|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE RYDER CUPSeptember 28, 2010Corey PavinNEWPORT, WALES GORDON SIMPSON: Corey, welcome back into the media centre. I hope you've had a good night's sleep and feeling refreshed and your team has had a good morning. Take us through what you've been doing last night, and also today on the golf course. Start with last night. COREY PAVIN: Last night, you know, we just got together and had dinner and a few gifts were given out. Then we just kind of hung around the team room and everybody did what they wanted to do, play a little ping-pong, goof around, hang out and off to bed. Got up this morning, did the team pictures and everybody went out on the golf course and played, and playing, I guess. GORDON SIMPSON: Obviously you could have done with doing the pictures now rather than first thing in the morning. COREY PAVIN: It was actually nice out. I liked that little bit of fog and mist. It makes for good photos. GORDON SIMPSON: What sort of vibes have you picked up from the players so far out on the golf course? COREY PAVIN: I think the players are relaxed. They are out there just playing and taking a look at the golf course and trying to map it out and plan their strategies. Everybody looks like they are pretty comfortable out there and just enjoying the nice weather. Just, you know, looking to see how they want to play the golf course. It's a practise round. Q. Talking of weather, and there has been a lot of talk of it here, which is worse when you're playing in a Ryder Cup, wind or rain? COREY PAVIN: I don't know. I think when it's windy and rainy, it would be worse, wouldn't it? You know, to me, weather is not a big deal. You know, in The Ryder Cup, you just tend to ignore what the weather is happening. You are just focused on playing your opponent and trying to win your match. The weather seems to be less important in The Ryder Cup. You just don't really pay attention to it as much. I know I've played in a few Ryder Cups in rain, and you know, I can barely remember it really raining. Sometimes they said it was raining really hard and you're like, "Oh, really." You just ignore it. You have other things to focus on. Q. Colin has been pretty forthcoming with his strategy to a certain degree; what can we glean from what we see out there today, the way you've put the guys out in foursomes, the way they are paired together in matches within the groups that could give us a hint of what's to come? COREY PAVIN: Well, I guess hindsight will be good on Thursday when the pairings are announced, when you see Friday afternoon and Saturday. You know, the guys are playing in the groups for reason, and it will become obvious later. I think you'll see different groupings tomorrow, as well, with practise rounds, and looking at a lot of the different combinations with the guys. Q. How did your first Ryder Cup compare to subsequent Ryder Cups, nerves and such, and what advice do you give to your rookies? COREY PAVIN: Well, you know, my first Ryder Cup was Kiawah, and you know, I just didn't play as well as I would like to. You know, the golf course was hard for me. And then my next two, I played a lot better. But for those rookies, I like these rookies. They are aggressive, positive players. You know, it's kind of the different breed when I was -- back in the old days when I was playing. These guys are aggressive, positive, and they are going to come out firing. There's not really much to tell them. I think I just want to make sure that they are emotionally under control and I watched some of them today and they seemed quite fine out there, very relaxed. Q. At The Presidents Cup, Tiger and Steve Stricker made great partners. Can you comment on why they were such good partners together? COREY PAVIN: Besides the obvious, that they played better than their opponents? You know, they are both great players. Tiger has been No. 1 in the world for -- I'm sure somebody knows the stats here, but a long time. And Steve was playing great last year at the time. Those were probably two guys, the top two players in the world maybe or two of the top three, whatever it was. It's a pretty healthy combination. Steve is a great putter, gets the ball in the hole and makes important putts, and Tiger is pretty good at it, too. So it's a pretty solid combo. When any two players are playing well, they are going to be tough to beat, and it doesn't matter who they are. But those two, in particular, are pretty tough when they are playing their best golf. Q. So it wasn't that they worked well as a team, particularly, just that they were playing well? COREY PAVIN: Well, I think it's a combination of that, too. When you partner up with somebody, usually -- and you win your matches, there's some good chemistry there. But you do have to play. You have to perform. Just because there is good chemistry doesn't mean you're going to win your match. You have to perform and make your putts and you have to hit good shots. Q. This is probably the only event in golf where the negative gets emphasised; where people cheer for a missed putt, as, you know, everything else is good sportsmanship in all of the other events. Are American golfers prepared for what they may face out there? Some of them know, and I just