	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 1, 2007

Robert Allenby

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

Q. Are all of the body parts working and do you still have any --
ROBERT ALLENBY: The ones I can feel at the moment are all working fine.

Q. Do you still have any lingering issues you're having to manage?
ROBERT ALLENBY: I'm all good.

Q. It's all good?
ROBERT ALLENBY: I'm 100%.

Q. So you're dangerous?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Pretty much. Yes.

Q. What's changed?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Just found a great physio. I've had some great treatment over the last year, or over the last six months, sorry with a guy called Michael Reed from Spine who is only five minutes up the road from here.
I spent a lot of time with him and I spent a lot of time with a lady that's awesome at Pilates and with my own training, myself, just spent a lot of quality time with the three of them and just working on my body and trying to get it right. Trying to pinpoint what's causing the problems, and you know, I've had a lot of issues with inflammation. We still don't know what's been causing that. Two years ago was when that started happening.
I still have, you know, I still wake up with those sort of feelings and stuff, but you know, it could be an overuse thing. That's what my guy, Michael Reed, thinks. It's probably more over use than anything. You know, just beating balls for the last 20 years, it can put a lot of train on you.
Yeah, you think about it, when I finish the TOUR over here, I go back to Australia, I play three events down there and then I have a couple of weeks off and then I start back up here. Whereas most people have like three or four months off or three months off, I just don't stop playing. I haven't stopped playing for 16, 17 years. So I guess just your body over time, it just slowly catches up with you.
But I'm allowing myself to have a lot of time off and you know, have good quality time off. I find that two weeks is good because I take a full first week off and that gives me great time to work on my body whether it's in the gym or whether it's with a physio or whether it's with Pilates. I do all three, actually, and massage, and just combine the whole lot and get my body -- over time, that's what's got my body into good shape.
So yeah, so right now, obviously at the end of last year my goal was to go into this year feeling 100% with the body, and I'm about 99.99, so we'll just call it 100.

Q. What kind of test is that today, that course?
ROBERT ALLENBY: It was a good challenge. The front nine I hit a lot of fantastic shots and especially 3, I hit a ripper drive into the wind and then smoked a 3-wood on the green and then made a 40-footer for eagle.
So I know there won't be too many eagles today and there won't be too many guys getting on the green today. So I used my length that I had and it paid off.
I hit a lot of great shots today and I hit a lot of great putt that didn't go in. But it's just one of those days, the wind is blowing about 18 to 20 miles an hour, and you know, it's blustery and you know, you've got to be careful obviously with some of the shots that you do hit, especially 15 and 17. You know, two very, very tough par 3s.
I think 6, the other par 3 -- I think it's 6, isn't it?

Q. 5.
ROBERT ALLENBY: 5. I mean, those three par 3s are just fantastic par 3s. They are three of the toughest par 3s that you play in golf. You know, 15, I hit a great 6-iron in there and looked like it just rode the wind and flew to the back edge. I didn't get up-and-down but hit a great putt.
Then, you know, I'm standing on 17, I'm thinking, well, I don't want to rip it through the wind like I did on 15, so then you sort of take a little off a 5-iron which I was hitting, and then I came up just on the front edge. So it's amazing how the mind works on those holes. They are two fantastic holes in golf especially when it's blowing the way it is blowing. One of them is dead across from right-to-left, and 17 is, you know, into off the right. So you have to really knuckle down and commit to your shot. Otherwise, you could be in a spot of bother pretty quickly there.
But the whole golf course, it's in great condition. The greens are running absolutely fantastic. They are just rolling beautifully, and it's just nice, it's just a pleasure to play it. It's a great course.

