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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 19, 2010Corey PavinIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: I would like to welcome Corey Pavin. Corey is to be making his 23rd start here at the HP Byron Nelson. No player has ever won the "Texas slam," all four events in Texas. Mr. Pavin has the opportunity to do so. There have been a lot of great Hall of Famers who have three of them, but no one has four, and also Corey Pavin is the captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup team, and I think everybody has the standings and the points system in front of them. Corey, if you will, start off and talk about -- you've got a couple of jobs going on right now: One is playing and competing, and one is watching the talent and choosing a team. If you would, talk about how you're juggling both of those and then we'll take questions. COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I'm actually playing on the Champions Tour and the regular TOUR, and obviously the captain of the 2010 Ryder Cup. A lot of new things this year, obviously the Champions Tour is new, and being captain of the Ryder Cup is new, as well, and it's fun turning 50 and having all these new things happening in my life. It's pretty cool. It's nice to be here playing. I have an opportunity this week to talk to some guys. I had a chat with Stewart Cink yesterday and saw Rickie Fowler before he teed off in the Pro-Am today, so I'm trying to touch base with guys that have the potential to make the team, get their feelings on how they're playing, what they're doing and, like I said, I get to go and play on the Champions Tour and play these new golf courses, see people I haven't seen for a long time and trying to compete out there, trying to shoot some low scores. The guys out there are shooting so low it's scary. Then I get to come here and play a golf course that's tough, where shooting a couple under is a good score, which is very nice. I like that. So it's been a nice year, a lot of things that are happening, and it's kinda fun when new things can happen when you're 50. Q. Can you talk about the first time you remember having that feel of wanting to become a Ryder Cup captain? COREY PAVIN: When I played my first Ryder Cup in '91, Dave Stockton was my first captain, and I think Dave was the one that really changed the way a captain went about the Ryder Cup. I thought then it would it be a really cool thing to do, but I still wanted to play obviously a lot more. I wanted to play more than the two I played after that, but that didn't happen. I think once I won the U.S. Open, I felt like there was a good opportunity for me to be a captain down the road. The formula wasn't exactly there for me to be captain, but it changed, I think, let's see -- Arnold was captain without winning the PGA and -- there was somebody before Arnold wasn't there or was it after Arnold? Kite, Strange, Lehman, all those guys were captains without winning the PGA, so I knew it was a possibility, but there are only so many slots for being captain, and I was hoping my turn would come, and I got a call from Jim Remy, and he asked me to be captain, something I've been looking forward to doing since '91. I've been thinking about it, and probably the last six, eight years I've been thinking about ways to go about being captain, if I was selected, so it's not something I've just thought about the last year and a half. Q. Corey, what are the biggest things that you -- or tasks that you do now? What's foremost on your mind as you get closer? What becomes the most important? Secondly, Anthony Kim, can you talk about him and the conversation he had with you about his injury? COREY PAVIN: Well, the one thing I don't want to do is say anything stupid; that's my most important thing. Really, there is so much to do as captain. Obviously the absolute most important thing is to get the 12 guys together that I think are going to be the best team and to pair 'em up properly and put 'em out in good order and have 'em playing good golf, creating an atmosphere where the guys are going to play their best golf. All those things are big challenges. There are so many other things to do it's crazy. Lisa is helping me with a multitude of things, or she's taking care of them, might be more accurate. So that allows me to go out and play golf and compete. It allows me to have time to talk to players, talk to past captains, talk to other people and get a plan set up for October. That's been a big help having Lisa helping me out. It allows me time to talk to you guys, to make phone calls and do interviews and things like that. As far as A.K. goes, I texted him after he withdrew from The Players, and I asked him to let me know what's going on with his thumb and keep me current. I guess he took me literally because he called me about an hour after his surgery and we talked for a little while, and I think pretty much what he had said in his interviews is what happened. I just want him to get better, and I told him I was glad he made a bunch of points before he went in for surgery. He said that was his plan was to play as good as he could and try to get up there so that he could take that time off and come back and be ready to play. Again, that's his plan, and I think it's a good plan, but he has to come back and I'll have to assess how he's playing, and he has to assess how he's playing as well. We will certainly have plenty of conversations between now and the Ryder Cup. I'm sure I'll be talking to him in probably a couple of weeks and maybe a month, certainly. I'll see how his thumb is doing and how his rehabilitation is coming along, but he could be a very important part of the team. He's a very prototypical Ryder Cup-type player. He loves to compete, he loves the one-on-one competition, he likes match play, head-to-head, whatever you want to call it. He loves that atmosphere. That's the type of guy you want to have on the Ryder Cup Team, but you want to have that type of guy on the Ryder Cup Team who is playing well, so we'll have to assess how he's playing. Q. Corey, in years past it always seemed