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JOHNNIE WALKER CLASSIC

February 29, 2008

Shiv Kapur

NEW DELHI, INDIA

CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: We've got Shiv Kapur here with a superb 65 for the joint lead. That was quite a special round, tell us your initial thoughts about that.
SHIV KAPUR: I'm obviously pretty happy. If at the start of the day or week if somebody told me I would be leading after two rounds I would be laughing in their face but especially today I got off to a good start and made an eagle on front nine and a couple birdies but I just seemed to be putting pretty good.
I don't know how many putts I made today, but I felt like I putted pretty good. I rolled the ball well and I made all the putts I needed to. I had a few good par saves on the back nine.
Overall, I think I put myself in position, and you do that many times, but if the putter doesn't cooperate, it's no good. So today I stayed pretty patient and relaxed and had the putter working for me.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Can you give us an update on the State of your health?
SHIV KAPUR: Yeah, I can talk, I can breathe. Yesterday, my nose was dripping like a tape every time I would stand over a putt and I would have to concentrate but it seems to be getting better. Usually they say it's a five-day virus, so I'm hoping I'll be fully fit for the weekend. I was lacking energy a bit on the back nine, I had lots of Gatorade and fruit to keep me going, so energy is sort of the only issue.
Other than that, like I said yesterday, sometimes it's better when you're sick, because you're not thinking so much about technique. You're not thinking about all the external factors. You just sort of try to get through the round and you tend to concentrate on one shot at a time, rather than look at the bigger picture and that worked in my favour.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: What sparked the round?
SHIV KAPUR: I think it was overall good golf. I played pretty consistent. Like I said, I think the main difference between today and yesterday or today and other days in the seasons is basically I had a hot putter today and hopefully I can keep that going.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Talk us through the last hole, the par 5, 18 what went through your mind on the second shot and did you think it was going into the water?
SHIV KAPUR: Well, I hit a perfect drive. The main challenge is the drive and I hit it perfectly down the middle. I hit a 4-iron in and I was blinded by the sun. I couldn't see very much standing in the fairway so I was trying to pick a spot somewhere in the horizon.
And as soon as I hit it, I had no idea where it had gone. I asked my caddie, "Is it right, left?" I felt like it came a little bit right off the club head and I think I caught a gust of wind.
But sometimes you need the good breaks to go your way. I didn't take advantage of it. I would have liked to ended with a four but I didn't. I thought I hit a perfect chip, as well, but released a little bit more. But I got a good break there, I could easily gone in the water and made double and not be sitting here smiling. I was three feet from the water.

Q. Said you were low energy by the fact that the round was coming off very well did that help in a sense? The scores were energizing?
SHIV KAPUR: My caddie said to me as well, he said, "The best energy booster is a birdie so every birdie you make will carry you through the next hole."
It's funny how that works in golf. If you're playing well, it doesn't matter how low energy, you find a way to get through the round. If you make one bogey, suddenly you feel like you've got no air in your system at all. It's easy when you're playing well.

Q. And of course the eagle on 6, did that help, as well?
SHIV KAPUR: I hit a perfect second shot there. I hit a 3-iron straight up in the air and hit it to 10 or 12 feet. One of those holes where you know, you hit a good drive and second shot and it was a tough putt and I holed it right in the middle.
I made a lot of big putts, especially 16, that was like 30 feet. At that stage I was telling myself I want to end with a couple birdies, and if I can do that, I had 9- or 10-under in the back of my mind when I was standing on the 16th, and when I hit it 30 feet away, realistically, I was thinking, let's try and lag it in there.
But for some reason when I stood over it, I felt good on it. On days when you're putting in and things are going well, things seem to lip in instead of lipout.

Q. Do you feel it all coming together now, the way your game is shaping up?
SHIV KAPUR: Well, it has improved. I think my short game has been good over the last few weeks. This week to be honest I didn't expect it to be good. I had not hit a single putt in ten days before yesterday so I could not really expect much.
But sometimes the body, it's got it's own way of dealing with that and you come out fresh. On the other hand, I got a great tip last night, Vikram Jit Singh (a five-time All Indian Amateur champion) called me up last night and said keep the hands soft. We had a one minute conversation, well played, keep the hands soft, and I tried to think about that all day today and it really worked in my putting and it also helped me with my tee shots.
So I think that was one of the best tips I've got and I'm going to try to keep that through the weekend as well.
The course, it's one of those where if you're putting the ball in the right positions, there's birdies to be had. The grains are really grainy, my caddie is going a great job reading the greens and I've been basically going with his reads all week. You give yourself a lot of birdie opportunities but it's easy to get frustrated out here because those 6- or 7-footers sometimes you think it's right edge but it can be a foot outside left. The grain is really strong on this course. That is the main challenge.
Maybe a couple of holes on each side where it's tricky off the tee and you don't really know where to hit it. No. 7 is one of them. No. 6, you know, the tough sort of tee shot as well and 17 on the back nine, and 12. So if you can negotiate those holes well, I think you set yourself up for the rest of the round.

Q. You're playing in a two ball because the third player retired and you often had to wait, especially the last hole, you waited for almost four or five minutes for your second shot. Does that kind of thing play on your mind or does it help you because you're low on energy because you can catch your wind?
SHIV KAPUR: It was nice for most of the day, you could take your time, I wasn't really rushed and I didn't have to walk fast to catch up on the hole.
But on the 18th hole, all you can see is water, you don't want to stand there thinking what to do but overall I think it helped because I mean, we obviously don't like to wait but it's also nice it know you don't have to rush. You can take your time and deliberate over it. And on these greens, sometimes you need to take more time than usual.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Talk about being on the leaderboard going into the weekend.
SHIV KAPUR: I've been in this position before. In Dubai I've been there in the past. I think one thing I've learned from all my past experiences is a lot of times the winning score isn't as low as you expect it to be. You know, you sit here on a Friday afternoon you think 10-under is leading and you think it will be 19 under which it most probably will be but sometimes it isn't.
As long as you're in with a chance and you're within shouting distance, all right, you don't have to keep going. You're not going to shoot 65 every day. Patience is obviously a key come the weekend. So I'm going to try to just basically do what I've been doing, try to stay relaxed and just stay within touch of the leaders.

Q. When you're moving up the leaderboard, do you really look at the scores or what goes through your mind?
SHIV KAPUR: I may have looked a couple of times, just, you know, it wasn't really at the back of my mind that I have to get to 10-under. You don't start off thinking: I started the day at 3-under, 10-under is the leader, that's why I've got to get. Sometimes it goes the other way.
Sometimes it's encouraging to look the at leaderboard when you see yourself up there and it gives you that confidence to maybe make a couple more birdies. You may want to get from the bottom part of the leaderboard to the top of the leaderboard. I didn't pay attention to what was leading, it's a four-day tournament, and tomorrow is another day of putting myself in position again on the back nine on Sunday.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Thanks very much for joining us and good luck for the weekend.

End of FastScripts

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