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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 5, 2011Martin KaymerAUGUSTA, GEORGIA CLAUDE NIELSEN: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to welcome Martin Kaymer to his fourth Masters Tournament. As you recall last year he was victorious in a playoff for the PGA Championship, one of four victories he collected in 2010. He also finished in the top 10 at the U.S. and British Opens on his way to becoming the No. 1-ranked player in the world in February of this year. Martin, we welcome you back to Augusta, and before we take questions, maybe would you like to say a word or two about your preparation for the Tournament. MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I have prepared a little different than the last two years. I took two weeks off before I came here. The last two years, I played in Houston. But obviously I didn't really play well here, never made the cut. So I needed to change something. So that's why I went with my family, we went to Sage Valley the other day, and played and practiced a little bit, played a few rounds to go. That was nice to have some time off and for us, for three of us, it was nice. We played some golf together. But besides that, obviously it's nice to be back and it can only get better. If you miss the cut three times, then I think it cannot get really worse. Q. How often did you come down here and play while you were at Sage Valley? MARTIN KAYMER: None. Q. Not at all? MARTIN KAYMER: No. Q. Is there any logical explanation for why you haven't done well here? Everybody seems to sort of like the course, and you've been working on a draw to get around the corner and all those things? MARTIN KAYMER: If you don't like that course, I think you have a big problem, you know. The main problem for me was that a lot of people say, and I said it as well, at the beginning, that I struggle with the draw and that is the reason that I didn't play well here. But you can play well if you hit the ball straight. You don't need to draw the ball. But I think my problem was always that I was not sharp enough in my short game. I missed a lot of short putts the last few years. I didn't make a lot of up-and-downs. I only missed the cut by one or two shots always. If I could improve my short game this week, then obviously it's no problem to make the cut. But it has nothing really to do with the draw, what I thought. Obviously you make the golf course a little bit shorter, a little bit easier, but that was my problem the last few years. Q. Making this decision to change, was it missing three cuts in a row or being No. 1 in the world that prompted you to do that or winning the PGA last year? What induced you to make that change? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, if you do bad three years in a row, then you think you need to change something. If you stick to your routine, I think it's only normal that you want to change something if you don't do well. And that was the best thing for me to do to take two weeks off, stay one week in Scottsdale, practice there, and then another week around here to get used to everything and spend some time with the family. Just change things up a little bit. Q. Was it important to you that the top ranking has changed between Lee and then you; was it important for you to be No. 1 for the Masters? MARTIN KAYMER: I wouldn't say it's important, but it's a nice feeling. Obviously after the PGA, I was not really thinking -- of course I now that I was getting close to No. 1, but I was not thinking that it would happen very soon. Obviously my expectations, they were high, but I was not expecting myself to be No. 1 by the Masters in 2011. But after the World Golf Championships event in Arizona when I became No. 1, I thought it would be quite nice to tee it up in Augusta as the No. 1 in the world. So it was not very important, but it's obviously a great feeling. And if Lee would have won last week, I always say that if you play better golf, then you deserve to be No. 1. I think this week, there are five or six players that if they win, they can become the No. 1. So if they do well, then they should be No. 1. Q. Since you've had seven months to reflect on this, what did you learn about yourself mostly from winning the PGA as a player? MARTIN KAYMER: Obviously the biggest part from the PGA is the confidence that you get. If you become one of the best players in the world, if you win tournaments like that, that gives you the motivation and the self-belief that you can win any tournament. Obviously I have struggled here, but still, you know, there's a reason why I am No. 1 in the world. So we'll see what happens this week. Q. The last three times you came here, you were a little more under the radar, a promising young player just trying to learn how to play this course; when you come in here as No. 1, do you feel a little more pressure to try to perform better and live up to that ranking this week? MARTIN KAYMER: No, I think the only difference is that people or more people know about me. (Laughter). I can remember, I think it was my manager, he came up to me two years ago, and he was walking with me up the first hole, and there were a bunch of people next to the first green and they said, "Who is that guy?" And I was ranked sixth in the world but now I'm No. 1 in the world and now maybe they know me. That's the only difference. Q. Along the lines of the PGA, every player looks forward to majors and builds their season around majors; having won the PGA, did that change your outlook on majors to make them more of an attraction? