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THE CELTIC MANOR WALES OPENJune 2, 2010Rhys DaviesNEWPORT, WALES SCOTT CROCKETT: Thanks for coming in and joining us and welcome to The Celtic Manor Wales Open. We know how much a win here would mean to you, but let's just reflect on the season so far, obviously the win in Morocco and an excellent performance last week. Just talk about that before we take some questions. RHYS DAVIES: Yeah, obviously Morocco has been the highlight, and rightly so. I think any player on Tour, you know, wants to win a tournament on The European Tour, and to do something so quickly in the season was very special and very pleasing. But in many ways from my point of view, contending on a regular basis is just as important. You can't always -- you can't always have things go exactly your way and win a tournament; they did for me in Morocco, but like last week, I played very well and got right into contention. Unfortunately didn't quite come up, but full credit to Luke who hit a wonderful shot into 16 to make an eagle. And sometimes you know, you get beaten, and that's golf. But it's nice to have it -- if you do lose, then it was Luke winning it, rather than anything else. SCOTT CROCKETT: You must be rightly proud of your performance last week. It was a very, very good week for you. RHYS DAVIES: It was. I got into contention early in the week in the sense of I had two very good rounds early on, and then I continued my consistent play over the weekend. I think I made 12 birdies over the weekend. I had a really realistic, really good chance to win the tournament, and I felt I did all the right things. It just didn't quite happen. But that's all right and hopefully it will come right this week. Q. Heading into a very important phase in the season, how much of a factor is momentum? RHYS DAVIES: Yeah, I think momentum is a very big word in golf. It's definitely something I look toward quite often, both in stages of various rounds and stages of the tournament and also the season. Yeah, the momentum is going well with me at the moment, and if I can continue with that progression, then I can contend on a regular basis, and that's encouraging from my point of view. Q. For a relative newcomer on Tour, is it easier to get into the way of momentum than someone who has been around the block a bit? RHYS DAVIES: I don't know, I suppose if you've been around the block a few times, you have quite a bit of momentum. So I've always got to do it from an early stage at some point. So no matter what stage of your career you're at, you've started somewhere, so every player has gained some momentum from an early part of their career. Hopefully that's the way I'm progressing at the moment. Q. How well do you know the course? RHYS DAVIES: I know it fairly well. I've played here the last two years. I felt I played quite well here last year. I had a fair bit of -- I can see the shots off the tee very well. I think it does suit my eye, and I like some of the features. I like the way the water is incorporated but not overdone at the same time. And the run-off areas and the way that the course is bunkered, as well; I think it suits the landscape and it suits the golf course that we have in front of us. Q. What type of course suits your game do you think? RHYS DAVIES: Any one will do, pretty much, yeah. I don't look at it too much. As long as there's a hole at the end of it, it suits me. Q. Have you looked at your schedule in terms of The Ryder Cup? RHYS DAVIES: No idea at all. Haven't thought about it. Haven't looked at it in that light. I set my schedule to try and win tournaments, and I believe, if you like, if I go and win a lot of tournaments this summer, then I'll probably come back here in October. But I'm very good at -- I've really improved at staying in the present, and I'm getting better and better at that all the time. That includes this week. My thoughts are primarily focussed on this week. I've got a U.S. Open to look forwards to but at the moment I can't get past the Wales Open. So that gives you an idea of really where my thoughts are and I really want to be here on Sunday afternoon and pushing and contending to try and win this tournament. Q. You look very calm and focussed; are you calm and focussed? RHYS DAVIES: I am, yeah. I do feel comfortable with what I'm doing. I did have a number of performances which helped that, but I think most importantly, I have sort of set a side goal at the start of the year to put myself in some difficult positions, whether it would be with world-class players or last groups on Saturdays and Sundays; in other words, environments that I might feel quite uncomfortable in, and I wanted to see how I responded. And I responded really well to just about all of those situations, and therefore, it definitely helps me feel a little bit calmer and a little bit more, you know, feels good under a pressured environment. Q. We in Wales are all very excited about the prospect of you playing in The Ryder Cup, do your friends and family speak to you about the possibility? RHYS DAVIES: Not really, no. I'm very fortunate with my family around me. We talk about golf, yes, occasionally and whatnot, but never to the -- but always to what's just happened or present situations. We never look far ahead because -- well, there's no need. Golf can change so often, so quickly and it can change whenever and we all know it's a very up-and-down sport. It's a very tough game to play. So I don't look too far ahead, and none of my friends and family said too much which has probably made it a little easier. Q. What was your goal at the start of the year? RHYS DAVIES: Win a tournament. And having done that, I would like to win another one. That is as far as it goes. Q. If you were close to Ryder Cup qualifying, would you make any adjustments to your schedule? RHYS DAVIES: If I felt it was necessary, yes, because you know, everybody -- yeah, rightly so. Every European and every American wants to play in The Ryder Cup, and there's no point in hiding away from that. But right now, I'm really focussed on playing well in the big tournaments. I have to keep the middle of the season very