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BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 10, 2005

Stephen Ames

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

JOE CHEMYCZ: Stephen Ames, just so you know 64 ties the course record, 64 with 8 under par by Lanny Wadkins, and I'll check that year again, I think it was the 1978 CPGA, an 8 under 64 but nonetheless, it does tie this course record. 11 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens. Stephen, great playing today, maybe just talk a little about the good start you got off to on the back nine.

STEPHEN AMES: First birdie was 12, if I remember. 6 iron to about two feet there.

13, I hit 3 wood, 7 iron to about 18 feet and made birdie there.

14, they moved the tee box and the pin up front, so we all went for it. I hit driver just short of the green on the left hand side and made a 5 footer for birdie.

Then a driver, 3 wood just short of the green and chipped it up to about three feet and made birdie there.

Then 17, I hit 8 iron about five feet left of the flag. Just kept going from there. I think I birdied 4 was the next hole. I hit rescue off the tee, hit 7 iron to eight feet, nine feet and made birdie there. I had some great opportunities coming in that I missed, unfortunately.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Good feeling today?

STEPHEN AMES: It was a good feeling. I had a great feeling this week coming into the event. I had two weeks prior coming into this, played twice, and the things that I've been worked on mind wise I was doing well there, and this week I'm still doing them well. Just a matter of getting the swing back into the groove again. I did that well on the range and I was doing it well on the golf course.

Today was exceptional ball striking. I missed one fairway really wide which was my first attempt, and the other two fairways I missed were in the first cut. I think that is a feat in itself around this golf course. I was very happy with the way I hit the ball today.

JOE CHEMYCZ: More pressure carrying the Canadian flag by yourself this week?

STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, really. I think the RCGA is going to have to rethink their strategy in setting up the golf course, getting more Canadians playing in the golf tournament.

Yes and no. I'm just happy to be in this position again because it's been a long battle for me this year. Some things have gone on in my private life, it's been difficult, and I'm just happy to be here again.

Q. What did it mean to have your wife out in the gallery today and seeing her happy and healthy; when talking about your mind things, how much of that is just seeing her healthy?

STEPHEN AMES: It's a big relief to see her. Obviously the fact that she's out walking around and following me again like she did in the past. I think overall has been a big weight taken off my shoulders and life is a bit easier not to worry about the future of where the family is going to be or what is going to happen in the future.

Q. Golf is so much of a routine thing in the day to day, when that is upset, everything is upset.

STEPHEN AMES: I think golf is day to day routine with family life and everything. I think that you have to have a very well balanced life to be able to perform very well. I think the great players did that very well. Jack Nicklaus was an example, had a very balanced life. He played two weeks on TOUR and he had two weeks off with his family.

With me and the situation I've had to go through, it has been a big burden on me trying to play golf. And in the past it was very difficult for me to focus or even see shots that I wanted to play because there are other things that were playing in my mind. It was difficult, very difficult.

Q. Working with Alan earlier this week translates into a great ball striking round finally, how does that work and what was he talking to you about that brought that kind of result?

STEPHEN AMES: Well, for me in the past it's always been seeing shapes, shapes being shaping the ball off the tee, second shots into the pins, and that's my forte, should I say. I tend to play golf that way. When setting up to the ball in the past, I've not been able to see the shapes obviously because of what's been going on.

The last couple of weeks, from the PGA onward, that's what we've really been stressing a lot on right now and trying to get back more into what we call a receiving mode for the mind to work, rather than a giving mode. This week what we worked on is the preshot, trying to match the golf swing to the preshot, and that's all I was thinking about when I stand over the golf ball. Prior to the fact of doing that is I'm seeing shapes that I want to hit. I think I hit one bad drive, one bad shot I didn't see the shape and I didn't commit to it, and that was the first on the tenth. I think that's half the battle as far as I'm concerned.

Q. From the tee ball to

STEPHEN AMES: Everything, chipping, putting. Nicklaus was exactly the same. I remember when we played Whistler, we played the Skins Game, he went up to Vijay and asked Vijay, "What's the last thing you see before you hit your putt?"

Vijay was: "The ball passing over the spot that I picked."

Nicklaus's remark was: "Well, I see my ball going in the hole." A big difference between the two players there obviously. Those are the things that you have to do.

