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PGA GRAND SLAM OF GOLFOctober 15, 2008Jim FurykRetief GoosenPadraig HarringtonTrevor ImmelmanHAMILTON, BERMUDA JULIUS MASON: We have our fourth finisher in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Trevor, we'll go ahead and get some thoughts on your round, go to Q&A and let you get a good massage after this is all over. TREVOR IMMELMAN: Thanks. At least I broke par today, so I guess that's a positive. You know I was kind of gaining on them. Maybe if we had a couple more rounds. Off the golf course, I had an incredible few days so far and plan to spend the rest of the week here. So you know, all in all, I had a great time. Unfortunately the golf wasn't what I would want it to be. JULIUS MASON: Retief Goosen, our third-place finisher in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Some comments, please, and then we'll go to Q&A. RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, third looks like about as good as I can do in these events, three thirds. Yeah, happy with the week. It's nice to get in and play. Played okay but putted bad, and pity I couldn't be there a little bit closer coming down the run but enjoyed the week. JULIUS MASON: Questions, folks. Q. You obviously expressed disappointment yesterday in the way that you played, and then you started today with two 3-putts, I believe. Yet you were still able to kind of get your focus back together and really played very well. I know that they noted on television, I think that over the last five holes, you out played everybody by three, four, five shots, somewhere in there. How were you able to keep yourself mentally focused when you knew the window of opportunity was very short, if not closed? TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, sure. Somebody asked me yesterday if they thought I was going to win and I said no, there was way I thought I was going to come back and win this thing. I was just trying to go out there and play well and shoot a good score. Starting with two 3-putts made me feel pretty bad, but I had the same thought process, just somehow make a few birdies and at least shoot a decent round today. So that's what I was trying to do. Obviously that eagle on the par 4 down there, kind of made things a little bit more respectable for me, and then two birdies to finish. You know, obviously I had no pressure on me. So I was just kind of going, you know, the last few holes playing as free as I could while these guys had the pressure on, so really can't compare. Q. And that eagle, looked like you were having some fun with the crowd there? TREVOR IMMELMAN: It was the first great shot that I hit and I managed to hole the putt. So one out of the 36 holes. (Chuckling). Q. Talk a little bit about that eagle, Trevor, it looked like you really uncoiled a driver there and you really got behind the shot, and I guess you had nothing really to fear or lose by just letting it loose there. TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, absolutely. I don't even know how far it was to the front but I obviously saw Paddy knock it on yesterday so I figured I would give it a whirl to that back flag and managed to hit one flush and straight, and you know, nice to make the putt after that. Q. What's the hardest part of the course this week; the greens? TREVOR IMMELMAN: All 18 for me. (Laughter). This is a tough golf course for me. It doesn't exactly suit my eye. It's not the type of a golf course that I would play well on week-in and week-out. So I knew what I got here it did not suit my style of play. You know, I knew it was going to be a tough road and maybe I convinced myself of that before the tournament started. I'm not the best kind of blind-shot player. Those kind of things don't work that well for me. The course for me setup really difficult. Q. Any problems for you week? RETIEF GOOSEN: Putting. I drove the ball well. I like the course. But 58 putts in a few rounds -- Q. Did you change putters between rounds? RETIEF GOOSEN: I tried a new one today -- 11, 12, putting for eagle (inaudible). But that was a bit of an experiment. JULIUS MASON: Thanks very much, guys. Hopefully we'll see you next year. Padraig Harrington, ladies and gentlemen, is making a habit of staying around awfully, awfully late in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Your second year in the event, second playoff in the event, same finish in the event and still walks in with a smile on his face. PADRAIG HARRINGTON: A grimace. JULIUS MASON: Some opening thoughts on what in the world happened out there today, and we'll go to Q&A, please. PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, obviously I had a chance to win. I think Jim played well, solid golf through the two days, and you know, is a deserved winner, but I had opportunities, obviously, no more so than the last hole of the tournament in regulation play. You know, it's disappointing but as I said, that's the way it goes sometimes. JULIUS MASON: Questions, ladies and gentlemen. Q. I have to ask you, what did that putt do on 18 in the playoff there? It looked like it went in the hole and kind of jumped over. PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It was a strange putt. It kind of was uphill. It looked like it could be uphill a lot. I had a feeling it wasn't slow, but obviously I didn't have the luxury of rolling it like maybe I would have done; if it was normal play, I probably would have been a little bit more cautious with it, but I had to take the decision that it probably was slow up the hill but it wasn't. I hit it too firm, very much in the middle of the hole and could have gone in. I thought I holed the putt. In hindsight, it was obviously too firm. Q. Beginning on hole 8, you birdied three of your next four holes, and then you go 3-over in four holes including the double-bogey, and then you and Jim leapfrogged back and forth to the end until you tied and went to a playoff. What was your mind-set out there, was it what's next, or were you pretty focused throughout? PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, I clearly lost my focus on 15. I hit a bad tee shot. Besides that, you know, I was pretty much in there all day. Got a little bit in-between clubs at the last maybe and tried to help it a bit. And you know, the poor shot that missed the green, it's a wide enough target, after you hit the fairway, you have most of the work down 18. I would say it was a slip-up on 18, and that was it, really. Q. Talk about the course itself, you were brought up on links courses, and I know this isn't quite a links course, but similar to what you would have been playing in Ireland? PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It's a very good test of golf. You know, it just goes to prove that a golf course doesn't have to be long. The greens, they obviously softened them up a lot and made it a lot easier for us today than yesterday. The greens are very difficult out there. You could have pin positions that make the holes -- you can go for some pins that are very easy to a pin that makes the hole nearly a shot harder. I think there was more easier pins today. So there's good variety on the golf course, which is always a good sign for a golf course, and you know, depending on how you want to set it up, it can be set up hard or easy, and this course, that can be done with it. Q. It wasn't as windy today as it was yesterday, did you think the scores might have been lower today? PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, they could have been I suppose. I made more birdies today. Yeah, if I didn't have that run of 3-over par, the score would have been lower. If I birdied the last, could have been ... ah, what could have been. Q. Any consolation by the fact that you were beaten by an eagle? PADRAIG HARRINGTON: The same as last year. (Laughter) Yeah, yeah. I hope the pin will be put in the toughest spot the next time I come back here rather than the easy spot. I don't want to see anymore eagles down that 18. Q. Rather philosophical attitude to take about two straight playoff losses, Padraig, and what are your thoughts about that? Does it matter that you left it all there and got beat by a better shot, or what have you taken from that? PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I take from this the fact that I won two majors in the middle of the summer. (Laughter) And if I was to get the right break at the right time, I would rather keep it for those events than this week. It doesn't work like that, but you have to be philosophical in that sense. But you just have to, you know, every time you get there, you know it would go for you sometimes and sometimes it won't. I think the last time I came down the stretch with Jim was when I won at Westchester, 2005, and I holed a 66-foot putt on the last. I broke his heart on that day. So it swings roundabout. Getting yourself in position all the time to give yourself the chance, yes, it's disappointing and I'll be disappointed tonight but I'm not disappointed in the sense that, you know, I know that these things happen, and I know the next time I'm there, you know, might go my way. When you add it up at the end of the year, as I said, when I look back at this year, and my putt on the playoff hole could have dropped, or might have lost on the next playoff hole if it did; we never really know in a situation like that. But I'm sure I holed the right putts at the PGA to win there, and I'm sure I hit the right shots at the Open to win there. You kind of have to look at it like that overall. You can't look at one result and sort of hang your whole season on it. It's a number of results and you know, what you did, how you approached them and what you were doing, is all you can look after the result. You can never really -- you can never truly, you know, take care of the results. You can only just look after what you're doing, and the results happen now and again. JULIUS MASON: Mr. Harrington, thank you very much, sir. Jim Furyk, ladies and gentlemen, with family in toe, and that includes the pink jacket that we saw all the way up here from a mile away on the putting green. Mr. Furyk, congratulations on your 26th PGA Grand Slam of Golf victory. Some opening thoughts, go through your card, want to hear about the