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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARDMarch 14, 2008Vijay SinghORLANDO, FLORIDA LAURY LIVSEY: The Arnold Palmer Invitational defending champion, Vijay Singh, is with us. Last year at this time you were 2-under and I believe tied for 19th, so you're in a little better position this week, and played well today. Let's talk about your round. VIJAY SINGH: Yeah, I hit the ball really good off the tee. I gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities. And also helped by chipping in twice, as well, so those are always good to have. You know, playing solid. Not doing anything special. Not doing anything too much wrong, either of the just cruising along. Q. Do you think the way the weather looks like it's going, do you think it's going to be a lot more difficult in the afternoon? You got in just on the edge of it. VIJAY SINGH: It depends if it brings in any wind. Light rain doesn't affect that much. If the wind comes in, then there's a factor there. But it's always nice to play without, you know, any obstructions like that. Probably play one, maybe a shot harder if there's no win, with just the rain. But if the wind comes, definitely it's going to be a harder golf course. Q. A couple guys talked to, they said, it's into not going to get any easier now, so that 9-under might be a lot better by the end of the day. VIJAY SINGH: I hope so. Better be as long as possible. No, I have no control over that. I'm just going to go out there, and if it doesn't rain, I'm going to hit some balls. If it rains, I'm going to go back and relax. You know, obviously the weather comes, it's going to be difficult. The golf course is going to play longer, which is going to be a big factor. Q. Did you get food poisoning, were you at the Johnnie Walker or the first one in India? VIJAY SINGH: Johnnie Walker, there's the only way, yeah. Q. What happened, any theories on where you got it? VIJAY SINGH: Tried to eat clean and drink a bottled water and it didn't work. Caught a cold, as well, which I got a flu and got a stomach virus. So both things was not very good. Q. Where would you lose 18 pounds? I don't see it; what, in your shoes? VIJAY SINGH: I've got a very heavy shirt on. I can see my ribs. Q. In what period of time? VIJAY SINGH: In a week, five days. I don't know, I just came back on Monday and just never left the bathroom for four days. (Laughing) It's not nice, but I got over it. Q. But you practiced, I bet, didn't you? VIJAY SINGH: No. First time -- it was almost a forced rest, you know. I got home Monday morning and first time I hit balls was, you know, literally I thought I was going to pull out of this tournament, but on Friday I just started to just, yeah, hit a few. And that was it. (Looking up at sound of rain pouring down) There you go. I think it's going to play harder. (Laughter). Q. When was last time you went four days? VIJAY SINGH: And Friday was Justin doors, as well, like just hitting balls in the shed. I don't know, it's been a while. Q. Has losing that weight affected your swing? VIJAY SINGH: I was very weak, you know, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, but you start eating and you gain it back pretty quickly. I was pretty healthy when I went there. I was working out all year and feeling pretty strong, so I think that helped me through pretty good. Q. Did you go from like 210, 215 down to 195 or what would it be? VIJAY SINGH: I weighed myself at the hospital; I was 196, and I was about 218, 216, somewhere there. Q. You had to go to the hospital for IV and all that? VIJAY SINGH: Yeah, I had to. Q. Is this a course slowly with the rough and changing it to a par 70, is it slowly becoming more where you have to have the same type of patience as you would on a major venue? VIJAY SINGH: The rough is long, but it's still quite playable. You can get lies out of the rough. But now with this, it's going to be a little factor now. The rough's been wet and it's going to affect a lot of players not advancing it too far. But the fairways are pretty tight. It's just a hard golf course from tee-to-green. I mean, if you miss -- the problem with this golf course, if you miss-hit a shot, you can miss-hit it and still get away with it. But if you miss-hit it badly, then you have to -- your recovery has to be good. The pin placements and the greens, not as good as what they normally are. It's a tough golf course, yeah. Q. The swing changes you started working on at the end of last year, the fact that you missed several days last week, does that suggest that it's taken hold and you feel good about it now? VIJAY SINGH: I don't know. I mean, some guys say, yeah, it's good you take four days off from not playing, but I just could not do anything. So I was either in bed or in the bathroom. My physiotherapist said, "Forced rest is always good. When you've had forced rest before, you've played well." So hopefully he's right about that. Q. Were you actually admitted to the hospital? VIJAY SINGH: No, I had some IV put in me. Q. What day? VIJAY SINGH: Tuesday. Q. Last Tuesday day? VIJAY SINGH: Yes. Q. Nine day, ten days ago? VIJAY SINGH: But it's no big deal. Q. You seem to have this course dialed in right now. Is it just totally suiting your eye and your game now? VIJAY SINGH: Well, I've played here, for, goodness, 15 years, every year, and it's very familiar. I played more golf here than I did in TPC more or less, because TPC, I just go and play the tournament there. Here, it's every year I've played it. I've played more rounds here than any other tournament I've played. So I'm just very familiar, very aware of where to hit it and where not to hit it, and just the familiarity I have with the golf course, the better I play. My game plan is the same. I don't change my game plan. More or less, sometimes I don't need a yardage from the caddie. I just know where to hit it; that's how much I know the golf course. Q. Now that we've been through a cycle with the schedule change in place, is this course and next week good enough preparation for being under the gun with a real good field for the Masters, although they are completely different courses as THE PLAYERS Championship used to be in kind of, like I said not necessarily the same course but the same type of field around you and difficult conditions? VIJAY SINGH: Well, this golf course, the setup is getting harder and it's almost as tough as TPC plays. And next week obviously the field will be much stronger and almost as strong as what TPC used to be. So, I think so. I think it's a great, you know, lay up for the Masters and a lot of guys are going to take two weeks off. I'm going to take two weeks off. You know, if the TPC was two weeks before, I would have just taken one week off and now I've got two weeks to actually prepare for the Masters. So in one way, I think it's a good thing. Q. And is Wachovia a good enough warmup for THE PLAYERS Championship? VIJAY SINGH: Oh, yeah, that's a good golf course, too. So we are playing a bunch of good golf courses before TPC. I think it's a great schedule. It's good for me, anyway. Q. Did Pebble Beach linger at all, or did you put that behind you quickly? VIJAY SINGH: Well, you know, it was a good learning thing. It's a good experience to be in that situation and throw away a tournament. You think back and you go back and think about what you've done. I've learned a lot. I've learned that you still have to have focus at every -- you know, it's a normal thing to have, to have focus all the way until 18. You've never won a golf tournament until you've made the last putt, and that's how it all started, I think I got a little ahead of myself. You pay the penalty and you learn from it. I think I've learned more from losing a tournament than winning. Yeah, I would have loved to win it, but I think I learned a lot more from that. Q. Are you surprised that given the number of tournaments you've won and your experience that you would have allowed that to happen to you, to get ahead of yourself? VIJAY SINGH: Well, I wasn't playing well leading to that, so that probably was one of the reasons, too. You know, you get a little edgy and you hit shots that you're not supposed to hit. Your focus is not 100% on the shot itself. So like I said, it was a great learning thing for me. Q. Did you realize that as it was happening; that you were playing out of character somewhat? VIJAY SINGH: Well, I kind of felt that on 16 when I hit that shot, and I said, man, this is not right. You know, this is not what I should be doing. I should be hitting away from trouble instead of towards trouble and taking trouble on when you're so close to the lead or even leading. But I recovered well. I was proud that I focused down and played well on the last hole and made that birdie. But again, you know, I made a bad swing on the tee shot, so one of those things. LAURY LIVSEY: Thank you, Vijay. End of FastScripts |
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