Q. You seem extremely relaxed out there today and I saw you interacting with the fans a little bit. In the past you've talked about wanting to have more recognition or thinking you deserve more recognition. Do you see your round, as a Canadian golfer I mean, do you see the opportunity you have tomorrow as one to win the fans over more?

STEPHEN AMES: I don't think I have to worry about winning the fans over at this stage. For me right now, the opportunity of being a Canadian and having an opportunity of winning the Canadian Open or any other PGA TOUR event would be a great feat at this stage right now. Happens to be the Canadian Open, yeah, I'll take it, obviously.

I'm not going to take anything away from Michael. Michael has had a great career, he's won The Masters. He's the only Canadian to win a major and that by far is a big feat in itself.

Q. What do you do you had a great round today and you have to go out tomorrow, what do you do tonight to prepare yourself for tomorrow or how do you prepare yourself to go into tomorrow?

STEPHEN AMES: Have a few beers. (Laughing).

Yeah, I'll have a few beers with my dinner, and my boys are probably going to want to do something this afternoon. We'll have to entertain them a bit. The nice thing about playing on the West Coast is that now we have all afternoon to do something. So I know my wife wants to go shopping, so that's for sure, definitely a given for her. I'll probably take the boys and probably go swimming or something.

Q. There's a moment on the third hole when Chris DiMarco went over and gave your wife a hug. What does that mean, knowing that people sort of share, and could you maybe just give us an update on her health and what the prognosis is?

STEPHEN AMES: The Tour now, I've been on it for seven years, we've known Chris for almost 10 or 11 years. Our families know each other. Our kids all play with each other's kids. The fact that I mean, the PGA TOUR is like a big old family, what we call a traveling circus. We all know how everybody's wives are doing, how each person is, watching their kids grow up, how big they have gotten. In the case of Chris, that's Chris, that's his personality. I think a lot of players are like that out here.

Her prognosis at this stage right now, she's nine holes is probably her limit for walking. She's probably going to have a nap this afternoon and then possible go shopping. The day to day operations for her, going to the grocery and cleaning the house takes a lot out of her right now and she has to rest up as the day goes on.

At this stage, there is never any chemo; we caught it early enough. Went in and took half of her lung out and from there, it's just a matter of getting over the anaesthetic which literally knocks you fought or a couple of months. Her ribs have been broken and cut into to get into the back of her lung there and it's going to take probably be a full year before she feels normal and even breathing normal, too.

Q. You were fairly critical yesterday of the rough out here and obviously you were able to avoid it for the most part today. We now know this is a pretty tough golf course. What do you expect from tomorrow, what can they do to this place tomorrow? Can they trick it up for a final Sunday round?

STEPHEN AMES: I don't think needs to be tricked up at all. The guy who hits the ball in the fairway, puts the ball on the green and keeps it in play is the one who is probably going to be rewarded with a good round like mine was today. Like I say, I hit 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens. The greens I missed were probably in the bunker. I think I had one on the fringe, or two on the fringe, the 10th and eighth hole and I did get fairly decent lies. The lies are iffy every now and again, and that's what you've got to try and avoid, yes, in some way but you've got to hope that you do have a good lie when you get the opportunity.

Q. The Sunday placements

STEPHEN AMES: Every green has got a different pin placement obviously. The Tour always has a critique of how to go about setting up the golf course, and I think in the past they have always done a good job. I have noticed that the greens are starting to get firmer, which is a normal standard. Saturday, Sunday, the greens will get firmer and faster.

Q. You start early and started off the back, the gallery seemed to grow as you made the turn, could you sense that and did you hear more cheers, and what does that do for you out there?

STEPHEN AMES: I did. I did see that more people were following. It was wonderful. I was just fortunate enough to be obviously the only Canadian in the group left and also fortunate enough to put a show on like I did today. It was nice way to give something back to them.

Q. For a long time, and forgive me for bringing up an old subject, but for a long time the Canadian media and Canadians have thought Pat Fletcher was the last Canadian to have won. Now, you are from Trinidad and I'm told the PGA TOUR keeps the Trinidadian flag in your records because that's your choice.

STEPHEN AMES: No, it's not my choice. I've tried to resolve that problem for quite a few months now.

Q. So tomorrow hopefully you'll

STEPHEN AMES: It will be. It's being resolved right now.

Q. Answers my question.

STEPHEN AMES: Okay. You're welcome.

