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WGC ALGARVE WORLD CUPNovember 17, 2005Arjun AtwalJyoti RandhawaALGARVE, PORTUGAL JOAN vT ALEXANDER: We'd like to thank the India team for joining us here in the media center at the World Golf Championships World Cup. Jyoti, Arjun, you guys must have had a great time out there. Why don't you just talk about the day a little bit, and then we'll go into questions. ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah, I definitely enjoyed myself today. It looked like Jyoti was. JYOTI RANDHAWA: So did I. No question about it. ARJUN ATWAL: It was very different from playing a regular stroke-play event. You know, we knew it wasn't life or death if we made a 9 or something on one hole because one of us is always in. So it was good fun. JYOTI RANDHAWA: Like Arjun said, that was the key today. One of us was always there to make a birdie. Both of us were able to make birdies, so the confidence is good from each other and one guy always made a putt if one missed so it didn't matter much. Sometimes Arjun was like on in two and I would chip-in for eagle and I was two on and he would make it from the green for birdie. It was great. Q. You've both done well in European Tour events, were you a little bit disappointed to be classed as outsiders, and what do you feel if you were outsiders, being up at the top? ARJUN ATWAL: You know what, the thing is, no one expects our team to do well or win, at least. Because well, you know, India has been in the World Cup before and really not done much. So especially in America, I don't think people know that we have a decent team. So it's nothing we haven't really done anything much on the major tours. Jyoti and I just got on our respective tours, he has played well in Europe and Japan and whatever, and I've just about played decent this year in the States. So no one really expects much out much us, which is fair enough I think. ARJUN ATWAL: No expectations. Jyoti and I, we discussed that, you know, we're going to go out and have fun. And if we play well, we know that we can contend here. But the main thing was to have fun because we didn't have any pressure on us. Q. Would you say that the key for today was you were having fun? ARJUN ATWAL: I think so, yeah. JYOTI RANDHAWA: Definitely we were having fun. The thing is that we didn't make many mistakes. Just being always on the fairways, always on the greens, there we did not have one hole, where we thought this one could make bogey. It was good golf. Q. Did you know you had a chance to be exempt, or did that come as a shock when you were told? ARJUN ATWAL: For this tournament? ARJUN ATWAL: No, it did come as a shock. We had two other guys from India who were ready to go qualify, and I think Jyoti was told the day before they were actually going to leave for the qualifying in Malaysia, and I was in the States. I didn't have any plans to play in the World Cup. So it was a good shock. Q. And if they had gone to the qualifying, they would be here, wouldn't they, if they qualified? ARJUN ATWAL: They were told they got an exemption, right. Q. You couldn't then replace them? JYOTI RANDHAWA: No, because the qualifying time we were playing, we weren't available for the qualifying. Q. So this is a real end-of-season bonus? ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah. JYOTI RANDHAWA: Yeah. Q. How do you think the news will be treated back home in India? JYOTI RANDHAWA: I think it will be pretty big, you know. It's the World Cup and especially the other teams, India has teams that do quite well, the cricket team. So our nation is very -- they like the teams and everybody coming together and now they hear about golf which has not been talked about. It's come up in recent years, but now as a team playing well, I think it will be quite a big thing there. Q. Do you think your fans back in India, they are going to be all excited about this news about today? ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah, I think so, sure. Q. Do you remember the day when you beat Scotland in the Dunhill Cup? I know you weren't there but -- ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah, we did. ARJUN ATWAL: That was huge, yeah. JYOTI RANDHAWA: At that time probably '94, '95, at that time, now those guys are gone and done well. That was a big shock, anyway. At that time we had just come out to play golf. Might not be as big, but it will be big. Q. Have you played as a team before? ARJUN ATWAL: No. It. JYOTI RANDHAWA: No, first time. Q. Have you played in Portugal before? ARJUN ATWAL: No. JYOTI RANDHAWA: No, first time. Q. What do you think about Portugal and this golf course? ARJUN ATWAL: It's beautiful. I think this golf course is in perfect shape. The fairways are absolutely immaculate and the greens are just the right speed where they are not too fast. They are just on the perfect speed I think for guys to go out there and make a lot of putts for this format, I think it's set up beautifully. Q. So four-ball is quite fun, how about tomorrow, how does it differ when you play one ball? ARJUN ATWAL: I have no idea. When we get there tomorrow, we'll know. We've never played alternate-shot, at least the both of us. JYOTI RANDHAWA: We'll find out tomorrow. Q. Did you practice it this week? ARJUN ATWAL: No. Q. You're at the forefront of Indian golf at the moment and everybody is talking about the Far East, but do you think India is going to be a growth nation in the next few years to bring up more players like you? JYOTI RANDHAWA: Definitely. There are a lot of young boys coming up and playing golf. There's a lot of talent in India, it's just that opportunities were not provide much before but now they are. I'm quite sure we'll have a lot of youngsters and young talent coming up. ARJUN ATWAL: The way the economy is growing in India, it will be more affordable to the middle class, and I think that will be a big help for golf. Q. Do you look back at Atlanta and think what winning that playoff could have done for you? ARJUN ATWAL: In Atlanta? Not really. I try to forget the playoff. I like the 64 that I shot. But I had a few more chances this year, I led in New Orleans and B.C., I was one back with nine holes to play in the final. But it will come around I think next year hopefully. Q. Do you have an estimate of how many golfers there are in India? ARJUN ATWAL: I don't know, a 100,000 maybe? JYOTI RANDHAWA: Quite a few. Not professional golfers, but maybe all in total, a lot of golfers. ARJUN ATWAL: About 100,000 maybe, I'm not sure, but I know it's not over 100,000. But out of a billion, that's not much. ARJUN ATWAL: About 120 I think maybe, 130, I don't know. A lot of guys just play the local circuit. Q. Team competition is growing in golf, now we are having the Royal Trophy, do you think it's important for golf to go in that direction? ARJUN ATWAL: I don't know if it's important for golf because golf already has it's important tournaments, but it's always a lot more exciting for people to watch this type of format. But I don't think it would be where like 50 percent team format because it's always going to be a single game. JYOTI RANDHAWA: I think for the country, as a whole to watch players playing in a team format, I think it's very exciting for the people to watch. They will really like it, a team coming up and winning, they enjoy it more than us I think. |
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