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THE RYDER CUP

September 28, 2010

Hunter Mahan

NEWPORT, WALES

GORDON SIMPSON: Thanks very much for joining us. Is this your first visit to Wales?
HUNTER MAHAN: It is.

Q. What are your impressions of being with this team this time around and this golf course?
HUNTER MAHAN: It's a good golf course. It's in perfect shape this week. It's a great match-play course. A lot can happen on every hole, so it's going to be interesting. Seems like you have to really play every hole out, because of all of the hazards everywhere. You know, so many run-offs in the water and creeks and everything. You know, the hole is really not over until it's over, so you have to be patient with that.
Great team, fun team. We have had a great time the last, you know, just in the past two days, so it's been a lot of fun.
GORDON SIMPSON: What was your overriding memory in the last Ryder Cup.
HUNTER MAHAN: Oh, boy, a ton of memories. I just remember how close everybody got and how together everybody got, and we were so focussed on winning The Ryder Cup, because it's become, you know, Europe has played very well the last 15, 20 years.
So it was really imperative for us to get off to a good start and use the crowd and use the hometown advantage we had and try to bring it back.

Q. Just as a guy that's now made Cup teams both ways on merit, and as a pick, everybody talks about maybe the captain's picks need to validate their selection, there's a couple of guys this week, maybe Tiger, Harrington in that scenario; did you feel any of that?
HUNTER MAHAN: Personally, I did. You want to play well and you want to let everybody know you weren't, you know, a bad pick.
But after you -- I mean after you get there, you realise how hard it is to make the team and just to be part of the team is just a great feeling. As soon as you get here, making it on your own, you realise you're just one of 12, no matter if you're at home, you're a pick and you're one of 12 and you're just as important as everybody else.
So I think you kind of forget that when you're here. But maybe it's your first time, really, deep down, you want to prove something to everybody and yourself and the captain and your teammates and especially, I remember my first time with Nicklaus being the captain, you know, you really wanted to do something special for him.
I definitely put everything I had in every shot, and I did a little too much. But learned a lot from that experience, and it's just, you know, once you get inside the ropes, you're just like everyone else trying to get a point for your team.

Q. You seem like a guy who gets along with most of the other guys on the team. Are there players that you have specifically requested to play with and others that you don't really want to play with?
HUNTER MAHAN: If there's someone I don't want to play with, it's usually because their game is so different than mine that it just doesn't make sense. Bubba would be a good example, we just have totally different games; it just wouldn't make sense to.
But I think this team is pretty interchangeable. He can though out a ton of scenarios and a ton of teams out there and that's what's probably difficult for Corey because he has so many options. I think we have all been pretty vocal on what we think would work for us and what would be a good pairing and try to go on past histories and past successes and try to go from there.
It's tough for Corey to make up a team is pretty difficult.

Q. Can you talk about the course a little bit? Do you think tentatively it favours some type of player with others?
HUNTER MAHAN: I mean, the rough is extremely thick off the fairways, so you can't just blast it anywhere or you'll be playing from the rough all day. You've got to put the ball in play. In match play, it's always good keep the pressure on the opponents and keep the ball in play and on the greens.
The par 5s, they are pretty tough to get to. Tiger got to a couple of them, but they are pretty hard, you have to bomb it out there, and sometimes the fairways are so narrow and there's water or something. So any match-play course, you've got to put the ball in the fairway and on the greens. You just can't spray it everywhere out here.
But, you know, I feel like the greens are going to become British Open speed and so you have to be aggressive, but it's a fun course to play. Like I said, I don't think a course that you're really out of the hole until it's really over. You have just don't know what can happen, so as a team we just have to stay in it, stay in every hole and just fight.

