|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
QUAIL HOLLOW CHAMPIONSHIPApril 27, 2010Anthony KimCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA MARK STEVENS: We'd like to welcome Anthony Kim to the interview room. Anthony is making his fourth appearance at the Quail Hollow Championship, finished T5 in his first year in 2007, won it in 2008. Anthony, I know you've had a long couple days flying back from overseas and coming out to the course. Thanks for taking the time today. Kind of start off a little bit and talk about what you've been doing since your Masters appearance and then we'll take some questions. ANTHONY KIM: It's been a busy last three, four weeks, but it's been very fun. It's all starting to kind of come together as far as my golf game is concerned. I feel like my driver has straightened out, which was unbelievable Houston week and Masters week. I haven't hit it that bad with a driver, and I haven't had that little confidence with that club in my entire life. So it was a tough stretch, but I played great, and I'm thinking well out there. I have a good attitude, and with a driver that goes somewhat straight and the rest of my game the way it is, I should have a good week. Q. How is the thumb? ANTHONY KIM: The thumb is fine. It bothers me on some swings, but when you're making birdies, it doesn't hurt as bad. And then when you make a bogey, it tingles a little bit more. And then when you make a couple bogeys, it doesn't hurt at all. So I'm just trying to stay on an even keel as far as my attitude and then that takes care of that, and once I get done I just ice it and take some Advil and just try to make it through another round. I'm just trying to make -- get as many tournaments in before I take care of it, and I feel like I'm doing a good job of that, and now I just have to keep playing. Q. What does it tell you about the game that you were so unhappy with the driver in Houston and Augusta, and you went and contended at that title? ANTHONY KIM: It's been huge for me as far as my confidence is concerned. I've said quite a few times that my confidence was shot after last year. I didn't really want to talk about my injuries because it seemed like I had so many of them. But it seems as though if you compensate for one injury, another one comes right after the other, and it just keeps adding up. I need to take care of those problems right when they come, and I feel like I'm going in the right direction as far as every aspect of my golf game, not just my putter or my chipping, but my mental game has gotten a lot stronger. I'm very happy with how that's progressed. And as long as I can just keep grinding out those tough rounds and have those 74s turn into 70s, I have a good shot going into Sunday. Q. Speaking of the mental aspect of things, after your run on Sunday at Augusta, I saw you talking to some people almost in a disappointed sort of mood. How is it balancing disappointment and not winning but realizing the run that you had on Sunday? Is frustration still setting in at times? ANTHONY KIM: It was more frustrating on Monday when I looked back and saw some mistakes I had made. But I tried on every single shot and didn't let a shot go by where I was angry or I made a bad decision because of the hole before or the swing before. So I was happy with how I handled every shot. I just didn't execute the way I wanted to. It was a little disappointing, but at the same time, I was happy that even with the driver that was going crooked and almost looked like a snake out there to me, I was in contention and had a chance to win on Sunday. Q. Can you talk about how difficult it is knowing you need to take time off and take care of this but wanting to continue to play? Where do you draw the line? ANTHONY KIM: It's extremely tough, just the mental grind of it, because you want to play, you don't want to make excuses, and if there's anything my parents taught me, it's don't make excuses. If you hit a bad shot and you make a bogey, it's not the wind, it's not the ball, it's not the club; it's you. That's how I learned how to play golf, and so I don't want to blame it on anything. I haven't blamed it on anything so far. I'm not planning on doing that. So I need to take care of it when the time is right, but I'm playing so well right now, I don't want to give that chance up. Q. When is the time going to be right, do you know? Do you have any idea? Is it inevitable you're going to have to have surgery pretty much? ANTHONY KIM: It's going to happen, it's just a matter of when, and the doctor has told me when the pain gets too hard to deal with, that's when I should do it. But as of now he said it can't get any worse, so I guess that's a good thing. I'm just going to keep playing until I can't anymore. Q. How long will the recovery period be after surgery, and obviously that's what's kind of keeping you from having it? ANTHONY KIM: Right. I guess it depends on the person, but about two to three months with rehab and taking care of it properly is the timeline I got. But there's no way to know for sure, and until I guess I get in there and he really does what he needs to do and figure it out from then. I'm not too concerned about that. I just have to worry about the Quail Hollow Championship and how much fun I'm having out here right now just making a couple birdies. Q. Is it possible you could get by with it for the rest of the season? ANTHONY KIM: I don't think I'm going to take that chance because I want to play in the Ryder Cup, and that's a huge goal of mine. It was probably one of the greatest moments I've had playing golf, or greatest weeks I've had playing golf, playing for the U.S., dreaming about being on that team. So I want to be healthy for that. I just want to time it right. But at the same time I want to play in all the majors, too, so in golf there's not really a good time to take time off. So I just have to get with my team and see what's the right plan. Q. So it's more important for you to play Ryder Cup as opposed to the majors? You would take the majors off to recover from the surgery in order to recover for the Ryder Cup? You've got to lock up a spot on the team. ANTHONY KIM: Exactly. The better you play in the majors, the more points you get for the Ryder Cup. Like my parents said, you play good, everything takes care of itself. If I go ahead and play good these next couple weeks, I should take care of it and then it gives me a little bit more leeway to go take care of what I need to do. Q. You've