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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 22, 2009

Anthony Kim

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

DOUG MILNE: Okay. We'd like to welcome Anthony Kim to the interview room here at the RBC Canadian Open. Anthony, thanks for taking a few minutes to join us. Why don't you start off assessing the state of your game. You commented looks like your health fitness wise is paying off. You noted that you're trying. So kind of assess the state of your game as you head into the week.
ANTHONY KIM: It seems like I'm saying the same thing. I'm a little bit more healthy than I was last week, and as far as the injuries and all that go, I'll just answer that right away and say I'm fine. The British Open was kind of a freak deal, and I was better three holes later, so nothing to worry about there.
I feel like my game is improving, and no better week to do it than here at the RBC Canadian Open because they've supported me quite a bit, and I feel like it's a great tournament to come back, and why not, give myself a great chance to win.
DOUG MILNE: You've already been out seeing the course, played the course. Talk about the course here, the condition of the course and how this course suits your game.
ANTHONY KIM: Well, I'll tell you, the difference from last year to this year, the rough is unbelievable. There was a couple times I hit it probably four or five yards off the fairway, and it was impossible that it advanced more than 120 yards, and granted, I had a tough lie, but the rough is very penal, so driving the ball is going to be important. And that's the part of the game that I've been working on the most, so hopefully it'll pay off and we'll have a good week.
DOUG MILNE: We'll go ahead and open it up for a few questions.

Q. You had a pretty good chance to win this tournament last year. I'm wondering do you have some good feelings at this golf course? Do you feel comfortable here?
ANTHONY KIM: I do. I feel very comfortable. For some reason I came here last year and I was a little bit winded and a little bit tired from earlier in the year and coming off the British Open, but I came out here, had a great time, felt a lot of support from the fans out here. And obviously with carrying the RBC bag now, I'll have a couple more fans following me, which is going to be nice.
But I like the golf course. It sets up well for me, and it really is a driver's golf course, and I feel like that is a strong suit in my game, and if I can manage to keep the ball in play here, it should be a good week.

Q. On 18 there in the Pro-Am, I know it's Wednesday, but that was pretty reminiscent of a pretty famous shot around here coming on to the 18th green there. Do you get tired of, you know, "next one" talk at all?
ANTHONY KIM: You know what, I really don't even hear it. My buddies will joke around and tell me that I need to get on my game and beat them, and I'm on my own schedule.
I know I'm going to keep getting better, and if that happened to be good enough to win eight majors or good enough to win one major, I'll be happy with whatever I win, as long as I give myself an opportunity to be the best I can.
And I feel like right now I'm doing all the right things, and just haven't had the putts go in. So I just have to stay patient, even though at 24 it's pretty tough to do. I'm just giving myself good chances to succeed, and that's all I can ask of myself.

Q. You decided to play through your thumb injury earlier this year. Do you regret that decision now?
ANTHONY KIM: No. Absolutely not. It was a tough pill to swallow hitting the ball 80 yards to the trees and not feeling like I did too much wrong. It starts messing with your confidence a little bit, but at the same time, I learned so much from hitting those bad shots. I learned that you can't hit driver anywhere. You have to hit the 3-wood. You have to hit the 2-iron, so my course management is now better than it was before I got injured.
So there's no regrets. Like I said before, Nike pays people to be athletes, not just golfers, and athletes and pros play through pain. So I feel like it was just a little bump in the road, and now I'm better than I was before.

Q. What's it been like for you having that RBC logo on the bag, particularly when you're playing in the U.S.? Do you get some confused looks from people or do people ask about it very often?
ANTHONY KIM: It seems as though everyone's asking about it, and I'm very proud to say the Royal Bank of Canada, I feel last year was a very important week for me here. I got to meet Jim Little, and really, I think the relationship grew from there. And having a Canadian agent, he's a prodigy, Chris Armstrong.
It was nice having them connect and getting something sorted out, because I really feel like this is one of the big upcoming events, and a company like that is just getting better, and I feel like I'm doing the same thing. So it was a great match.

Q. Anthony, talk about the eagle you made today on 8.
ANTHONY KIM: That's 8? I thought it was 1. So they switched the tees on us, but I hit a great drive, and last year I want to say I hit about 7 or 8-iron in, and the wind is completely different. It's in off the left, and I hit a 4-iron, and I knew it was covering the flag, but even after it went in, I wasn't sure it went in until my buddy said it went in. So it was pretty fun because I wasn't really helping the team out. So any time you can help the amateur team it's nice.

Q. When was the first tournament you started carrying the RBC bag?
ANTHONY KIM: Doral. See, the prodigy, always right there.
DOUG MILNE: Okay. Well, Anthony, thanks for your time. As always, we appreciate it. Best of luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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