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JOHNNIE WALKER CHAMPIONSHIP AT GLENEAGLES

August 25, 2010

Alvaro Quiros

GLENEAGLES, SCOTLAND

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thank you for joining us and welcome. Start us off with your thoughts on the week ahead, obviously a big week in terms of The Ryder Cup.
ALVARO QUIROS: What can I say?
MICHAEL GIBBONS: What do you have to do?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I'm not too sure but I think I have to win and wait if Miguel Angel don't get a lot of money. This is the only thing that I have, I think.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Have you spoken to Miguel Angel?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, we were in the same plane coming up from Malaga. I thought he was going to stay in the wedding, but he is coming.
No, we didn't speak a lot about The Ryder Cup. We didn't speak a lot.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Hopefully we'll speak about it now; if we have any questions.

Q. Sorry, I'm going to ask you about The Ryder Cup. Colin has said he will judge the performances of players here this week before he decides on his wild cards. Your length off the tee, do you think that will be an asset on a wet Celtic Manor course in October? Do you think that's something that might stand you in good stead?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I don't think that the captain is going to pick somebody just because of length, first of all. But at the same time, right now, the situation to be picked is really, really strange, difficult, or not probably -- because if you consider people that is outside the team, I would say it's a nice thing for the captain to be in this trouble. But for the people like me, rookies, it's not easy to compete with the big names that are right now outside the team.
So, the length is the main thing, of course, in Wales, with a wet golf course, the length, that's not something that I consider important right now.

Q. Is it widely accepted here at Gleneagles that three wild cards will come from the boys playing in America?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I don't know, I'm pretty sure, but in the past, if I'm not wrong, the captain has said he's going to give important consideration to players who support or play on The European Tour. As I said before, these kind of ideas or these kind of decisions, they couldn't be taken from me or from the people that are on The European Tour. Right now it is in the hands of the captain. It is a shame, obviously, the players that support The European Tour are not being more -- sorry, couldn't be more in contention.
But we don't know. We will see. After the picks, we will see, hey, this guy doesn't play in the States or these guys play in Europe or whatever. At the end, if you see the names, it has to be a difficult situation for the captain to pick people who is not as important as the people who is playing in the States. It could be my situation or Edoardo Molinari or McGowan or Dyson mainly.

Q. If he does people pick three people that are playing in the States, will people on The European Tour be upset because their loyalty has not been taken into account?
ALVARO QUIROS: I don't think so. It is a free world. This is why the captain has three wild cards. Pick somebody who is playing here, or not, or is playing good or bad. It's just three wild cards. In the past editions of The Ryder Cups, the wild cards, I couldn't remember exactly, but there are players outside the team. I think it's a good thing for the captain to have this chance.

Q. Is there a feeling at all on the range that with Miguel here and Edoardo here and obviously yourself, that the players on Continental Europe, from Spain and Italy and so on, are more supportive of the Tour and The Ryder Cup Team than maybe the top players from Britain?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I mean, it's a very personal situation. Some players consider it's better to play in the States for different reasons and some people decide to stay here for different reasons. So I don't consider that the people from Continental Europe support more or less. This is what we have. And this is what we have to survive.
In the future, sometimes it's easier to compete in the States for technical reasons, greens or playing conditions, but in the end we are two different tours and if you want to stay here, play here but if not go to the States. But it's something very personal. I can speak from my point of view but I don't know what thinks Miguel Angel or what thinks Edoardo.
All of us, the new generations, like for example, Martin and Edoardo and me, of course we consider to play in the States, but we still think that The European Tour is good enough to stay here. I don't know what is going to happen next year or in two years' time, but right now I want to stay here, this is the only thing. I don't know if it's a good enough value for the captain to decide a wild card or not. It's up to the captain. I don't know what the captain said, I wasn't here.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: I wasn't here.
ALVARO QUIROS: I guess he didn't say anything --
MICHAEL GIBBONS: He said nothing, there you go. (Laughter).
ALVARO QUIROS: I don't know how many times Colin was with players -- as Ryder Cup captain, but I know one thing for sure, he said for him it's important that we support The European Tour. I don't know what is going to happen with this now. I wouldn't like to be in his position now, honestly. It's difficult.

Q. Do you regret not going to the Czech Open last week and not trying to do what Peter Hanson did?
ALVARO QUIROS: The thing is after missing the cut in the PGA, I considered myself outside the team, not automatically but almost, because I need to finish top three, top two. I'm watching the people who was outside the team, honestly, I don't consider myself as a wild card, so this is why I decide to stay at home and prepare for this tournament in a different way.
I come to this tournament because I want to give myself in the Top-50 in the world. Of course, it will be great if I can win and suddenly all the things become better, but the most probable thing, 97 per cent, the situation is not going to be good for me so in my mind, I come to play to the Johnnie Walker which is a value to keep myself in the Top-50 in the world.