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I approach them a little bit more relaxed. If you have won already, that changes things, but that has not changed my preparation or my -- I don't know, my -- yeah, it has not changed really a lot. Of course everybody who is ranked up in the World Rankings wants to do well in the majors and the World Golf Championships events, because those tournaments give you the most World Ranking points, they are really high. So you prepare a little bit different and you try to schedule around those tournaments. But besides that, nothing really has changed. Q. The group you beat at Whistling Straits, Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson, they are kind of in the same boat as you trying to break through and winning a major; can you assess their games and whether you think they are like and you ready to win? MARTIN KAYMER: I don't know what assess means. Q. Evaluate. MARTIN KAYMER: If I compare to my game? Q. Do you like their chances? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, obviously I think Bubba is the most underrated player. Everybody knows that he hits the ball long. But he is, I think, very, very talented in shaping the ball, any side, right-to-left, left-to-right, and I think that is his biggest strength. Obviously Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, all of those guys, they have a fantastic chance. But my favorite for this week is Luke Donald. The way he played against me in the Match Play, and his short game is unbelievable. So I think obviously he's not the longest, but he's very straight, and his short game is fantastic. So I think he has the best chances. But obviously Bubba, you should always watch out for him, because he's, I think, underrated. Q. What do you think Tiger's chances are then? MARTIN KAYMER: Always good. Any tournament he plays; and obviously he has won here many times, he has won by 15 shots 14 years ago, so you should never forget about him. Q. Can you compare and contrast a little bit between going to a place like Abu Dhabi where you have such great prior results, and a year where you had not made the cut yet, what mind-set is between the two? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, of course the confidence is totally different. If I come to Abu Dhabi, I know what's going to happen. I will play well. I don't know why but I know that. Every hole that I'm standing on the tee box, you know you have made birdie on that hole at one stage. You know where you can miss shots, where you can't miss shots. Here, you have to play -- and I didn't really believe it when I came here the first couple of times, but a lot of people said you had to come here many, many times to see it and get used to it and every time you play you will see something different, and it's true. I wish I would have had time to come here more often in the beginning of the year or later last year to play more rounds in Augusta. That's the only difference; that you know that you have done well somewhere before. And I haven't done well here. But, you know, there's always a first time. Q. You've always had a knack it seems for being cool and composed on Sunday. You've won a lot of the tournaments that you've been in contention for. Is that just a natural personality thing, or is there something churning underneath that calm exterior on a Sunday afternoon? MARTIN KAYMER: No, I don't think so. I just realized that golf is not the most important thing in my life, and all I can do is do my very best on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you realize, like really understand, and not only say it, but understand, that golf is not No. 1; that there are more important things than golf, then I think it calms you down automatically. Q. So much is always said about power being important at Augusta, but it almost sounds like you are saying the short game might be -- if you had one element to need here, is that the one that you consider the most important? MARTIN KAYMER: I think everybody is talking about Augusta, the greens are firm so fast and so difficult, and they are difficult and they are fast. But obviously short game becomes important if you miss greens, and you miss a lot of greens here because you have a lot of sidehill lies, uphills, all of those things when you have to hit certain shots towards the green. On 9, for example, you're standing above the ball and you're set up for a fade but you need -- the perfect shape would be the draw. And once in awhile, if you miss the green, then it becomes difficult. So it's a combination from a lot of things that plays, obviously, that makes the golf course ridiculous difficult. But I just