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SEVE TROPHYSeptember 25, 2007Nick FaldoKILLENARD, IRELAND Q. How is it progressing out there? NICK FALDO: Very well. It's looking good. It's got some serious potential there. There are some great visual spots. There are a couple of locations which will be great for corporate hospitality in an event. The back of the 7th tee, literally you can see six greens and six tees and that's pretty unique, and about four fairways coming into that, maybe five fairways. So that's a hell of a vantage point. Everybody talks about stadium golf; well, that's pretty darned good. Q. How many courses does that make now? NICK FALDO: We've got 19. We're in the process right now from drawing board to construction and opening five this year. Q. That will be five this year? NICK FALDO: Yeah. Q. So your Ryder Cup duties, do they take away from your design? NICK FALDO: No, nothing takes away from. Everything kind of is in their own little box. Next May and June for Ryder Cup, Valhalla in about a month, kind of the year to go party as they call it, the official walk through, to go and see hotel facilities, clubhouse facilities, golf course and any other bits. It's like the official walk-through, so tick it off, and all right, we're all happy with that, and then we go and other bits and bops; and selecting the shirts, which I think might be this afternoon, a bit more clothing selecting and got to pick their presents. Q. Does this feel like a dress rehearsal? NICK FALDO: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's a great opportunity for me. Really it's more for me to get to know the players. I'm pleased about my team in the fact that I've got a couple of backbone guys at the top and we've got the rest of the team are, you know, new blood, up-and-coming blood. And I assume they see this as a great stepping stone forward to the Ryder Cup. You know, rather than having a team that you know the guy, what the guys can do, it's great to have some new guys who think, wow, okay, I sure want to go out and impress -- they don't have to impress me, but certainly impress themselves in what they can do in a team match play kind of environment. So I think that's -- so I'm very happy with that. Q. Were you at all tempted to pick an Irishman for the team? NICK FALDO: Well, it was tough, Nos. 1 and 2 with the pick -- the Irish boys were down the list a little bit. I didn't feel that I was -- you know, my role this week was to put young guns in, and we put guys 1 and 2 on the officials list that is were chomping to play. That's important to them. Q. Did it encourage you at all the marketing potential of having an Irish player? NICK FALDO: Well, the important thing is I thought I was -- I thought my original brief was to be a captain, to captain the team, with the potential of a big learning curve for the Ryder Cup. Q. With the Ryder Cup in mind, Paul would have been very pleased with the opportunity to play here, he really enjoys team events; were you aware of his interest? NICK FALDO: Well, obviously he's my vice captain and I spoke with him and he's comfortable with my two picks. He felt they were a good choice. Q. Is this an indication how you might approach things this time next year when you have to pick players, just going with the next two on the list? NICK FALDO: Not necessarily. Not necessarily. I think it might be -- if it's as easy as that, great. It would be straightforward but who knows. Who knows what I've got on the team. You know, if I've got massive backbone from past players, I may want to take -- you know, give young guys an opportunity in the last couple of months. That's a possibility. Or I might have the opposite. I might be full of rookies and might think I need a couple of old boys out there to put them under their wing. That's a permutation we worry about in ten months time. Q. Do you see it as a team in transition, the European Ryder Cup Team at the moment? NICK FALDO: Could be. Could be. I think -- I'm sure half the team, could be half and half, who knows? But there will be a few guys getting older from the last two, and we see what happens. Q. Are you at all nervous about the captain's role this week and what you have to do? NICK FALDO: No, not at all. Hardly, no. (Laughter). No, I think this is an important event for everybody. It's important for me but it's not -- it doesn't mean it's nerve-wracking. I have a good idea of what I want to do and what I want to achieve for the week. Q. What is that? NICK FALDO: I don't know. Q. What you want to do and what you want to achieve? NICK FALDO: As I said, I kind of explained, the important thing is to observe. Really that's my No. 1 goal is to observe this week. Observe how the guys perform and how I perform, so I can then take stock of it. Q. I was talking to Seve about this, and he was saying the things you learn about being a captain when you're hands-on that you wouldn't have imagined before, basically communication and relating to players. That's something that even now, people were saying you were a perfectionist as a player, this won't be very difficult for to you make that transition. NICK FALDO: That was a player. I'm a captain. I know my role and I've already got a meeting tonight with everybody, the whole two teams. Q. You were going to do that on Sunday. NICK FALDO: Yeah, I've already started that process of opening the communication lines with all the players. Q. That's interesting, could it be a fear, because some people might suggest that the principle of the Seve Trophy, it's possibly fractious, some players didn't even look at each other; is that fair? NICK FALDO: No, I think it's -- well, I don't know if there's instances, so I can't really comment. Q. Can I ask you one thing generally about the Ryder Cup and the FedExCup and the way the FedExCup is going to run right into the week of the Ryder Cup next year. Does that worry you from the point of view of what state your players might be in? NICK FALDO: Well, this year it was three. There was three players. So that's what I paid attention to this time. It could be. It could be an issue. I can't do anything about that. If the players are playing that well, if you have that many playing an American tournament that made the Cup, and they played right way through to the final event, obviously I know they are well-golfed and playing well, so let's look at the positive side. And if they have to be rested in some way, well, I will work on that as well. Zinger will have the same problem. Q. With his selections, he should have all eight or nine or even ten. NICK FALDO: He could have even more players, so we shall see how that pans out. Q. What do you think of the PGA TOUR running the FedExCup right up to the Ryder Cup? It shows obviously they don't give a damn about the Ryder Cup, but does it matter do you reckon? NICK FALDO: I don't know. Q. It is an unusual scheduling situation, though, isn't it? NICK FALDO: The tours have to work together between the two and the PGA and that's what they have come up with. It's nothing to do with me. Q. It's probably affected you this week in the sense that Padraig is not here; were you surprised he withdrew or did you expect it? NICK FALDO: Nobody expected it because he was fully committed to play here. Obviously his withdrawal causes the sponsors a lot of heartache. The positive is it's a big learning curve for him as well. Obviously it's very important to be at the Ryder Cup and he'll understand how much golf and how much corporate commitments he's got to fit in now being an Open Champion so he's fit and strong for the Ryder Cup next year. You know, look at that as this is obviously a new experience being Open Champion and how your schedule changes, so it's very important he addresses this, because next year he'll still be equally as popular. Q. Did you find yourself after the first major win -- NICK FALDO: Yeah, there's a lot going on. You need to learn to pace yourself. Q. What did you think of Padraig Harrington's Open victory and how he's developed as a player generally? NICK FALDO: I thought it was fantastic. It was so exciting, you could see it on the afternoon, I commented there was only two guys going forward and that was Padraig and Ernie Els at that time. Everybody else was kind of backpedalling a little bit and those two guys were going forward. The drama that unfolded, you couldn't script that in a million years, could you, what happened on just the last three holes. It was riveting. You know, I think he won that because he was able to -- he regrouped better than Sergio, you know, after the 18th. And Sergio came off -- and you can imagine the hurt of actually facing a putt to win the British Open and I think he hit a good putt and there was a tiny little bit of opposite break in there. Obviously we know when you watch on TV. So in his own mind, he's thought I've hit it and I'm going to hole it and it doesn't go in, so it affected him. Padraig was able to regroup and, you know, that first hole was really important to come out clear, clear-minded. Q. He's obviously going to be one of the backbone members. NICK FALDO: Yeah, that's what we assume, that's what we would want is an Open Champion. Q. Did he give you a ring last weekend? NICK FALDO: Not yet. Q. Would you have expected him to call you? NICK FALDO: Not really. End of FastScripts |
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