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SONY OPEN IN HAWAIIJanuary 12, 2008Tim WilkinsonHONOLULU, HAWAII STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome PGA TOUR rookie Tim Wilkinson to the interview room here at the Sony Open in Hawai'i after an unbelievable third-round 62 out there, eight birdies, ten pars. You came into this week as somewhat of an unknown rookie. Now you've got a 62-under your belt and the whole world knows who you are and you're going to be contending to win the title tomorrow. How has life changed a little bit in the last five hours? TIM WILKINSON: It hasn't really changed. I'm still the same person obviously. But it was just fun to play out there today, first event of the year. It was nice to get a low round under my belt. STEWART MOORE: Coming into this week how much had you been playing? Did you have any expectations or were you just trying to get your feet wet early in the year? TIM WILKINSON: I played Q-school, and then I went and played the Australian Open and didn't play well at all. I probably took too much of a high off of that. And then I think I played 18 holes between then and now. I had a bit of a break but I did a lot of practice. STEWART MOORE: If you don't mind, take us through your eight birdies today. TIM WILKINSON: 1st hole, I hit a really good drive and a 7-iron to about six feet and made the putt for birdie. 2nd hole, hit a good drive and I think an 8-iron to four feet. 6, hit driver, 7-iron to about 20 feet and made it. I made a really good bunker shot on the next hole. That was a bonus. And then No. 9, just up-and-down from front left. 10, I played that hole quite well, hit a good drive, pitched about 15 feet past and made a good putt. Had a really nice 4-iron into 11 right behind the hole. I think it almost went in. It was about four feet, five feet, then made it. 18, I was trying to hit a big fade off the tee. It was an awkward tee shot for me, and I hit it through the fairway and I just laid it up and hit a really good pitch to about two, three feet. It was a nice, easy putt there to shoot 62. STEWART MOORE: I have to ask quickly before turning it over to questions, 7-under through 11, did you ever start -- TIM WILKINSON: Actually it didn't come into my mind at all, funnily enough. But on 12, 13, 14, I left them right in the middle short, so had those gone in, I probably would have thought about it. Q. You've played in two events on the TOUR, at least according to the records, before you got out here, but they were like in '03 and '04. TIM WILKINSON: I Monday qualified for them both. I came over originally to do some Nationwide Tour qualifying. That was when I just turned pro. Didn't have much luck. Then I got in the Deutsche Bank and made the cut there. I didn't play that well on the weekend, but it was a great experience. Q. How many times did you try to get on this TOUR? TIM WILKINSON: Well, I played the last three years on the Nationwide Tour, so I suppose every one of those years. You always try there. And I think I've been to final stage two times before I got in last year. Q. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got into playing golf and things like that? TIM WILKINSON: Yeah, I have a bad memory but I'll try and remember. My uncle took my brother out to play golf, and he came back really wanting to play, so I think dad bought him a 7-iron or something. I started off right-handed and sort of went from there. We used to go to a school right near us and hit balls on the playground. Probably weren't supposed to, but we did. And it sort of went from there. At one of the golf courses at home where I play out of now, they had free lessons on a Sunday, Sunday morning for junior golfers, so I took advantage of that, and sort of went from there. Q. When did you know you wanted to make it your career? TIM WILKINSON: Probably my last year in high school, but I still wasn't very good. It's what I always wanted to do, but it's been a lot of hard work to get here. Getting here from Q-school was -- it's funny, the night before the final round at Q-school I slept nine hours straight. I wasn't even worried about it. I was right on the number. And that night, I couldn't sleep that night after I qualified. It meant a lot, yeah. Q. How are you going to sleep tonight? TIM WILKINSON: I would imagine pretty well. I always sleep pretty well. My caddie thinks I'm almost dead the way I sleep (laughter). Q. How old were you when you started? TIM WILKINSON: Started playing golf? I think 13. Q. What kind of expectations did you have for this tournament as far as a finish? TIM WILKINSON: No positional expectations, but I expected to play solidly and just