see it as a fantastic challenge. And every time I leave Augusta, I feel like I became a little bit of a better player. If you see it as a challenge and go from there, I think you have to enjoy it and don't get too frustrated. Q. Who do you see as the more dominant player at Augusta, Tiger or Phil? MARTIN KAYMER: I think Phil. Because he's left-handed -- I wish I could play the other way around and I could cut the ball. (Laughter). I think especially after last week, the way he won, he shot I think 16-under on the weekend. So I think he has good chances again. Q. Just to follow up on your response before about golf is not the No. 1 important thing in your life, what are the priorities in your life? What ranks ahead of golf to you? MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, what is important to you? Obviously your family is No. 1, and obviously your private life. And if things that happen in your life that are not so nice, or if you realize that there are more serious things than making triple-bogeys or double-bogeys, then you approach golf a little bit different. Q. In the 80s and 90s the Europeans were a pretty dominant force here at Augusta and conventional wisdom was that this was a major venue that suit that had style of play more than others, particularly U.S. venues. Do you think that's changed or is it a little different now? Is everybody's style more the same? What's different now? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I just think these days, more players have a chance to win a tournament. Maybe in the past, there are only 10, 15, 20 guys who could win the tournament. These days, I don't know, how many is in the field, a hundred? A hundred guys are playing and probably 60, 70 guys have a chance to win the tournament. I don't think it has something to do with where you're coming from, America or Asia or Europe. Q. Do you have any sort of figure in your head as to how many majors you can win in your career? MARTIN KAYMER: No. You know, I won one already. That was important to me. I would like to win the British Open. That would be very nice. That's the only major we have in Europe. That would be nice to win that one. But I don't really have a number. Q. Curious, where specifically would you play differently if you were left-handed or what specifically do you think you would be able to do? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, you know, my normal shape is left-to-right, the fade. And if Mickelson, if he can fade the ball all day long on the golf course, that helps. Instead of hitting the draw, he fades the ball. And obviously the draw is more difficult than the fade. And if I would play the other way around, I can fade it all day. Q. Any specific hole? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, you have No. 10, you have 13, you have 14, you have the second hole, the par 5; No. 5, the par 4, it would be nice to cut the ball in there -- for Mickelson, draw for us. So there are a few holes. Q. Have you spent time with Luke to ask him about how he has got his short game so good? MARTIN KAYMER: I asked him but he didn't answer. (Laughter). Q. What was the question? MARTIN KAYMER: I said, "How did you become so good in short game." He said, "I don't know." I said, "Okay, I understand." (Laughter) I asked him after the Match Play. Actually we played a practice round at Doral again. Q. You played at Champions Retreat this week, too, didn't you? MARTIN KAYMER: Yes. Q. Did people recognize you there? MARTIN KAYMER: A few. Q. You said at Champions Retreat everybody wanted to know what you shot out there? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I lost against my brother and dad but I don't know what the score was. Q. How good of a football player could you have become? I know you played as a kid and you had to make a choice at a certain point? MARTIN KAYMER: When I was 14 or 15 years, I had to choose one sport, golf or soccer. I think I would have become -- I would have become good. I don't know if it you would have seen me in 2006 in Germany playing the World Cup, but I think I would have been decent. Any sport that I approach, I try to become one of the best. That's just my nature. But I think I would have done well. Q. Any particular player inspires you or you are still following? MARTIN KAYMER: You know, I was very impressed by Messi. I think he really deserved to be -- when I was at the Laureus Sports Awards this year in February, I think he deserved to get the Sportsman of the Year award besides Nadal but I was very impressed by him. Q. Will you try to cut the ball? MARTIN KAYMER: I will definitely try. I've practiced it a lot but it's a matter of just standing up and hitting the ball. I know that I can do that. I just need to do it. And I think I did it in the practice round today and yesterday, and it worked out well. So I didn't see a reason why I shouldn't try it on Thursday or the other days. Hopefully at the weekend, too. (Laughter). CLAUDE NIELSEN: Thank you for being with us and good luck in the competition. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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