MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2024

Jose Maria Olazabal

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about this afternoon. Who was your caddie?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yeah, well Lorenzo Gagli. You know him from the DP World Tour. He played on the DP World Tour for 10 years, and missed the cut a couple years ago, and he's caddieing for me this week. It's his first time at Augusta. Obviously, he's having a ball. He didn't want to miss the par-3. The other kid is a son of a friend of mine, Juan (Inaudible). He's a young kid, he plays golf pretty good, actually, and for him it's also the first time here and, you know, I think he's having a great time.

Q. What was last night like for you? I understand you got pretty emotional just talking to about Seve and obviously Jon being there.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, obviously, first of all, Jon being there at the end of the table as last year's champion, it was very special. It was phenomenal to see him there. Secondly, and I would say more importantly, yesterday would have been Seve's anniversary. It would have been 67 years today on the 9th of April. And, well, we told a couple of stories about Seve. Bernhard told a couple of them. I did, too. But mainly, you know, what Seve meant to me, especially around this place, all the wonderful moments that we spent together on the golf course practicing and, you know, him telling me how to play certain holes, how to hit certain shots. He made me believe that I had the game to win over here. He's always very close to my heart.

Q. What was the main message, just in terms of Jon being the champion? Was it kind of like Seve would have been super proud of you or?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, obviously, he would have been, you know, very proud of seeing another Spaniard winning the Masters. Well, Jon mentioned it too also, you know, when he was growing up he looked to certain players, Seve was one of them. He said that in his speech. He's very present in all of us.

Q. Lastly, favorite memory or biggest run in with the Eisenhower Tree over the years for you?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, I mean the Eisenhower Tree was very special to this golf course, and especially to 17, obviously. It was a shame that it came down in that big storm. But, you know, that's how this club does things. All the past champions, we got a piece of that wood, and it's in a very special place at home. That's how important, you know, this tournament and this golf course is for us.

Q. What did you think about the menu last night?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: It was fantastic.

Q. Did you feel completely at home?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Oh, yeah, I was like being at home. I could eat that food -- I said, I could eat that food for the rest of my life.