the Pluto pictures, did you have any reaction to that? JIMMY WALKER: I did. That was incredible. Got nice and tight and close and the imagery coming from way out there, it was incredible. It was very high res, very detailed. Looked like they were taking a picture of the moon, you know, it was that clear. Very cool. I thought it was great. AMANDA HERRINGTON: All right. Great. Thank you so much for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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