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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MASTERCARDJuly 23, 2010Corey PavinCARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND STEVE TODD: Two rounds of 69, if you could just start with your assessment of how it went today. COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I played pretty solidly today. Wish I could take that shot over on 18. I actually did take that shot over on 18. I was pleased with the day. I played well. You know, I had a few times when I put myself in a little bit of trouble, but extricated myself and made some good par putts coming in and a nice birdie on 16. It was a good, solid day. Very pleased with 2-under. I would have taken 4-under after two rounds, you know, Wednesday afternoon. So, quite pleased. STEVE TODD: Clubhouse leader at the moment, you look like you're going to be in good shape going into the weekend. COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I'll be in good shape. We are only at the halfway point here, and like I said, I'm pleased with the way I'm playing. I will like my position at the end of the day, whatever it's going to be is going to be fine, and there's still a lot of golf left. Carnoustie is a difficult golf course to deal with out there and you just have to stay really patient. I just stayed patient today. Even after I hit it out-of-bounds on 18, I just stayed patient and hit the next shot up there and nearly holed the 50-foot putt I had there. Q. Can you tell us how you birdied 16, and then just talk us through 18, just about the second shot? Did it turn very much into the wind? COREY PAVIN: Yeah, 16, I just hit 5-wood, a little cut 5-wood and it kind of skipped up, I guess about eight, ten feet and made that putt. And the second shot on 18, I was just trying to hit it at the right bunker and let the wind bring it back to the middle of the green, and I just pulled it. I just started it too far left. I hit a good, solid shot and I kind of knew the second I hit it, that I was going to be in trouble. I just got up there and hit the second one and just tried to hit the same shot I was trying to hit on the first one, and you know, executed it well, hit a good shot, and like I said, nearly made the putt. That would have been a nice bogey if I had made that one. But, you know, it's still a very good round of golf today. Q. What did you hit? COREY PAVIN: 5-wood. Q. You used it again the second time? COREY PAVIN: Yeah, same club. It was the right club; it was just not the right execution the first time. Q. What do you like about the 18th hole, the test about that hole? COREY PAVIN: It's a tough hole. We all know what the hole is. You know, it was funny watching Loren hit his second shot in there. I think it actually landed on the green and nearly went out-of-bounds. You just know it's going to do that if you hit it right in the wind when it's blowing right-to-left. So you know what you have to do and you know how to execute on that hole, and you just have to do it. It's very demanding. It's a demanding hole off the tee, it's a demanding second shot, and if you miss that bunker to the right, right of the green, you've got a pretty hard chip shot. So it's just wherever you put yourself is going to be hard, if it's not a really good shot. Q. I know we have alluded to The Ryder Cup aspect and the responsibilities and the workload; you've said your wife has taken some of the pressure off you by doing things. How easy is it for you to just empty your head and go out on the to golf course and think only about playing golf and not think about The Ryder Cup? COREY PAVIN: That was a leading question. (Laughter) How can you empty something that's empty already, right? It's easy for me, really. I don't have any problems when I get out there and I'm working on my game or I'm playing a tournament to forget about The Ryder Cup, because I can't do anything about it while I'm playing. So why worry about it; I guess you could say that compartmentalising, and I do that reasonably well I think. But you know, as I said, Lisa is doing so much, and it's helped me to concentrate on my game. The busy part is going to be coming up for me pretty soon after the PGA Championship when we have eight of the 12 players on the team, and then I've got I think it's three weeks or four weeks to decide the other four. But that's going to be the part that's going to occupy my empty head for a little while (chuckling). Q. Given the high standard of play, certainly, at the top end of senior golf, do you think there's a case for awarding World Ranking points at tournaments like this? COREY PAVIN: Well, I don't know, that's -- I think not. I think if you're going to award World Ranking points, I think it has to be on the main tours or the sub-tours, so to speak, with Nationwide and The Challenge Tour. I don't think there's a place for it, personally, in the older -- 50-and-over set. If we want to get points and we want to go out and work on World Rankings, then we need to play the regular tours. Q. I think I saw you quoted somewhere that you thought an over-50 Ryder Cup-style event might be quite a good idea. COREY PAVIN: I think it would be quite fun. I think the players would be all for it, I believe. I would be for it. It was awfully fun to play in Ryder Cups and it would be fun to play in a senior Ryder Cup if it could be done. I don't know about all of the logistics but from a player standpoint, it would be quite enjoyable I think. I think the fans would like to see it, as well, I believe. Q. How would you describe some of your career in the regular Open Championship? Were you disappointed you didn't do a little bit better? COREY PAVIN: I had some good tournaments in The Open Championship. I think '93 when Greg Norman shot 64 the last day, I was playing with Nick Faldo the last group the last day and finished fourth, played pretty well. Maybe some other years I would have had a better chance. I think shot even the last day and finished fourth. I've had a couple of good tournaments at St. Andrews over the years. For me, when it gets really difficult out there when it's cold and windy and rainy all at the same time; it's kind of tricky for me. But when I get days that are windy and a reasonable temperature, I can play a little bit better. It's hard when I'm not big enough and strong enough to battle the really tough elements I think. But when I get some nice weather at some of The Open Championships, I've done fairly well. I've been pleased with some of the tournaments, but just like any major, you know, you are pleased with some and not pleased with others. I had a good run in some of The Open Championships. Q. To your credit, you were always a feisty patriot as a player. The Corey Pavin of now, from a 15 years ago, are you still as feisty, as much of a competitor and still as determined to win? COREY PAVIN: I sure hope so. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. For me, I want to be competitive and it would be very difficult for me to play real fiery if I didn't feel like I could win tournaments. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm playing tournaments is I want to win tournaments. I think I'm as fiery. I may not be as demonstrative maybe as I used to be with my emotions, but they are all in there, trust me. Q. Talking about The Open Championship venues you've played and the fact that The Ryder Cup seems to be sort of going to courses where The Ryder Cup used to be played -- what I'm trying to say is that would you like to see The Ryder Cup go to courses where they are played on Open Championship venues? COREY PAVIN: That would be great. It would be wonderful to play on links courses over here. I assume you're speaking about here. I would love to see that. Was Muirfield the last time; is that correct? Q. The start of The Ryder Cup, used to play all of The Open Championship venues. COREY PAVIN: I'm sure you know there are many reasons why it isn't or why it's where it is now. But again, from a player's perspective, and I would think from a fan's perspective, too, it would be wonderful to play links courses in The Ryder Cup. Will it happen, I don't know. I'm not the powers that be to make those decisions, but as I said, as a player, it would be wonderful to play links-style golf course. Q. Are you popping down to Wales before you head back to the States? COREY PAVIN: No, I won't this trip. I'll be back for the Ryder Cup and that will be my next planned visit. I'm not planning on coming back, I shouldn't say definitely not, but I've seen the course, I know it, we've done all our homework for the hotel and the team rooms and things like that. So there's not a whole lot of reason to come back I think. Q. You seem to be playing better than this year, than even the last couple of years, getting better as you get over 50? COREY PAVIN: I don't know about that. Q. Is there any reason you've been playing better this year than some previous years? COREY PAVIN: Besides actually just playing better, I think for me, getting out on the Champions Tour in the States, I'm playing golf courses that are a little more suited to my game. So I don't think I'm trying to put too much pressure on my hitting game and trying to hit it far, like I have been the last few years on the regular tour. The courses we play on the regular tour are so long that I have to try to do things that are a little bit out of my comfort zone. And this year, I'm playing courses that are a little bit more in my comfort zone. They are not easy courses by any means, but the length is a little easier for me to deal with, and I think as a result, I've been a little more comfortable playing, and my swing has shown that. I think I'm playing a little more comfortable golf out there. Q. You almost won on the main tour recently. COREY PAVIN: Yeah, Hartford, which is actually one of the -- it's one of the few courses out there that I feel like I can play on the regular tour. Colonial and Hartford are two of my favourite stops because they are two courses that length is not a big factor. It's important to play just controlled golf. My track record at Hartford is pretty good over the years. I haven't won it yet but I've finished second a couple of times, third, fourth. That's one of my favourite events, and probably play there next year, but I'm not sure yet. A long way away. Q. Yourself, Jeff Sluman and Tom Lehman are all playing well here; how important is it for the backroom team to show prospective players that you can still play yourself? COREY PAVIN: I don't think it's that critical. It may have some minor importance, but I don't think it's a big deal. You know, how I play shouldn't have any effect on how Team USA plays. I don't see a big deal about it. Q. At the end of last week, the stars and stripes wasn't too prominent on the leaderboard at St. Andrews but today I think 16 of the top 20 are were Americans and it still looks pretty good for Americans. How do you explain that? Is it because the Champions Tour is so strong? COREY PAVIN: 16 of the top 20? Q. Americans that were in the lead at the start of the day. COREY PAVIN: Oh, here. I don't know if you meant at the Canadian Open or this week or what. I don't know; I think the weather has been good. It's not a bad deal for us. I think we have a lot of good players that came over to play. It's think it's more of an attribute of respecting The Open Championship, and thus, respecting the Senior Open Championship. I think a lot of Americans, certainly, that are here, enjoy this type of golf. It's fun for me, I can tell you that. I love playing links golf. I wish I could play it more. So I enjoy it. I enjoy coming over. It's kind of -- in some ways, it's nice that it's so different for us, and maybe it's different for The European Tour players, as well, I'm not sure how many links courses they get to play. I just enjoy it. I like coming over here. It's fun, it's relaxing to come out and see guys I haven't seen in 25 years. I played with Barry (Lane) the last couple of days and I'm not sure the last time was when I saw him. It's just great to reconnect with some of these guys. Q. What was the most fun shot that you played today? Was there one shot out of the norm for you that you got a little buzz out of? COREY PAVIN: I can't really think of anything that sticks out. I hit some good shots. The shot on 16 was a pretty good shot, obviously. It was good execution. You know, it's the kind of course, you need to hit some good shots out there. I hit a really good shot into 17 I thought might be reasonably close and ended up 40 feet away. You hit a lot of shots like that in links-style golf. You can hit some shots that you kind of hit it a little thin and then they run up and end up pretty good. That's the good fun about it. STEVE TODD: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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