Q. What is the hardest part about this course?
ROBERT ALLENBY: 10 and 11 could be really two really tough holes, along with 15 and 17. So there's four good holes on the back nine there that are really tough.
Obviously depending on the wind conditions on all of them, I mean, they can play tough or they can play easy. So it really depends on the wind and that's what the character of this golf course is. You know, if you get a good wind like it was today, this golf course plays really tough.
And then if there is no wind, then this golf course could play quite easy. But there's still some holes out there that are really, really challenging. And you know, I just enjoy playing the course. You hit good shots, you get rewarded, and that's what I like about this place. There's no Mickey Mouse to it, there's no gimmicks. It's just what you see is what you get.
CHRIS REIMER: You're tied for the lead, four Top-10s so far this year, 14th in the FedExCup points race, just kind of talk about what's helped you be successful here early in the year.
ROBERT ALLENBY: Obviously No. 1, my body feels great. I've been working on my swing and just making some changes with a good friend of mine that I've employed full time now to coach me, and that's really helping, as well. And you know, I'm working hard on the mental side of it as well. I've got a good guy, name of Peter Crone, he's just unbelievable. I mean, he's the most positive person I've ever met in my life and I'm hoping it's all going to rub off on me nicely.
You know, you just need a good team and right now I feel like I've got a great team and I'm going to work with it for this year and see where it gets me. I think everything I look at is just so positive and when you go out there with a positive mind and don't get in the way of yourself, you can really play some good golf and you can hit some great shots and make some great putts. And that's pretty much what I've done over the last few weeks.
My game is heading into a good direction. It's not going backwards. So this year, I think it's going to be a pretty good year for me.

Q. Could you tell us who your coach is?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Sandy Jamieson. He's an Australian guy about the same age as me, about 35, 36. We played golf as juniors together back in Melbourne at the same club, Box Hill Golf Club it was. And then he went teaching, I went touring, and we bumped into each other at the British Open last year, because he coaches Jarrod Lyle as well. Obviously we all know about him now. So it's all a good story and I just needed, I felt like I needed someone to get me to where I should be, and that's obviously to the top of the leaderboard and competing up there most weeks.
He's just made some subtle changes with my swing and it's really -- I'm still working on it every day, but it's getting better and better every day.

Q. So that's beyond sort of needing a swing guru, you just need another pair of eyes type of thing?
ROBERT ALLENBY: A pair of eyes, but I sort of encountered a few faults in my swing. You know, I haven't had that many coaches over my time. I had a guy called Steven Bann for about 18 years, and then kind of used Leadbetter off and on for a year there and didn't feel comfortable. I pretty much just did it myself and then obviously I ran into Sandy, and he's definitely helped me a huge amount.

Q. As much as your game is heading in the right direction, how anxious are you to start getting some more W's?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Oh, I'm anxious, but patient. I know that it will happen. It will happen soon. But at the same time, you know, you can only -- you have to be patient and you have to just tread lightly. I'm confident that I'm definitely going to win this year. It's just a matter of winning how many. I just, my whole attitude is just so positive and I'm just enjoying the way I'm playing.
I just feel -- I just feel that I'm heading into a zone where I know I should be and that -- with a bit of patience, I will get there.

Q. How important is patience when conditions are like this and the rough is up and the wind is blowing?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Obviously more important today. The golf course is playing at its toughest today with the wind the way it's blowing and the direction it's coming.
So you just you know it's tough so you've just got to persevere with it and just try and commit to your shots and try and play smart golf. I felt like that's what I did today. I had a lot of chances. I felt like most holes I was putting more birdies. That's just what you've got to do. You know you're going to make mistakes, but that's just naturally going to happen. You've just got to try and eliminate your mistakes when it's blowing like this.

Q. Now that the story with you and Jarrod has kind of gotten out here locally, have you encountered any reaction from fans or people?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Oh, I've had a lot of phone calls, yeah. I have had a lot of phone calls from personal friends. And even yesterday, when I was out here in the Pro-Am, you know, a lot of the marshals, they would say, what a great article, great story, it's fantastic what you're doing, which is nice. It's just -- it's nice. I'm not here to show off or anything like that. I am who I am and I do what I do, and I like to do it quietly and it hasn't really been reported before.
But it was a good article. It was a nice article and everyone thought it was -- Craig did a good job on it.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297