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MAYAKOBA GOLF CLASSIC AT RIVIERA MAYA - CANCUNFebruary 25, 2009David TomsRIVIERA MAYA, MEXICO Q. Is this your first time down here? DAVID TOMS: First time, yes. Q. What did you think? DAVID TOMS: I think the golf course is exceptional. Nice resort. Nice to finally see it. I got here last night and it was dark. I woke up this morning and it was dark. You know, I was very impressed. I see guys are raving about it. I've heard guys that have been down here before and they really like it. From a golf course and a tournament standpoint I thought they were right on. It was well worth the trip. Q. The buzz does seem to be building year after year about this place. Can you talk about what's being said in the locker rooms? DAVID TOMS: Well, I just think it's a good, solid golf course. The weather is nice. The people treat you very well, it's a friendly place, and a well-run golf tournament. You know, that's the thing. If you have the facility and a good golf course to play and you have good weather, guys will come play. I know obviously it's an opposite event. Most guys want to be at the Match Play right now, but this is a great alternative. Q. Yeah, it's sort of a pretty good consolation prize. DAVID TOMS: No, it is. I know a lot of the guys brought their families and so forth. My wife is coming. My son and daughter weren't able to come because of school and other activities. But it would be a great place to bring the whole crew, for sure. Q. Seems like there's more young kids. I guess this is becoming sort of a destination. DAVID TOMS: Right. I think it's probably a lot like the Hawaiian Open is, the Sony Open in Hawaii. Even though that's a really long trip. Here it's very accessible to where most of the guys live and easy to get down here. Obviously a great setup for the whole family, not just the golf course for the guys that play. Q. Seems like more often than not you turn on the TV and you guys are playing in some gorgeous, palatial place. DAVID TOMS: Right. Q. By a pro golfer's standards, how does this rank? How are the views and the amenities? DAVID TOMS: Very good. My caddie and I were talking today about how this would be a great place for that Match Play tournament. Any time you can stay on site, it makes it great for the players. You don't have to get out and drive too far and look for restaurants and everything else. Here, everything is really just right here where you roll out of your room, walk to the golf course if you need to. That's always nice. It's a first class place. It's one of those places where if I'm not qualified for the Match Play I would definitely come back, and I haven't even played a competitive round here yet. It's just a Pro-Am day, and I can see where it would be a lot of fun to be down here. Q. Do you think if they got a full weekend by themselves they wouldn't have trouble drawing an A-list field? DAVID TOMS: Yeah, I think there would be no reason why not, because they have the facility, which is a big deal to most players. Obviously their purse is not up to a normal TOUR event. I'm sure they'd have to work on that a little bit. It would be a great place to have a stand-alone tournament. Q. What about for you, the decision to come here being right on the bubble. DAVID TOMS: Well, I mean, I'm just close on getting into some events that I'd like to play, whether it be the World Golf Championship or major championships, TBC, stuff like that. I'm still trying to work my way back into those events. This is just a place I haven't been to. I heard a lot of good things about it, and I came here trying to improve my position. Q. Could you have gone there as an alternate and hoped for it? DAVID TOMS: No. The way that tournament works, once the tournament week starts they don't take (indiscernible.) So the guy would have a bye if somebody were to withdraw after the first part of the week. My plan was if I didn't get in there was to come here always along. I've been committed for a while to this event, and I'm looking forward to having a good week. Q. Sounds like if there was any bitterness or disappointment about being... DAVID TOMS: Well, I mean, that's just golf. You know, you kind of control your own destiny. You go out there, and no matter what tournament it is, if you play well and you play great and you happen to win an event or you play really well, you can move up. That's what I'm looking for here. Go out and play well and make it worth of trip. Q. You and Chris were in the final of that... DAVID TOMS: Yeah, just a short time ago and we're both playing here. Obviously the last couple years neither one of us has played like we're capable of playing or like we want to play golf. I think we're both working to try to get back to that elite level. Q. Do guys see an opposite event like this as sort off an opportunity? DAVID TOMS: Well, yeah. But no matter what event it is, you're always having -- if you're going to win a tournament you're going to have to beat somebody that's playing really well. So it's all about playing well yourself no matter who you're playing against and what the field is. Certainly you don't come to an event thinking that you never have the upper hand because there are too many great players out there in the game. For me, it's about going out and playing my own game. I have to approach it that way, because I'm not going to overpower a golf course. This is a very narrow golf course. If I can drive it well and set myself up, I'll have a chance if I play my game. That's just the way I have to approach it every week, no matter what the course is. Q. A lot seems to depend on the wind here. DAVID TOMS: Yeah, obviously. I played the first seven or eight holes today with not much breeze at all. It was there for the taking. The tournament you go start -- going out towards the ocean and playing the holes along the water. It's beautiful though. A lot of times you get caught up in the scenery instead of playing golf shots. It'll be great. At least I played my last nine with some wind blowing, because I never played the golf course before till today. So I got to see it with a little bit of breeze. Obviously not like it can blow here, but at least I know where to go. Usually the wind, when it does blow, it blows from the same direction from what I'm told. Q. More often than not. DAVID TOMS: The holes are designed that way. We have some really long par-4s out there, and a lot those holes are downwind, or supposedly downwind. The golf course is designed extremely well for the conditions. Q. Did you peak your head into that cavern? DAVID TOMS: I did. That was interesting. It gives you a good target off the first tee. Just a nice, neat design feature. I thought it was fine. Obviously it shouldn't be in play for us. If it was in the middle of an in-play fairway it would be kind of rinky-dink. But for now, I guess it's a nice little conversation piece. Q. You're not adventurous enough to go down there and talk about it? DAVID TOMS: No. I saw some little lizards and some other alligator looking things. I'm gonna stay out of there. End of FastScripts |
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