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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 22, 2009

Stephen Ames

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Stephen Ames to the interview room at the RBC Canadian Open. Thanks for taking a few minutes to join us. As you're heading into the week here, obviously it's a national championship for you guys. Obviously would mean a heck of a lot to win. You're playing some good golf right now, coming off a Top 10 finish at the U.S. Open. So just kind of assess your game as you head into the week.
STEPHEN AMES: Well, considering I was Top 10 at the U.S. Open, I hit the ball extremely poorly. Don't know how I got Top 10, but I did. And that's usually my time of the year where I don't do very much going into the U.S. Open and the British Open.
So I've spent Sunday and Monday working with Shaun Michaels, and coming into this week, I feel a little bit better, optimistic.
DOUG MILNE: They tweaked and changed up some of the holes here. Talk a little bit about the course and how it sets up for your game.
STEPHEN AMES: I played it Monday, and it was awesome. It was nice and firm and fast. Unfortunately I think we had almost two inches yesterday. I think it's a little wet. So it's kind of really softened it up a bit now.
More starting to look like it did last year, bit of a dart board kind of composition unfortunately, but other than that, the course was in great condition prior to that, and it still is, which is good.
DOUG MILNE: Okay. We'll open it up for a few questions.

Q. Stephen, I was wondering if you could just talk about being the torch bearer for the Olympic games and how that came about and what kind of thrill that is for you.
STEPHEN AMES: How did that come about. I don't know how it came about actually. I was just told by RBC that if I'd like to do it, and I said, yeah, if it's in Calgary. And they said yeah, it was going to be in Calgary. So I said great.
It's a wonderful opportunity. The third time they're hosting the Olympics here in Canada. Am I correct? I think it was '76; '88 in Calgary. Now 2010 in Vancouver. So I really remember those three because '76 it was Hasely Crawford that won the 100.
Obviously in 1988 my wife was French and Italian. And 2010, I'm up here. I'm living here now, so it's a little easier to remember. So I think overall it's a wonderful opportunity. I know my kids are going to relish those kind of things.
And also I'm going to take the opportunity of taking them to the Olympics to see it. Like I said, it's similar, I guess, to the Canadian Open. We don't get to see the great players all the time. So it's nice when they move it around to the national open, and having the best amateurs and the best athletes in the world coming to Canada to the winter Olympics I think is definitely a treat.

Q. What are you noticing with the -- compare the Canadian Open this year to the Canadian Open last year, maybe even two years ago. Are you noticing quite a bit more buzz this year?
STEPHEN AMES: Yeah. Definitely. Without a doubt. I think it's the fact that probably RBC have kind of manhandled things and gone about doing it their way to get the event spruced up. I thought it was a wonderful idea having the Mike Weir charity on Monday, bringing the celebrities in and everything else. That was a great idea. Definitely did spruce it up for a Monday. We had 10,000 people watching the playoff. That's phenomenal.
And the flight coming here, the flight going out there, all those things added to it, I think it's become a bigger, better event than it was when you consider it just being a regular Tour event in the past. Now it's definitely feeling a little more like a national open should feel, which is great.

Q. Are the other players noticing?
STEPHEN AMES: Yeah. I think a lot of players. I think you can tell, too, the fact the players that are being recruited to play here now. I looked at the field, and I was like, wow, what a good field we have here this week. That's nice, nice to see that, which is good.

Q. You worked with Shaun now two years; is that right?
STEPHEN AMES: Yeah. End of 2006 I started working with him.

Q. On Tour you guys have access to so many teachers and gurus. How do you decide when it's time to change, if you want to change and how do you choose?
STEPHEN AMES: I guess you choose by the fact if you see instant changes happening in your golf game.
If you start missing fairways or you're missing fairways and all of a sudden you start hitting fairways. The players know through hitting the golf ball, they feel at impact and stuff like that. And for me it was instant with Shaun when we first did our first lessons, the difference that I was feeling, and I'm still feeling those things when I do it properly. I do get it done properly. It feels fantastic, and it feels like it should feel.
And there are little things you can see, obviously the difference obviously a key teller of how good you're hitting the golf ball and also the flight of the ball will also tell you. And those things I'm seeing again now after working with him on Sunday. And I think every player would know to some extent.
Playing wise, it's different, because you still have those 6 inches to deal with. (Laughs). You know, so in perspective you gotta say you can be a great range player, which Shaun is. He's a great range player. But he can't take it to the golf course. And that's the part you have to learn to balance with.

Q. Do you have a hard time sorting through -- there's so many people around, so many of you guys trying to get in on the PGA TOUR. Does it make it difficult sorting through trying to --
STEPHEN AMES: To change and move on?

