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RBC CANADIAN OPENJuly 24, 2010Carl PetterssonTORONTO, ONTARIO NELSON SILVERIO: All right. Welcome Carl Pettersson. Thanks for spending a few minutes with us. 60; what was going through your mind out there? Anything in particular click? CARL PETTERSSON: Well, I felt pretty calm all day. I didn't get off to the best of starts and was 1-over through -- I bogeyed the second hole. And actually I had horseshoe on 4 for birdie. Then I birdied 5 and 6, I think and that kind of got me going and then the eagle on 9 kind of kick-started the round. Then off I went. I don't even know what scores I shot. I kind of lost track. Then I made birdie, another eagle, par, birdie, birdie, birdie, par, birdie, par. So yeah, it was just a thrill to have a chance to shoot a 59. You know, I don't know how many chances -- this could be it. I don't know. How many more chances do you have to shoot 59? But I'm thrilled to shoot 60. NELSON SILVERIO: Very good. Questions? Q. Carl, what was it you said to Tim Clark coming out? You said you mentioned something to Tim Clark before you teed off this morning. CARL PETTERSSON: No. He was -- actually he watched me finish. Q. Oh, he watched you finish? CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah. He was standing watching me putt on 18, and we're good friends, we went to school together. And he's obviously playing well, he's at 10-under; and I think he wanted to watch me play at 18, which was nice of him to come out. Q. Your putt from off the green on 18, describe your feelings as you took that putt. CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah. I wanted to give myself a better chance, and I hit a pretty good 6-iron in there, but the wind sort of got it. And you can't go past the hole because then you got no chance. And it was actually a difficult putt to get to the hole because it was very steep uphill, and I hit a good putt. I told myself you cannot leave this short you gotta give this a chance, and I hit a solid putt and it was just hovering right on the left side. And it sort of went right-to-left, left-to-right. With six inches less pace it probably would have gone in. Q. Are you disappointed you didn't shoot 59? CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah. Obviously I'm thrilled to shoot 60, but to shoot 59, I don't know how many chances you're going to get in your lifetime. Yeah, obviously I'm happy with the round, but I would have loved to have seen that putt go in. But that's the way it goes. Q. Was there a certain point when you started thinking about 59? CARL PETTERSSON: Well, I actually had another chance a couple of years ago at Greensboro. I was shooting low, and then I thought about 59 and I made a quick bogey. When I hit it close on 17, I thought if I make this putt, I'll have a chance on 18 if I give myself a birdie putt. I knew 18 is a difficult hole. So -- but I gave myself a chance, and it was fun. Q. You kind of confirmed this in your opening statement, but when an amateur golfer goes out and shoots 85 as a career round, he can remember every shot, but when you go that low, do you just get completely lost in your round? You're even having problems telling us what holes you made birdie on. CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah. You sort of get in your own little zone and just keep going. You don't really want to think about it, and your mind works against you. So I just try to just blank everything out. And it's nice when you get into that sort of aggressive mode, and it's difficult to get into that. But you know, you don't really know what's going on around you. I can think back now about the round and remember all the shots, but in the moment you just -- I don't know, it's just kind of a blur. Q. So you have warm feelings about this golf course? CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah, I like it. Q. Along those lines, is it like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter at some point? Does your caddy stop talking or does he change? Do the other people clam up? Does anything change that way? CARL PETTERSSON: No. Nothing really changed today. We were sort of -- I was laughing with my caddy, I was like, where did this come from? I told him walking up to the 18th tee, let's give ourselves a chance, see if we can do it. Q. And one follow-up. I believe you made the cut on the number and made a bogey. Have you ever gone from last to first in a field? CARL PETTERSSON: No. I don't think so. I thought I was going to miss the cut yesterday. We got finished with the round and it was right on borderline, and me and Jay Williamson were actually watching the computer to see if we were going to make the cut, and had a few Canadian beers in there. That settled me down, I think. Maybe that's what did it. Q. The other part of this whole scenario, maybe you haven't thought about this yet, but you're now actually in contention to win the golf tournament. Has that sunk in as well? CARL PETTERSSON: Well, obviously half the field hasn't even teed off, so I don't know where I'm going to be at the end of the day, but I've definitely improved my place. But yeah, it's another round tomorrow and we'll see what happens. Q. What happened in your first two rounds? Obviously most of us weren't speaking to you then. How were you playing and how were you at 1-under? CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah. The first day I played pretty solid. I started on the back. I was 2-under through eight holes and bogeyed 18. I was playing pretty good, and then I didn't play very good -- I drove it poorly my second nine the first day, shot 1-over. And then yesterday I drove the ball better, didn't hit my irons great, but managed to scrape the round, shot 2-under, because it's not that easy, if you don't drive it well around here, it's not very easy. But what makes the scoring low, I think, is the par-5s; they're all reachable, except for 15. The very long hitters can reach it, but the other holes I made two eagles today, and I think if you can play the difficult holes well and then score on the easier holes, that's what makes the scoring good. Q. Not trying to take away from what you did, but now that you're going over it in your mind, is there one shot prior to the 18th, one hole where you're going to say, that was the one that cost me, held me back? CARL PETTERSSON: Well, I obviously the bogey on 2. I was in the middle of the fairway and missed the green with a 7-iron, and that was pretty poor. No. 4 I had about a 25-footer for birdie and it went all the way around the hole. But every round has shots like that, so you know, you can shoot 55 and you're going to have one or two shots that didn't go in. Q. The Canadian Open hasn't been here since 1968 when Bob Charles won. Course record, George Knudson set there with a 64. Already we've had a 62 this week, and now you nearly had 59 and 60. Is this course too easy for you guys now with the technology? CARL PETTERSSON: I don't think so. It's a good golf course. I'm kind of stunned I shot 60, to be honest with you. Just the par-5s, you know, they're all reachable. That's where you can make your scores. And I'm surprised how low the scoring is this week. Me and my caddy thought 10-under would win the tournament at the start of the week. The greens were fairly soft. That's what it makes it a little easier, and if the greens were firmer, it would be a different ball game. Q. Just to switch gears for a second, you're an NC State guy, as is Clark; right? CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah. Q. We've been following Matt Hill for a while. Are you one of the alums who keeps track of things and how this young man's been doing? CARL PETTERSSON: Yeah. I've actually spoken to Matt a few times. He's played about three events this year, I think. He's obviously a great player. I think he missed the cut here, but it's a bit of a learning process when you come out of college straightaway, and I think he'll be fine. Seems like he's got all the right tools, and it's not easy straightaway. There's not many people that come out of college straightaway and do what Rickie Fowler does. I think he'll be fine. Seems like a nice young man. Q. Just for the record what's your lowest round, not necessarily the PGA TOUR? CARL PETTERSSON: I've actually shot a 59 at home on the golf course called Traben. That was 2006. But that's totally different from playing a competitive round. NELSON SILVERIO: Any more? Q. (No microphone)? CARL PETTERSSON: Grant Berry. That's my beer drinking buddy right there. NELSON SILVERIO: All right. Carl, thank you very much. CARL PETTERSSON: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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