	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE PRESIDENTS CUP

September 27, 2017

Emiliano Grillo

Jersey City, New Jersey

Q. You have Jordan tomorrow; how do you feel about playing Jordan, and maybe a good story from junior golf that you remember, playing against him?
EMILIANO GRILLO: I was really excited when I saw that we were playing together. That's what I wanted to do. I knew he was going to play with Patrick, and I was hoping to get the right way to get playing with him. It's going to be interesting, Si Woo and I, we were a great team yesterday. We played unbelievable yesterday, and if we give ourselves the chance to win the match, we're going to take it.

Q. Have you seen Spieth and Reed play in Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Well, I've seen it in the Ryder Cup. I don't remember -- in Korea last year it was such a big difference in time that I didn't get to see them much. I remember seeing them play Gleneagles the first time, I think, and they did great. They had a great match. But this is different. This is another golf course, this is another time of our lives, so we'll see tomorrow.

Q. And why do you think two rookies for you guys will be a good pairing?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Well, we played yesterday and we won. We beat everybody, so why not? It worked yesterday, it's going to work tomorrow.

Q. What about your games makes you good alternate-shot partners?
EMILIANO GRILLO: I like the way he plays. He plays pretty much the same game I do. We get along with each other, and like I say, I can name you 100 reasons why we should play together.

Q. How did the pairing with Si Woo come about? I know you shot 8-under yesterday, but was it your idea or his?
EMILIANO GRILLO: No, Nick came to us and said, you're playing tomorrow with Si Woo, and I said, okay. And you know what's funny, six months ago, a year ago, I always look at Si Woo practicing, playing, and I think he's a hell of a player. He had a very good finish last year. We both made it to the TOUR Championship. I was like, you know, I would like to play with him. He won THE PLAYERS this year. And I think we made a very good team yesterday, so I think it's a very good choice.

Q. He said he also likes the way you read greens?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Yeah, he came to me and said, you know, I'm pretty bad at reading these. I'm like, okay, let's work on that. If you hit it on line, we can -- two sets of eyes or maybe four sets of eyes will be better. So I said, let's work on that. Let's read the greens, and I would say just hit it here, what do you think, and he's like, yeah. He's not a guy of many words, and I really like that. He just goes out there and does his thing and hits it straight and makes the putts. I couldn't ask for anything else.

Q. It seems like we're seeing more and more countries in the kind of golf sphere, which is obviously good for the sport. As you know, the IOC approved golf through the Paris 2024 games. How much does that mean for the game, and obviously being an Olympian in Rio, do you look forward to potentially Japan and maybe even Paris?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Oh, definitely. I'm definitely looking to Japan, definitely looking forward to Japan 2020. I had an opportunity to play in the last one, so I know what it's about, and I know how much other sports they really want to win a gold medal. You know, in the end, golf is going to be the same. Everybody is going to want to win a gold medal, and I think you can see how much Justin Rose, he looks back and sees that gold medal. And I wanted to win it as bad as him. I'm not saying that it's different. I'm just saying that with the time -- time is going to tell how much everybody wants to win that week. But I'm definitely looking forward to that. As soon as I finish Rio, I said, I have four years to get ready for that again, so if I have the chance, I'm going to be there, that's for sure.

Q. I know it's a long time away, but now that golf is extended through Paris 2024, some people said maybe golf should not be in the Olympics, this really kind of secures things, obviously.
EMILIANO GRILLO: Boy, I'll tell you what, golf is the hardest sport on the planet, so the first sport that should be up there, it's golf. Running is all about who runs faster. But golf is a little bit more. So I think golf should be up there. I think any sport should be up there. A sport is a sport, doesn't matter if it's chess or golf. A sport is a sport and it should be in the Olympics.

Q. What do you think Usain Bolt will think when I tell him that some golfer said golf is the toughest sport?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Well, he can pick up golf and let me know. I'm not saying I'm going to beat him in running. He's the fastest man on the planet and he deserves that, but we're talking two different sports. I'm saying golf is way harder than any sport that you can play.

Q. What does it mean for countries that we don't think of as golf countries because obviously with the format of the Olympics, there can only be four Americans, there can only be four Koreans. What does that mean for even other nations and South America? What do you think it means?
EMILIANO GRILLO: Well, it gives everybody the chance to have the opportunity of getting a medal for your country. I would personally like to see more of a tournament rather than -- or both, but that's going to be a tough one because if you have a very good player from Argentina and then you have an average player which is a bid player, then it takes a little bit of advantage of having a -- it takes a little bit of your opportunity to win the medal. But I think besides individual, it should be a competition of team. That's what the Olympics is really about, not only individual but team efforts.

Q. Do you take anything from your Olympic experience in Rio and apply it here, because again, you're not just playing for yourself?
EMILIANO GRILLO: It's totally different. Like I say, that was an individual event. I was trying to get myself a gold medal. This week we're trying to get everybody except the Americans a Cup. But you know, first it's for us, and then it's for everybody else. We're going to do it for everybody.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297