birdies and we'll go to Q&A, please. JIM FURYK: Obviously very happy with the outcome. I really came here with very, I won't say low expectations, but came here with a lot of expectations. I have not played a lot of golf since THE TOUR Championship but played a lot of golf this year and was worn out and worn down and enjoyed my couple of weeks off. I practiced a little bit while I was here but more importantly, kind of fortunate just to be in the tournament to be honest with you. I didn't win a major championship. You know, good friend of mine, Tiger Woods, unfortunately, hurts his knee; he's out. Paddy wins two major championships, holing putts from everywhere at the PGA, so now we need extra guys, and Retief is 1 and I'm No. 2 filling in. It's kind of a wonder that I'm even in the event to start with. So I kind of treated the week like I had nothing to lose, was going come over here and have the fun. Last year I only spent 40 hours on the island, coming from Korea. We came Friday after the kids got out of school, hung out at the beach, went to the pool, the kids swam with the dolphin, we checked out a sports bar in Hamilton and watched a little American football, had a few drinks, checked out the Cellar, unfortunately, at the hotel, a little bit too much, and just had a great time. It was like a vacation where -- I don't go on golf vacations but it was a little like a golf vacation and we got to the tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday and I think I just stayed in a good frame of mind and didn't let things bother me too much and was able to play pretty well. Rarely do I kind of go in just think about having fun. I'm lushly all business and maybe it's something to learn. Kind of kept plugging away and didn't let too many things bother me and didn't really worry about how anyone else was playing and that all worked out in the end. JULIUS MASON: I'll remind everybody that Jim Furyk is here because of his unbelievable play in major championships this year, and Tabitha is an honorary member of the Cellar, but we'll get back to that a little later on. Let's go through your card. Nice birdie on 3? JIM FURYK: Yeah, I hit a smooth 8-IRON about ten or 12 feet. Paddy birdied the first two and Retief birdied the first three out of four, and it looked like it was going to be a day where you really had to fire low, and we all kind of stalled out after that. So No. 6, I hit a driver and just a little knock-down sand wedge to about ten feet and a couple guys were in there closer and knocked mine in and we were not able to convert. That was a good hole for me and turned at a couple under. Was not able to make birdie at 11 which hurt a little bit considering Retief and Paddy had it in there where they could 2-putt. And the bogey at 12, hit it in the left rough, but we all pretty much butchered 12. I don't think there was a par on the hole, but obviously a very difficult hole, if not the hardest out here. But I was able to turn around and hit a nice hybrid into 13 about 20 feet under the pin, and with that pin on the front right, or front middle-ish on the right side hard to get a nice uphill putt at it, but I was able to get the ball right of the hole and hit an aggressive 20-footer and knocked that in. 15 was a key hole in that Paddy had a one-shot lead on me and missed a birdie putt on 14 that could have got him 2-up and hit it in the cabbage over there left and made double, and I was able to convert and make a good par at 15. So I went from 1-down to 1-up. I tried really not to change my mind frame and stay aggressive. I hit a nice wedge into six feet and I missed the putt. Paddy converted a pretty good par putt there to stay one back. And then 17 was pivotal and then I hit a three-quarter 5-iron, just got over the top of it and made a bad swing and then hit a bad pitch, and that was a pretty good attempt at a putt but it didn't go in. He knocked in a good birdie putt there and all of a sudden there I go from 1-up to 1-down. There was some pretty big changes in score, and also mental thought process, some big mood swings probably for both of us. I think he must have got a really poor lie in the bunker, and it looked like he had a big kind of wave in behind his ball in the bunker, and I didn't get on the green, made a good up-and-down for par, and lo and behold, I had an eagle putt on 18 to win the event and just didn't play enough break on it. I hit my drive farther. I think I was a little mad at myself on 17. Hit my hybrid as far as I could on 18 the first time around to be 20, 125 feet short of the pin and I was back 15 yards and no doubt it had to be a 3-wood. But I had to take a little bit off of it so I ended up to the left about 20, 25 feet and hit a nice, high cut right at it and I thought it was going to be really good, and I could hear from the reaction that it was probably inside five, ten feet. JULIUS MASON: Fantastic, Jim. Questions, ladies and gentlemen? JIM FURYK: Long winded. I covered it? Almost. Never had that happen but just curious. (Laughter). Q. Coming down the stretch, was it a bit like match play because Retief and Trevor were obviously out of it on the back