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FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN

January 31, 2010

Michael Sim

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Michael Sim, thanks for joining us, one of the runners-up at the 2010 Farmers Insurance Open. Maybe some opening comments, a very good week for you. Just came up a little bit short but certainly not an easy hole location there on the 72nd hole. Maybe first go through the last hole and then maybe some comments about the week.
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah, I hit a perfect drive down there the left side, had 224 meters front, and for me that's really stretching a 3-wood, so I decided to lay up to a nice yardage. I looked for 80 meters and I hit it to 82, so it was a perfect, perfect number and hit a perfect shot, probably threw it past the hole maybe eight yards and just kept spinning back and it eventually went off the front of the green. It would have been nice to have a putt at it for birdie to get to 13, but it wasn't the case. So yeah.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Overall thoughts on the week.
MICHAEL SIM: Oh, very happy. I felt like I struggled with my swing, especially today and yesterday. So just it was a mentally tough week. It was draining. I really had to focus on a lot of shots out there. I was really struggling with the swing. So to finish second place, extremely happy.

Q. If you could just talk about 17 real quick where it looks like your putt is in and you still walk off there with a one-shot difference.
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah, I hit driver off there. I hit it in pretty much the same spot every day and hit an 8-iron to 15 feet and hit a great putt. I was walking after it and thought it was going in the hole. I can't believe it missed, really. But you know, I was disappointed to see Ben three-putt there. He rolled it up to about three feet and missed it. That gave me a chance on 18. Like I said, I hit a great wedge shot and just came up a little short.

Q. What's normally a comfortable distance for you with a 3-wood under these conditions?
MICHAEL SIM: I think it was right on -- I think I could have got there, but like I said, it had to be all of it. I had 224 meters front, and I reckon I can probably carry it 225, 230, but like I said, I had to hit it flush, and I wasn't swinging that well and just decided to lay up to a comfortable number.

Q. As perfect as you said the approach was, obviously the result wasn't perfect. So is there anything you could have done different? Could you have thrown it back there a little bit farther than you did?
MICHAEL SIM: Well, I threw it past about eight yards, so you're not going to hit a pitching wedge, a club that goes 115 meters, hit that 80 yards over the water. It's just not the right shot. Like I said, I felt like I hit a great shot, landed in a perfect spot, I just had too much spin on it. I'm sure a lot of guys probably did the same on that last hole today.

Q. I think through the years a lot of guys have done that.
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah.

Q. What were you trying to do with the pitch there on your -- you obviously knew you needed birdie?
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah.

Q. What were you shooting for at that point? What were you using as a club?
MICHAEL SIM: I hit sand wedge from 82 meters, and yeah, flew it to 90.

Q. I'm talking about the next shot.
MICHAEL SIM: Oh, the next one, the chip? It was sitting perfect. It was probably only about 15 feet, I guess, from the pin, and just hit a poor chip. I mean, it was makeable, but on the greens it's kind of -- they were bumpy, as you saw Ben missed a short putt on 17, missed another short one on 13, and it's not the kind of chip you want to run past, either. I just kind of quit on it a little bit. It was a bit disappointing.

Q. To perform this well this early in the season, how does that affect your outlook for the year, or does it?
MICHAEL SIM: It's not going to change too much because I finished in the top 50 in the World Rankings last year, so I'm already pretty much playing my schedule out through June, so it's not going to change too much. But it's definitely going to give me a lot of confidence.

Q. That's what I meant, from the confidence standpoint.
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah, to play in the second-to-last group yesterday and to move into the final group today. I got off to a real shaky start, and to hold it together and hit some nice shots on the back nine and have a chance at winning and not swinging that good, it's definitely going to give me a boost for the rest of the season.

Q. What was the feeling like today in the final group? Is there any way to compare it to the feeling a year ago, some of the tournaments you won on the Nationwide, just the atmosphere and everything?
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah, it was -- I said to my caddie on the first tee, I said, "I've never felt this nervous before." You know, I won three tournaments last year on the Nationwide Tour, and it was just different out there today. Only the first drive I was really nervous. It was just different. You know, you're out there to try and win your first PGA TOUR event, and I felt like I handled myself pretty good after getting off to such a rough start, like I said, and came back well and got the ball up-and-down when I needed to. I was very proud of how I handled myself out there today.

Q. Did you think you'd be that nervous, or would you hope you wouldn't be that nervous the next time it happens?
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah, I feel like you've got to put yourself there in that position, and I've been there before, and I know how to handle it. I didn't really sleep that well last night, but it's just part of experience. So next time around this next week I think I'll be better prepared.

Q. Talk about 15.
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah, 15 I had about 180, I think 181, I hit 4-iron and let the wind kind of move it towards the flag. It was a pretty aggressive club. I wanted to try to win the golf tournament, so I was trying to land it next to the flag and just kind of double-crossed it a little bit, and obviously that's going to put a few extra yards on it. It was a pretty tough chip from down there. I hit a really good shot. The kind of shot I hit actually was pretty good. But then it wasn't really that good in the end because I didn't make the putt.

Q. You talked about nerves on 1. On 17, on the green, was there nerves or tension amongst the group there?
MICHAEL SIM: No, it was nothing like -- even 18 was nothing like the first tee. I don't know why I was that nervous. But yeah, like I said, once I got going, I was fine. But yeah, I wasn't too nervous coming down the stretch.

Q. What about the struggles on the green, though? The whole group there were missed putts there.
MICHAEL SIM: Yeah, Ben made his fair share early, and looking at 17 mine hit the lip from 15 feet, and Ben obviously three-putted, so Ryuji's -- it was just late in the day, poa annua greens, and with the amount of rain they've had they just get a little bit bumpy. Even if you do start the ball on the line you choose it, it might not necessarily go in.

Q. When you told your caddie this is the most nervous you've felt on the first tee, what did he say?
MICHAEL SIM: I don't think he said much. He tried to calm me down. We probably just had general chitchat. I mean, that was five hours ago. He said I'll be fine. I've been in position before, I've won golf tournaments. Once I got going, I was fine. But yeah, I was pretty nervous.

Q. You talked about being stretched with a 3-wood, so you're going to try and make birdie with your wedge. I'm just curious after having watched Ben make a couple of really long putts but miss some shorties on 12 and 13 and 17, did that play into your thinking at all on how you'd catch him, how to win the tournament?
MICHAEL SIM: Not really. I mean, it would have been nice to go for that green, but no. I mean, I don't think it was necessarily his putting stroke, I think that's just the greens late in the day, like I said. But he played great today. He hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and deserved to win.

Q. Did you know Ben at all?
MICHAEL SIM: No, first time I met him was on the first tee.

Q. Was it difficult for you at all with his deliberate nature in play? Was that anything that caused trouble for you?
MICHAEL SIM: It didn't bother me at all today because it was slow out there. Every group was -- we waited for Lucas and K.J. and Brandt in front of us almost on every shot. So it wasn't -- I didn't have an issue with it, no.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Michael Sim, thank you, and best of luck the rest of the year.

End of FastScripts

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