CANADIAN OPEN

September 6, 2006

Stephen Ames

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Reigning Players champion, Stephen Ames, thanks for joining us. Having a good year, 14th on the money list, and 31st in the world. How about some comments about coming back to the Canadian Open. STEPHEN AMES: Coming back? Did we leave? It's fun now that it's recognized as my national open, living here in Canada. It's fun, but paying the price, being busy, doing autographs and everything. Hopefully at the end of the week I'll be sitting back down here Sunday evening with the trophy next to me. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: As far as the state of your game right now, can you talk about that. STEPHEN AMES: Really good, actually. I feel real confident coming in here. I've had Allan up here with me this week, and we've worked on a couple of things that we've hit on, and today playing the Pro Am and yesterday playing the practice round it was the Stephen Ames that I remember, that I know I'm capable of being. And I'm happy with the way the situation is and the way my golf game is at this stage. Q. How does it suit you? You were obviously here in '03 and it's a lot more wet than it was then. But do you walk around here going this is my kind of golf course? STEPHEN AMES: It is. The golf course is straight in front of you. You have choices off the tee, driver, 3 wood, a lot of holes you have to shape it off the tee, some of them. And definitely the same for going into the greens, themselves, shaping it in there, the particular shots themselves. It was a lot wetter than when we were here in 2003. It's a different golf course, it's longer. You need longer clubs in there, but at the same time it's a little more difficult to get close. I'm sure if the rain stays away for the next couple of days, and as the week goes on it will get firmer and faster. But it's a good old style golf course, they haven't made many changes to it. It's still going to stand like it did in 2003 when we were here last. Q. You're Canadian, your national Open now, what kind of a difference is it having fans out there that are cheering for a Canadian contender? STEPHEN AMES: Big difference. My biggest experience is obviously I think it was 2000 when Tiger won coming up at Glen Abbey. I didn't have a great day, but coming down the last holes the hairs on the back of my head were raised, and realized how much it meant to me and how much it meant to everybody else being Canadian, having a Canadian being in contention in up the second to the last group, but at the same time it was nice to be in that situation. I realized how much of a support that I did have, even though I wasn't at the time Canadian. Now that I am a Canadian, the support is obviously more. My success on the Tour has obviously helped that, also, and I think overall it's like a major for me. And Mike Weir, I'm sure, feels the same way, and I guess for a national Open that's the way we think. Q. How important is it for you to potentially be part of the Ryder Cup team next year (inaudible)? STEPHEN AMES: Yes, obviously it's going to be different, even the aspect of looking at it as not playing, not being there, different scenarios because it's in Canada, in Montreal. But it will be different playing as a team member. It's going to be different. It's going to be nice that it is being held in Canada, itself. It just gives the opportunity of the Canadian golfing public in Canada to obviously see 24 of the best players in the world playing. Ernie hasn't been able to play here in a couple of years. They are the kind of players you wouldn't normally see and now you're going to get the opportunity to see them in real life. It's going to be a wonderful experience as a spectator, and as a sponsor and everything else involved with it, without a doubt. Q. It's often said guys like Mike Weir or Dave Barr, going back through the years, when they play in Canadian Opens, it's mentioned about the amount of pressure they're on, whether that's a negative thing or positive thing. What's your feeling, are you feeding off this as a new Canadian or do you feel more pressure on you? STEPHEN AMES: I'm feeling it. Obviously it's inspirational, you know. Just becoming a Canadian, and the amount of attention that you're getting and stuff like that, Mike can understand, he's being pulled in ten different directions. I've basically rented a house this week and staying with two other friends of mine and having a fun week. And I want to enjoy it as much as I can. But the pressure does come from within, and it all depends on how much you reflect and how much you take with it, to make it that much more. It's like a regular Tour event. You've got to look at it that way. Q. This isn't a question, but now you can vote in the next election, I'm sure that makes you feel very happy? STEPHEN AMES: Excuse me? Q. You can vote in the next federal election? STEPHEN AMES: Thanks. Q. Living out in Calgary now, there's been a lot of talk about moving the tournament around. Do you think there are any golf courses there that could hold the Canadian Open, and if there aren't are there any with some imagination and money put into them that could? STEPHEN AMES: No to both. There's nothing close to downtown Calgary I take that back, it probably would be Glencoe, I'm a member there. They've got the land and the resources and everything else to hold it, which is where they had the AT&T Seniors Open at the time. They don't need to basically have the Canadian Open there. They've got 2,500 members. Why would you want to host the Canadian Open there in that sense? If they do if they don't, I don't know. I know they're not short of the money to do it. But there are a couple of things that are in the works for golf courses that are being built that might happen in the next five years, as far as being able to host the Canadian Open. Obviously they're all contracted out until 2011. It might happen. We need golf courses, today the way these guys are hitting it, being up at 35 hundred feet, we need something almost at 78 to 8,000 yards long to be able to compete for these guys, or have the opportunity, or something where you have to shape it like this one, here, for instance. Where if you don't turn it you're going through the fairway. Winged Foot