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THE CELTIC MANOR WALES OPEN

June 3, 2009

Stephen Dodd

NEWPORT, WALES

GORDON SIMPSON: Thanks for joining us, Stephen. I think it's fair to say over the last couple of weeks, you've been an in-form player, at Wentworth and at The London Club last week, two top fives. Can you explain why it's all suddenly clicked into place?
STEPHEN DODD: Well, I think probably a number of reasons, really. Desire and dedication and determination to get my game back to where it was a few years ago, and some good coaching from Terry Hanson, my coach.
GORDON SIMPSON: Had you lost your way a bit?
STEPHEN DODD: Yeah, I did. Well, the results suggest that I did and I did. Middle of last year, I just had enough and took four or five months off, played the odd event, but my game needed some attention and that was clear. So I just decided to take some time out and try and put things back to somewhere where I was competitive again.
GORDON SIMPSON: At what point did you get your head cleared and ready to compete at this kind of level again?
STEPHEN DODD: Well, I went to Abu Dhabi without having much competitive golf and not really knowing what to expect. And I played okay out there. But it is gradually improved as the weeks and months have gone on, and that's the especially encouraging thing.
GORDON SIMPSON: This event, still waiting for a Welsh winner, do you think that's on the card and could you be the man to provide that elusive breakthrough?
STEPHEN DODD: Well, you never know, but I'm just here to do the best I can, and if it that means a win comes along, then that's all well and good. But judging by today's performance, that's a long way off.

Q. Did you ever think about quitting for good then during those times?
STEPHEN DODD: I think you always have that question in the back of your mind. When I played so poorly for such a long time it's difficult to come out every week to compete and not compete. That's why I took the break last year to get something going again which seems to have worked at the moment.

Q. Was that an option that you could just turn your back and would you have been fine?
STEPHEN DODD: I would have been okay. You just don't know. Yeah, I probably would have been okay, but obviously your lifestyle changes when you're not earning as well as you can do out here.
GORDON SIMPSON: What did you do in actual fact when you took the break?
STEPHEN DODD: Just worked on my game with my coach, simple as that. We did a lot of hard work and a lot of credit goes to him for the results over the last few months.

Q. Who did you say your coach was?
STEPHEN DODD: Terry Hanson, Cardiff.

Q. So he's your cousin, is he?
STEPHEN DODD: No, my coach.

Q. So how often do you see him?
STEPHEN DODD: I see him as much as I needed to, two or three times a week. I've been down there a lot. He was at Wentworth two weeks ago and The London Club last week and he'll be down at some point.

Q. Is your dedication enough now to be looking for a Ryder Cup place?
STEPHEN DODD: I haven't thought that far ahead. The points don't start for another three or four months, whatever it is. That's a long way down the line, and to be honest, three or four good results don't actually mean everything is back to where it was. There's a lot more to be worked on and a lot of time and effort needs to be put into that.

Q. You do say that you're back; 260,000 pounds still means a lot of money to most of us here, and you're still only 42; are you a young man?
STEPHEN DODD: 42 doesn't suggest that out here with all of these young guys coming along. I still feel like I'm competitive but the results over the last few weeks have suggested that.
I've just got to take each week as it comes and just do my best as I'm sure everybody else does out here.

Q. What was there about your game that you and your coach fixed up while you were on your break?
STEPHEN DODD: Pretty much all of it. As I said, it's not where I want it yet but it's on the way to recovery. There's still lots more that needs to be done and there's still a lot of attention that it needs.

Q. Have you changed a lot then?
STEPHEN DODD: Yeah, lots. I couldn't even begin to tell you. You'd have to ask him that question because it's so much.

Q. I heard you say after Sunday that there were aspects of your game you were not particularly pleased with still. What's the problem, the driving?
STEPHEN DODD: It is. That's pretty much the problem.

Q. Off the tee, is it, basically?
STEPHEN DODD: Just getting to the greens. I'm okay once I get around the greens. There's just certain shots I'm not comfortable with wind directions and hitting certain shots in different wind directions and different types of shots.

Q. Have these shots affected you the last two weeks when you came pretty close, shots that you saw that you hit?
STEPHEN DODD: Yeah, there are just certain shots that I'm not able to hit at the moment, and it showed up a lot last week.

Q. Was there a point in the tournament last year where you just thought, I don't want to be doing this?
STEPHEN DODD: Pretty much every one I played, yeah.

Q. Last year?
STEPHEN DODD: Last year, yeah. It's a tough game, when things aren't going well, it's just the toughest place in the world to be. It's just hard to keep battling and trying every week when you've got no game to try with. If there was some light at the end of the tunnel, it would have been a little bit easier, but it wasn't, and that's why I decided to stop.

Q. Presuming some of these events you were travelling out to China or wherever.
STEPHEN DODD: Well, that was at start of the year. I didn't do too much of the long-haul stuff.

Q. Were there any outside pressures that caused you loss of form?
STEPHEN DODD: Not really. It's just something that was gradual. I finished with Terry Hanson actually at the end of 2007 and started with somebody else and it didn't quite work out, and I just went back to him sort of six or seven months later.
It was a break that I feel like we needed at the time.

Q. How long has Terry been coaching you?
STEPHEN DODD: 1990, so a long time.

Q. Since your amateur days?
STEPHEN DODD: No, just since I turned pro. Since about end of '91 maybe. So a long time.

Q. Is stopping the best thing you ever did?
STEPHEN DODD: Yes, in my opinion, it was. And again, I was in a fortunate position where I had the exemption which allowed me to do that.
So it would have been a tough situation coming out every week having to try and compete without knowing that I had that to fall back on.

Q. Was it a case of when you decided to take the break, get back on to the range, was it a case of literally going all the way back to basics and effectively re-learning the game?
STEPHEN DODD: Pretty much. That's pretty much how it was.

Q. Which is a massive step for a professional to take.
STEPHEN DODD: It's just something that was a gradual loss of form. It wasn't something that was here one week and gone the next. It was something that happened over a period of time. Yeah, we had to go back to basics to try and fix it all.

Q. What was the last year of your exemption?
STEPHEN DODD: 2011.

Q. What did you make of the course today?
STEPHEN DODD: It was in really good condition. I thought the greens were running nicely, the fairways were quite firm. I think if it stays like this, the scoring could be really low out there this week.

Q. There's talk last year that maybe the scoring was too low and it's too easy for a Ryder Cup course.
STEPHEN DODD: Somebody no matter what the weather or what the conditions, somebody always plays well and scores well out there. I didn't think it was particularly easy today. But if the weather turns or if it gets windy, then you'll see the scores getting higher as you have over the last couple of weeks.

Q. What would it mean to you if you were to play in The Ryder Cup in Wales, here?
STEPHEN DODD: Obviously it would be a great honor but as I said, I've not thought that far ahead. Form can come and go in that time. Yeah, I would love to do it but at the moment it's not in the forefront of my mind.

Q. Have you always been laid back? Do you really want it?
STEPHEN DODD: Do I want what, Ryder Cup? As I said, I've not thought about it and I don't really want to speak about it because it's something that's 18 months down the line. Yeah, I would like to do it but let's just leave it at that.
GORDON SIMPSON: Thank you very much, Stephen. Thanks for coming in.

End of FastScripts

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