wonder, will you explain that this will be a different situation to the rookies? COREY PAVIN: The rookies will be prepared because we've talked about it. But I don't see a situation happening out there that the people will applaud for bad shots or missed putts. The way it's happened the last few Ryder Cups, and being over at The K Club in '06, there's a nice pause if an American misses a putt or hits a bad shot. There's a nice, polite pause before there's applause. And I think that's the way it should be. So I've seen that a lot. You know, there might be a comment here and there that somebody makes, but it's few and far between, and I think the fans out there are very respectful of both sides, and I expect the same to happen here. Q. It's pretty well established that you and many of your team are committed Christians. I wonder if you will have the usual faith this week in your leadership role and will you get the guys together who are committed Christians and that's part of your preparation? COREY PAVIN: To me it's a personal issue to me and it's my personal preference, and each player on the team has their own deal. It has nothing to do with the team this week. We are just going out there as Team USA and playing golf. Q. As a follow-up, there was conjecture before today as to what sort of reception Tiger would receive here and what sort of mood he would bring to the course; so far, the welcome has been very warm and he seems relaxed. Is that a source of some relief to you that it's worked out so far that way? COREY PAVIN: I really didn't expect anything different. The British Open, or I should say The Open Championship, he was very well received, and I didn't expect anything different here. I think it's fine. Q. Several of your guys have been playing a lot of golf here the last several weeks going back to late July, and while in some circles, it's viewed as being good that they are sharp, I'm wondering if you're concerned about guys running out of gas this week at all and are doing anything to try to be careful about that. COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I'm not worried about it at all. I think having a week off before THE TOUR Championship was very helpful, and I've talked to the guys probably for the last month, to talk to them about planning their weeks and their energy level. And we have talked about it even for this week to kind of be aware of their emotions and what they are feeling out there and not to try to over practise the next couple of days, especially after flying over. We all have little bit of jet-lag today, for sure. I really don't want them to practise a lot today. I want them to go out and see the golf course and do some chipping and putting and relax, and they can do a little more work tomorrow and the next day. I'm going to give them the option to play 9 or 18 on Thursday, as well. It's all about being ready on Friday; it's not about being ready on Tuesday or Wednesday. Q. Another question, the reaction of the fans. Two years ago in downtown Louisville, Paul Azinger at a pep rally said that you can cheer on missed putts and in the Official Programme here, Monty has asked the fans to be respectful. Do you think it's right that he's gone out of his way to ask for respect? COREY PAVIN: I wasn't in Louisville, and I never really heard anything negative about the way the fans behaved there, so I think the last large group of years, for The Ryder Cup, I think the away fans, or the home fans have been respectful of the golfers. You know, I know Colin very well, and that's certainly what he would say and it's what I would say if we were over in the United States, as well. So it's the right thing to do. Q. What's Tiger's relationship with the wives and girlfriends off the course? Is he getting any of the cold shoulder and have you told the ladies to pretend to be nice to him (laughter). COREY PAVIN: Everything's fine. Team room's great. I didn't talk to anybody about anything like that. It's not necessary. Q. A few of the Europeans, and in particular, Rory McIlroy have been quite vocal about want to go play Tiger, saying he's probably more vulnerable; is there a part of you that actually likes hear that because it's probably going to motivate Tiger all that more? COREY PAVIN: Anything that motivates players is great. You don't need a lot of motivation on The Ryder Cup. If the players take it as motivation and use it in a positive way, it's great. Q. Colin said yesterday that he was not going to trick up the course. You've had a look at it today. Have you found anything to surprise you? COREY PAVIN: No, I think what he said yesterday is what's out there. The rough is thick. It's hard to get out of, but the fairways are the same widths as they were for the Wales Open when I played a year and a half ago. It's set up very fairly. It's going to reward good play, and shots that are off the fairway in this rough, you're going to be penalised. It kind of reminds me a lot of maybe the way the PGA is set up a little bit, the PGA Championship. It's very fair. How you play is what you're going to get out of it. Q. America has not won in Europe since 1993. Are you going to break this hoo-doo? COREY PAVIN: I would like to break that and take the Cup home with us. That's what we