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ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIPSeptember 29, 2015Martin KaymerST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND SARAH GWYNN: Martin, thanks for joining us. Must be nice to be back here at St. Andrews. MARTIN KAYMER: For me, it's a golf course, a golf tournament, I look forward to every year. This year I can play with my dad again, my brother will caddie for him. It will be entertaining. They argue once in awhile which is quite fun. Three very nice golf courses. Hopefully we'll make it this year to play on Sunday again at St. Andrews as a team. Back then a few years back when I played with my dad, it was only me and on Sunday we didn't make it as a team. That's the goal, to play on Sunday and walk a few holes. SARAH GWYNN: And you're coming into the event with your game in very good shape. You must be very confident of winning on Sunday. MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I was playing well recently. A little bit is missing here and there, but it's not much, nothing you need to worry about. Obviously it's hard to win golf tournaments. You need a little luck here and there, and sometimes you do. It's never easy to win. Doesn't matter how big the tournament is. But coming here, I've won in 2010. It's a place that I enjoy, that I really, really like and that I'm very passionate about. So I look really forward to try to win on Sunday. Q. Can you talk about losing your PGA TOUR card and what impact that's going to have on your schedule next year? And can you talk about some of the guys from The Ryder Cup last year, the guys that are slipping a bit are struggling now. Can you talk about the difficulties of trying to play a split Tour schedule? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, first, I think the PGA TOUR, they make it a bit difficult for the guys who live in Europe who don't live in America. When you play on both tours living in America, it's a little bit easier because some of the tournaments that count for both tours, they are in America. The US, obviously three majors in America, so if you live in Europe, you always need to travel quite a lot. So therefore, that's the tricky part for myself. Nothing really changes. Instead of playing 13 tournaments that I played this year, I will play 12, which is not a bad thing at all. Good thing is, also, I can focus more on The Ryder Cup for the points. Another thing, positive thing, is I can be more home. I don't need to worry too much, coming to America and going back, all of that back and forth. So I think in the media, it was more negatively written about, and I see it as a positive. It's less I need to worry about. And I'm only suspended for a year. If I want to take up the membership in 2016 or 2017 again, it's obviously no problem, with my win at the U.S. Open last year, I have the‑‑ what do you call it‑‑ exemption. So it's all good. Q. You're a good example. Europeans seem to have a knack of peaking in Ryder Cup years. You've done that, and the likes of Jamie Donaldson, Victor, Stephen Gallacher haven't had the best of years, but have you noticed that Europeans seem to raise their game in a Ryder Cup qualifying year? MARTIN KAYMER: We did notice it. We always have a little bit of a low between The Ryder Cups but then when it comes down to the important tournaments, we are ready to play and somehow The Ryder Cups, it brings something special out of you. It's probably the passion, the honor, the pride, all those things that gives you that little bit extra percentage that you need. I think it's quite normal. For some players, what people don't realise, they need a lot of time to reflect and really to think about what happened and to enjoy the experience of The Ryder Cup. You know, you cannot just play a golf tournament and because you played well there, you continue playing well. Some players can do that but some players might need a little bit of time to let it sink in. I'm not sure if that's the case or with Victor or with Stephen Gallacher or whoever, I don't know. But I know how it was for me when I played in 2010. I had a not‑so‑good year in 2011 which was definitely part of that Ryder Cup experience, as well, all of the emotions that you need to‑‑ sorry, you need to work it out for yourself. Q. In an ideal world, if you had a choice, which tour would you play: Europe or the PGA? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I would always pick The European Tour. That is where and I'm from and that is where I live. I enjoy being in different countries and playing different kind of golf courses, and also if I could not be a Member of The European Tour, I could never play The Ryder Cup again. That's a big reason for me. Q. With that, if you didn't play The Ryder Cup again, would that be a real blow for you? MARTIN KAYMER: Depends on the circumstance. If I didn't play good enough, I wouldn't be much help for the team, so it's more understandable or more acceptable if I won't play. If I am playing well, I will be on the team. So if I don't play good enough, then someone else be better for me. Q. Have you had time at all to speak to the new tour Chief Executive, and what do you make of his early moves and the expansion of the relationship with the Asian Tour and various things like that? MARTIN KAYMER: I haven't met him yet because obviously I've been in America quite a lot. I just heard‑‑ I talked to Thomas Björn quite a bit. When I saw him at the tournaments, he told me about the plans for the future, especially for the Asian Tour. Not sure where this plan will go and how far it will go and whether we are going to see golf tours together in five or ten years; I think it's all in the planning right now. But I like what I've heard. He's a very active person, new thoughts about things, very modern and he wants to change something, and he's passionate about the sport. I think when someone is passionate about something, it will turn out good. Doesn't matter what it will turn out, it will turn out good if somebody really loves what he does. But I would like to meet him. Haven't met him yet. Maybe he's here this week. Q. Do you have any idea yourself of how you'd like to see the Tour progress? MARTIN KAYMER: I would love to, that the tour really stands up for itself; to make a point to other tours who make it sometimes a bit difficult for us, not only for The European Tour, but for us players, as well. Because we can be very proud of what The European Tour created over the last few years and we need to continue that over many years what Olazabal, Ballesteros, Langer and those guys and what they built up in the 80s and 90s. Q. We are getting close to deciding about the 2022 Ryder Cup. What was the feeling in Germany about the sort of chances of winning that race to get the Ryder Cup? