|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIPSeptember 14, 2017Mike WhanEvian-les-Bains, France MIKE WHAN: We made a decision to start tomorrow fresh. We're going to scrap today's round, and so tomorrow's tee times will be the exact same as today's tee times. We're going to play Friday, Saturday with a target to finish Sunday at 54 holes -- we're going to commit to a 54-hole finish, which some people will definitely not like and I'll be the one taking the brunt of that and that's okay, but with the weather forecast and the hills -- the good news is the golf course is draining like never before. I mean, we really like what's going on with the greens and fairways, but with the hills and caddie bags, today we're worried about safety. Everything is pretty saturated, and somebody goes down, it's not going to be a great experience. So to think about -- tomorrow and Saturday's forecast is pretty good. Sunday is going to get some rain coming and going. So we know that if we said 72 holes and we start again tomorrow, we're probably looking at Monday and Tuesday, and that's not great for anybody. So we just communicated to the players and caddies that we're committed to 54 holes, we'll start tomorrow fresh, scrapping today's round and starting the same tee times for the next two days. We'll cut Saturday night, and Sunday we'll play to the finish with our same target, 5:00 or 6:00 -- 5:00 local finish, which puts us in all the same TV windows we were in when we walked in here this morning. So it's been a long day. I apologize for all the stops and starts. I know our members have warmed up four times today, and you probably walked out there four or five times, too. Like I said, we do like kind of what's happening with the golf course. We've worked together over the last few years on new greens, new fairways, new drainage, and the course actually took the rain better than ever before, and we like how it's getting -- but we also feel like we're pretty saturated. We started with 45 mile-an-hour winds, and we feel like this was the right decision to have the cleanest, fairest, competitive round that's still going to finish on a Sunday with somebody jumping on an airplane with a flag behind them. Any questions? Also it gives you the best chance of keeping whatever Monday flights you have. Q. (Indiscernible.) MIKE WHAN: I got some clear feedback before we made the decision. I just talked to the players, and I wasn't looking for -- there's no such thing as consensus, but I wanted to get some player feedback, and when we announced it to the players, I think a lot of people realized that if we were going to shoot for 72 holes, we're probably going back out, and that's a tough one. I think the only question there is do we scrap today's round or do we start up tomorrow with where we are, and that was a decision that we probably could have gone either way on, but when the rules officials got together, the real question was is the experience going to be dramatically different tomorrow than today when you combine the wind, the rain and the saturation, we felt the answer to that was yes, so it was cleaner to get a fresh start. Like anything, every time I made a decision, 80 percent like it, 20 percent don't. The 20 percent that don't would like the round to continue where it was. I don't know for a fact, but I'm guessing that was those that were in red numbers. Q. Do you know how much water fell? MIKE WHAN: No idea. Q. What does it mean to scrap today's round? MIKE WHAN: So it means today's -- we didn't have any groups make it farther than the ninth hole, so nobody even played half a round. So given the conditions we played in this morning, which really weren't golf course conditions, but wind at a significant level, and we got people off when the rain started but the rain came heavy and fast, but it's better for us to start fresh. There will be no scores. The teams will literally tee off in the same tee times on Friday, and we'll start fresh. We'll start from ground zero tomorrow morning. Q. Is there any regulation that if anyone has made nine holes we wouldn't scrap? MIKE WHAN: Not necessarily. We've scrapped before with more than nine holes. If you remember like Hoylake and the British, similar kind of thing, significant wind conditions, borderline unplayability. Again, wind is a tough one, and so, you know, nobody likes to see a major holes go away, nobody likes to see majors being reduced in size, but the most important thing is we really have a quality, fair, competitive major competition, and we feel like this is the best way to do that. Not sure everybody will agree, but we think it was the best decision. 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
|