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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY MORGAN STANLEYJune 1, 2010Robert AllenbyDUBLIN, OHIO MARK STEVENS: Thank you for taking your time to come in. You've made -- this will be your 14th start here at the Memorial. You have had a pair of top 10 finishes. This is actually your first start since your second place finish at the Players. Maybe just start off talking about what you have been up to the last few weeks. Then we'll take some questions. ROBERT ALLENBY: Last few weeks, I've had two weeks off golf, and I actually did start hitting balls two weeks ago to try to get ready for Colonial. I just wasn't ready. Plus also I had some commitments with my kids. So obviously last week being the last week of school for them, so I was -- I travel so much I want to be home for my kids and especially their last week at school as well. It was an important time for me to be there for them. So I have just been home, just practicing a little bit and just taking it easy and just spending some good quality time with my kids. Q. Second place finish at the Players bumped you up to seventh in the FedEx Cup standings right now. You are obviously having a great year. How do you look back on the Players after you've had some time to reflect? ROBERT ALLENBY: The Players is great. Even when I first walked off, I said, I have had a great week. I played great. I played well enough to win. I didn't win, but I have no grudges about the way I played. Everything I did was positive, and I still even think exactly the same right now. It's -- you can only do your best and I know I did my best on Sunday to try to win that Tournament. You know, a couple of putts towards the end could have fallen in very easily. Late in the day on those greens, some funny things do happen. I would say 17 was definitely one of those instances that it looked like it was never going to be short, looked like it was always going to go in, and then sat on the lip and rolled backwards. But that's golf, you know, it happens. Whether it hits a spike mark or not. It's happened to a lot of other players as well. I was super happy with the way I played. I still got all of that momentum and that confidence from the Players coming into this week. Q. There is a stat out there about all the guys in their 20s that have won on the Tour this year, and also beyond that there is teenagers and a couple of guys from Korea, a kid here from Italy here this week. If you can go back a little bit in your own career, what do you think you would have been capable of doing at that age when you were starting your career, and why do you think it seems right lately, the last few years, the players just seem to be getting younger and younger and able to compete at the highest level? ROBERT ALLENBY: I won a pro tournament when I was an amateur. I finished runner-up in one as well. The tournament that I won was the Victorian Open in Melbourne. Three weeks later I finished upper up at the Australian Open. Then when I turned pro, when I was 19, I won a couple of times straight off the bat. And then won a number of tournaments when I was 20, 21. I think today, you know, we have got a completely different coaching system compared to what it was, say, 20 years ago. Nearly 20 years since I turned pro. This is 19 years for me. I would say that they are exposed to a lot more bit of coaching, better fitness. That is the biggest difference, I believe. You know, they are coming out -- a lot of them are coming out really strong, physically and mentally. They have got great swings, and you are always going to get that one or two that have just an amazing freakiness, natural ability. You see that with Rory McIlroy. He is a true champion. He's a great young player, great swing, great attitude. It's always going to happen. You are always going to see every three, four, five years, you are going to see some really good young champions coming up. You know, it's like when Tiger Woods sort of came out, everyone was questioning how good he really was going to be. It wasn't hard to tell, but it was just the way he was shaped and the way he was formed that he was going to be just a wall beater. Then there was a bit of a lull there for a little while. Guys like Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy, some Aussie players coming up. You know, they are just exposed to so much more than probably 20, 30 years ago. As I said, you know, what they have to offer now is just so much more superior than when we first started out say 20 years ago. Q. If in an effort to promote broadcast of the Tour, players were asked to be miked, how would you -- what do you think of that idea? ROBERT ALLENBY: I have no problem. I actually was a big instigator in Australia over the last three, four, five years of our networks down there, channel 7, of having the rover, roving reporter out on the golf course, interview us halfway through the round and maybe towards 15, on the back nine on the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday. So then they thought about it, and they straightaway it was Saturday afternoon, and I have just hit a career shot into this par 5, and they are looking at me, can we do it now? I'm like, come on, let's do it. So I started that about five years ago in Australia. I don't know if you saw -- you probably wouldn't have seen any of the telecast of the Australian PGA last year. I'm walking down the last hole, and they are interviewing me going down the last hole. I have just hit my second shot into the green, and I did an interview live on the shot on the 18th fairway. I think for golf in general it is the greatest way for the public to see and actually witness what you are actually dealing with at that present moment. Obviously, if you are nervous, your voice is going to change. You know, you can give something that they would never ever be able to get. That's just how you are feeling at that present moment and what your thoughts are because no one will ever know what your thoughts are during a golf tournament, during a round. You know you only