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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPFebruary 23, 2011J.B. HolmesMARANA, ARIZONA DOUG MILNE: We would like to welcome J.B. Holmes after a quite successful first day here. Last alternate in. You obviously made the most of it. Just a few comments on the match. J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, so I was just happy to get in and got in late last night and got up in and played well. Started out pretty good. Parred the first hole, hit a good putt, almost made birdie. Birdied the next hole. Got up two pretty quick. Then Camilo fell back. Kind of back and forth. I don't think we halved a whole lot of holes there. Q. Can you just run through exactly where you were when you got the word that you were in? Where you were and what you had to do to get here? J.B. HOLMES: Yes, I was sitting in my house. I was talking to my buddy. He was going to come over today and hang out. My agent called me and said hey, you are in. Start working on getting me a flight. I hadn't unpacked yet from back from LA. I went and repacked and got the flight from -- the flight was supposed to be at 4:40. I know I wasn't going to get here in time to practice without any lights. Went back and went to the airport, got to the airport and found out that my flight was delayed and that it was an hour. That was going to make me miss my connection. So then I had to wait and sit in the airport for basically three or four hours. Supposed to leave at 7:00. Ended up leaving at 7:40. Got to Dallas at 9:10, 9:20. Got on a plane in Dallas around 10:00. Flew in. I think I landed here at 11:40, 11:45. I got in the bed at one o'clock. Q. What airport were you leaving from and when did you get the call from your agent? J.B. HOLMES: I got the call from my agent at 11:00. I left from the Orlando airport, went to Dallas and then here. Q. What time did you get up? J.B. HOLMES: 5:30. Q. And you had never seen this golf course before? J.B. HOLMES: Never seen it. Q. Played the last two holes -- J.B. HOLMES: I played the last holes. Hopefully I don't have to play them this week. Yeah, I went ahead and played 'em just to see them. Q. I know that you guys are used to keeping training hours as golfers. To field four hours of sleep, what was that like waking up today? J.B. HOLMES: I felt all right, actually. I woke up and didn't feel too bad. I went out and knew it wasn't going to be an all day thing. I knew I could take a nap. I'm kind of hitting a wall now. I'm pretty tired now. You get adrenaline going just being excited. The last two-hour holes I was pretty tired playing. Didn't hit that many good shots. Q. In a strange way, the way you got in, maybe take a little pressure off of you, did you feel like this was a free roll of the dice for you? J.B. HOLMES: I was beginning to feel like that, if I got in anyways. I was the first alternate. I would have like to have gotten here and got some sleep. I was just happy to be in. It was much better than sitting at home for sure. I was just happy to be here. I was just hoping I could get in. I had been playing well and felt like I could do well here. Q. What happened on No. 9? J.B. HOLMES: Nobody saw them. There was a flag in. Nobody, anywhere. I mean, Camilo, his caddie, my caddie didn't see him -- it looked like there was nobody up there for a long time. From the point that we could see the green, until we got to our shot, got our yardages, I was over at -- somebody drove across the fairway, I backed off -- I got back on it again, never once saw anybody. So whenever they get done, I want to apologize to them for sure. But never once -- didn't even know they were up there until the ball was in peak. The crowd started clapping and I was like what? I didn't see them. There was eight people in the fairway and nobody saw them. Q. Of the holes you did play today, what do you think of the course? J.B. HOLMES: The greens are different. It's a golf course that you would like to have seen before. There is some spots you want to be and some spots you don't want to be. Luckily today, I didn't hit it in too many spots you didn't want to be. I hit it in a couple. The greens are different. There's a lot of little bitty quadrants on them. All in all it's a pretty good course, there. They can put some difficult pins out there if they want to. Q. Can you talk about -- you've looked good in match play before. It seems like you like desert golf. Are those true and if so why? J.B. HOLMES: I never really played desert golf until I got on Tour. I don't know, maybe just because of the adjustment of the yardages. It's not exact. It's a little bit more feel. I think I need to hit this. I'm pretty good at that. A couple of times I clubbed down today, I was hitting on a par 5, I don't know what hole it was, like 13 or 14, like 201. We talked about a 7 and I just told my caddie I think it's an 8. Then I hit an 8 and I flew right on to the flag. If I had hit a 7 it might have went over the green. I just feel like in the percentage the ball is traveling a little bit farther, a little bit shorter. I'm usually pretty good at just feeling it. Q. Was there a turning point or a key hole in your match today? J.B. HOLMES: I felt like 9 and 10. I mean, Camilo missed a three or four-footer on nine. It was sliding pretty good. Then on ten, I hit a good drive, I hit a good wedge shot in there, actually missed a birdie putt and that put me up two and then it was kind of back and forth all day though. He birdied the next hole and was down one. The next hole the par-3 hit it in the bunker and didn't get it up-and-down. Probably the par 5, 13. Kind of been going back and forth and then two up can disappear pretty quickly. When I eagled that hole it put me up three. That put it in a good spot where I just had to focus on making some pars and stuff. Q. How long was that putt? J.B. HOLMES: I don't know, 12, 15 feet, something like that. Q. Do you think you lucked out in playing the morning even though you were very tired rather than having to battle the wind coming in this afternoon? J.B. HOLMES: I don't think that really matters. In a stroke play event it would matter because the morning tee times don't have to play in the wind and afternoon tee times are scored, but since you are playing the guy you are with, he is playing the same conditions you are, the scores might be higher. You are still playing the same golf course. It was still blowing out there. You know, it wasn't too many cross wind. If you get the cross winds out here I think it makes it harder. For the most part it felt like it was kind of down or into you. So that made it a little bit easier. If it was stroke play it would be an advantage to play in the morning. Which ten guy you are playing is playing the same conditions, it is not as big of a deal. Q. While we were waiting outside, one of the TV people said that you hit a 400-yard drive today what hole was that? J.B. HOLMES: It was probably 13. It like was 356 to the bunker out there, I think I flew it. I hit it really good. I looked at my caddie and I said I killed that. I don't think how long that hole is but I had driver 8-iron to about -- I hit it 15 feet past the hole. Q. And you made it, too? J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, and I made it. Q. Did you even have time to check the pairings before you get out there? J.B. HOLMES: Yeah. Q. Look at the draw and like to see who you might -- J.B. HOLMES: No. No use in doing that. If you don't get past the first one it don't really matter. I knew I was playing Camilo. I think throughout the day I figured out it would be Geoff or Ernie. Passed that, I don't know who is in the bracket, to be honest with you. DOUG MILNE: We appreciate your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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