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THE HERITAGEApril 20, 2011Mark WilsonHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA April 20, 2011 An Interview With: MARK WILSON JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome mark Wilson into the interview room at the Heritage. Mark, a tremendous season so far, you're the current FedExCup leader, two wins early in the year, tell us about the ride you've been on this year. MARK WILSON: Yeah, it started out quick with wins in Hawaii, Phoenix. I had a good week at Bay Hill, and my first Masters was an unmemorable week; I missed the cut, had a tough first day. It's been a great ride and thankful to be in the position I'm in with the reminder of the season to go. JOHN BUSH: With two wins, will you start putting pressure on yourself? MARK WILSON: I think the opposite, I can kind of freewheel for the rest of the year. I've got those under my belt, and no reason not to keep going. JOHN BUSH: Fifth start at the Heritage, talk about this golf course and tournament. MARK WILSON: This is one of my favorite. This one, Muirfield Village and Quail Hollow come to mind. My son was born the weekend before last year, so I withdrew. It was sad to miss it, but for a good reason. The full family is with me this week. My son turned one on Monday last week, we're all here enjoying Hilton Head Island, which is a great place. And Harbour Town Golf Course is one of my favorites. Q. What is it about this course that enables players of all different styles to compete? You can be a long hitter, short hitter or whatever, and compete here, what is it about it? MARK WILSON: I think it's just you have to shape the ball a lot. You can hit good drives in the fairway and have to shape your ball. Length is always a nice asset, wherever you play. It's always nice to drive it as far as you can. There's a hole like 15, the par-5, where you can drive it down 330 but it's a tough second shot to the par-5 in two. Most of the time you drive it way down, and have a clear shot to the green. There's holes like that that play with you and entice the long hitters to go for it when you probably shouldn't. And maybe that helps out on some of the more -- average-length hitters like myself. Q. When a Tour event is in need of a sponsor like this one is, do Tour players actually speak about some of these events and vocally talk about, we need to go make sure we support it, if it's one that they feel that is in need of support? MARK WILSON: You mean like maybe in terms of playing it or something? Q. Yeah. MARK WILSON: This one is a special case, where you have no sponsor, but, I mean, a lot of players want to play it anyway. Here you look at the field and it's a great field. It's always easy to go from Augusta to here, we have a week off in between. It's still a great field. It's been the talk of the Tour for the last year. It's a surprise, I think, from all the players going -- this is a great place to want to entertain. I know it's a little tight and they're trying to figure out interesting ways to entertain clients for a sponsor, maybe it's over there in the harbor. That's a good party over there by the lighthouse. Something like that, think of new ways, creative ways to make it attractive for a sponsor. They're always going to have a great field. That's where we'll start and hopefully something will come through here. Q. You mentioned that the wins early kind of let you maybe freewheel a little bit, is that always a good thing? Are you doing exactly what you would have done if you had no wins at this point, as far as practice, workouts, that kind of thing? MARK WILSON: Yeah, more so, actually. Whatever worked at the beginning of the year I'm trying to mimic it. I felt like I worked out harder than ever in December, and that just means that at the end of 2011 I have to do the same thing. So I'm not looking forward to the summer of 2011, because I know I'm going to be in the gym hurting my body. I'm doing the same stuff. I guess I've been impressed with my attitude. You look at my results, and say what's different? I feel like I'm doing the same stuff. I really don't feel content out there at all. Where in the past if I had a win in the year I feel -- you always want to play well, but I don't have that same drive. I don't know if it's because I'm chasing some new goals. Probably all the major championships I have a chance at my first International Team, you know, at the top of the FedEx list, a chance to win that. I think all of that is motivating me more so. So obviously different goals than when I started the season out. I wanted to start the season out and keep my card and all of a sudden I had to change those things. It's a welcome change. Q. If you could be top 5 in the field in something this week, what's the one thing you want to be sure you do? MARK WILSON: Putting. Every week putting. Q. Even on the smaller greens, it kind of evens it out putting-wise? MARK WILSON: I'm still the person that makes the putts inside ten feet. I can't remember a time that I've ever missed a cut putting well. But I can remember plenty of times, Augusta comes to mind, where I hit the ball well for two days and I missed the cuts because I putted poorly. The greens tricked me. I would put myself putting every week on Tour. If you ask me the next category, I would definitely think driving accuracy, getting the ball in the fairway and being able to attack these pins instead of coming in from those pine trees. Q. I've got a couple of questions about THE PLAYERS Championship. MARK WILSON: Okay. Q. The last three holes there, on that course, what makes those holes so difficult? MARK WILSON: I think 16 right there is an example, the par-5, where if you hit a decent drive everyone in the field is going to have a number where they should be able to reach the green. So it makes you want to have a chance at an eagle. And then 17, the wind just swirling. It shouldn't be that difficult of a shot, around 140-, 150-yard shot, but with the firm green it kind of has shrunk the green in half, because you can't fly it to the top tier and expect it to stop. And then also the wind can turn it around on that. And then 18, obviously, I mean, you know, I aim over there kind of just inside the trees and try to turn it, I've hit drives straight at my target, and then you've got the tough shot. It's hard to challenge the water, too. The cool thing about that finish is you can make birdies, but you can also make some big numbers. Q. When you're walking from that 16th green over to the 17th tee, what are you thinking? MARK WILSON: I think it starts before that. I try to, as you come around the corner, after you hit the second shot on 16, you can watch players on 17 green. And I want to see as many shots as I can beforehand and even putts or whatever. I'm always watching what's going on. If you see a pattern, two guys hit over the green in the water, you say oh, maybe the wind is tricky. I'm always paying attention to what's going on in front of me. It's a long walk. It's a neat walk. The fans are there. They've created a really cool stadium atmosphere there. JOHN BUSH: Play well this week. MARK WILSON: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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