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, we are very confident. I think we have done a good job so far. The people who are involved, the guys who organised it, they put a lot of time and a lot of effort, a lot of hard work into it. Now we've got a lot of support from the government, as well, which was always a tricky one to get but now we finally got it, which was a huge step into the right direction. So I think we are very well prepared to host The Ryder Cup. We host many other big events, sport events already. So I'm very sure and I'm very positive that if the Ryder Cup comes to Germany, it will be a great success. Q. And if Germany isn't awarded The Ryder Cup‑‑ MARTIN KAYMER: It will be very disappointing. Trying to get The Ryder Cup already a few years back, and now we have a couple other good Germans who can drive that goal that can be the spokesperson maybe even for The Ryder Cup in Germany. And I spend quite a lot of time and thoughts‑‑ yeah, just a lot of time for that goal, which I'm more than happy to do because it would mean a lot if we can get it, and I think we really deserve it to get. We just need a chance. We are prepared. We just need a chance and I hope we will get it. Q. I was just wondering if you can talk about Kingsbarns, the newest of the three courses that you play this week and if you can talk about the challenge that Kingsbarns presents. MARTIN KAYMER: Kingsbarns is a course that you talk to other players, that's a golf course where you want to score. It's a very scorable golf course. The par 5s, they are all reachable really, depending on the wind, but if there's very little wind, then all of them, they are just long par 4s. It's a golf course where if you shoot only 2‑ or 3‑under par, it's a little disappointing. It's a very pretty golf course where I think a lot of the amateurs, they really enjoy going there, playing this one. I played yesterday a practice round there. Golf course looks good. There's very little rough, very firm to play. Fast greens, faster than in the past. I think in general in Great Britain, Kingsbarns is very underrated. It's a very, very good golf course. I heard yesterday the grants ‑‑ inaudible ‑‑ they go there for the British Open next year. So I'm glad that finally Kingsbarns gets a little more recognition, because usually it's all about St. Andrews and Carnoustie, obviously Open golf courses. Kingsbarns has a lot of pretty holes and should get a lot more reward for it. Q. Back to The Ryder Cup in 2022. The government wasn't all that supportive of the bid, but you say it is now; is that fairly recent? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, it's only a week or a week and a half ago. We didn't know‑‑ I don't know how it's called in English, tax exemption, that we get now in Germany. I don't know how much the exemption will be and how high it's going to be, but now we've got that okay from the government and that's obviously huge. That obviously means money for Team Europe, Team America, The Ryder Cup and all those things. That was a big, big step because the other countries that were trying to get the Ryder Cup, I think some of them, they have that advantage already. So yeah, that was only I think ten days ago or so. Q. Going back to what you were saying about your Ryder Cup experience, is this the sort of time that you expect the players chasing Ryder Cup places to start taking form and really starting to build up points? MARTIN KAYMER: I think for the players who don't play or who are not in the Top‑50, yes. The other guys, I think we really focus more on the World Golf Championships and majors because obviously that counts for both The European Tour rankings and for the World Rankings. For the guys that are not able to play all those big events, I think they need to catch up or they need to get a lot of points early in the season to hold onto when we have the possibility to pick up points in the middle of 2016. But that is not in my mind right now. Even though I had a good finish in Italy, it doesn't mean anything really for The Ryder Cup. And I think if you only focus on The Ryder Cup, you forget about the tournaments in between. If you win big tournaments worldwide, you will be part of the team any ways. Q. Speaking of The Ryder Cup, what impact do you think Jordan Spieth is going to have for the Americans? And when you hear about his experience at The Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, he enjoyed that; do you think he can impact the Americans next year in a big way? MARTIN KAYMER: It's difficult to say for someone who is that young. I mean, he made over I don't know how many millions this year. He won a lot of tournaments. He gets a lot of publicity now. His status has changed a lot. I think golf‑wise, you don't need to argue with the way he plays golf, but I think it all comes down, how can he handle the whole situation outside of golf. I think that will have an impact onto his play obviously, and then if he can be only a part, just a small part of the team, because it's not about you; it's not about the individual. I think that can help the whole team to raise the attitude and raise the confidence. Because at the end of the day, it shouldn't be about one star or two stars. That won't get you the trophy. And I learned that last year, watching the World Cup the way Germany won, had a couple star players but they didn't really want to be the star players. It's all about the team. I think Jordan, if he can include himself into the team, which I think he could, the kind of person that he is. But obviously we don't know how much it can change someone if all that comes to you when you are 22, 23 years old. Q. Speaking from experience having to deal with things about golf from when you won your majors? MARTIN KAYMER: I thought I could and I think I can include myself very well on the team. I didn't think I'm a superstar all of a sudden because I wasn't. Maybe success‑wise, yes. I had great success coming to Ryder Cups before. But I like to be more in the background, and if I can help, I'm there obviously to help but it was and it should never be just about me unless it's Sunday. You need to be selfish on Sunday because I don't really worry too much about Poulter, about Westwood, about McIlroy, how they play. I need to worry about me and I'm sure they worry about themselves, too, on Sunday, when you play for yourself. But that's only Sunday. Friday, Saturday, you need to be part of the team, and that can be a very nice moment. SARAH GWYNN: Martin, thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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