Q. To a sports psychologist, whatever it might be.
STEPHEN AMES: I guess to some extent those people that are on your team I tend to look at it like a marriage. You gotta work your bad habits out of it. He has to work his bad habits. You meet together and work 50/50 and work things out to some extent, which is like a marriage. My marriage is 90/10. She gets her way all the time, you know, but I think it's gotta be a little bit like that, but if a caddie is showing up late or he's left the 15th club in the bag or he showed up the week after drunk, didn't make his tee time, then yeah, he's fired instantly. But that's a little obvious.

Q. Has that ever happened before?
STEPHEN AMES: No. That happened with -- Ian knows I wouldn't have made that up. Remember the 15th club the week after, he didn't show up for his tee time because he got so drunk. So those are the obvious things.

Q. Good thing I'm not a caddie then.
STEPHEN AMES: Definitely.

Q. Just wondering, dealing with those 6 inches between the ears, do you ever allow yourself -- I don't know if you visualize much, but do you ever allow yourself to imagine what it might be like to win a tournament like this one?
STEPHEN AMES: Yeah. I guess it would be like winning a major, wouldn't it, to some extent. Yeah. I can imagine it, yeah. They'd have me busy in Calgary. I wouldn't go out very much. Let's put it that way.
Yeah, it would be unbelievable. It would be a great feeling, a really good feeling.

Q. Do you get tired of being asked that question year after year, Stephen?
STEPHEN AMES: About winning this event?

Q. Yeah, a Canadian winning this event.
STEPHEN AMES: Yes and no. I mean I don't mind it, but at the same time, the odds are pretty much stacked against us. There are four of us this week. How many Canadians playing the event this week?
DOUG MILNE: 15.
STEPHEN AMES: 15 playing this week, against a field of 156. The odds are pretty stacked against us of that happening, yeah. And it makes things difficult, to some extent, but at the same time, we have what we call the 15th club in our bag, with the crowd all there behind us cheering us on, which is a good thing.

Q. Do you feel any extra pressure?
STEPHEN AMES: Time constituents, it's difficult. You have to pretty much monitor your time a little bit better this week, which I've done. Playing the Monday round was great because I didn't do anything Tuesday. I took the whole day off, and then I played today again. So those are my two practice rounds, which is good.
A lot of autographs, thousands of autographs. I've gone through two pens in the last two days. It's amazing. You don't stop. I don't stop anyhow. Some guys do, but I don't. I continue doing as much of that, so it takes a lot of your time, but you just have to be patient. To some extent it's their day. My day comes tomorrow. I've got my work done, and when the bell rings tomorrow, off I go.

Q. Obviously rain was a pretty big factor in last year's event, changed the way the course played but I believe the winning score was something like 17-under par. Do you see anyone getting that low again this week?
STEPHEN AMES: If it stays this soft, yes, easily, because it's soft. The greens become a dartboard to some extent, and you go from there. I don't think the rough is as high as it was last year, around the greens and also around the fairways, when you miss the fairway.
But hard to say. I mean it wasn't very -- it was calm, too, if I recall. There wasn't a lot of wind. The last couple days it's blowing here, so if it stays like this and wet, it'll probably be a good test. Be a very good test.

Q. You talked about the golf courses that you'd like to see played for this event and over the years, I know, and next year we're going to a different one, and it's been 40 years. Are you a fan of that golf course? Have you played there much?
STEPHEN AMES: A lot of times.

Q. And what are your thoughts?
STEPHEN AMES: Yeah. It's a great golf course. Maybe one weak hole there, the 10th, the short one where you can drive the green. You have to drive the top of the hill there. There's a big dip in the middle there. But other than that, if they set it up correctly, you could see level par winning there, easily, because it's that tough of a golf course. People don't realize.

Q. Do you prefer that kind of tough golf course conditions?
STEPHEN AMES: Yes. Definitely. It's an old-time golf course. Greens pulled back to front. You have to hit a lot of fairways. You have to shape your ball off the fairway to keep it on the fairway. You have to think about where you want to miss it on the par-3. Like the third hole, if you miss it long on that third hole, it's a guarantee that you're going to get a bogey there because it's like this, straight downhill.
The fourth, I think they're going to change that to a par-4, because it is a par-5 up the hill. Blind tee shots to some extent because you get your line off the tee, you know where you're going.
It's a great golf course, so many strong holes out there. It's unbelievable. I think a lot of players will definitely -- I think overall it'll probably be better than Hamilton. I haven't played National, but I've heard that National is probably better than that. So that's strong.
DOUG MILNE: All right. Stephen, thanks. We appreciate your time. Best of luck this week.
STEPHEN AMES: Everybody have a good week.

End of FastScripts

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