are here for. It has been a long time. I like Team USA and I think Europe's got a very strong team, as well. It's really just going to come down to who makes the putts and at the right times. Q. Is that a concern at all, though, that it's been so long, psychologically? COREY PAVIN: You know, I think the guys that have played the last group of years, there's a lot of new blood on our team. Like I said, I think we have a lot of aggressive, positive players and they are just going to go out and play. I don't think they look at the history books in that regard. I want to have them look at it as a challenge and go out there and try to win for the first time in 17 years. Q. You had lots of captains that you were playing for in the past; who had the biggest influence on you, and what did they say or do that made an impact and has stayed with you? COREY PAVIN: You know, I played for three captains and they were three different types of guys. They brought something different to the table, all three of them. Captain Stockton was very meticulous in detail, and besides him going to USC, other than that, he was a pretty good guy, since I went to UCLA. (Laughter). But I talked to Dave quite a bit in the last two years. He's a great guy and has a lot of good advice. Tom Watson was my second captain over here at The Belfry, and he was kind of a lower-key type captain. And obviously very competitive. I actually just spoke with Tom right before we got on the plane, I spoke with him for a little while. And Lanny was captain No. 3 for me. You know, I was playing very well in '95, and he called me up a couple of weeks before and he said, "Just make sure you're in shape to play five matches, because you're going to play five matches." And I never forgot that. Even though I felt pretty good about my game, him just giving me that confidence that I was going to play, and he wanted me to play that much, is something that I'll always remember with Lanny, as well. Q. What's going to be your DNA when this is finished, what sort of captain will you be? COREY PAVIN: You'll have to ask the players. They will be in later (chuckling). Q. Can you just explain the nature of the practise this morning? Have the guys been playing matches against each other? Have you been switching pairings or anything like that? COREY PAVIN: You know, I just put them in groups together, and whatever they do, I think there's a few games out there. I'm sure that Phil and his group are playing some kind of a match, because I don't think Phil can play a practise round without having a little wager out there. I don't know what the other guys are doing. I know those guys are. You can talk to them. I'm not sure if any of them are coming in later. But whatever they want to do. I'm not really about structure. I just want them to go out and play and do whatever they need to do for themselves to be ready to prepare on Friday. I can't tell them what to do. They know what to do. Q. So you sent them out as fours, rather than two twos, if you see what I mean -- COREY PAVIN: I think they are in foursomes out there. Q. Paul Azinger described your team as the longest-hitting team in Ryder Cup history. Does length off the tee, is that an advantage over a course like this? COREY PAVIN: Well, if you hit it long and straight it is. It's always an advantage to hit it longer, if you keep the ball in play. So you just have to know when to use the strength and the distance and when to hold it back. And I think these guys are pretty smart players and they will figure it out. That's why they are playing the practise rounds now, to decide what holes might be 3-woods or irons off the tee and what holes they can be more aggressive. Q. Do you have an example of something that was said or written about you that gave you extra motivation? COREY PAVIN: I can't really think of anything off the top of my head. I was always pretty motivated when I played in Ryder Cups. I don't know if anything could have motivated me anymore when I was playing. But you know, as I said, I always enjoyed the competition. It wasn't a be-all and end-all for me, but it was a very important competition to represent the United States and to play the best golf I could, and as long as I did that, and I felt like I did everything that I could do, then I had a good week. Q. The story you told about Lanny Watkins calling you up, did you do that to anybody? COREY PAVIN: That would be giving something away now. I'll tell you afterwards. You know, it's funny how I think the perception is that guys that are playing great or playing well don't need to be talked to. They need encouragement, as well. And that's what I learned from that from Lanny is that no matter how well you're playing, no matter how confident you are, when someone still gives you a compliment that you respect like that, like I respect Lanny, it meant a lot to me and it stuck with me at that time. I had won the U.S. Open and I had had a pretty good year and things were going nicely, and that still gave me a boost. So you can never be short on compliments to the players on the team, and I've always remembered that. I'm certainly using it this week. GORDON SIMPSON: Okay, Corey, thank you very much for today. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|