like The Ryder Cup Team would be comprised of veterans that have been around for a long time, I think you're going to be the first Ryder Cup captain that may have to deal with an influx of young players that are showing tremendous talent. They come out nowadays, unlike in the past, they're ready to win, they're ready to talk Ryder Cup and I don't think 20 years ago any rookie would ever even dare mention that he wanted to be on the Ryder Cup Team. Have you given any thought to the young aspect possibly of your Ryder Cup Team? COREY PAVIN: Absolutely. The last team in '08 had six rookies on the team. I don't know if that's a record, Julius, is that a record? I don't know if that's a record. Half of the team were rookies, not that they were inexperienced, that's for sure, but it's great to have young players coming out. I'm watching Rickie Fowler closely. He has expressed great interest in playing in the Ryder Cup, and I think he's the type of player that can handle The Ryder Cup. He needs to play well and show me how he's playing, but he's the type of player that is mature and can handle that type of situation, and there hasn't been an influx of young players for a while, actually, that fit that mold. Going back to 20 years ago, when I came out on TOUR, I couldn't play a Ryder Cup until after my third year on TOUR. I couldn't get points. So the point system has changed in the meantime, and that's allowed young players to entertain the opportunity to play in the Ryder Cup. It's great that these guys want to play in the Ryder Cup Team. These are 21 year old, 22 year old kids that are saying, "I want to play for my country." They may have experienced the Walker Cup in their playing days as amateurs, and they like it, and those are the type of guys you want on the Ryder Cup Team, guys that love that type of competition. It's the biggest pressure they will ever face in their life, and if they want to embrace it and challenge themselves, that's the type of player I want on Team USA. Q. Corey, I know we're a long way off, you have three more majors to go before you have the final deliberations about your at-large guys, but is there any particular characteristic or type of player that you think would turn your head? Secondarily, how much would the venue that you'll be playing in Wales come into play and any particular type of player that might be a good fit for that course? COREY PAVIN: The golf course itself -- I'll go backwards. The course itself is a course -- it's important to keep the ball in play off the tee. It's going to be set up more U.S. Openish, in ways. I think the rough is going to be long and thick. It's going to be very important to drive the ball straight there. I don't think length is going to be a huge factor. It also helps to be able to hit it, long but you need to keep the ball in play there. The golf course is more of a tactical course, I would say, than a course you can overpower. But as captain I want to have a good mix of players on my team. I want to be able to mix and match guys together and not to not answer your question, but the eight guys that make the team are going to impact my four picks so it's a hard question to answer at the moment. I'll be able to answer it better after the PGA or right before the PGA Championship, but I probably still won't answer your question, I would imagine. Q. I wouldn't have it any other way. COREY PAVIN: But I want guys, like I said, that love to mix it up, that like to get in the middle of competing, like to have that opportunity to win a tournament coming down the stretch, embrace that opportunity. That is the type of player that does well in the Ryder Cup. Q. Back to this event, ever since Byron's death the tournament field has faded a little bit. I presume to you it's a special event. Could you talk about coming here and how it's changed? COREY PAVIN: Well, to me this is -- it is the Byron Nelson, but Byron is fresh in my memory. To me he is the epitome of golf, what it stands for, and if, in fact, the field is not as good as it was, it's sad because I would like to see this field stay strong. The golf course is very good, the salesmanship club does an unbelievable job every year with the tournament. It's run beautifully. We're in a great market, Dallas is a pretty big place, and I would like to see this tournament stay strong. I love this tournament; I've played in it 23 years. I've only missed it a couple of times, and it's a tournament that means a lot to me personally. Obviously I would love to win it to compete the "Texas Slam." I'll take a couple of my seconds and turn 'em in for a first; that would be good with me. This might be my last chance to -- this might be my last Nelson, probably. I don't think -- I probably won't play next year, I would think, but I don't know. Some of these tournaments are the last time I'm going to be playing. I'll be on the Champions Tour and be playing, so this week will be nostalgic for me. Like I said, I'm guessing I won't be playing again; I won't be exempt for next year, but we'll see. I love this tournament, I love how it's run, the Salesmanship Club, how much money it raises for charity each year. It's the number one tournament on tour in that respect, and it's great to have Byron Nelson's name attached to it, and I hope it always stays attached to it. Q. Before you mentioned that you think players who play in the Ryder Cup are going to face the greatest pressure they'll ever face in their life. Can you quantify that? The way you felt pressure when you were coming down the stretch at Shinnecock or the other tournaments you won? Why is it greater? COREY PAVIN: When I played the last hole at Shinnecock it felt like a walk in the park compared to the Ryder Cup. I've stood on the 18th tee at Ryder Cup a few times with matches coming down to the last hole and I could barely even swing. It was so hard. I would put out my hand and it's shaking like a leaf. It wasn't doing that at Shinnecock; I was nervous, obviously, but The Ryder Cup is different. Obviously you're playing for yourself in the Ryder Cup and your match that you're playing in. If you're playing with a partner, you've got your partner