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IRISH OPEN PRESENTED BY DISCOVER IRELAND

July 29, 2011

Simon Wakefield

KILLARNEY, IRELAND

Q. What's been the secret to success so far?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Obviously just been consistent and sort of keeping it on the fairway and trying to hole as many putts as possible. It's a beautiful course. It's nice to be here, and the weather has been friendly to us and it's been -- the last couple of days have been very good.

Q. Tell us about playing conditions, seems calm, but the pins are tucked away, is what the boys on the course are saying.
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Not too bad. I didn't have too many problems. Luckily I was in-between clubs a few times but luckily the right numbers. This afternoon, it's warmed up and it's playing good out there.

Q. Your season so far, you've made more cuts than you've missed but you haven't that big cheque to really get yourself up the rankings any sense that one week it could happen?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Yes, absolutely. The last five or six weeks has been really good. Feel like I'm swinging it well and just not making as many putts as would I like, but I feel a good week is around the corner.

Q. 163rd in The Race to Dubai at the moment; obviously you need to make 115 to actually keep your license for next year; is that in the back of your mind?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Not at all. I'm happy the way I'm playing and that will look after itself at the end of the day. I don't look at The Race to Dubai and just keep playing golf week-to-week. And if at the end of the year it's enough, it's enough.
I played well yesterday, just didn't drive it particularly well until the last three or four holes. Just felt today, I got off to a pretty good start. I didn't hit a particularly good tee shot at the first, but I missed one green yesterday and I think probably two or three today. Felt like my irons were good, and the numbers were nice to the flags and I didn't have to start trying to work the ball in to get a bit more distance. Just everything was just in front of me.

Q. And the numbers are nice today in terms of that scoreboard.
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Yeah, obviously on the 1th tee, I wasn't going left in the water and spun out of it a bit but a thick bit of rough on the right side, and it did me a favour because the 5-wood was a perfect shot in for me. It was playing 220, and I knew that that would clear the water. But I thought the bunker is a better place and missed it down the right and found a nice lie and hit a lovely chip to about 18 inches, so I was pleased.

Q. Presumably more went right than any semblance of being wrong at all today.
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Yeah, a couple of times the wind switched and the ball came out a little bit soft out of the semi and caught us out a few times, but the majority found the middle of the club which is nice.

Q. First time in a long time to see your name up there.
SIMON WAKEFIELD: I know. That was the good thing for me, as well, certainly to come down the last and see my name up there and think, well, okay, you've got a good weekend ahead of you.
And you know, I've felt like I played particularly good all year. You know, obviously the Tour School win in November, December last year is going to help me in good stead this week. I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing.

Q. Has that been frustrating knowing that the game is okay but you've just not racked up the scores?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: I think so. Obviously winning Tour School is a great achievement personally. It doesn't really get you anything other than your personal achievement. But you know, it carries a name tag, and I just want to live up to that.
And I've been on Tour for so many years now, and I feel that my game's good enough to be out here and I've just got to prove it. The last six weeks, not making the results I've wanted, probably making too many silly mistakes and certainly this week I've not made any at all.

Q. Presumably the knowledge of not being out here --
SIMON WAKEFIELD: That was the frustrating thing in 2009 when I was particularly well. I knew that alls it takes is one good week, and every guy knows one good week, you finish top three and you've got your card and that's what it is.
The fact that you've got -- you've not got to chase that week; you've just got to let it come. I'm not saying this is my week this week but second at the moment is in a great position, and I'm hopefully going to take advantage of that over the weekend.

Q. 11,2, 13 --
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Yeah, 11 was -- I didn't hit a particularly good drive off 11. I got fortunate really. I hit a nice 5-wood into the left side, just off the green, and an okay chip. Nothing special. Made a good putt there.
12 was a good number, 5-iron, came out just short of the green and stopped there and played a good chip there and got up-and-down.
13 was a good drive and a beautiful 5-wood to 15, 20 feet and just missed. But I think I've worn that 5-wood out today.
To be honest, as you look at it, I think 13 would be a natural par 5, obviously hence the par being 71. So I think that would be a normal par 5. I can see them obviously changing it to make it a little bit tougher. But the green doesn't warrant a sort of long iron or a fairway wood into that green. It's quite a narrow green, but to be honest it's a very, very good, strong hole and probably comes at the right time of the round when you have sort of two easy-ish holes following that.
Yeah, those three are important, key holes.

