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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIPSeptember 18, 2007John RollinsVERONA, NEW YORK DOUG MILNE: Okay, well, John, we appreciate you coming in. Defending champion here, just a couple of opening comments on your year so far. Four Top 10s, including a pair of runner-ups. Just assess the state of the game as you're coming back to the Turning Stone Resort Championship. JOHN ROLLINS: I, you know, as you said, it was a good start to the year. Couple of runner-up finishes there. First five weeks of the year, and played good, really all the way up to the US Open. And since then I haven't quite hit on all cylinders. My iron game has kind of let me down a little bit in the second half of the year. But you know, it's coming around. I've been working hard on it. Trying to get it back to where I was in the beginning of the year. And hopefully, this week it will kind of click like it did last year for me. DOUG MILNE: We'll open it up to a few questions. Anybody? Q. You talked about competing against last year's field was a strong field, but this year's field, obviously, stronger, and the chance to play against some of these guys who were here last year? JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, this field's obviously better, you know. It's not an opposite event. Last year was opposite the British Open. So you had all the, you know, top 50 in the world, top ranked players over at the British. You know, it was still a good field. Great golf course, great tournament. And this year, I think a lot of the players have heard so many good things from last year that they, you know, it's generated a good feel. The purse helps. A $6 million purse is big for one of the first of the fall series here. You know, because of that, you get the better named players to show up. So it should be a good event. Q. How different is this course? It's been changed. It's not is the same course you won on. Some shots you probably hit that you're not going to be able to hit again. Can you talk about some of the things you've seen here? JOHN ROLLINS: I just played the front nine. Haven't seen the back nine yet. I think they've added some tees maybe on a couple holes or whatever I've heard. But the front nine is pretty similar - seems a little longer than it was last year. Primarily just due to the moisture in the fairways. The fairways right now are very soft, so the ball's really not rolling anywhere. You know, that's different from last year when it was firm and fast at least the first couple of days. So, you know, it's still good memories. I still remember the shots I hit. I remember the pins. And all in all, the course is playing fairly similar to how it was last year, as you said there are a couple of tees and shots that are playing longer than they were, you know, last year at this time. Q. You also mentioned the money that goes to the winner. Just talk about how that can change a year for a guy? JOHN ROLLINS: Well, I mean, you know, in my situation, you know, I've obviously had a good year money-wise. You know, and obviously I'm not trying to keep my card for next year or anything like that. But a win, you tack another million dollars on top of what you've already got, it goes from being a really good year to all of a sudden a great year. You know, then there are other guys that maybe haven't played that well. I mean, a guy comes in and has a big tournament this week, it can go a long ways to getting him into that top 125 to keep his job for next year. So having this much money up for grabs at this stage of the year, I think is huge for a lot of players. Q. If Turning Stone were to develop a signature hole here, you've played it a lot, which one can you see developing as just a hole visually and maybe as a golfer that could really be a challenge for you? JOHN ROLLINS: Well, you know, most of these golf courses that have a signature hole or whatever are holes that are either a drivable par 4, or you know, some sort of a par 3 that they just build sky boxes around like in Phoenix or in Flint, Michigan at number 17, and they just basically turn it into that. It turns into a circus, and it's a lot of fun, and the crowd is yelling and screaming and whatever. So with that said, with this golf course, the way it is I would think that you would want it kind of coming down the stretch of a golf tournament, so it would have to be probably 16. That is the par 3 there, and you could kind of get the crowds and all going around the hole there. So typically the courses we play, the signature holes are either island greens like Sawgrass or, you know, a short par 4, like 15 at Hartford. Or you know, 17 even at Phoenix. I know 16 is but 17 is still a pretty entertaining hole as well. Q. You haven't played so much before this, now coming into the fall. When you come here and prepare for the tournament, how do you avoid not burning out? JOHN ROLLINS: Well, you know, I am tired. This is my fifth week in a row. I have played all four of the playoffs, but at the same time, it's what we do. We're pretty used to it. I played five in a row at the beginning of the year, it worked out good for me, so hopefully this five in a row stretch, I can have a good week, just focus on what I'm doing, and you know, try to get a good tournament, go home and take some time off and figure out where I'm going to play after this. Q. How do you think the FedEx Cup went in general? Is there any changes you'd make? JOHN ROLLINS: You know, I thought it was fine. I think that the fans and the media really grasped on to the playoffs for the first year. I don't really know any changes. I don't know if it will be changed or anything. I mean, you know obviously you'll have every player probably has a different opinion of what they would change. I would like to take the $10 million home, that's one thing I'd change. Get me the $10 million, Tiger doesn't need it (smiling). No. , you know, it's a playoff system. If I had to change anything, I would say, you know, maybe you qualify for the playoffs through the regular season like we do if you get points to qualify, however you want to set it up. Then in the playoffs, maybe we don't start with as many players in the playoffs, but everybody plays all four tournaments. And whoever makes the play, everybody starts from scratch. You know, like every other sport, you're basically at an even playing field when you start. At the end of the four weeks whoever has played the best in the playoffs should be the winner. You know, I think that the way it is now, it's I guess, semi-handicapped in that the leader, obviously, you can't take away his good play through the year. So he has the No. 1 spot, you know. But you're kind of handicapping the field, and it does make it hard for like a Cinderella story. A guy that's 144 that came in, probably mathematically really didn't have a chance to win. Whereas another team in other sports they may not have had a as good a year as a top team, but they could get hot in the playoffs and win the World Series, the NBA playoffs, whatever it may be. So that would be a change, I would think. Q. Talk about how you're being treated