that you're playing with in four. You're playing for your team, for your captain, you have your caddies there, your wife, wives, significant others are there. A lot of family members go over and everybody in the crowd, whether you're playing in the United States or in Europe, there is a lot of USA fans. It's a different atmosphere completely. It's like a football game or a soccer match or whatever you want to call it. You're playing for the United States of America. I've played in tournaments, I've won tournaments personally, walked through the airport and there are people that say, "Congratulations, nice going." I play in the Ryder Cup and it doesn't matter what happened, I walk through an airport there are people everywhere coming up saying, "Hey, great playing," or, "Well done in the Ryder Cup," whatever it is. So many more people are in tune with the Ryder Cup and as a result it puts more pressure on us, which is great. That's the type of atmosphere I want to be in. I want to see how I perform under the most difficult circumstances I can be under. That's what I like to do as a professional athlete is to see how well I can do when I'm the most nervous, when I feel like I'm losing control of my body almost out there, if I can gain control and see how I can handle that. Q. Talk about the experience at Belfry, teeing up? COREY PAVIN: You love that story, don't you? Q. You should share that. COREY PAVIN: Julius is talking about in '93 I was paired with Lanny Watkins in the first match out at the Belfry in alternate shot. Me being smart, the 18th hole is a bad driving hole for me, and I asked Lanny if he would mind doing the even holes, and Lanny said he had no problem doing that, but I didn't realize I would be the first person to hit the ball in the Ryder Cup in 1993, so it dawned on me when they said, "On the tee for the United States, Corey Pavin" and I thought, oh my gosh, I've got the first shot. And I went to put the ball on the tee and my hand was shaking so much that I felt like there was no way I could put the ball on the tee, and it was only that far out, and I just dropped it on the tee and the ball stayed on the tee, somehow, I don't know how it did it, but that's how nervous you get in the thing. But that's the challenge, to control your nerves and to control your feelings and go out there and perform under these circumstances. Q. How nervous were you when you chipped in at Oak Hill? COREY PAVIN: I was nervous, and I was teeing off being nervous because it was important to hit that fairway, but the chip I was so focused on making it that everything else drifted away, all my nerves faded away. Q. So that's the fulfilling part, when you can respond that way? COREY PAVIN: Absolutely! That's what I want to test and see how I do under those circumstances. And when I do overcome the nerves and perform well, it doesn't necessarily mean I won the match or I did what I needed to do to win, but if I performed well, that's the ultimate test for me as a professional athlete. Q. Corey you touched on what the "Nelson" means to you. I was hoping you would talk about the State of Texas in general as it pertains to your career, the success you've had at the other stops as well. COREY PAVIN: Let's see, you're going to make me think about it. I've won Colonial twice, couple seconds there, two seconds here, I believe. Won the Texas Open, and Houston was my first win on TOUR, so Texas has been very, very good to me. I like playing here. I'm not sure exactly why, obviously I grew up in California, but some of the conditions that we have in California are similar to here in Texas. We have a lot of firm ground, the grasses are a little different here but for some reason I like it here. I've performed well in my career here, and besides the wins and the seconds I've played pretty well in general. I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's just firm ground; that's always a good thing for me, since I carry the ball so far! (Chuckles.) Q. You lived in Dallas for a while? COREY PAVIN: I still live here. Q. Where do you live? COREY PAVIN: Do you want my address? (Laughter.) I live in the Oak Lawn area. I can't afford to live in Highland Park. Q. A.K. has the most serious injury, but you've got a few other top players that have some various ailments. Do you keep tabs on that or is it too early to worry about the minor injuries? COREY PAVIN: Well, I don't know if I keep close tabs on it, I'm aware of them, but it is early and there is a lot of time between now and then. My concern more for guys that maybe aren't 100% is just obviously that they get healthy, but it's nice to have a body of work going into The Ryder Cup and not just the week before or a couple weeks before. I want guys that are playing consistently good golf all year, I think that's the best scenario, but that doesn't always happen in this day and age. Q. You've had a second on the Champions Tour and some good finishes on the Regular TOUR this year. How do you like the way your game is going into this and is this one you think you can win? COREY PAVIN: I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could win, number one. I don't come to play a tournament just for fun. I like to have fun, but the better I play the more fun I have. I played very well last week, I hit the ball probably as good as I've hit it in my career, and I say it's been building up the last probably two months I've hit the ball quite nicely, and oddly enough my putting hasn't been where I wanted it to be. I shot 13-under last week. I made one bogey, and the bogey was a 3-putt in the 54 holes, so I'm playing solidly. I left a lot of shots out there last week, it seemed like, birdie putts that I didn't make. I feel good about my game, like I said, I've played well this year. I've played better as the year has gone on. I hope that trend continues. But I want to go out there this week and play the best golf I can, and if I can get in contention on Sunday that would be fantastic. That's what I'm here for. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Corey. Good luck this weekend. End of FastScripts |
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