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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK CLASSIC PRESENTED BY WAL-MARTNovember 2, 2007Stephen AmesLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA STEWART MOORE: Stephen Ames, thanks for spending a few moments with us here. Fantastic round out there today, 63. Seven birdies on holes 1 through 7, your holes 10 through 16. Talk about that round, and, obviously, I'm sure at some point you might have been thinking about getting even to 60. Not once? STEPHEN AMES: Not once, I was trying to make nine birdies in a row. That's what I was trying to do. 7 was a good up-and-down for birdie. Then I hit 4 in for about 20 feet, which is about average for the day. I thought I'd make this one, too. But I didn't, I left it short. After I pushed that one, it left me. So I was quite happy with the day. It was a good day. I've never played the Palm when it has played this long. It was a tough round, obviously the balls aren't roll being out there at all. And the Palm greens are significantly different than the Magnolia greens. Different grass, completely different grass. And they are probably a foot and a half to two feet faster speedwise? Q. The Palms? STEPHEN AMES: Oh, yeah, plenty. It might be the fact that it was sunny today, and yesterday was raining. So I think overall it was a good day. Q. On 10, four pars, holding on for maybe just another round of golf, and then you start to get hot. STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, 14 was a good up-and-down for birdie there. Because you couldn't get up there in two. It was very unusual. I never played that hole where I couldn't get up in two. And then 15 was a good birdie out. I hit it left of the trap, and then hit 8-iron straight on the flat for about 10 feet. Made that. Good up-and-down on 16 for par. And then 17 I made a 30-footer there for birdie. I had opportunities on every one of those holes on the front side also. And then 10, I hit it about probably 15, 18 feet above the hole for eagle for two. 2, I hit it about 20 feet. 3 was about 35. 4 was 8. 5 was 18-20 feet. 6 was a chip-in from just off the fringe. The pin was tucked left, and I just missed it left off the edge there. Q. How far? STEPHEN AMES: Probably 15 feet, like four paces off the left there, so. And then 7, about a six-footer for birdie there up-and-down from the left of rough. Q. 8? STEPHEN AMES: 4-iron to about 20 feet, yeah. Q. What did do you on 9? STEPHEN AMES: Had it about 10 feet above the hole and three-putted. Q. For birdie? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah. Q. That's what we'll write about. STEPHEN AMES: Thanks (laughing). Q. Did you say you left it short on that hole? The 4-iron in there? STEPHEN AMES: The putter on the 8th hole, left it in the middle of the hole. Q. Right dead in? STEPHEN AMES: Right in the middle of the hole. Q. What is your longest birdie streak? STEPHEN AMES: I think this is it. Q. Ever had anything like this in a casual round? STEPHEN AMES: I don't have casual rounds. I live in Calgary, we don't have casual rounds out there. Q. Speaking of which, Doug was saying that is pretty much the short answer to what you're doing here this week. It's already too cold? STEPHEN AMES: The courses are closed. They've been closed almost a month now. I'm prepared for next year. So after, if you look at the schedule and I were to finish without winning the Tour Championship, my last event was Chicago. Was that the one before going to Tour Championship, correct? Chicago. Yeah, that's what, September the 1st? Q. No, that was about the 9th? STEPHEN AMES: The first week of September. October, November, December, probably January, I'd have four months off. That's too long for me. Q. You would embarrass yourself in the Skins game if had you all that rest on you? STEPHEN AMES: Exactly, like I did last year. I had five months off and I embarrassed myself, you're right (laughing). Q. I forgot about that. STEPHEN AMES: I hadn't played golf since -- let's see. Q. Because of your back, right? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, the Canadian Open, no, before the Canadian Open. It would be the PGA Championship my last official full round. I tried one day in the others, but couldn't get to the second day. Q. About the Canadian Open, they've lined up a sponsor. Is that a good thing? What is your spin on that? STEPHEN AMES: It's a great thing, obviously. I think the direction that they went with last year, getting BMW to help them with the cars, that is a plus, obviously. You don't go to Wachovia just for the golf course. You go there to drive a Mercedes, you know. And they helped by putting up the private jet from the British Open to there. That trip is shorter than if you went from west coast to east coast. Tucson to Florida, how long is that flight? Five and a half hours? Five hours. That is exactly what it is from London to Toronto. Five or six-hour flight. And you're getting in Sunday night. Midnight, 1:00 o'clock in the morning you're in your room. So in that sense what they've done there, they've helped. I think they've made a big push towards trying to help, and I think at this stage now with the new director, Scott, I think is his name. They've got a nice group of guys that are willing to help and trying to help the Canadian Open blossom to where it used to be. Myself and Mike and other Canadians have vowed to help as much as we can with them doing things like that. It's nice to see that they've gotten RBC to help and become the title sponsor. Q. You're laughing about the Calgary thing. You know, obviously you went through the whole citizenship deal, and you went in there with your eyes wide open. But for a guy from the tropics to be living where swimming pools turn into ice hockey rinks in the winter, that's got to be a pretty brutal transition? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, it's a brutal transition. At the same time, it's a transition that I think for golfers is good. Especially for me. When you have your long year of playing 23, 25 events and you consider the fact you're living in Florida, all you're doing is seeing beautiful weather, I say I'm going to hit balls. It entices you to go play. At home, I have no excuse. I'm not playing at all, period. So I take time off from it, I get away from it. Which is a good thing. I think we all need it. I'm sure you get away from writing, don't you? Q. Actually, no, but I wish I did. STEPHEN AMES: Well, that explains it then (laughing). Q. How do you get ready for the next season? Do you go to Palm Springs? STEPHEN AMES: No, not too early. I'll go in like maybe three or four days early and prepare there. But there are domes inside where I can hit golf balls there. It's a covered dome, they have like 110 yards and hit into a net at the end. Q. Off the mat? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, off the mat. Q. How's that work for you? STEPHEN AMES: Fine to a certain extent. But after a while, you want to get your golfing muscles ready and going. If you take complete time off and start it back again, I'm usually in complete pain. I won't play for two days after that. It is a rotation. Your rotating muscles will spasm as the day goes on. And in that case I do the mat a little bit to help get things. But the transition from mats to grass and all that. Yeah, it takes a couple days to get back into it. Q. How do you rate your year? You had a nice runs through the Match Play, and real good run through the majors. How do you balance that out? STEPHEN AMES: Overall, the changes I've had to go through, 1, to figure out when my back was off the end of last year. Then finding Sean Foley, the teacher I'm working with, to explain to me why we had to change and why it did happen. It was a big transition for me to learn how to play golf a different way and swing a different way. But they're not small changes, they're big changes. I'm getting to the stage now where I'm understanding why it goes left, why it goes right, and I'm starting to feel it more and more. So that is the majority of the reason I'm here still working on it. To make sure that when I go home over winter break I know what I need to work on for next year. Q. Did you have any kind of a break this year with the transition? You're still working on it, but did it reach a point where you felt that you could contend and compete on that? STEPHEN AMES: I would say, yes, on the PGA TOUR, there are obviously some big hit there's for me. The second to last group or in the last group playing there. You know, you go back to there are certain things that you fall back into when you're in those situations, and I did for both events there. My thought overall getting into that situation was a plus golf swing-wise, mechanics-wise for me. Q. Falling back into your old habits? STEPHEN AMES: Old habits, yeah. Q. I'm not making light of this by any means. STEPHEN AMES: You don't make light of anything. Q. But the World Cup i sin China and the fact that it's the same week as you're defending champion, would you have thought about representing Trinidad and Tobago at the World Cup? Or were you never going to play? STEPHEN AMES: I don't think Robert was interested in going, because he hadn't been playing much golf. He stopped almost two months ago, looking for a real job. At that stage he was probably the only partner that I had to go to represent Trinidad and Tobago with at this stage, unfortunately. But then again, I was defending the Skins game, so it was unfortunate. But it's a hell of a long way to go, yeah, China. Wow. Q. Has he given up completely? STEPHEN AMES: I wouldn't say he's given up completely. He is looking for something in the Tour profession on the sideline of golf. Not the playing-wise. Q. Bringing your bag around doesn't appeal to him anymore? STEPHEN AMES: No, quarter of a million dollars a year doesn't appeal to him, no. It doesn't, sorry. Q. I guess if you figure out how hard it is to do that in the world? STEPHEN AMES: Exactly, he will. I don't think he wanted to be in it, yeah. As far as I know the last time we talked he's looking at a golf course, at directing golf courses in Jamaica. They both want to move back there, because his wife's from there. Q. Is she? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, she's Jamaican. Q. What is your thought on how the schedule played out this year? They obviously blew up the template with the FedEx Cup thing, and they add the seven on the back end. Your Players Championship was moved to a completely different time. STEPHEN AMES: Nice job. Q. That's your big feather in the cap, man. STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, it's everybody's. Q. You've got a locker there. STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, I do. It's small, but it's there. I think overall the Tour had to do it to make the fall season events. The fall season events were very weak. Especially the Tour Championship was supposed to be a premier event, especially when you consider Coca-Cola being such a good sponsor. They're putting up some serious cash for us there. We have to make that event, again, boost up itself. I thought it was a good idea all together. But at the same time you have the seven events at the back end of it. I think they're thinking about it right now. I think these events, considering the fact that we have three or four new sponsors that have just come on. I know, Fry's is one and a couple others. But these events should be FedEx Cup point as well. Even if it goes towards '08, starting it from there and then going in. And even if it's half or three quarters. I don't think four, maybe. I think funny enough, some of the guys are going to look at it and say I'm falling behind. I've fallen behind. If I don't want to fall behind I'm going to come and play a couple of events at the end of the season. Phil came out to Scottsdale, which was nice to play for Fry's. And also Vijay as much as he plays would have probably come up somewhere else, too. I think they have to look at that to, obviously, to balance out the fact that you have to look after all the sponsors. In these events, I think that should be part of the FedEx Cup. I think they should. Q. And to start '08 points? STEPHEN AMES: And go from there. Q. '07 wouldn't be any more confusing than it already is? STEPHEN AMES: Point. Yeah, confusing as it is. I don't even look at it because I don't have a clue to make it up. So you can imagine what they'll thing. Q. Another retrospective thing for the year: How do you think the Golf Channel did in their first year with the varsity here sort of week in and week out? A lot of people were wondering if they could deliver the goods? STEPHEN AMES: I thought they did a good job. As a matter of fact, Nick's -- for all the English commentators that you watch, especially the BBC, oh, you don't watch BBC, do you for the British Open? I think they do a fantastic job. And I think we're seeing a different Nick Faldo on the booth than on the golf course. I think he's done a wonderful job. Himself and Kelly have done a wonderful job. They've meshed nice together overall. What do you think of their job overall. Q. It's better than I thought it was going to be? STEPHEN AMES: I think a lot of people thought the same thing. Lot better than it was. Q. I was wondering if they were ready for primetime, so to speak. STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, I think they've done a good job. Q. Did you go to Montreal? STEPHEN AMES: I was there on Wednesday with LG. Q. Who was going to be the title sponsor? STEPHEN AMES: Was going to be the title sponsor, yeah. Said no, I can't help you. You have to do it yourself. So that held them back. But the friends at RBC came in to help out the skins game. That's one of the main things I did that. I was trying to help. Q. What was your take out of it? STEPHEN AMES: I watched pieces of it, the highlights and stuff like that. I thought it was well conceived by the Canadians. More Canadians came out to watch it and took over. I thought it was fantastic. It was well done, and I thought they did a hell of a job with Montreal. Q. I don't remember it looking that good? STEPHEN AMES: Never it did look that good, no. Just the way he's featured the holes a little bit better. The bunkering itself, with the greens falling off the edges. I think overall it's a much better golf course viewing-wise, and probably will be by the looks of it, playing-wise, too. And that was good. Hopefully it will be one of the golf courses on the roster for the Canadian Open. I don't know yet. Q. Tell me real quick about your seven birdies in a row? What was clicking for you in that streak? STEPHEN AMES: More the putter than anything else. I think I missed one green and the 7th. No, the 5th. I'm looking at the holes now. The 6th hole I missed, yeah. I missed the green and chipped it in 15 feet from the hole. But other than that, it was more the putter than anything else that was working for me. Which is nice, because it's been a struggle for me with the putter most of the year. Q. Is it one of those things where do you know what you did right? Or you'll figure it out later? STEPHEN AMES: I've been putting well since Scottsdale. So coming into here we're trying to figure out mentally what was the difference. And just different focus more than anything else. The last two days we changed and it seems to be working. STEWART MOORE: Stephen, great playing today. Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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