|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SONY OPEN IN HAWAIIJanuary 16, 2011Mark WilsonHONOLULU, HAWAII DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome the 2011 Sony Open in Hawai'i champion Mark Wilson. I know that's got to sound good. It was quite a long day but you got the job done today with a bogey-free 3-under 67, good for the win. With the win, of course, it gets you right off to a great start of the '11 season. You pick up 500 FedExCup points right out of the gate. Just a few comments on the day, the week and how it feels to be the '11 champion. MARK WILSON: It's a relief, I guess, to get it in. It was probably helpful that we played 36 holes and never stopped. Just got a good -- off to a good start on Friday, the first round, and then just kind of stumbled a little bit but birdied my last four holes. In the third round I birdied three of my last four, got a great break on the last hole. If I think back to the week that's really what I did; I putted well and I took advantage of good breaks. Even like the 8th hole today I thought I hit a pretty good drive down the left side, hit a tree and kicked back in the hazard. I felt like it was a bad break but it could have been out of the hazard so it was sort of a good break. Also made par there. So really just took advantage of those things, never got down. Even on 17 I wasn't stressing that I missed the green there and rolled in that par putt, which was very crucial to be able to play 18 a little bit easier, especially when Marino's putt didn't roll in. It's an honor, yeah. Sony is a great sponsor, and this is one of my favorite courses of the year. It doesn't really favor longer hitters in my opinion or the shorter hitters; you've got to hit it straight, deep rough, and I'm just thrilled to be the champion. It's the first time my wife has been with me, too, for the win, so it was neat to see her run on the green on the last hole. Q. Did you realize you didn't make a bogey over the last 40 holes? MARK WILSON: I didn't realize that. I thought about that on 17 before I hit the putt, I haven't made a bogey all day, so why start now. It entered my mind, but when I was over the putt I didn't think about it. That's one of those neat stats to have. I don't have too many bogey-free rounds in my career, so it's pretty cool to have two in the same day. Q. (No microphone.) MARK WILSON: Yeah, we had six minutes, and so I had -- I always pack a chicken sandwich for every round so I had one in the locker, had to get another dozen balls, so I figured in six minutes, I could run to the locker, get that stuff and run to the first tee, and I made it with two minutes to spare. I felt like the packing time you have in high school; you've got four minutes to get to the next class. That's kind of what it felt like. Made a great save on that hole to start things out, got a -- ball just came up a little short and then I had to grip down on almost to the club head on my chip shot, got that up-and-down and that kind of settled me down, and then just played great. I think if you guys heard, I didn't really look at the leaderboard all day, I just kind of knew what a good score was and I kind of knew that I had to be near the top because the cameras don't really follow me unless I'm near the top and they were following me, so I thought that was a good sign. So I kind of just kept plugging along, picking smart targets. 14 felt like a pin I could get close to and I hit a great shot in there. 15, even though I had a wedge, I was a little tentative with that one, pulled it over to the left. Took a short club on 16 just to make sure I got it in the middle of the green and two-putted. I just played really smart. I had a great grade point average in college but I don't always play golf smart, so I was really proud of myself for playing smart this week. Q. Talk about going to Augusta for the first time. MARK WILSON: Believe me, I looked at the fine print on that one and made sure. I thought it was a calendar year when they first announced it, and I was really excited, but no, it was from Masters to Masters so I didn't get in. When I won Mayakoba and all my friends thought I was in, but opposite events don't get you in. Everyone keeps asking, how can you get in, how can you get in. And I'm thrilled to put that on the schedule now. But I'm surely right now focused on enjoying the heck out of this week. Q. Talk about playing 36 holes this early in the season. MARK WILSON: I worked out pretty hard with my trainer in December and November just the short off-season we had, and I didn't really feel tired in any way and didn't make any swings down the stretch that felt like they were tired swings. So I guess it helped me. If you're going to play 36 