talk to your caddie, and even your caddie you don't even tell him what you are thinking sometimes. So I think for Joe Blogs down the road, to know how you are feeling emotionally and mentally during a round is, you know, I have no problem with it at all. I think it's a great thing. I said to the Tour they should do it over here. I think it would help. I know there are some guys that are pretty scared to -- they might be the ones that can it. I guess they are just scared of what might go wrong for them or something. A lot of players are really afraid to talk about how they are feeling out there and also worried it might stuff up their round at all. For myself, I have no problem at all. As I said, I have been doing it for five years in Australia. Most of the tournaments that I play there, I am either going to win or I'm in the top five. I like having a chat anyway. So I have no problem in talking to them about the round and how it is going and how the conditions of the actual golf course are as well, how the golf course is actually playing. You know, you can hear it from the announcers, but they don't know because they are not playing the actual golf course. So to have a player actually describe how -- what the conditions are like out there, that is priceless. Q. You don't think a lot of people might view that as cheapening the sport? You are never going to see Peyton Manning talk about the touchdown pass he just threw. ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, I think it would just make our sport more elite because you are getting inside with us, whereas you can't get inside any other sport. That is the beauty of golf anyway. Golf is the only sport that you can get close to, that spectators can get close to those athletes. You can't get close to a football player. You can't get close to a NASCAR driver. It's impossible. On the golf course you can. You can stand on the tee box, and you can nearly touch us. Some people do. Q. Would you have the same reaction of a writer going up to you on the 15th fairway as opposed to television? ROBERT ALLENBY: No. It would have to be TV because I think it has to go national. It can't just go between him and I. That defeats the whole purpose of introducing that concept. Q. What percentage of your locker room contemporaries do you think would go along with that today? ROBERT ALLENBY: I think if it is going to better our sport, I think it's a the great idea. There is a number of guys that have got their concerns. I think they are just more worried that they might say something -- they might not say the right thing. They also might get a bit too nervous from it. It might bugger up their round from then on. As I said, I have done it a bunch of times, and it is kind of -- it is actually a good feeling. Q. Since you have been doing this, I guess, for five years there, were they slow to warm up to it? ROBERT ALLENBY: No, in Australia it was fantastic. They loved it. The other thing they do as well, they prewarn you before the round. They come up to you on the driving range, one of the roving reporters -- say it is like a David Feherty or Peter Kostis, they will come up to you on the range and say, hey, do you think we could get you for a chat somewhere down on 15 or 16 or something like that? Sure, no problem. That would be great. So at least they prewarn you and so you know -- so you are not surprised. But it's -- I think it's a great concept. I really do Q. Being totally miked or just the roving reporter? ROBERT ALLENBY: The roving reporter is a hundred percent. Being miked for a whole -- the problem with that is that you have got a weighted thing in your pocket. That thing is not light. They have got a weight in there. It's a big battery. To have something like that, I don't think that that's a great idea. I think to have a roving reporter come in from TV and ask you question, I have no problem with that at all. To have something physically sitting in your back pocket, that gets in the way and stuff and you've got a cord hanging down, then that's an issue. Q. Do you think the emotion that you are talking about would help draw more people into watching? ROBERT ALLENBY: I think so, yeah. I mean, I think TV needs to expand their coverage and show more players. All my friends are like how come we never see you? Maybe I'm not playing well enough. You know, they pick their top players, and that is who they show. I think they should change it. It's better to see a lot more players. That's why the British Open coverage is probably the best in the world. Not only is it a long telecast, but they show everyone. Maybe TPC is a good thing, too because they show 17 all the time. They show all the players coming through there. For the TV part, they do need to show more players, that is for sure. Q. There hasn't been a lot of talk since the beginning of the year about the -- played the back nine with Kevin and Kevin said that now you are starting to hit the part of the schedule where the greens are going to get harder and maybe you get some dense or rough like you are going to have out here this week, might start to have a little bit more of an impact. Just wondering how you thing this grooves thing is going to play out? ROBERT ALLENBY: It has already cost me two tournaments this year,one being the Sony and the other being the Farmers Insurance. You know, I hit a 5 iron at Sony on the last hole, 240 yards. It was only meant to go 190. I managed to slip it out to 240. Then I think it was the 14th hole, on the last day at Torrey Pines there, I was just in the light rough and hit a 7 iron and it flew the green. And, you know, I was probably only about like 160, 170. It flew about 200 on the fly. But the grooves, I think -- look, my whole issue with the grooves is fine. There is no issue, period. You know, it's just a matter of being able to -- I know for myself personally, when I hit it in the rough now and I have got a sort of decent lie, but I've got a funny feeling it's going to fly, I will just take one or two clubs less. Instead of taking a 7 iron, I'll hit the 9 iron or the 8 iron. We are going