Q. This may not be the right day to ask this, but I'll ask it anyway. A lot of Canadians in this field, you're the only one obviously who got through, do you think a lot of guys missed a pretty good opportunity here to do some good for themselves?

STEPHEN AMES: What do you mean by that question? As in trying to get themselves more exposed?

Q. Yeah, do some good for themselves, move their careers forward. I don't think anybody really did.

STEPHEN AMES: You think I don't know. Obviously playing well in front of Canadian home fans, yeah, you're going to get yourself exposed more. The TV camera is going to be more on you; it's going to be global within Canada. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, probably.

Q. The galleries growing as you went along, Mike talked yesterday about feeling pressure from that, do you feel any pressure as it grows or is it all a plus?

STEPHEN AMES: The bigger, the better, as far as I'm concerned. I think it's going to be huge tomorrow if I'm in the last group which I am hopefully. If I am, it would be awesome. It would be great for the Canadian Open, for the event. It would be awesome.

Q. What's it going to mean to you tomorrow to be kind of "the" guy that by and large the fans want to see win?

STEPHEN AMES: A lot. It would be awesome. Everyone is going to be there rooting for me. It's going to be great. I'm looking forward to that, yeah.

Q. Is that something you'll embrace, that kind of pressure, that kind of expectation?

STEPHEN AMES: I think because I'm a Canadian, I embrace it as much as I am if I'm the only Canadian and playing well tomorrow, yeah.

Q. Do you feel any different about the course today than you do yesterday?

STEPHEN AMES: I feel no different. It's the same, yeah.

Q. You still think it's horrendous around the greens?

STEPHEN AMES: I do, yeah.

Q. How many times previously have you played in the final pairing?

STEPHEN AMES: I don't know. You're going to have to look back, I don't know how many times.

Q. At the Western, on the Sunday?

STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, I did I think. I think I did, yeah.

Q. PLAYERS?

STEPHEN AMES: At THE PLAYERS no, Craig was behind me. He was two or three groups behind me, maybe four groups behind me.

Q. Thank you.

STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, you're welcome. (Laughter).

Q. With this being your adopted country and all, what would it mean to you to win this event?

STEPHEN AMES: A lot. There is going to be some exposure, obviously, being a Canadian to win the Canadian Open. It would be awesome, absolutely awesome. And tough, because everywhere I go now, I'll be recognized, even more.

You know what, at this stage I'm going to go home now, reflect on my day. I'll go back to the fact that, hey, finally I'm got back into playing my playing mode like I was last year when I was in a ten week stretch where I was knocking on the door every week. It's nice to be back in that situation again, you know. I felt it yesterday when I shot the 70 with five birdies and five bogeys and I felt like, you know, finally, I'm turning around, and starting to play better again. Today I didn't make any mistakes and I had six birdies. I played as well as I did yesterday. Just made less mistakes.

Q. Can you reflect quickly, 64 seems like the worst you could have scored today. There were birdie putts you could have made on lots of holes; that's course record tied and it could have been better.

STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, I think that's course record tied with three of the par 4s were par 5s back then, so it's a different golf course. It's tougher, much tougher than it was back then. But that part is realistic in some sense, so I'm not going to go that way. But yeah, I hit the ball exceptionally well today. You followed me; you saw it. There were a lot of putts I missed and it could have been a lot lower, which is nice.

Q. (Inaudible.)

STEPHEN AMES: I never looked at it that way. As I say I'm going to sit down and reflect on my round. Like I said, I got over each shot, I saw shapes, played shapes and hit the shape that I wanted. I think that's all we have control over. How the ball lands and hits on the greens and reacts when it it's the fairways is a different thing. But what I achieved today is what I wanted to achieve and I did. I hit one bad shot that I didn't see the picture properly and didn't come out. The rest of them, I hit it exactly how I want it. That's all I've got control of. That's a 100% feat.

Q. Your performance here is going to help the Ames Cup gain some respect and prestige, as well.

STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, I guess it is. Overall I think the Stephen Ames Cup itself got a lot of prestige and recognition from it for what I had done for the juniors and I think overall, into was my goal, but my goal for that particular event was to give the kids an opportunity to play in Canada. I also wanted to give them the exposure of playing under pressure, playing in a serious match, as they would say, and to give the kids here and also in Trinidad an opportunity of playing in an event.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Stephen, thank you, play well tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

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