holes on any golf course, this is a good one to do it on because it's pretty flat, all the holes are close together. So I think everyone got around okay today. Q. What do you do for cardio in Chicago this time of year? MARK WILSON: You know, treadmill. Indoor stuff. Q. And your trainer's name? MARK WILSON: Corey Puyear. He's a Titleist Performance Institute certified guy, and those guys out of TPI in Carlsbad really helped me out last November. I owe a lot to those guys. They really helped me. I always thought I was a great practicer, but they gave me some neat ideas, a short game thing, and I really just been focusing on my wedges this year 100 yards and in, just spending a lot of time and not caring about hitting drivers on the range and stuff like that. You wouldn't see it. The chip shot I hit on 10 was pretty pathetic, but those are the shots I've been practicing a lot, the 50-, 60-, 40-yard kind of pitches and getting them up-and-down. It helped me in Disney last year, but yeah, short game was good this week around the greens, too. Q. Did you get a look at all at Marino's last -- MARK WILSON: I saw the ball walking off, and I thought, okay, eagle is going to be pretty tough for him to make. I saw that shot in the air, and it was one incredible shot. I know Steve has played well here before and I had a recollection of him making a four-footer for birdie on the last hole to have a good finish on a similar line, so I'm like, he's got the read. When he first hit it, it looked like it was going to miss left by a lot, but then it worked its way back there and it looked -- it was never going to go in, but I was definitely paying attention. But in my mind you have to say he's going to make it. I was ready to make that five-footer. Thankfully I didn't have to make it. Q. (No microphone.) MARK WILSON: I've just been reading. That was one of the things TPI helped me out with a lot, reading greens, and one of the members here, Terry O'Toole, talked to me a little bit about the grain and everything, and I just always kind of remember how it kind of goes to the ocean, and so a putt like 16 I had today, even though it looks like it's uphill, it's actually going towards the ocean so it's a little down grain, a little quicker. So my thought process was really good on each putt and hence my speed was good. Q. Do you think that people really understand three wins in a short time span is quite an accomplishment? Do people understand that accomplishment of playing out there every day? MARK WILSON: You know, I don't think they do. From what I've learned over the years is the more you succeed out here, the more people expect of you. I'm going to enjoy this like crazy. Last time at Mayakoba I enjoyed it, I just soaked it in, went to the Honda the next week and shot a pair of 75s and missed the cut, but I was still the happiest guy missing the cut. I'm not one of the top-tier guys that goes out there like Tiger and wins the PGA and then he's -- Akron, and then he's ready for the PGA next week or whatever. I mean, I let these soak in. Now, with that being said, I'd certainly want to play just as well every time I tee it up, but I'm not going to be complacent. But I'm very grateful for the three wins and all the other great finishes out on TOUR that I've had. Yeah, I don't think people really realize it, but I'm just grateful for each one as they come. Q. Why was your wife at home for the others? MARK WILSON: Let's see, the first one -- I've already forgotten. I think we'd been on the road for a long time. She was pregnant and then she went home for a week. She came out the very next week and we got to celebrate. Mayakoba, I think the same thing, we had a long West Coast, it was time for her to go home. I think I arrived at Mayakoba Tuesday night, so it was one of those things. So it was nice to have her here this week. Q. Was it a good decision? MARK WILSON: A little complex for her, so we're glad that's over. And then the boys weren't here, so I've got two boys, two sons, and I'm just -- I guess now I can -- I see other guys have the little kids run out on the green and give them a hug, so that's the next goal. Obviously that's the next goal, to have everybody here. That would be cool. Q. Were you really coming into the year thinking about a win? MARK WILSON: A little bit. You know, I mean, last year I played my best tournament of the year just to get in the Top 125 even though I didn't necessarily need it. I didn't want to put myself in that same position because even though I was proud of myself how I finished, I was like, what if that was really to finish 125 and exempt status for the following year. I didn't want to put myself in that position. I feel confident about myself, but I really didn't