nine today. JIM FURYK: A bit. Early on there was three of us and then Retief had his struggles. At 12 I think he made a seven and all of a sudden it became kind of a two-man race. Paddy had control and I was able to kind of take over on 15, and yeah, it became a little bit like that, but you know, medal play is such a different animal. A lot can happen out here. You can get some two- and three-shot swings, and it's difficult in the wind, and in spots, it's a pretty tight golf course. It's not too hard to get one riding the wind and hit a drive off-line and all of a sudden make a quick double-bogey or triple-bogey. So I think keeping the ball in play, I tried to hit the ball accurately off the tee and really not stress about how far I was hitting it, just keep it in play where I could be aggressive with my iron shots and for the most part, I did a good job of that. But I had a few get loose. Early got my driver going left, but I was able to straighten it out coming down the stretch and hit good drives on the back nine. Q. How does this victory here alter your perception of the year you had? Is it a good year now gone better or a great year that's now really great? JIM FURYK: It was a solid year. I said all along that I probably would not -- from a personal perspective, I probably would not put it in one of my Top-5 years on TOUR. This is my 15th. But it was a good, solid year. I won't say I was disappointed -- I was probably a touch disappointed that I didn't win a golf tournament this year on TOUR. That bothered me. Being able to be on The Ryder Cup Team that won this year, definitely took a -- I won't say a little sting out of the year but it definitely lifted my spirits tremendously. I really looked at the year from a different perspective, and to be able to come here and win this event is the icing on the cake and it definitely again changes my perspective. I think it shows as well as I played at The Ryder Cup, as well as I played here, I think it shows some of the things I've been working on are coming around. I'm now taking a bunch of time off in the winter and some of it is going to be able to recharge. I won't play again until late December. And then I probably won't start the season until early February. I'm playing one event between now and February. But I plan on really getting away for a while and really taking my mind off of golf and I also plan on really working on some things that I haven't been able to because of the way I've been playing and honing in on different parts of my game that I think I can really improve. Q. How close did you hit it in the playoff with that sawed-off 3-wood? JIM FURYK: Probably about, I would say it was probably about six feet. Q. Have you ever taken a break like this in your game, Jim, where you're basically playing one event for the next five months, and if you have, what transpired coming out of it? JIM FURYK: Yeah, it's probably one event in the next four months. I've never done it unless it was forced, by injury, so no. I don't know what to expect. One breath, it makes me a touch nervous because in taking time off, you can get a little bit rusty. But also I know the way my body feels right now, as hard as I've gone at it for as many years as I have, I'm really looking for it. I want to spend more time with my family and get away and do some of the things that I haven't been able to do for years. And also like I said I want to spend some time working on my game and working on some things that I've been playing so much that I really have not had the opportunity to sit down and work on some equipment and work on some technique and really take the time and not feel rushed trying to get ready for a golf tournament. Q. Anything specifically you're really looking to work on? JIM FURYK: Always my putting. There's some things around my short game that, I think right now, I'm pretty comfortable with my swing. Obviously it's always a work-in-progress and always trying to improve. I think I have probably neglected my -- I wouldn't say neglected but I probably haven't worked hard on my short game probably for the last couple of years. I've actually learned a lot about my short game the last couple of years, but I just have not been able to work on some of the shots I would have liked to. I would like to improve on that, and putting always, and some equipment, actually. We probably won't quite start working on it yet but we have a groove change coming up that will affect some sand wedges. Right now, I'm messing around with a new ball Srixon on has coming out. I was thinking about putting it in play here, but the wind made me nervous. Had it been nice and calm, I would have had the ball in play. Playing in a lot of wind yesterday, it made me nervous going in, so I played with the old product and I really will focus a lot on that as well. JULIUS MASON: I will tell you that Jim whispered in my ear before he sat down, 'I would like to buy an Amstel Light for the media. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. JIM FURYK: I think I said Johnnie Walker, actually. (Laughter). End of FastScripts |
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