|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
PGA CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 31, 2016Jimmy WalkerSpringfield, New Jersey JOHN DEVER: Good evening. Welcome back to the 98th PGA Championship. Pleased to be joined by 2016 PGA Champion, how does that sound, Jimmy Walker. JIMMY WALKER: I like it. JOHN DEVER: Congratulations, sir, on the championship. I know it's a tall task, but maybe you could share your emotions as you kind of really elevated your title in golf circles today to a Major Champion. JIMMY WALKER: My emotions; you know, Jason, when he holes out for eagle on the last hole doesn't give me a whole lot of time to soak it in. It was still game time. If he makes birdie, I've got a couple to play with and I can relax a little bit, but I didn't get to relax. I was standing out there on the fairway and just said, Andy and I both said, let's go for it. I didn't say this, but I figured, 19 times out of 20, you're going to make a five going for the green from right there. We had a good front number, and that's what we did, and went with it. Ended up having to make a little, you know, tester coming in and just buried it. It was awesome. JOHN DEVER: Did your mind-set change? How much did it change from the tee and when you realized Jason had eagled out? How did that play into the whole thing? JIMMY WALKER: When I saw that he parred 17, I knew if we birdied 17, after I hit the second shot, I said, let's birdie there and close it out. And Andy said, let's do it, and made the birdie. Then he makes the eagle and forces me to make the par. That's brutal sometimes, when you know all you have to do is make a par. And I haven't made a bogey all day; you come to the last hole, and just didn't want that to happen. I played the pitch shot real safe. Didn't have the best lie. And I knew I was going to have to make a tough 2-putt and I did. Incredible finish, it really was. Just puts a smile on my face. I can't even -- had not even really sunk in yet. It's been a whirlwind. You guys are incredible on where we go and what we do, just haven't really got to chill yet, but it's awesome. Q. Were you as calm on the inside as it looked to us on the outside, and if not, how were you able to handle all the stress of this week, let alone this Sunday? JIMMY WALKER: That's great. I'm glad you guys think I -- thought I looked calm. That's huge. Because that's what I was going for. I felt confident. I felt confident in myself. I felt confident in what I was doing. Felt confident in my golf swing, my putting, my chipping. Kind of tried to wrap myself around that; that everything was feeling good, and to go with that and trust what I was doing. Trust all the stuff that I have been working on, and that's what I tried to apply out there. I know I made nine pars in a row to start, and I hit a lot of quality golf shots. Hit a lot of greens today. Just kind of kept it right out there in front of me. My proximity to the hole didn't seem like it was very close today. I felt like I had 30- and 40-footers all day, so the 2-putting, I felt like I had a 2-putt every hole. But I made a lot of good short putts, 4-, 5- and 6-footers to keep the round going, which is what you've got to do. You've got to do that to win any tournament. Q. Knowing you needed par to win, did you think at all about laying up and giving yourself a safe wedge yardage? And when you stood over the shot, were you thinking of a place not to miss, or were you thinking positive? JIMMY WALKER: I was thinking positive. Like I said, I thought about laying up, but I had a good lie in the fairway, had a good number, and I can hit the 3-wood nice and high. It's like I was saying in my head, I said, every time you go for this shot, doesn't matter what's going on. You send it right up there onto the green. And I was thinking, you're going to make par, you know, 19 out of 20 times, or even higher than that from there, and that's what we went with. We're walking down there to the shot and I'm like, Andy, we just send it up by the green, don't we? He's like, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. I figure, we're in a bunker, we've got a chip shot. I literally hit it in the worst place you could hit it. I didn't mean to. It just happened. And I made the tough par. So I was trying -- I was trying my best to get it to turn in the middle of the green. I was trying to hit a good shot. I wasn't trying to miss the green in the right spot. I was trying to hit the good shot, and it didn't work out. Played the chip shot safe, which is what you're supposed to do and made the tough 2-putt from however far that was, 35 feet or something. I mean, I don't think I would do it again. I don't think I would -- I would do it the exact same way, the way I did it, again, if I had to do it over. I'd fire it right up there at the green, because that's what I do every time. Q. Kind of two parts, but if you could just walk through the day a little bit, obviously it was unusual with two full rounds and kind of how you spent your day. And then we all saw that Jason and Jordan Spieth and Rickie were there and came back to congratulate you, if you could just speak to a little bit about what that meant to you. JIMMY WALKER: Okay. Yeah, wake-up call was super early. Long day. I'd like to think I'm in