flexible for me. If you think back to the start of my season, I had a Challenge Tour category, which meant that I was going to get in a lot of tournaments, but I wasn't going to get in -- I definitely wasn't going to get in all and some were very unpredictable, but then having a win and improving my category, I feel I can be much more selective. I was also aware that I set a little deadline after Wentworth and after the qualifier at Walton Heath, that I knew after that point, I would be much more aware of which tournaments I would be fully exempt for the rest of the season and which ones I wouldn't. And having qualified for the U.S. Open and The Open in two days, I could immediately obviously put them into my schedule. It meant that I could focus on those events, but also plan the other big tournaments around it. I'm playing the U.S. Open and I'm not playing in Munich but I'm playing in the French Open and the Scottish Open and then St. Andrews. Q. I saw you had an American girlfriend - do you have thoughts about aiming for a Us Tour card as well? RHYS DAVIES: There's no thoughts to that at the moment. My aspirations at the moment if you like are trying to get into the Top-50 in the world and I'm very close to that now. If I can do that, I can play the big tournaments. I think there are probably -- I believe they will play eight big tournaments maybe with the majors and the World Golf Championship events, and if you can play in those, you get in bigger points; you get bigger chances to perform well in The Race to Dubai. So they are my main focuses, my main thing I want to focus on at the moment. Q. Have you spoken to Colin Montgomerie at all? RHYS DAVIES: Yeah, I've had casual chats with him but nothing -- only passing. I played with him a couple of weeks ago in Italy and we spoke a little in the round but only just like any other golfer. Q. Yesterday Phillip Price said people were just waking up to the fact that you are the best putter in the world; what do you think when you hear something like that? RHYS DAVIES: Very flattering, obviously, especially someone like Phil who I put in very high regard. I don't know, in some ways, it goes in one ear and out the other because I don't wants to get it -- it's not something to get in my head too much. Yes, I work hard on my putting and it's something that I think people don't quite realise how much time and effort I put into it. It doesn't just happen overnight. You don't just really get born with it. I've worked hard at it. Yes, it's a really flattering comment, but it's something that I think I can get better at, as well. Q. You must have been about 15 when Wales won the bid to stage The Ryder Cup in 2010? Did you have any memories of thinking, at the time, wow it would be great to play in that? RHYS DAVIES: I was playing cricket at the time, so I wasn't -- yes, obviously, as a golf fan that would have been great, but I played cricket for Mid Glamorgan Academy and so I have more to think about, as well. I was trying to get into the Glamorgan a second time. I was more in focus at that particular moment I think. Q. Do you do more work on your putting than other parts of your game? RHYS DAVIES: I did quite a lot of work at it from a young age but without realising. I putted a lot in the house. I still do that now. And I don't necessarily do it in a strict drill; I make a lot of putts, and therefore I can gain quite a lot of feel from it. I enjoy it. Why, I don't know, but it's always something I've felt comfortable doing and enjoyed doing. Q. More than just hitting balls? RHYS DAVIES: Yeah, to me, that's more on the boring side. So standing on the range repeating over and over -- at least with putts, you can hit different ones, long ones, short ones, left-to-right, right-to-left, etc., etc. And you can make little games out of it to make it more fun. So I definitely think there's -- I definitely have a desire to really perfect it and to try and push forwards, and, yeah, hit the perfect putt every time. Q. Do you think good putters are born then? RHYS DAVIES: Might be part of it, but I think there's definitely an element of work ethic. I don't think -- I believe that there are very few in any form of life, for that matter, that those are successful generally work hard to achieve it. I've worked hard on my putting so I'm trying to achieve some great things with that. Q. What do you practise on? RHYS DAVIES: Just on the carpet in the house. It's really dead ordinary, I'm afraid. There's nothing special about it. I had a -- I remember having a rubber hole, a rubber green hole when I was younger, which had a little ramp up to it. So it actually makes it smaller than a normal hole and it costs ten pence and been about the best investment I've ever made. Q. What do you use now -- RHYS DAVIES: No, still the same. I think it's the same ones. It's about -- Q. What would it be on a Stimpmeter? RHYS DAVIES: I would say ten and a half, ten. But it's flat, so you can't -- yeah, it's good. Q. You say it's flat but can you then hit right to left and left to right putts? RHYS DAVIES: In a way it does seep to create sort of ridges so if you walk on it for a long time it creates sort of a slope so occasionally you can hit it right-centre or inside left. (Laughter) You can laugh, and it is quite funny but it is quite useful as well. Q. Tiger Woods raised the bar in terms of strength and fitness for players. Do you do much of that because you don't look particularly strong? RHYS DAVIES: I'm stronger than you think. I'd say pound for pound I'm not that bad. Yes, I do work out, and no, it doesn't show, but I don't mind that. I think that I address the elements that suits me. I'm very flexible and very agile and I think that's just as important in many ways. So, yes, I'm fully aware of it. It is an element I'm trying to improve. And I also feel that I'm a bit stronger and fitter than some might think just by looking at me. Q. What do you weigh? RHYS DAVIES: Ten and a half stone on a good day. SCOTT CROCKETT: Are we all done? I think we are. Many thanks, Rhys. Good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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