Q. Being a rookie, in a way, can you just describe your emotions and what it's like on your first tee of your first match and what you did or what guys told you to kind of control those and play well?
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, Justin hit the first tee shot and it was alternate-shot, luckily for us, and for me, I think we were either the first or second match out there.
So I learned a lot from The Presidents Cup, because I think I was the first guy off, and you know, I put a lot of overdo pressure on myself to play great and hit every shot stiff. I realised from that, that it's just -- it's still golf. It's still a game. It's still something I've done since I was nine years old. Nothing's changed from last week to this week.
So if I'm going to tell these guys, I would just tell them, have fun, the first shot is going to be fun. These fans are going to be crazy and they are going to be obviously cheering for Europe hard and you should use that, and have fun with it. It's not personal out there. You know, it's not like they really dislike you or anything like that. It's just golf and it's a sporting event.
So I'd say just have fun with it. You know, it's not life or death out there. It's just golf and likely we have all done this before. If it was chess or something like that, I would be sweating. (Laughter).
But we do this all the time. We just have to go out there and have fun. We'll play well if we have fun. If we have a good time, I think we'll have a good chance.

Q. So you played with Tiger today, you've played with him quite a bit over the last few years; where do you see his game? I know he's working a lot with Sean, there's a little bit of a bridge that he's trying to sort of go with the stuff that Sean and get away from some other stuff he was doing. Where do you see his game? And secondly, over the years, people have felt like he's not really into The Ryder Cup, if you can comment on that.
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, I think he's been a great teammate to me. Every time I know all of the events he's been in, three out of four, he's been a great teammate and a great guy to kind of talk to and talk about match play, talk about the swing, talk about whatever. He's been a great partner. He loves -- the guy doesn't like losing. I don't think he likes you guys writing about how bad of a Ryder Cup player he is.
I think he's going to find motivation in this week to kind of get back some of the U.S. fans, and I think he's very, very eager to play well this week. I think there's been some challenges from the other team, so he's definitely taken that head on, I think we all are. I think his game is great right now. I don't think it's going to be a two- or three-year process with the swing or anything like that.
The good thing with Foley, he's very clear in what he wants his players to do. Tiger is an exceptionally hard worker, so I think he's very excited about his game right now, and he's looking forward to playing great this week.

Q. What did you see today when he was playing?
HUNTER MAHAN: A lot of good shots, and they were very, just totally different swing, and just his ball flight was back. When I saw him play well -- when you saw him play well in the early 2000s, his ball flight was just, I mean, just perfect. The wind wouldn't stop it; you could hit it high, hit it low, and I thought his ball flight was back to where he could really control it. He knew what he was doing.

Q. I don't know if this is a Ryder Cup question, per se, and you're one of the only guys who moves between Phil and Tiger and you play with both of them and know them well and you can talk with them about anything, but they seem so different as people. They don't it really get along personally together. Are they that as different as they seem to us and can you understand why they are separate entities, I guess? Do you know where I'm going with that?
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, they couldn't be different.

Q. Personalities, I guess.
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, personalities, completely different. They are totally different. You know, just watching them play, you know, Tiger is very, just, stoic and doesn't really talk much, and I know Phil, he talks to Bones on every shot and they really talk a lot in-depth. Phil, I think the more he talks and chit chats, it calms him down. He likes that.
Yeah, they are just extremely different. You know, I would never expect them to be friends. After meeting them and talking to them and how they go about their business, they are just totally different. It is what it is and they are both going for the same thing usually every year, to be the best player in the world.
Just watch their games and everything, they are just different, and that's okay. Yeah, I've played with both of them, all the time; I like them both. I get different things from both of them when I talk to them and tips and stuff like that.
So, yeah, they are just two different people, and I wouldn't expect them to be friends, just because of what they are aiming for and what they are trying to accomplish and just their personalities are just 180 degrees.

Q. Who is the better ping-pong player?
HUNTER MAHAN: Oohh, I think Tiger has taken him the last couple of years. But like in Phil fashion, he works hard at it and he sees the right people through his game. (Laughter).
But it's fun, when they get together, I always like it when they get together, because they are so different, they can kind of -- to watch them play, it's really interesting, because you can see how much each one wants it.

Q. Is there much talk?
HUNTER MAHAN: Well, Phil talks the whole time. I mean that just doesn't stop. Even when he's sleeping, I don't think; he still talks. (Laughter).
But no, unfortunately Kuchar is the best ping-pong player on the team this year. If you see Phil, don't be afraid to just throw that out there. He may just walk up and leave, I don't know, because it would definitely hurt him.
But yeah, it's good, we are having a good time.
GORDON SIMPSON: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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