made more birdies than anybody but Tiger, and you have these streaks like you had at Augusta on the back nine. What is the thinking? What are you thinking when you're doing that? ANTHONY KIM: When I'm playing well and I'm making a lot of birdies, I really don't know what's going on. Q. People have described you as fearless. I don't think you like that word. Are you fearless? ANTHONY KIM: No, I don't think anyone is fearless. I don't mind risking a double or a bogey to make a birdie. I guess there's a fine line between fearless and reckless, and I'm starting to go more towards the safer side, I guess, starting to fire at a couple less flags. But still, I guess having the courage to go at some pins that are a little bit tighter but knowing that when I'm not on I can't fire at every flag. So I think that's where my game has improved. And I'm still going at a couple flags I probably shouldn't have, and I looked back at some of the shots at the Houston Open and probably didn't need to hit driver on 15 off the deck off a downhill lie, especially with that bush right there in front of me. (Laughter.) But I think that's the attitude that has let me make so many birdies. I know Tiger makes a lot of 20-footers, maybe a couple more than I do per week, so I need to obviously make a couple more putts from some distance and be willing to have those putts instead of trying to stuff everything in there within five feet. Q. I'm sorry to keep going over the medical thing, but just so that everybody knows what you're fighting here, is it a tendon issue or do you have bone spurs? When they get in there, what are they going to have do to do? ANTHONY KIM: They're going to have to reattach the ligament to my thumb. Q. The left? ANTHONY KIM: My left thumb. Q. Is it frayed or unattached or -- ANTHONY KIM: It's unattached right now. Q. Any idea how it happened? Horseback riding? ANTHONY KIM: I wish. Shaq fouled me. (Laughs.) No, I asked the doctor what could have caused it, and he said just wear and tear of hitting golf balls, lifting weights, all the things. It could have been from lifting my bag getting off the carousel somewhere and I just didn't know it and it just kept wearing down and wearing down and finally it popped. Q. What was behind your decision to go to Korea, and did that almost keep you from playing in this tournament? ANTHONY KIM: I talked with my team, and there was no way I was missing this tournament. This is one of my favorite tournaments, whether I won in '08 or not. It's a very special place. They keep this course in major championship condition whenever we come back. Fans are great. It's just -- everything about this place is very special to me, and obviously winning here in 2008, my first win on TOUR, I dreamed about that my whole life, and to come back here is very special to me, and I'll always be back here. Q. Do the players look at the entry list and pay attention who's at a tournament each week, and does that have any jazz to you when you get here? ANTHONY KIM: I don't think so. I don't. Sometimes I barely know if I'm entered in the tournament let alone whether somebody else is entered. Q. I mean, the field is excellent this week. ANTHONY KIM: Right. Mr. Harrison and the rest of the staff here do a wonderful job of accommodating the players. I mean, we're driving Mercedes-Benzes to the tournament. That's pretty awesome. Even being on TOUR for -- this is my fourth year, I think, it's pretty surreal getting to -- I never thought I would have a Mercedes-Benz, let alone drive one to a golf tournament just for the week. It's pretty special. They take great care of the course, like I said, and that's huge. Just to have a great golf course is one thing, but to maintain it the way they do, the superintendent does a wonderful job. I think that's one of the reasons we come back. They just run a world-class event. Q. You finished pretty well here in some of your appearances. Are there any particular things about how this course is laid out that kind of plays into your strengths? ANTHONY KIM: I want to say ball-striking. Driving the ball was one of the reasons I played so well out here, so that needs to come back. If you don't drive it well here, you're going to have a little bit of trouble because although the rough isn't that long, placing the drives in the right side of the fairways or even the rough is very important. If the ball is going two ways, you're going to struggle out here as you are anywhere else, but I think more out here because the trees are so close together. There's harder places to squeeze them through. But ball-striking out here is key. You have to make five- to ten-footers for par to keep your round going. It's kind of like Augusta where the greens are so undulating that you have to leave them in the right spot and make a couple of those putts, and that's something that's really fun to me is making a ten-footer for par. It's almost more important than making a birdie sometimes, just to keep the momentum going. I was struggling with that in the beginning of the year, but it's starting to come to me again, and the more patient you stay, the more putts go in. Q. I'm just curious how you were received at the Ballantine's, I know your Korean Heritage, but whether they treat you any different because you're a Yankee. I think you did a little bit of some of your interviews with a little bit of Korean. How much of that do you know and can you fake it pretty well? ANTHONY KIM: It's hard to fake a different language, but no, I -- I've learned Korean from my parents since I was very little. I used to know how to read and write, now I can't even write my name in Korean. It is actually a foreign language to me now. But I can speak Korean, I just -- there weren't that many Korean people in Oklahoma, so it got rusty, and now it's not much better. But I did want to tell them in Korean that I felt very grateful to be there and appreciate the support. It was a wonderful reception. I feel very lucky to have, I guess, two groups of people pulling for me. It's very special to go back because my parents had worked so hard once they got here to give me these opportunities to play on the PGA TOUR and to play professional golf and pursue my dream that I know it all started there for them as far as the hard work and the effort they put in. So it's a very special place to me, and I feel lucky to have played there and look forward to going back. MARK STEVENS: Thank you, Anthony. Good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|