Q. If you were the captain, who would be your three wild cards?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I will choose one of the four, but right now, it's everybody's picking, like between Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Harrington and Luke Donald, and then you have Molinari and me. (Laughter).
No, I think Molinari is playing great and he could be a good partner with his brother. And I have a good advantage in Wales about the length. But at the same time, I think I'm a very good partner for everybody. I'm a good teammate and at the end, the only difference that we have between The European Tour and the PGA TOUR, I think when we won, of course, speaking about quality and game and everything, one different thing is that we could become more teammates than them.

Q. Did you speak to Colin at the PGA?
ALVARO QUIROS: No, not at all.

Q. Didn't approach you or anything?
ALVARO QUIROS: No. I passed him three times.

Q. He said earlier that he had spoken to everyone that he needed to at the PGA..
ALVARO QUIROS: He said that? Well, now you have who is going to be the pick, after this comment, you know it.

Q. Why should you be picked?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, what I consider is I'm fresh blood. I don't know if this is a good thing or not, or is it a good thing, good enough to say, hey, I want to have a rookie on the team instead to have a guy who played one Ryder Cup or two or three, even when they are playing the same, because the ranking says that the difference are small difference between these players and us.

Q. Is there a danger that everybody becomes Ryder Cup obsessed and it almost becomes more important than it really is; it can overtake everything else?
ALVARO QUIROS: What do you mean?

Q. In terms of players own ambitions of playing in tournaments and things, do you think they can become almost sidetracked by The Ryder Cup?
ALVARO QUIROS: What I know is economically speaking, The Ryder Cup is not a great thing, nobody gets paid and all this kind of stuff.
And the people who go to the States, I don't know for what reasons they move to over there, probably one of the reasons could be the economic thing. For me, I'm speaking only my personal view, The Ryder Cup is -- I'm not going to say the biggest thing, that it could be -- not for sure it's the biggest thing I can play; over The Ryder Cup it would be only winning a major. But for me it's more important to play a Ryder Cup than play a major, for me. This is the only thing I can say.

Q. You said you would pick one of the four in America; which one and why?
ALVARO QUIROS: It's a very difficult question. I have a very good relationship with Justin Rose and Luke Donald. I don't know too much Harrington and I don't know too much Casey. Probably I will say the decision will be between I would say, I don't know, Luke and Justin Rose. But just because I have a better friendship, and at the end, I think it is a great thing in a Ryder Cup. At the end, everybody is very close in the rankings. So it's going to be small details that make the difference.

Q. You said you would like to see two of the players here get wild cards, is that the feeling amongst the players in the locker room and the range, as well?
ALVARO QUIROS: Honestly, I didn't speak with anybody. As I said to you, since I arrive to the tournament, I spoke with my caddie, and I told him, I don't want to hear any words about Ryder Cup. Obviously I don't want to speak with anybody about Ryder Cup. I knew that sitting here is the only thing. (Laughter).

Q. Can I just ask you about The Ryder Cup then. Monty said about three months ago that he expected everybody that was in contention for a wild card to be here, and they are not here. Now, do you think he wishes now he had not said that?
ALVARO QUIROS: I don't know how to say in English, but in Spain we say the wind will take the words, you know what I mean. Words are words. At the end, the only thing that matters is what is going to happen. If you want, we can take a seat and after who are the wild cards, I can tell you fair, no fair. They are wild cards, it is going to be always good. This is why they are wild cards. They really don't need to have a reason to pick somebody.
I heard at the PGA Colin was considering Bernhard Langer. Well, if he was considering Bernhard Langer, it's good, or if he considers better than the players who are right now, pick him.
It's the same for Sergio. Right now nobody speaks about Sergio but at the Tuesday of PGA, Monty said that he still had Sergio on his mind. I mean, the scores weren't good enough to be, obviously Sergio was not playing great, but if he considers the fear or the numbers of Sergio was good enough to pick him, go ahead.
In the last Ryder Cup, if I'm not wrong, who was picked, Poulter and Casey. Poulter was I would say ten of ten. And the numbers of Casey wasn't good, but it could be the opposite in this one. Casey could be picked and now suddenly gets four points for Europe. So it's going to be a constant debate.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: And we'll end this one, Alvaro. Thank you for joining us and good luck this week.

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