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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY MORGAN STANLEYMay 31, 2007Nick O'HernDUBLIN, OHIO JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Nick O'Hern, thanks for joining us today. Nice round today. Eight birdies, one bogey, 7-under 65. Maybe a couple comments about your round. NICK O'HERN: Just very solid golf from tee to green. A bit scrappy early on in the back nine. But I had a run of about five birdies in six holes on the back nine, which is always going to do some pretty good things. You know, I haven't played well for a while now in the last couple of weeks -- sorry, last week was good at Colonial, and signs are good and I'm starting to get the ball around, which is what it's all about. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: In his press conference the other day Mr. Nicklaus mentioned how important he wanted to make it a premium of hitting fairways, and you did that. You hit 12. You drove the ball pretty well. NICK O'HERN: I drove the ball great. The way the course sets up, it just fits my eye where I'm actually shaping shots off the tee, a lot of low ones, little cut fades and things like that. You know, a lot of the courses nowadays you just stand there and smash it as far as you can. That's not really my game. I'm more about shaping the ball, and especially here, you really need to get the right angle to go into the greens. When they tuck the pins you've got to work the ball up against the slope. I was able to do that today. I played here two years ago and the course just fit my eye really well then and nothing has changed. Q. I see your driving accuracy stats are down this year. Has that been a problem? NICK O'HERN: Yeah, it has been. I haven't really been hitting the ball well off the tee, but that's due to the golf swing more than anything. It's sort of our first full year here in the States and takes some adjusting to get used to things. I think we sort of turned the corner a few weeks ago. Q. What caused you to turn the corner? NICK O'HERN: Just haven't been feeling all that well, got some health issues which have basically sorted themselves out. I've been working on my swing. That's been a little bit of a problem the last month or so. I feel as though I've got that under control again, and I'm healthy, which is good. Q. I think a lot of fans came out here today hoping to see a lefty lead the tournament. Do you think you gave them what they wanted? NICK O'HERN: (Laughing) you're just throwing the anchor out there, aren't you? Yeah, you know, I heard Phil had to pull out. I saw him in the locker room before. I have no idea what it's about. Q. He's got a wrist injury. NICK O'HERN: Wrist is it? Q. Practicing at Oakmont. NICK O'HERN: As far as when I get home, I know there will be some people that care that a lefty is leading, that's for sure. It's a big loss to the tournament, which is unfortunate. Hopefully he'll be fully fit for Oakmont. Q. How much has your recognizability been increased in this country since Match Play this year, and do you find yourself getting stopped or recognized a lot more? NICK O'HERN: Yeah, I just get a lot of "Tiger-Slayer" and all that sort of stuff. They just say, there's the guy that beat Tiger. They may not actually know my name, but they know I beat Tiger. That's fine. I've never been big into self-promotion, so I let the golf do the talking and go from there. Q. Do they want your autograph? NICK O'HERN: Yeah, people ask for my autograph and they realize I was the guy that beat Tiger. But it's a long year and there's a lot more bigger personalities out here than myself. Q. Was it a big difference after that? Did it increase a lot this year? NICK O'HERN: Not a whole lot, no. I mean, if I wanted to increase my profile I probably could, but I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing. I don't get hassled when I go to a restaurant, which is nice. Q. When you played well here two years ago, you didn't come back last year for any particular reason? NICK O'HERN: Yeah, my wife was -- had a bit of a rough pregnancy with our second child, so I had to miss that and miss the golf tournament. Yeah, I would have loved to have played, but never fit in. Q. Two years ago was your first time here? NICK O'HERN: First time, yeah. Loved it then, so I'm glad I'm back. Q. When you say it fits your eye, can you give an example of a hole where you stand there and think, wow? NICK O'HERN: What's a good example? Probably the third hole, the little par 4. A lot of guys are hitting 3-iron and 5-wood off that tee. I stand there and hit a little low cut driver, and it just fits perfectly with my eye, and I sort of knock it down into the fairway. The guys are about 40 behind me, which is perfect for me. I have a little flip sand iron in, which is nice. It's nice to be able to shape shots. I imagine a course like this Corey Pavin would like it, as well, because he likes working his driver both ways. It kind of fits the way I like to play golf, as well. Q. Two years ago, it was dry that year, also, correct? NICK O'HERN: I think we had maybe a delay or two, but it wasn't that soft, put it that way. Q. I mean, are these kind of conditions where you have to work your ball and play for the speed of the fairways, fits your game better than if it's soft and you're just bombing it over the trouble? NICK O'HERN: Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's not -- basically this is about normal I would have felt. It's not firm at all. I think if the sun stays out it will get firm over the weekend. Yeah, when it's just plugging in the fairway I'm at a bit of a disadvantage because I'm probably in the bottom ten in driving distance. Q. So if it gets firm over the weekend, you'll feel better? NICK O'HERN: Yeah, absolutely, firmer and faster, that's what we love down in Australia. Q. Had you met Jack before you came here two years ago and have you met him since coming here? NICK O'HERN: I met him in the Presidents Cup when we played that a couple years ago. I bumped into him in the locker room and thanked him for having us this week. I'd love to play with him one day, but that's probably not going to happen. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could run through your scorecard. Eight birdies, one bogey. You mentioned No. 3, and then the next birdies came on 6 and 7. NICK O'HERN: I can't remember this golf course (laughing). I hit a 9-iron to about 15 feet on 6. That was nice. 7, I hit a lob wedge to about 12 feet. 10, I almost hit it out of bounds in the right trees and chipped it out, wedged on to about 40 feet and two-putted. 11, I actually attacked that hole and hit driver off the tee, 3-wood onto the green and two-putted for birdie from about 25 feet. Holed a bunker shot on 12. 14, I hit a sand iron to about six inches. 15, par 5, I was in the greenside trap, hit a bunker shot to about eight feet. 16, I hit a 6-iron to four feet. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Anything that kept your round going as far as par saves or anything like that. NICK O'HERN: Yeah, probably on -- I think I birdied 12 and 13 and then 14 I was in the greenside trap and made a really good up-and-down there because it wasn't a very easy bunker shot. To keep the momentum going was good because then I birdied the next three holes to keep the round going. Q. The last putt, 15, 18 feet? NICK O'HERN: Yeah, it was a really nice putt and went sideways at the end. I always under-read that green, so I've got to keep drilling that into myself. End of FastScripts |
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