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ITALIAN OPEN

October 13, 2019

Bernd Wiesberger

Rome, Italy

BRIONY CARLYON: I'm delighted to be joined by Bernd Wiesberger our 2019 Italian Open champion. It's your second Rolex Series victory this year and a third, as well, for you in the 2019 season. Just your thoughts on a remarkable summer, really.

BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, it's been a good summer. Very good summer indeed, actually. We've played really well in the big events with a lot of points. My win in Denmark really kickstarted my comeback in a way. After being off last year, I had to watch the great Italian Open on TV last year when Thorbjørn won, and I was eager to come back and play this event. It's a lovely week out here for us. Really enjoyed our time in Rome.

If you feel comfortable and you feel welcomed, you perform well, and we've had a really good week.

BRIONY CARLYON: You're now straight to the top of The Race to Dubai rankings, and obviously with that, we're heading towards the end of the season. How much does that shift your focus now towards the other events that you've got coming up and the chance, possibly, as well, winning as being Europe's No. 1 for the year.

BERND WIESBERGER: A long way. I've had my plans set in stone. So we're going to play this week and then the last four. I'm going to take a couple days off and practise and prepare at home over the next two weeks and try to be ready for a lot of golf at the end and a lot of important golf.

I think we've tapered it really well. I can't ask for more than being in a position to play for The Race to Dubai title at the end of the year. So today was a big step, very important week for us, but still, four more weeks to go for us and we still want to push on and try and get a couple more good results in the Rolex Series Events and really play well.

BRIONY CARLYON: Coming back to Italy and this week, how important has that been for you, as well, to have four consistent rounds of golf and really push and establish yourself at the top of your game?

BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, I'm not 100 per cent sure if I'm at the top of my game. I've had a few wayward shots. What really stood out this week was that for some reason, I rode over my ankle earlier in the week on the second hole and it made me pace a lot slower than I normally would. I was quite calm all week and I tried to grind it out.

You know, we shot 16-under par but it's actually not that easy a golf course if you struggle off the tee maybe a little bit, and we've done that really well and really kept grinding when we are out of position.

I still feel like my golf's not 100 per cent where I would like to see it but obviously it was a great battle and great fight today, and I got a way with a couple of dodgy shots. You know, that's sometimes important, as well, on those days. And then I had a couple lovely shots coming in.

But just really relaxed to get the win over the line.

Q. How did you manage come back from your injury last year in such a strong way and fast?
BERND WIESBERGER: I've had the pleasure to have a really good team around me. The people I had at that time, obviously personally and family, and the specialists who were treating me, really put me in the right path, and I thought that it would be a good time for me to try and improve on the things that weren't going as well before because I wasn't playing particularly good before I injured myself.

So that was a good step, and then obviously having people around that you really trust and that help you in those situations is key. After that, it was just a matter of being patient enough with my game, developing back to where I feel it can be.

You know, I wanted to play myself into a position in Denmark. I really felt at ease and I still felt really calm today. Never really got ahead of myself, got nervous, got quick. It's a really enjoyable feeling once we get ourselves into those positions maybe just because of those factors, as well.

Q. You didn't realise until 16 you were ahead -- you only saw the leaderboard then?
BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, the first time.

Q. There was a four-shot gap, so you must have felt really comfortable then.
BERND WIESBERGER: Matt is a really, really good player, and he's a very good player under these situations. So to be honest, I would have loved to hole my putt on 17 to get to 17-under, but you know, we set a mark and I had no reason really to look at any leaderboards before that. The only reason for me to see was because it was kind of right in my line when I picked the ball out of the hole.

If it wouldn't have been there, I probably wouldn't have even looked at that one. You know, the gear was just to push forward and we hit two really good shots on 17, actually. Just couldn't get up-and-down. Made a good save on the last.

I felt like I didn't want to drop shots myself. If he comes back at me and gets to 16-under, we would have had a great playoff and we would have seen, but I wasn't paying attention to the leaderboard too much.

Q. You were so calm. I was impressed. I thought it was great. Congratulations.
BERND WIESBERGER: Thank you.

Q. You said your game wasn't 100 per cent. It looked pretty good from where we were watching. What are you still working on? What aren't you 100 per cent happy with?
BERND WIESBERGER: I wasn't 100 per cent happy with my driving this week. I've put a good amount of work in with my coaches last week and the guys from Titleist to really get as good as possible out of that. Because if I put myself into positions where I can attack the flags, I'm normally pretty good.

I did struggle a little bit with my iron game into the greens lately, and it wasn't 100 per cent there today but it was a lot better, a lot more solid I felt this week. I did that today.

And you know, just keep pushing myself to get better at that and get tighter with my margins, and you know, getting myself into position where I can be positive to flags and execute my game plan. I mean, I'm not going to complain about the golf I played this week.

But it was also a big, big mental and grinding out there because I hit the odd bad shots. On 8, I made a great save from like 115 yards out to make par to keep the momentum going.

Got lucky on 12, made great saves on 11 and 12 to keep the momentum going. Got rewarded with two good iron shots on the par 3. You just never know what happens, and you just need to keep digging on every shot, even though it doesn't look pretty sometimes, but that definitely did help us today.

Q. Obviously you're no stranger to winning, you've won seven times on The European Tour. But now being Race to Dubai No. 1, how does that make you feel? You're the man; you're the guy at the top of the pile and the guy that people are chasing down?
BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, I embrace the challenge. I will definitely have a good prep for the last four weeks, which are important, the points we play for. Everything can shift around still. But I embrace the challenge and I'm really looking forward to what the last couple of weeks have in store for us.

As I said, I'm feeling really comfortable in those situations, and at the big events, I've played the Rolex Series Events really well this year. Just important weeks to come, but I think we're going to put ourselves hopefully in position to be successful with those.

Q. After summer, are you also thinking about The Ryder Cup?
BERND WIESBERGER: I mean, it's obviously a good win this week to get myself up on the board. I would love to be representing the blue and gold at some point. But you know, there's so much golf ahead of us that it will not cross my mind too soon. But I will make sure that we will prepare as well as possible for every week that we play to keep making some points there.

BRIONY CARLYON: Congratulations again, Bernd. Thanks for your time.

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