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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 6, 2010Robert AllenbyPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA MARK STEVENS: We'd like to welcome Robert Allenby to the media center. Robert, great 6-under today. If you will just kind of take us through your round and then we'll take some questions. ROBERT ALLENBY: I guess tee to green I played really well, even though the greens were really good, as well. Just did a lot of good things. I think I hit 16 greens. The two greens that I missed I was only a foot off the green anyway, so I was very close to 18 greens. Look, I'm very happy with the way I played, a bit unlucky on 8 having a three-putt there. But I was kind of in between clubs, hit a 3-iron, probably should have hit a 5-wood. Came up on the front there, and I just had an impossible putt. Maybe I should have chipped it, but just didn't feel comfortable chipping it from off the green. I thought I made the second putt coming back. Greens were a little bit slow out there, definitely quite soft after the rain that we've had the last couple of days. Definitely made it very accessible, some of those flags. But I'm sure -- I think with the sweaty conditions that we've got, very humid, greens are probably so soft most of the week, I don't see them drying out too much. Maybe come Sunday they might. Look, overall, I'm very happy with the start, just happy to be amongst it and looking forward to the next three days. Q. They say frequently this is a ball strikers' course, and you hit it long and you hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. Where has this tournament and this course been on your radar in your career? Do you feel like this is one you should win before it's all said and done? ROBERT ALLENBY: I think so. I've had some good finishes here. I think when Davis Love won a few years back, I played really well. I think I finished like third or fourth or something. I think I fired like a 7-under or something the last day. I do like this golf course. It sets up very well to my eye. You do have to be a good ball striker, I believe, to win here. I think you've kind of got to look at the past champions and they're all good iron players, that's for sure. You know, yeah, it sets up very well for my eye, that's for sure. Q. And when you look at the list of past champions, includes a few Australians. Do you think there's anything that the winners here from Australia and you have in common as far as how you're able to attack this course? ROBERT ALLENBY: I think most Australians are really good ball strikers, and that's because we grew up playing in the wind, playing on great golf courses, really hard and fast greens. So if you become an average ball striker, you can't compete on those golf courses because they're so tough. And I think, you know, that's why a lot of Australians have done really well here and also done very well in America. Q. Did you miss any fairways? ROBERT ALLENBY: A couple, but not by much. Not by much. But I did drive the ball very well today. Q. And you didn't have any issues with the grooves getting out of the -- whatever, the light rough or -- ROBERT ALLENBY: No, every time I go in the rough now, I allow for a flier. Where, in the past, I haven't allowed enough. Sony being one and Torrey Pines being another that cost me two victories there, really. But I'm very gun-shy now when I do go in the rough. I definitely make sure that I play for a flier. I'm learning, slowly. Q. I know earlier in the year you weren't real happy with your ball-striking. When did it start to come around, and where exactly do you feel it is now? ROBERT ALLENBY: Last week I sort of felt some good things happening. Been working very, very hard on my swing to try and -- I just had a fault where the club was getting too far on the inside on the way down, and I was just blocking it straight right. I've still got a couple of shots that are doing that but not as many. But I've been working hard with my coach, Darren May from the Bear's, and just trying to make it better every day. It felt really good today, definitely felt great. I felt like I could hit any shot I wanted to. Obviously I'm on the right track, and we'll see what happens in the next three days. I hope to keep hitting it the way I'm hitting it. Q. Given what you had mentioned about the humidity, how tough do you think this course is going to get at least the next couple days? ROBERT ALLENBY: I think it's probably going to really depend on the wind. You know, if the wind stays down, I see the scoring pretty much the same every day. You know, obviously the factor of trying to win the tournament come the weekend, that comes into play a little bit, too. But still, the greens at the moment are quite soft. They're very receptive, especially with short irons and mid irons. The greens are not real quick. There's some quick putts if it's downhill, downgrain, but the majority of the putts, depending on where the flags are, they're not super quick, so you can be quite aggressive with the putts. Q. Do you find yourself hamstrung in any way by having to leave the driver in the bag on a lot of holes? How many drivers did you hit today, and is it any big deal that you might not be able to hit as many drivers here? ROBERT ALLENBY: I just hit driver wherever I need to, and I hit 3-wood or 5-wood off the other tees. It's just a matter of being smart, really, at the end of the day. You know, there's a bunch of driver holes out here, and then there's a bunch of -- there's a couple of 5-woods and there's a couple of 3-wood holes, too. It's just a matter of hitting the distance that you need to hit it off the tee. Q. There are some players who say that they are intimidated by the look of the golf course and that in the past they've had difficult times playing the golf course because Pete Dye likes to throw scary stuff at you and visual intimidation is his deal. Yet you don't seem to be bothered by that. ROBERT ALLENBY: No, I've always got along with this golf course quite well. You know, with the greens being as soft as they are, it definitely makes it a lot easier. I mean, you still have to hit the shots, granted that, but yeah, it's always suited my eye, that's for sure. I think that's why I've had a couple good finishes here. You know, it sets up well for me, and I think that's why I shot the score I shot today. Q. Is May, all Bermuda, better suited to you than March with the bentgrass? ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, I grew up on bent. I never really grew up on Bermuda. It's only since I've been living in America. When I used to live in Orlando and now living down in West Palm, Jupiter, obviously I have to putt on Bermuda. And the more I've got to putt on it, the better I've felt. I've won four Australian PGAs on Bermuda, so I know how to putt on Bermuda. I never used to, but then once I conquered it, things have looked up for me. Q. Sounds like you almost prefer Bermuda now. Is that the case? ROBERT ALLENBY: I prefer both. I love poa, too. Poa is one of my favorites. But you know, it is what it is. You know, whatever week it is, you've got to go with it. That's just part of being a professional golfer. You've got to adapt to all conditions and you've got to adapt to whatever the greens are, whether they're bent, poa or Bermuda. But I do like these Bermuda. They're obviously not quite as fast as previous years, but, you know, I've got a good feel for them. Q. J.B. said he used a driver five times today. How many times did you -- ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, he just hits it too far, that's why. If I hit it as far as him -- I'd probably hit it every hole if I hit it as far as him. I used it off the 1st, the 2nd, the 5th, the 7th, the 9th, the 11th, the 14th, 15, 16, so how many is that? Q. Nine. ROBERT ALLENBY: Nine? So I used it nine times. Q. Given that it is a ball strikers' course, is it a bit of a surprise to see a big bopper like him end up with a 66, or do we not look at him correctly in terms of like his overall game? ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, you're probably not looking at him correctly. The guy can play, that's for sure. I mean, J.B. is awesome with that driver, and he hits his 3-wood as far as everyone else hits their driver. He doesn't need to hit his driver. And this is a golf course of precision. Sure, there's some holes out there if you've got the length, that's great, and they're probably the five holes that he just unleashes that driver. But all the rest of the holes he only needs to hit his 3-wood. He still can hit it 310. Poor people like me only hit it like 260. MARK STEVENS: Robert, thank you, and good luck tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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