Q. What were the health issues?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: I had pleurisy in 2009. I think it started about July, August. I had irritable bowel syndrome, which is obviously not nice, and then my wife and myself -- to be honest, that was coming back from Scandinavia funny enough with the physio boys and I felt a bit prickly on the plane and got home and was in absolute agony, and had to go into to actually go into A and E. My mum took me up because my wife, he we got back very late and I didn't go home. I stayed at my parents and I was in that much agony. I went to the accident room, emergency room, and stayed in overnight, and obviously medications cured that.

Q. Diagnosis of it?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: That's what they said. And then my wife and myself got swine flu sort of late August time, middle of August time, luckily the kids didn't get it and obviously all of the coughing and sputtering and all that led to my infection of the right lung, and it was that bad.
I went to see Roger, the Tour doctor, and he recommended I don't play. And you guys know what I'm like, I'm playing probably 35 events a year.
So I took the next two weeks off and then suddenly you sit at home watching the guys playing and you think, you know what, I'm getting bored here. There's only so much Jeremy Kyle show I can watch on the Monday morning, and he's one of my best friends. I just thought, you know, what I'm going to go out and play. I probably shouldn't have played. I probably should have listened to him. It didn't get any better, and my lung was swollen that much into my ribs, I could hardly swing.

Q. How long were you infected for?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Through Tour School. I had to withdraw from Tour School. And I probably got it fit about the January, February time, because I got a couple of invites to South Africa. But I was still not well. So it was probably end of January, February time.

Q. And then Birkdale.
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Really, funnily enough, if I go back to a point in my career where I would say things started to unravel, it was Birkdale, because I never played well after that. I played great leading up to it, and from then onwards, I had a couple of decent results, a good one in Austria, but never was the same. I know how Van de Velde must feel because I still wake up now and think: If I had not lost that ball left ... ifs, what's.

Q. You made 10?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: I made 8 on the 17th. I lost my ball, found my ball and then lost it. But you know, it's all what ifs and buts and whatever, but if I had finished, par, par, I'd finished fifth. I would have been in the top hundred and got me into the PGA and probably got me into a few other things, and the confidence, would have got me into The Open the following year.
And I think it started to eat away at me, because it was always annoying but to be honest -- if you hit a bad shot and you get penalised, so it be. But it wasn't a bad shot. That's the thing; it was down the left, the marshals found it, went to watch Norman, Harrington play 16, came back and they couldn't find it. That was the frustrating thing. That was the annoying thing, and obviously to play down the last and walk off finishing 1th -- you give me 19th beginning of the week I probably would have taken it.

Q. But you found it.
SIMON WAKEFIELD: To be honest, I think I offered a thousand pounds to anybody that could find it. And all of the crowds started to come in, and because the grass was so high, everybody started moving their feet and covered it and we just never found it.
Funny enough, I got into the car, because my wife was over with my in-laws, and my father-in-law took my wife's car and Denise came with me because I thought, I don't want the kids with me because I'm not in the best frame of mind.
Took us 40 minutes to get out of the car park and some stupid policeman wouldn't let us out. I got on the road and the phone rings. Plus one, American, Robby William. Fantastic; nice to see you, give us a thought. My dad knows his dad or whatever and obviously we are from the same area.
So that was always nice. We went on holiday the week after and the holiday was nice, but you know, it was just playing -- it was always eating me. And I haven't played an Open since, and I think it's out of my system now. I'm getting back to where I felt like I was, my game was there, and you know, it's getting pretty good to be honest.

Q. How did you know Jeremy Kyle?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: The guys that used to sponsor me for BMW, one of his friends used to be the guy who gave me a car. I did a golf day once and obviously I saw his name on the list, and quite excited to meet him obviously.

Q. You've played Pro-Ams with him?
SIMON WAKEFIELD: Yeah. And suddenly he comes out of his 7-series limo and comes up and gives me a hug and says, "I'm a massive fan of yours." Completely surreal. We have been very good friends last two three years.

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