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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 21, 2010

Nathan Green

TORONTO, ONTARIO

NELSON SILVERIO: We welcome our defending champion, Nathan Green, to the Media Center. Nathan, you got a chance to look at the golf course this year. Just some thoughts on the golf course.
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah, it's a great track. I came up here probably two months ago and played it. Definitely got the rough a little bit longer, and the greens still probably aren't that quick, but I think with the severity of the slope, I think they're -- seems like a pretty smart play.
I think they're going to have a few more pin positions available if they keep them about this speed, and they're rolling well and the rough's penal. I think if you shoot more than 150 yards out and hit in the rough, you're struggling to get there.
So it's a great setup. I think the fairways are perfect, and the course is in great shape. And it's definitely good weather.
NELSON SILVERIO: How about your game and your season so far?
NATHAN GREEN: Sort of been a little hit and miss again. Pretty much the same as when I came in here last year. I had -- three weeks ago I played fantastic for the whole week in Philadelphia, and then last five holes just fell apart and lost a good chance for a good week there; and then the last two weeks, John Deere I played poorly, and then last week I was about a pin marker.
It's just been rough. It's hot and cold, but I know this course, I feel like I think if I'm driving the ball decent and the club's hot, it sort of suits my eye, so hopefully I can turn it around like I did last year.
NELSON SILVERIO: Anybody have any questions, please raise your hand and we'll pass you a microphone.

Q. On the surface it would look like this course might suit your game better than Glen Abbey did.
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah. Maybe a little bit. Also the way it sets up, I've always liked poa greens, and I don't know, just like the sort of tree-lined look of the golf course, and just sort of -- I just feel kind of a similar sort of course to Hamilton where I played decent before as well.
So such a good golf, I'm going to go out and enjoy playing. A course like this is a good test, a test, you gotta drive it straight. And then with the greens being so severe, you've gotta really hit the ball in the right spot. So it's not a course I don't think that suits anyone in particular. I think it suits a long hitter or short hitter. Short hitters have as much chance here as the bombers, so I just feel like it's a good level playing field.

Q. Is it a second-shot course?
NATHAN GREEN: I think so, yeah. For me it's probably more gotta just drive it well. I think you've gotta -- you've just gotta be in play this week. That's the main key.
I think there's a lot out there that you just won't be able to hit the green from the rough. So you certainly gotta be in the right spot, but the fairways are running pretty hard and fast, so it's tough to sort of aim for like half of the fairway. You gotta use the whole fairway, and they're pretty slopey. So just getting the ball in play is probably the number one concern.

Q. The majority of the events you guys play you return to the same courses each year. Do you mind that it moves around and that you're defending at a place obviously where you don't have memories from your win?
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah. I actually like that. I think Canada has got so many great golf courses, I think it's good that they share and do move it around.
Hamilton was a great course; Glen Abbey is a great course, and then here another great course. And then I haven't been out to Shaughnessy, but everyone says it's another great course. So I think it's great that, especially going back over to Vancouver, that's where -- isn't that Shaughnessy in Vancouver? Yeah, I think it's great that since they lost the PGA TOUR event over there for a few years back, I think it's great that they got it back. So taking the PGA TOUR around, I think it's a good move.

Q. Nathan, you said you played well in Hamilton; obviously you played well at Glen Abbey, like it here. Of all the places you play outside of Australia are you most comfortable in Canada?
NATHAN GREEN: Probably, just because I've played here a lot. And as I said, I've grown up on poa greens, and we don't play a great deal of poa, especially during the summer over here. It's a lot of Bermudagrass and that sort of stuff, so to me I like being back.
I feel -- I don't know, we just have fun when we're up in Canada. You just sort of look forward to it as a week in general that week.
We sort of get out a bit more when we're in Toronto. You're not sitting in your hotel room all the time. There's always something to do. It's just such a good fun week. And I think that's really reflected in my golf up here.

Q. Does it feel like you're defending? I mean --
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah, not really. I know I've played some poor golf the last sort of three or four months. And I don't know, it feels so strange that I've sort of forgotten that feeling of what it was actually like to win.
Just, I don't know, I sort of can't remember it that well. Like I know it happened, but it's sort of feeling at the moment unfamiliar with having won.
So it's great. I know people have sort of recognized that I won last year, being around the course today. So I don't know, it's -- when you win as little as I have in my career, then it's probably a little strange to be defending, the defending champion, but it's definitely something that I'm enjoying.

Q. (Question about Glen Abbey).
NATHAN GREEN: Probably a little bit, yeah. Probably feel a little bit that way, but I'm not sure what it's like -- what it's been to feel like to be the defending champion.
I think obviously I have good feelings about coming back up here. As I said, I just enjoy playing up here, so it's always had a good feeling to it anyway.

Q. Often when a guy has won, we sort of ask him, especially someone in a position like you are who hasn't won a lot, how it will change things. Did winning that tournament change anything for you last year?
NATHAN GREEN: Not really. I still went about my game the same way. I probably lost a little bit of focus.
I think you do get a bit of a free year this year, and I have sort of tried to make a few spot changes to my game to make it a little bit more competitive on a regular basis, but it's still probably just mentally I haven't been as focused as I needed to be this year, and my golf sort of reflected that. I've played some really good weeks but I've ended up finishing 45th and stuff like that.
I'm just not as sharp as I was the first few years on TOUR. So yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing, having won. Maybe I'd still be a bit hungry if I hadn't. It's great to have that behind you, but still that comes along with being a winner on TOUR.
NELSON SILVERIO: Any more questions? All right, thanks.

End of FastScripts

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