pretty good shape; it was a test today, it really was. It's tough walking soft and wet and nasty, and it just kind of wears on you. It was nice to have the long break in between the rounds. I got to go back to my bus. I took a hot shower. I got rubbed down by Mark, my physio after the round. Went back. Took a shower, relaxed, laid on the couch. Kind of fell asleep for a little bit. It was great. I think it's exactly what I needed to do. So it definitely was a long day, it really was. I think anybody will say that. As far as Jordan, Jason hanging out, we bus it together. We're next to each other every week. We see each other -- I mean, I see Jason more than anybody, because we are literally staying in the same spot every week. And it's been great to see what he's done with golf and his game. You guys have watched it. It's incredible. And to be able to play alongside of him and play with him and to kind of hold him off there at the end, I mean, for me, it's great. And I know he will take incredible confidence going forward, to eagle the par 5 on the last hole; I bet he's made eight eagles all year. His percentage of making an eagle on the last hole is slim to none and he did it, and that's what he does. Forces me to make the tough par. It's amazing sportsmanship. I think that's what golf is. These guys came out and they said congrats. We're friends. And Colin, coach, mentor, caddie, we're all friends. And to have Jordan and Rickie; Rickie, he's my partner, and to have him out there and to have Jordan there, we've all had a lot of fun together. I think it's great that these young guys ask me to come play and hang out with them. Makes me feel awesome that the young crew out here likes to hang out, and have a good time. So speaks volumes. It's just amazing to me seeing those guys come out and support me, because you don't have to, and they did. Rickie's still out there running around. I think he's ready for a drink (laughs). Q. How does playing in such wet conditions affect your swing and ball position, and the mental side of your game, as well? It was wet out there today and it was wet yesterday. JIMMY WALKER: It's wet. What it does is it really makes you think about solid ball contact. Whereas if it's dry, you're never thinking that, ever. It just kind of magnifies -- wet magnifies everything. If it's sloppy, you've got such a better chance to chunk a shot or chunk a chip or do this or do that. So you're always kind of on edge. I think that's why some of those cut shots I was hitting today, I kind of thinned them out a little bit, flattened them out, instead of getting a little more steep and getting that club going left to get that ball started left to get it to fade back on to the pin. So it makes a big difference, it really does. I think you watch guys, they will tend to throw the ball -- they will move the ball a couple inches more back, you're trying to hit down on it. They made a lot of back pins and back pins are touch when the greens are spinning this much because you're putting a lot of spin on the ball and it's tough to get to them. Q. With four first-time Major winners this year, and that's the first since 2011, what does that say to you about the state of the game right now? JIMMY WALKER: I think it shows that everybody out here playing is really good, and everybody's got a chance to win. I think the guys that, you know, Henrik, he's been around forever, FedExCup Champion, won a lot of golf tournaments, great player. Dustin, everybody -- I mean, he's a great player. Hits it a freaking mile. Everybody expects good things from guys like that. To see all that come together is just a matter of time I think. For me, it was a matter of time for me, that's what I felt about myself, and winning something like this. It sure makes me look forward to more. But I think it just shows how deep golf is, I really do. It's deep. Anybody can win. Q. You mentioned the calm before. I'm just curious, was there any point coming into this week, it had been an up-and-down two months where you sort of saw this performance coming or you felt like it was coming? And secondly did it help to have the 36 holes today rather than not have a night to sleep on it, if you will? JIMMY WALKER: I felt like some stuff kind of clicked last week, literally in the last like nine holes. Everything felt good. I kept it going. Finished off the round. Finished off the nine holes. I finished 14th, but it felt big to me. Like everything worked, like my head was there. I was in every shot. I feel like, just kind of all year, take a step forward, two back, step back, two steps back, three steps forward, step back. I've been just kind of like in limbo. That's just kind of how the week felt -- or that's how it felt. But I felt like last week, I saw something. It felt good. We worked on a knee move. Working on my overall attitude on the golf course. And it all started to feel like, for nine holes, it really clicked. What was the second part? Oh, yeah, 36. That's new. It happens very -- it doesn't happen very often out here that we have to go do that, especially at a major, where you can really get that many people in; and 86 guys, trying to get that many guys around, that's hard to do. But like I said, having the break in between was nice. Usually on the PGA TOUR, we kind of -- it's like a grab a sandwich and go kind of deal. It's nice to get back into my bus, relax. I got rubbed down after the round, felt good. Took a little nap. It was only like ten minutes, but it sure felt good. That was new for me. I think it was new for a lot of guys, really. Doesn't really happen very often, I don't think. Q. I wonder if you could just share some thoughts on the hug you had with Andy; any kind of symmetry to the fact that you win your major at Baltusrol where you guys first meet. JIMMY WALKER: That's cool. So my caddie and I, Andy, Andy was a great player, is a great player. We met here. We met on the 10th tee at the Upper on a practice round at the U.S. Am. And I could remember thinking when I met him, I was like, wow, that's Andy Sanders, he's from Houston. He's really good. He's really good. And he tells me, wow, that's Jimmy Walker, he hits it really far. But this is where we met. We've been together a long time. And to win our sixth event, first major here where we met, that's just cool. When we got here, I remembered, I got out and saw the golf course; I remember a bunch of holes, I remember liking this place. I remember enjoying being here. And we both felt great all week. We talked about that. We talked about us meeting here and we tell that story a few times this week. So I think it's special for both of us. I know it's special for both of us. It's pretty emotional. I mean, he grinded it out this week. He did a great job. Crowd control was awesome. He read putts great. Didn't let me hit a shot until I was ready. Made sure everything was good. I mean, I think we did a great job this week communicating and talking shots. Just we were in sync. Q. What was it like holding the lead all these days and then finally closing it out? And today, can you think of one shot that perhaps stood out? JIMMY WALKER: Holding the lead all week, honestly, I didn't think about it too much like that. I had a good first day and I'm like, we've got 54 more holes. Good second day, didn't have the finish I wanted; still got more golf. But today was different, because it was like, you go out and play, and bam, you're back out playing again. It was tough to wrap your head around that. I know it was tough for everybody, because the uncertainty was are we really going to get 36 holes in today? Is this really going to happen today? Are we going to Monday? What's happening? That was the hardest part, keeping your head in it, especially yesterday afternoon with the delay. I was hanging out and I was standing up the whole time. I was ready to go, on edge, because you never knew when you were going to get the text that said, hey, let's go play golf. That's how you had to be today. You had to keep that going. We saw the weather warning signs come up once and then they went away. But you just had to keep your head in it all day. It was tough. Q. I remember your fine play in The Ryder Cup, your debut in 2014. Do you think that helped you deal with the pressure, that international stage there, deal with the pressure here at all, or to what do you attribute your dealing with all the pressure? JIMMY WALKER: Thank you, and I do think it helped. I felt like I learned a lot at The Ryder Cup two years ago. I learned that I am not into every golf shot I hit week-in and week-out on Tour. And that week, every shot I hit, I was 100 percent committed. And it taught me that you can do that. I played great that week, I really did. I know we didn't win. It's not fun not winning. We've won a Presidents Cup. It funny, I've had mixed emotions. We win The Presidents Cup, and personally I didn't feel like I played that well. Ryder Cup, we lost; I felt like I played well. So you run the -- I mean, the emotions you run through at these team events are huge, and I felt like I learned a lot about myself that week at The Ryder Cup, especially singles match the last day. It was crazy. I look forward to hopefully having a chance to do it here on our home turf this year. Q. That leads nicely into my question I was going to ask. How does it feel to have sealed your place for a second appearance in The Ryder Cup, and how much are you looking forward to ending that losing streak the Americans are on? JIMMY WALKER: I'm looking forward to it. It would be great to get back on the team. So I remember when I left, I did an interview with Mark Rolfing, and he was like, what has this been like, and I said, I never want to miss another one again. I thought about that all year. I haven't played as well as I would have liked to, I'm not on the list, I'm not even close. I saw Davis this week and I told him, "Man, I'd love to be on your team." Haven't played that well this year, but I feel like there's still time for me to play good at the end of the year to have a chance to get on the team or get the nod to get picked. It's always been on my mind since I played it. Definitely want to be back. Q. Is that expensive bottle of wine you once gave to Butch still unopened and ready for a special occasion? JIMMY WALKER: I think that's a question for Butch. I gave it to him, and if he drank it, that's on him. But I've got another one at home. JOHN DEVER: Congratulations, 2016 PGA Champion. Thanks for your time all week and we'll see you soon. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|