is an example, that kind of golf course that can stand up. But they're the more difficult ones for some reason to build, I don't know why. Q. Do you have an opinion on the drug testing issue? I know Commissioner has said repeatedly that it's not necessary because there's a code of honor in the game. Tiger Woods came out recently and said that he thinks it's a good idea. Where do you stand? STEPHEN AMES: Fine. I don't think you're going to find anybody who's going to be involved in sports enhancing. It's not going to help us taking it in that sense. As far as I know there isn't any knowledge of anybody out here that's actually been doing it. Like Tim said a couple of times, it has been a code of honor. It's just the integrity of the game, the sportsmanship of the game, the nature of the game itself is what dictates how we are and how we react to certain situations and taking drug is obviously one of them. None of us we all know alcohol affects us, but taking drugs in that sense, I don't think it's going to help, either. As far as I know I don't think there's anybody out here, and I have no objections to the fact of taking the test. Q. You have 25 or 27 guys, and almost everybody is hitting three hundred yards now STEPHEN AMES: The majority of us are starting to work out now, so physically we're going to be stronger. But that's a combination of the size of the driver we're hitting and the ball itself, that's made the contribution to how much further we are hitting it. But if anybody criticizes out there who looks the strongest out there. Tiger is the biggest guy out there and he's the first one to say great, go ahead and test me, I'm not doing it. And there you go as an example. Compare him to John Daly, who is 50 pounds overweight. You know what I'm saying in that sense? That's how I look at it that way. Q. (Inaudible.) STEPHEN AMES: No. Q. From a fan perspective I think a lot of people are disappointed obviously that Tiger Woods isn't here. But from the players perspective with the way he's playing right now is it almost a good thing knowing that Tiger is not going to win this week? STEPHEN AMES: Yes and no. I'd prefer that he was here, because you'd know there would be good players in the field, best player in the world is in the field. That's how I felt I won THE PLAYERS Championship, 38 of the top 50 in the world played in THE PLAYERS Championship. And as a major, the fifth major, you know that when you won or when you win, you've beaten the best players in the world, as an example. If Tiger was here and you happen to be the player to beat him, because he is the best player in the world, because he was in that field. Yes, it's unfortunate that he's not here. It enhances events, no doubt. It does that. And he's pulled in so many directions, it's difficult for him to play every week. As a sponsor, yes, I'd love him to play in my event, but he can't play every week, it's very difficult. Q. You're never shy on commenting on course conditions. I know you like the layout here, but what did you think about the conditions today and as a follow up, I know it's tough to say, but what do you think it's going to take to win if the course stays? STEPHEN AMES: It's going to get to 15, 16 under, easily, with the conditions as tough as they are. When they were fast and firm like they were in 2003, 8 under won, and 3 under 2 over was 9th or 10th. So it's unfortunate that it's so soft at this stage, but I think the weather is changing as the week goes on. It will be firm and fast come Sunday when we are all flying home. It's typical. Q. I was wondering when that happened last year at Shaughnessy, what do you take from that experience, and do you feel like you want to do better, if you got in that position again? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, last year was, on the whole, a big year, experience wise for me, dealing with what I had to deal with, with my wife. And going through the year realizing that Shaughnessy and the Canadian Open was the first week of the year where I felt like I was able to play golf mentally. It was a great experience having the opportunity of winning the Canadian Open, coming down the end there. It didn't come out because of lack and play and mental stuff fell apart there a little bit. But I think overall the year was better, I learned from experiences, and last year was a learning experience for me, myself, my wife and my family, and I think overall it was nice to be able to see her out there with me, following me behind the ropes. Q. As you look ahead to next year, you start with Mercedes and possibly The Presidents Cup, you're defending in May, and then you've got that four week compression in the middle of the British Canadian, Bridgestone, PGA. How tough is next year going with preparation time? STEPHEN AMES: Screwy. You're right, it's going to be 8 out of nine for me. It's going to be tough. Q. (Inaudible.) STEPHEN AMES: End of the year. I've talked to Mike about that. He mentioned he's going to play less going up to the end of the year, where he's obviously going to play more, it's going to be The British Open, Canadian Open, World Golf Championship, PGA, Greensboro, which is a week off, then it goes the FedEx Cup starts off with New York, Chicago, Boston, then Tour Championship. To play the way I'm playing this year, we're all going to be in that situation. We play 8 or 9 in a row. Q. (Inaudible.) STEPHEN AMES: It's very tough, when you're sitting home, I'm going home to sit down, November and December, I'm taking off. You're going to say, well, okay, play the first four, I'm playing the first two, Phoenix, then I'm going to play the match play event. I won't play Pebble, that's too nice for me. Match play event and from there we hit Florida. To go say, okay, take another month off and start back as Augusta, it's tough. Yeah, I need to continue playing. My schedule is going to be if I next year. I haven't really sat down and actually studied it hard enough to see where I need to take the breaks. The biggest thing obviously for me is looking at when the kids are out of school. Then I can take my breaks to be home and stuff like that. Obviously that's my priority. Q. Mike Weir was talking yesterday about it's difficult to sell the Canadian Open to the U.S. Players, would you agree with