want to put myself in that position, so it's neat to get off to this great start, and certainly I wasn't thinking about that as I was playing today. But it's something that can creep in your mind as early as say June or July. Q. (Inaudible.) MARK WILSON: Your last tournament pretty much, yeah. Q. Are you surprised nobody went really, really low? MARK WILSON: Actually, yeah, I was. I played solid, but I still made some mistakes and didn't start out in the lead, either, so I was kind of surprised there weren't any lower scores. Q. With the rain and everything else, how did you feel the start of this tournament was for you? MARK WILSON: You know, I was more excited about this year than any other. I was really excited to get going and really happy I had an early time on Thursday so that -- well, it ended up being Friday. We had all that time to wait. I was really happy that I could get up, the alarm was set for 5:30 but it didn't even go off. I was ready to go at 5:15. I was really excited about the year and I got paired with my fellow UNC alum Davis Love and that was a neat pairing, and we just had a great time out there. Q. When is the last time you only had a few minutes to have a sandwich between rounds? MARK WILSON: It was probably in college. We did a lot of those 36-hole things. We didn't stop. But yeah, it was probably then. Q. Did you wake up before your alarm again this morning? MARK WILSON: I think the alarm went off at 6:00, and it went off. It would have woke me up. I had a good night's sleep, and my goal this week was not just worry about anything because it's wasted energy to worry. See what happens. Just let the day play out, see what happens, and use the energy to find a solution for each golf shot was my goal, and I think I did a really good job of that and hence I was able to sleep good at night, too, not thinking about what might happen today. If I was going to shoot a pair of 75s or 65s I was going to have a good result and I had a good start to the year. Q. Have you been to Augusta? MARK WILSON: Yeah, I was there, 14 years old the first time my dad and I went there in a practice round and we were following Freddie Couples around there when he was a young kid, so that was 1989, I think. I've been back there a couple times when I was on the mini-Tours, snuck over there. We always had a Hooters event nearby, so I did get some tickets from a friend. I haven't been there in -- and didn't want to go back. I think I was there in 2001. I didn't want to go back until I was playing in the tournament. You know, I'm anxious to play. Maybe a little scared about the length, though, from what I've heard. Some of the shorter hitters talk about how it's kind of eliminated them from the field, like I hear Tom Watson talk about it. But I'm going to go in there with -- I get goosebumps thinking about it to be honest with you. Part of me feels like I don't belong, so I'm going to have to get over that hurdle and be ready to play that week. Q. Why does part of you feel that way? MARK WILSON: Just because I've never been there. It's going to be a new experience. I've never made the cut in a major. I feel like that's the next step for me. I always think that the next step is playing well in majors and the next step after that is being part of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams. I feel like I'm ready to make that step, and this is a good start to it. Q. Talking about the shorter courses, do you look at the schedule every year and basically look at the ones that give you a chance to -- MARK WILSON: A little bit. There's some courses I've never made the cut on so I don't bother going there anymore since I have the luxury of picking my schedule. When I was a Q-school guy I didn't have that luxury. I had to play wherever I got in. But I've played well on some long courses, which doesn't make sense. Deutsche Bank, TPC Boston is considered a bomber's course and I've played very well there. And Cog Hill, I was leading after two rounds last year, maybe two years ago, so you just -- yeah, I look at the schedule and it's more if I haven't played well in a tournament. And usually those are the big courses that I skip. Q. (No microphone.) MARK WILSON: I know, I was thinking about that. I missed the Playoffs last year so I'm already in that. That's exciting. Q. And Maui next year? MARK WILSON: I forgot all about that. That's great. That's a great start to the year, do two weeks over here. Happy that Sony is going on again until 2014, so it's a great start of the year. Got it planned already. Q. You're bringing your wife? MARK WILSON: You bet, and the kids. Hopefully they'll be running out on the green to give me a big hug. 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
|