	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 2011

Mike Harwood

SURREY, ENGLAND

Q. The course is taxing a lot of people. How do you feel about that?
MIKE HARWOOD: At the beginning of the day, 4-under would have been elated. Couple of late bogeys, disappointing. But all in all I didn't play as good as I have been in the last few weeks, or the last couple of months, tee to green. But my short game is good. I just need to do a little work this afternoon on my long game, to get the ball back to where it was.

Q. A little bird told me that you think you're playing the best golf of your life; is that true?
MIKE HARWOOD: Yeah. Not far away from it. My ball-striking was a little bit off compared to what it has been. So that was a little disappointing. A few bad lies, few lies in there a bit. But before this week I was pretty happy the way I'm going. Had a couple of bad days where the putter was bad. But normally it's the other way around.
But putting is good now. I've sorted that out. My long game, it's there; I've just got to work on stuff this afternoon.

Q. You won the European Open back in 1991.
MIKE HARWOOD: A long time.

Q. Do the memories come flooding back?
MIKE HARWOOD: Yes, unbelievable. Some of the things I've done around here, I've birdied the last six holes in the Pro-Am. Pretty sweet week the week after. And I've got some great memories of this place.
So we're thinking about this event since it was announcing it was going to come. So I got some good positive vibes. And I'm trying to feed off them. I'm playing good. I'm getting there. When you have 15 years away from the game there's a bit of baggage you have to clear out of your head.

Q. You were a club pro in between being a main TOUR pro and a Senior pro. Nice to be back?
MIKE HARWOOD: Absolutely. 10 years was a tough -- mainly I was teaching. So I wasn't spending much time in the shop. Teaching. So it was tough. But once you're a player, you're a player.
And I was very fortunate to be in a place for 15 years, all in all positive. Second chance out here, that's just fantastic.

Q. 68, 4-under par. And it's uncanny when a pro comes back to a course like this where he's played well in the past he always seems to do well?
MIKE HARWOOD: We have three days to go to see if that's the case. But, no, it's fantastic. As I was saying, I've got great memories of this place. I've got great vibes. Again I shot 65 the last day, I think it was, in the European Open, to win. And that was, that particular day, I think that was about five weeks after finished second in the British Open.
I remember I was still on the 16th green and I was watching the other guys play down on 14. I looked over and said to my caddie: These guys are dreaming. I was at the pinnacle of my career at that particular moment on that green. And I went on to win by a couple of shots. I've always got that in the back of my mind. There's a lot of good vibes about this place. It's great to be back here.

Q. I suppose you can't underestimate the importance of feeling comfortable on a course, and when you do, it makes you play that much better?
MIKE HARWOOD: Yeah, I do feel comfortable with the course. It does suit me. But two bad shots, it turns it all upside down. But it is a good golf course for me. I enjoy the speed of the greens. They're not super quick but they're nice. And as I said, I've been thinking about coming back here for a long time.
So I've been very focused on just putting in a good, solid performance. I don't have to win. I don't have to finish in the top few, I just want to play solid. I don't want to be, like today, probably the last three or four holes I was walking among the edge of the cliff. I don't like to do that. Hopefully I can sort that out this afternoon.

Q. This is a big week for you guys, isn't it?
MIKE HARWOOD: Every week is a big week for me, when you're coming back from 15 years as a club job. This is a big week. But every week is a big week.
Yes, I'd like to solve that in my spot on the order of merit and push it to the top three or four. This is a good week to do it.

Q. You feel you've got plenty of fuel in the tank for the next three days?
MIKE HARWOOD: I've got plenty of fuel in the tank. That means nothing. You still gotta do it. And I've got the experience to do it.
You just gotta do it and get a couple of lucky bounces and continue doing what I'm doing and keep the head clear and we should be all good.

Q. Take us through the chronology, since you've left the TOUR and then teaching. A little bit of background.
MIKE HARWOOD: I think I pretty much walked away from the European Tour around '95 as a full-time player, I think, roughly.
And then I didn't do much for a couple of years. And then basically got a club job. So where I was teaching, mainly teaching for around eight or nine years.

Q. Which club was that?
MIKE HARWOOD: It was a place called Kingston Links. That was a pretty tough time in my life, when you're doing something that I didn't really want to do. But I wasn't playing any good anyway.
So I had come back out on TOUR and I walked away I think, six or seven -- I wasn't playing any good. It wasn't for me to do it also.

Q. How old were you, do you remember?
MIKE HARWOOD: It was about '95. So would have been about 20 --

Q. 16 years ago. Late 30s?
MIKE HARWOOD: 33, 34.

Q. Pretty young to walk away from the game. Why did you do that?
MIKE HARWOOD: I wasn't doing any good. I wasn't doing as bad as I thought. But I felt I could do -- I felt I probably could make a little more money at home.
But as you find out once you're a golfer, going back into the normal workforce, it ain't that easy. So I got a club job after a couple of years.
So that was fun, but it wasn't what I wanted to do.

Q. And then you came back after the club job, you came back?
MIKE HARWOOD: Yes, basically I walked away from the club job three years ago to start my Seniors Tour.

Q. Had you worked hard at your game during your years as a club pro?
MIKE HARWOOD: No. Nine holes a week, probably 50 balls a day.

Q. How did you get your game back up to this level?
MIKE HARWOOD: A lot of hard work over the last four years.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297