	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

JOHNNIE WALKER CLASSIC

February 20, 2009

Anthony Kim

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: We have Anthony Kim with us, well played. How pleased are you to be in this position halfway through the event?
ANTHONY KIM: It was a good couple days, but I'm still making some careless mistakes. I think I'm just starting to knock the rust off my game, so happy to have a shot going into the weekend and hopefully my game will keep improving.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: You must be very pleased with no bogeys in your first two rounds.
ANTHONY KIM: Yeah, that means I'm hitting a lot of greens and 2-putting, like I'm used to doing. And I realise that I'm not hitting as crisply as I want to and my game is not quite as sharp, so I am hitting more shots to the middle of the green and hitting a longer putt.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: You played in Malaysia last week and you're here this week; is it a change from the conditions you're used to back home?
ANTHONY KIM: No, it's not bad. I have not even been playing at home, so it's been just rust from not practising and not playing, because I've had a couple of injuries to deal with and now that I'm finally over that, I can start practising at full-speed again.

Q. You seemed to have a lot of good looks today but just weren't able to get the ball in the hole.
ANTHONY KIM: Yeah, it's been the story of the last couple weeks for me.
I've hit it good enough to shoot some low scores, and it's unfortunate that I haven't gotten the ball in the hole faster.
But I'm hitting good putts and I think my game is progressing, even though I just shot 4-under, 4-under, I feel like my game is a lot better today than it was yesterday.

Q. Given your position is similar to yesterday, what do you think might be a winning score?
ANTHONY KIM: I think it will take pretty close to 20-under. I don't know if it will get there, but obviously -- I don't know, I think somebody shot 8-under yesterday. So if they go out and play a couple of good rounds, three good rounds, 20-under is usually attainable.

Q. Is the course playing as you anticipated?
ANTHONY KIM: I didn't really know what to expect when I came. It's set up very well and the greens are rolling pretty well.
Obviously to get out on fresh greens this morning was nice, and as long as they don't get too crusty, I know they are syringing the greens in the afternoon, so the course is playing fairly. If you can go out there and make a couple putts, there are some scores out there.

Q. Have you seen any kangaroos?
ANTHONY KIM: I've seen a lot.

Q. Do you notice much difference playing yesterday in the afternoon and in the morning; was there much difference between the two conditions that you saw?
ANTHONY KIM: Actually, it wasn't. The greens were perfect on the front nine. I think we were the second group off, so it was perfect out there, but the wind picked up early this morning, right when we got to the course, at about 6.30, the wind was already blowing and the flags on the putting green were already moving. I want to say it blew just as much this morning, as it did, yesterday.
So it played similar, and I think that actually helped me get my yardages down and even though I wasn't wedging it close, it gave me a better read.

Q. You mentioned before that you had a couple of injuries; may I ask what those injuries were and how long they set you back for?
ANTHONY KIM: I fractured my wrist horseback riding a couple of months ago; and then I had a little surfing incident and cut my foot on some coral; and I hurt my ankle screwing around and messing around with my buddies.
So a lot of little injuries, but nothing major, and now that I'm over it, I'm going to start practising full speed.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: The position that you are, how does that change your mind-set going into the final two round.
ANTHONY KIM: It doesn't. I'm going to go out there with the same mind-set and give myself as many chances as I can. I like not making bogeys. So if I can hit a lot of greens and just try and make a couple of putts, they will start falling.

Q. Having played in the afternoon yesterday, were you more aware of markings on the greens?
ANTHONY KIM: Not really. I think that happens when the greens get watered and some people walk on them. But the greens are in good shape and hopefully they won't die by Sunday but they are in excellent shape right now.

Q. You mentioned 20-under was a score you might get to; do you think you're playing well enough to get to that figure, do you think?
ANTHONY KIM: I am. I'm playing very well. I'm thinking well and I'm not getting too far ahead of myself. I know when my game is sharp that I can go out there and on any given day, I feel like I can shoot about 9- 10-under par on most golf courses.
But maybe it's not there yet. So I'm just trying to play a little bit more conservative, play -- not make a 15-, 20-footer and just make a 2-putt and get out of there and move on to the next hole.

Q. Going to the match play next week, can you talk about Tiger's come back and what it means for golf?
ANTHONY KIM: It's great for golf. I'm sure ticket sales will go right up.
It's great. You always want to play against the best, and he's proven that over, and over, for I don't know how many years. But it's going to be great having him back. He's a friend of mine, so I'll be glad to see him, and I'm sure his golf game will be top-notch, and we'll see if I have a chance to play against him next week.

Q. Do you think he will come back as good or as better as he was?
ANTHONY KIM: Well, I don't know how good he was when he left. He was pretty good, but he had a broken leg, so I don't really know.

Q. Last week Anthony Kang shot two better than you; any thoughts on his play so far?
ANTHONY KIM: He's obviously playing the best out of the Anthonys, so not much to say about it. I don't know much about Anthony, but I know obviously he can play, and he's playing great right now. We'll wait until the weekend, and we'll talk about it after that's over.
CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Thank you very much, Anthony.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297