carry on from last year, just playing solid golf and trying to improve, really. Q. At what point did you start to exceed those expectations? TIM WILKINSON: Well, I didn't really have that many expectations, so I don't know if I exceeded them or not. That's a difficult question. I don't know, I just haven't really thought about it. Q. How would you describe the biggest difference between what you're feeling now and what you would feel if you were on the Nationwide Tour right now? What's the biggest difference in the two? TIM WILKINSON: Probably the atmosphere of the tournament I would say. You get a lot of crowd -- I played with Tadd Fujikawa the first two rounds so there were a lot of people out there. It's a lot of fun playing in front of people, and you hit a good shot, you actually get applause. On the Nationwide Tour you might hit a good shot and you get nothing. Q. What was it like being with him for those two days? TIM WILKINSON: It was fun. He's a nice kid, and it was good. He's a really good player, too. He had a lot of pressure on him this week. Q. Did you have any players that you followed when you were younger? Obviously there's two really good New Zealand players, Michael Campbell and Bob Charles, but was there anybody that you -- TIM WILKINSON: Probably Greg Norman when I first started playing. I liked Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Nick Price is another one, those three players. And then Tiger Woods. I can't remember how old I was when he turned pro. I was probably 16, 17. Q. You're 29 now? TIM WILKINSON: Yeah. I don't know how old -- I might have been 18. Q. '96 is when he turned pro. TIM WILKINSON: I would have been 17 or 18. Definitely Greg Norman and Nick Price, Nick Faldo. Q. Looking at last year's Nationwide, you seem to be very consistent; you make a lot of the cuts, but is it something -- do you go low a lot, or is it really more of a -- TIM WILKINSON: When I was playing amateur golf I used to shoot really low scores a lot of the time. I think I've started to play a lot more conservatively since I've turned pro. I would say I don't fire at as many pins. That would be the biggest difference. Q. What about today? Did you fire at a lot of pins today? TIM WILKINSON: No, I played to the safe side most of the time. I just made some good putts. I made putts that you feel you should make and made a good bunker shot. That made a big difference. Q. When you played with Tadd did you feel that people were there to watch him and you were kind of supporting actor, and now tomorrow you're on the main stage? TIM WILKINSON: Yeah, definitely. He definitely got a lot more applause for his shots than what we did, but that's fair enough; he's a local. I had no problem with it. It was fun to watch him. Q. All that changes for you come tomorrow. TIM WILKINSON: Yeah. Q. Coming out here, obviously it took you a while to get here, did you set some short-term and long-term goals once you got out here? TIM WILKINSON: Yeah, they're more -- not result-orientated goals. I'm not a flashy player by any means and not many people have heard of me. But I just try to improve every year. That's my biggest goal, just to improve every part of my game. I think if I do that results will come. But obviously to keep my card is the first priority. Q. What do you do well on the golf course? TIM WILKINSON: I think I've got a good short game, good putting. I usually hit a lot of fairways. I'm not a long hitter by any means. I think my short game is definitely the strongest part of my game. Q. So a course like this sets up well for you because of the high rough, fairways aren't outrageously narrow but you've got to hit fairways? TIM WILKINSON: Yeah, and I like to work the ball around both ways. The doglegs out here help me a bit to see shots and visualize them. Q. Have you ever played in a major? TIM WILKINSON: No. Q. You said not a lot of people have heard of you. Is there an instance when you came out here where somebody didn't know who you were? TIM WILKINSON: No, not really, no. Q. You say you sleep pretty well, but still -- TIM WILKINSON: I'll think about it tonight, I'm sure. I'll just read a book before I go to bed, and that puts me to sleep. Q. You said your caddie says you can sleep anywhere or something like that. TIM WILKINSON: Yeah. Q. Are you guys sharing a room? TIM WILKINSON: No, but he's seen me sleep before. We've shared a room a couple of times. I try not to do it very often. STEWART MOORE: You'll be teeing off late tomorrow so you'll have plenty of time to sleep in. Best of luck tomorrow. Thanks for coming in. TIM WILKINSON: Thanks. End of FastScripts |
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