here? You're kind of the defending course champ for lack of a better term. I mean, are they rolling out the high roller treatment for you here? JOHN ROLLINS: Well, I've never been a high roller so I don't know what kind of treatment they get. But it's been very good. Everyone here at Turning Stone has been great. And I've got a nice room over at the lodge. It's great accommodations. You know, it's been first class ever since I landed. You know, I think that from what I gather I felt like everyone was happy to see me come back and play. I guess being five weeks in a row, I was kind of back and forth, but then I just felt that I needed to come back and play since I, as you said, I'm short of a defending champion, but not really. You know, show my respects to the tournament. I like the golf course, I think it's a great tournament. It's a great course. Just hope for a good week. Q. Do you like the fact that people might recognize you a little more than last year? Hey, you're the guy that won it here? JOHN ROLLINS: Yeah, people have said that. Couple of autograph seekers out on the front nine. You can kind of hear them talking or they'll say, 'defending champion' or whatever. So it is nice to come back somewhere that you've had success. And you know, you have the good memories, and people recognize you and remember the tournament. Maybe say they were there or whatever, it's pretty neat to come back to. Q. For you, what is your routine for like a Tuesday and Wednesday approaching the tournament? Are you a guy that's out a lot? JOHN ROLLINS: You know, I'll come out and typically, depending on where it is and how the weather is and all that. I'll play a practice round Tuesday. Wednesday, I'm generally in the Pro-Ams, so I'll obviously have that day as well, if I feel like just playing nine holes Tuesday, practicing a little bit, resting and then play the Pro-Am Wednesday. Then we're ready to go Thursday. But I'm always -- I'm not a guy that comes out and you know be out here till sun-up to sundown. I'm not going to stand around the driving range and pound balls just to hit balls. I'm the kind of guy I like to come out, get my work done, do what I want to do, then accomplish what I want to accomplish and get out of here relax and get ready for the next day. Q. Do you expect this tournament to build momentum every year as you go along, with word of mouth, the course is nice, everyone raves about the conditions. Do you expect it to build more momentum every year and get a better feel as the years go along? JOHN ROLLINS: I think a lot of that is going to depend on if the date is the same. If it stays where it is, you know, it's still going to be hard. Because if the playoffs remain the way they are. You know, I don't know where this tournament will be next year or anything else. I mean the date has a lot to do with the tournament. Yes, I do think the tournament can grow from word of mouth of the players. I think that players listen to players a lot of times when it comes to golf courses and nice courses and everything else. And I think that, you know, the purse is important as well. So this obviously is not lacking on any of the purse side of it. The Greens here are fantastic. Probably some of the best we putted on last year that I can remember. And you know, players heard that. I was spreading that around, you know, throughout the beginning of this year. You know, guys were just shocked. They were like really, they were that good? And I was like yeah, they were as good as we putt on. You know, I think the new faces that have come here this year will see that, and hopefully the tournament will grow, and you can get bigger and better fields every year. Q. Are you planning on any playing any other fall series events or are you taking a break after this? JOHN ROLLINS: I'm scheduled to play Phoenix and probably Disney. A lot really depends on what happens this week, you know, if I have a big week this week, another win, then you probably won't see me anymore. If I just kind of play average or whatever, then I'll probably stick to my two more and then call it a year. But you know, really it's all up for grabs right now. Just waiting to see how we go. Q. When you say that, is that more like a financial thing? Or is it more tightening up your game going into next year? JOHN ROLLINS: Well, I mean, yeah, financial, yeah, we all -- I can't say we all. But I personally, I mean, I have goals that I've set that I want to accomplish. I also have contractual goals and things that benefit me the better I play. Especially coming at the end of the season with the season-ending money list. So we're always playing for something. People may come out and say, Well, it's the end of the year and I'm just ready to get. But we're all still playing for something. You know, if I feel like I've accomplished what I want to accomplish after this week or after Phoenix or wherever it may be, then, you know I'll just decide when I'm ready to stop and call it a year. Q. The course has changed a little bit from last year, and I apologize if you've already answered this. The course has changed from last year. I wonder if you think it favors a certain kind of player or different kind of player than it did last year? JOHN ROLLINS: I think it still favors the long hitter. I think more and more courses are getting to that. The fairways are still fairly generous especially that they're very soft right now. I don't know if they're going to plan to try to firm them up at all for the tournament. But right now the golf course is very receptive. So I think that a guy that carries the ball a long way, a long hitter in general is a guy that you'll probably see play pretty well here. Again, all that comes back to, you know, who is making putts. Obviously, we have guys Scott Verplank, and Fred Funk, and you know, these guys they're not known to hit it very far, but they putt very well and they keep it in play. Any golf course benefits that kind of player. So if I had to guess, I would say that the top of the leaderboard is going to be filled with a lot of bombers. And you make an offer of proof a couple guys that are just known for accuracy that are just kind of hanging in there, making putts and going about their business as well. Q. What did you do last year that allowed you to win? What part of your game was on track last year? JOHN ROLLINS: I just think everything kind of clicked together. I putted good. I hit the ball well, I drove it well. I kept it in the fairways. Gave myself opportunities to attack some flags. And you know, Sunday I shot 8 under par on Sunday, and really, I mean, really felt like I had everything on cruise control. Don't really know that I can recall missing many shots. I was missing my targets and then the putts just started to go in. It was kind of a snowball effect. The round just happened. Got out of my way and let it happen. So that was really it. It's just one much those weeks, you know. You have that feeling that something good's going to happen, and it did. DOUG MILNE: John Rollins, thanks for coming in. Best of luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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