that? STEPHEN AMES: This year I think it might have been easier because of the golf course we're playing on. If it's a good quality field this week, a couple of players have pulled out, overall, but come 2007, 2008, it's going to be a hard sell, a very, very hard sell, because the players, especially coming from The British Open, you're going to get a handful of the players coming. Normally if I wasn't Canadian I wouldn't be playing, because it's the week after a major, and very rarely do I play the week after a major. The only time I do it is actually after the PGA, when the World Golf Championship is at Firestone. That's an easy week. No Pro Am. I play nine holes and go and relax, which is what I did this year. It's kind of an easy week preparing yourself for it. So it's going to be a tough sell, yeah, very tough. Q. If you really didn't like the golf course and if you felt it was really the smart thing to do for you, would you ever take off a Canadian Open, if you think? You might get criticized for it STEPHEN AMES: Maybe from you, too. Q. No, I wouldn't criticize you, I would think I would understand. Seriously, would you ever do that? STEPHEN AMES: That's debatable. Maybe. Yeah. Especially when you've got in the sense that, yeah, it's a shoddy golf course. Which I think we're starting to realize or maybe we've lost the flare of the Canadian Open because of some of the golf courses we have been playing. The players, myself, Mike, are aware of that fact. We need to go back to some of those old classic golf course. And that's one of the big attributes of me making a schedule is the golf course, do I enjoy playing this particular golf course? Yes, I do. I'm going to go back to play, even though it might be in a shoddy town, I enjoy playing the golf course. As a golfer, that's what we look at. Q. (Inaudible.) STEPHEN AMES: That could be next year, who knows? Or the year after. I don't know what the schedule is like. It's tough the next two years, isn't it, if you think about it. It's very difficult, yeah. Really a tough situation there, very tough situation. Q. (Inaudible.) STEPHEN AMES: I think the Canadian Open on itself is probably at the bottom of the list for charity donations. I think the majority of the charity donations come from the Pro Am. Now, is it going to be further back in regards to charity donations? Where are we going to get to the money to do it? I don't know. Q. Just talk about (inaudible.) STEPHEN AMES: Oh, I was going to sit in Hawaii on a beach. A year from now. Obviously as a player you're always trying to better yourself as a player. Certain things that you can always add on or make yourself better as time goes on. For me it's always trying to strengthen the muscle between the ears. And get that a little bit stronger. I think it's a little bit of my downfall. And there are always exercises and things that I have to work on, which I'm going to be doing at the end of this year and into next year to kick start that a little bit more. I think golf swing wise it's going to fall apart here and there, now and again, but I think it's more like the chicken and the egg, which one comes first? The same with the golf swing and the golf game, itself. Which one comes first? Is it the golf swing that goes poor or are you thinking wrongly before you hit the shot that makes it go poor. Those are things we're slowly starting to realize, and in that sense those are the things I've I'll be working hard the next year, the next five years that I have an exemption on Tour. I want I have the opportunity to win a major. I think I have the ability to win a major. Luck on the draw of those places, being in that situation a little bit more. Q. How much as a golfer, like yourself, are you always tinkering with the things in your game? STEPHEN AMES: Today it's more tinkering with my mindset, how I go into how I go into the golf tournament and also how I go about hitting a particular golf shot. Paying more attention to details with seeing shots and how I want them to finish, and stuff like that. And that, by doing that more often I've realized that my golf swing is fine, nothing wrong with it. It's just that I'm tinkering with it too much in a sense, and I'm trying to get away with that part of it, which has helped me. Especially this week I've realized that, the two days I've come out. Practicing and hitting the ball and playing the Pro Am it's been spot on. So it's very encouraging. Unfortunately it's I wish it happened about continue playing from there, but these things, like I say, it's a learning experience, and for me it's definitely that. Always learning in this game. Q. (Inaudible.) STEPHEN AMES: I've been mostly from Honda working on feeling wise on what we needed to do, shape wise and stuff like that. I was comfortable that week with myself and what I wanted to do, what I wanted to achieve, particularly when I was standing over the golf ball, what I wanted to do. And I figure in the conversations as we were talking with Robert as the day went on. It was funny, because I went back to that particular day, and I remember seeing Vijay on the first hole tee box and the 18th green. Those are the only times I remember seeing him. It's funny, you look at it and you go, wow so so those are the things that we've been trying to literally get back into. It always helps a lot. Q. When you win something like THE PLAYERS Championship, when you're standing there with the trophy, you must say to yourself, I think I can do this in Augusta or I could do this at the British Open. It's what goes. I look at you're 31 now, and there's got to be on a certain day when your game is just on, you've got to be able to just STEPHEN AMES: Did you say I was 31? I'm 31 in the world. I was going to say thanks. Well, you give yourself the opportunity and the experiences and those are the things you realize as time goes on that your abilities change, your abilities in yourself change and that's what happens. And Tiger has been doing it since he's two years old with dad's help. I had to learn how to do that, it's taken me a little longer to get there. I know there's a lot more to go and a lot more enjoyable golf and golf shots to hit. That's my motto, when I'm playing golf, to have as much fun as I can.

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