to get to some firmer greens coming up now. I think we should all be able to -- in some ways it can help, too. Like at U.S. Open, if you get a flyer out of the rough, it's going to go a lot further than it did before. Before, a 9 iron was only going as far as the sand iron. Now a 9 iron might go as far as a 7 iron. It can help. It can disadvantage you as well. I think it can help you as well. Q. Have you seen evidence of guys, to make sure they get it in the fairway or if they hit it in the rough -- ROBERT ALLENBY: I don't know. Maybe some players are doing that. I don't change my game plan. Q. We talked grooves. We didn't really go into the course. ROBERT ALLENBY: We haven't talked about the course. The course is in great shape. Some things never change here. That is one of the things that never change. The greens are perfect. The fairways are beautiful. Roughs are decent, not -- you know, could be longer, could be shorter. That's pretty good. Q. The thing I was curious about, I spoke to an older player last week who was just going on and on about some of the courses that don't have much rough. Quail Hollow has shrunk down a little bit. It was more weather related than anything. Getting away from the deep rough. His thinking was where is the rough? This is someone who was more of a straight driver. Do you have a preference one way or another whether there should be smaller rough to allow more recovery shots, especially with maybe grooves getting some players? Or deeper rough to punish when you can't find the fairway? ROBERT ALLENBY: I think with the way the grooves are right now, the shorter the rough, probably the harder it is to manage your golf ball from the rough to the greens. You know, if it's really long, you only have one option. The one option is to take a lofted club and belt it as hard as you can. Sure, the guys that hit it the straightest, they are probably going to benefit it better there. The majority of the courses that we play that do have the long rough are pretty long. They are probably not going to benefit there because a lot of the straight hitters are short hitters. I do believe, and I think it is a true fact that, since the start of the year, that if you have that sort of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches rough, it is very, very hard to control the ball out of. It cost me probably the Sony and the Farmers at San Diego there, that final round. The rough really was not really -- probably only two inches long, if that. I have got two massive flyers. Whereas, if it was this deep for six inches, then I only have one option, which was just chip it out. Whereas now all of a sudden, I have got to concentrate and think about how far is this club going to go? Is this 5 iron going to go 190 or is it going to go 240? All of a sudden, it is a bit of a guessing game. If it is long rough, there is no guess. It's just chop it. Q. What is this golf course? ROBERT ALLENBY: It's in between. Some areas are okay and then other areas that are a little bit deeper than others. But this has always been a golf course where you have to hit the fairway, especially going into these greens. These greens are tricky. These greens are fast. They get firm. Q. For the most part, if you miss the fairway, you have hit a pretty bad shot, haven't you? ROBERT ALLENBY: These fairways are probably some of the widest on Tour, on some holes. Q. Did you mention flyer at Torrey Pines, or did you mention club selection? ROBERT ALLENBY: Mainly flyer. If I had of hit the 6 iron like my caddie wanted me to, that would have been in the ocean. I wanted to hit 8. I met him halfway with the 7, and the 7 was not the right club either. 8 would have been perfect. Did you notice that he doesn't work for me anymore? Q. I was just going to ask. Did it happen on the 15th tee? ROBERT ALLENBY: Two weeks. Q. Proper two weeks notice. Is that why you are playing so well, an equipment change? ROBERT ALLENBY: No. I'm just playing more consistent. That's all. Q. A couple of years ago, we talked about -- you had some big wins and some bottom outs. You may have one won tournament, which you probably would have wanted to win more, but it was like this whole year. Then top 10, top 15, top 5. Would you rather have a year like that with a one win or a couple of wins, not knowing what game is going to show up that week? ROBERT ALLENBY: I think you are better off being consistent. Being consistent or just -- I'd rather be consistent. I want to win. Winning is number one. That's the bottom line. Do you want to be one of those players that wins once and then you don't see them on the map for the next six months? I don't think so. You see it a lot where someone wins and then you never see them for the rest of the year. I think, like myself for instance, I'm up there a lot, play pretty consistent. It's just more persevering to try to get that win and then once you get it under your belt, then they just start firing off. I'd rather be a consistent player. In saying that, I really want to win. Sure, finishing second is nice but I'd rather have the victory. It's all about winning the trophy. You know, sometimes you have got to take what is given. I think it's just more -- you have just got to be patient if you are not winning when you are playing well and just, you know, I'm more of a consistent sort of player. Q. Why are you more consistent this year? Is it putting? ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, since last July, I have been putting pretty well. You know, that makes -- I think with me it's just my putting. If I putt well, I play well. Most of the time, I'm always hitting the ball pretty good consistently anyway. But with me, it's just putting. If I make some putts, I'm up there all the time. Obviously right now, my putting is pretty good. Been good since last July. Q. Did you change anything last July that made a difference? ROBERT ALLENBY: I changed my grip. MARK STEVENS: Thank you very much, Robert, for taking the time. Good luck this week. ROBERT ALLENBY: Sure. End of FastScripts |
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