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OMEGA MISSION HILLS WORLD CUPNovember 25, 2011Richard GreenBrendan JonesHAINAN ISLAND, CHINA CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome our second‑round leaders, Team Australia, Richard Green and Brendan Jones here to the interview room here at the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup. If you could each take a moment to talk about the round, and I know that it's a difficult format today, but you guys must be pretty happy to be tied atop when all is said and done. RICHARD GREEN: Yeah, absolutely. We spoke about our strategy last night, and in foursomes, especially, we decided that anything under par in this form is going to do all right. So a 70 today achieved that goal I guess. A little bit of a shame to have finished with a bogey, but you know, it's a very difficult finish to this golf course and a very demanding hole, 18. Hopefully we can work that out for the weekend and not do that on Sunday. BRENDAN JONES: Look, it's a very stressful game. It's very difficult, because it's very hard to get any sort of rhythm in your golf swing in your game, because you might go four or five holes without hitting a driver. You might go a few holes without having a putt. So it's a very‑‑ it feels like a very stop/start game. Look, we handled it very well early. I think Richard here was a much stronger player today. I missed a few short putts out there. I hit a few poor shots which might have cost us a couple of shots. Overall, as Richard said, 2‑under par out there, we are still pretty happy we shot that sort of score, and we are still tied for the lead now. But it's still nice to be in that position. Q. The bogey on 18, do you see it as opportunity missed to have the lead going into the third day, or is it a lesson learned with two more days to go? BRENDAN JONES: Look, it's a very difficult hole to finish. It wasn't just 18. We bogeyed 15, as well, and you know, we struggled for pars on 16 and 17. So it was a bit of an ugly sort of finish for us, and we probably let a couple of shots slip. The important thing for us is that we are still at the top, and you know, everybody is chasing us and we are chasing Ireland now. So you know, we can't win the tournament today, but we sure could have fallen back in the field. So, you know, just to be in the position we're in, we've got to take the positives out of that, and I think tomorrow, we'll get out, and both of us get some rhythm back in our game and play a more attacking game. It's all about limiting your errors in this game, and I think we pretty much did that. A couple of times we slipped up, but that's just the way it is. Q. Have you two played much with team Ireland, Graeme McDowell or Rory McIlroy? Is there going to be pressure, because they caught up today. RICHARD GREEN: I've played with both Rory and Graeme over the years. Rory is young, he's only been out the last few years but I've played a fair bit of golf with them and friendly with both of them. Rory is definitely in the hot seat in the game of golf at the moment, so he's definitely one to watch. You know, we'll go out there and play our game, and I don't think there will be any added pressure. Q. Can you two both talk a little bit about the golf course, Blackstone, compared to other golf courses you've played in Japan or Europe? BRENDAN JONES:  Yeah, look, it's very open for a start. The thing that you notice here, there's not a lot of rough. It's very generous off the tees, but in this format today, the fairways looked a lot narrower. But, you know, it's generous. Obviously it needs to be like that because it gets very, very windy here. But you know, I'm sure the greens, they are not in the most perfect condition that they could be, but the course is fantastic. The layout is very good, good short holes, a couple of good long holes. The par3s get your attention. So it's a good test. And you know, the 13th hole, 690 yards, I've never played a par 5 that long. But it's a fun course to play. There's a lot of birdies in the four‑ball format, not so many in foursomes. RICHARD GREEN: Yeah, I also like it a lot. I think it's nice to see a golf course for a change that the rough isn't the hazard. The bunkers out here are hazards, and this golf course allows you to play it. It allows you to hit a good drive off the tee and the challenge is to strategically position yourself in the right part of the fairway so you can get the best approach to the green. You know, we don't play a lot of golf courses in Europe, or I don't play a lot of golf courses in Europe, that are open like this and allow you to play golf from the tee and set up your hole and your angles as well as this course does. We play on golf courses in Europe that are wet, long and a lot of rough, and the rough is the hazard and the bunkers aren't, which I don't agree how it should be. But this is very good. Q. Richard, you're playing on The European Tour and Brendan, you are playing mostly on the Japanese Tour. Playing on different tours, does that make it a little bit difficult for to you play in the foursome today compared to the four‑ball? RICHARD GREEN: No, I don't think so. I think foursomes is just a dead‑set difficult game to play for everybody. I think playing in this format with a friend and somebody that you get along with very well and have a lot of respect for their game, that's the way to play this game very well. You know, I think we have got that between us, and you know, we'll carry that through the weekend and hopefully play just as well on the weekend and on Sunday. Q. And who is more or less like the captain of the team? Who does the final say? RICHARD GREEN: (Smiling, pointing to Brendan). BRENDAN JONES: Well, in 2008, Richard was the captain but I've taken it upon myself to be captain this year. Look, we've played together in this format before, so it's not new to us. The idea is not to get upset with the other person. You know, Richard could have easily got upset today with some of the shots that I hit and some of the putts that I missed. But, you know, we both know that we are trying our best and we are not trying to miss putts and we are not trying to get it in the wrong spot. So it's just a tough game. There's a lot of stress and you don't want to hit poor shots for your partner. So it's a difficult game for everybody, but, you know, he's a good guy and he doesn't kick a man when he's down. (Laughing). Q. You guys, apart from the fact that Richard is a really nice guy, I notice that there's two teams with left‑ and right‑handed players on the board right up at the top. Firstly, what's the advantages of that and disadvantages, if there are any. RICHARD GREEN: Good question. I don't think there is. Brendan is a lot longer than I am. I'm probably more of an average‑length hitter. In the four‑ball format, I can really allow Brendan to be aggressive and play a power game around this golf course, and I can be solid and make sure that I'm always backing him up and having the occasional opportunity for birdie. You know, I think that we have got that going for us. Obviously in the four‑ball format, or the foursomes format, you have to be careful a little bit which tees he hits off and things like that. But left‑handed, right‑handed, I don't‑‑ there's a couple of holes that I like that are maybe a little bit better for me than they are for a right‑hander, but over the 18 holes, it evens itself out. BRENDAN JONES: Yeah, but just the wind, too. We both sort of draw the ball, and so you know, we have tried to work it out which holes we all feel comfortable on, and especially in the four‑ball, but you know, there's holes that Richard can take advantage of or he can access a pin better than I can and there's holes that I can access that he might find it a little bit harder. But that's really all. I think both teams, I think it's the New Zealand team you're talking about, they have had a pretty solid week. You know, hopefully by the end of it, we are just a couple of shots ahead of them for a start. But I don't think there's an advantage or a disadvantage. CHRIS REIMER: Gentlemen, thank you for coming in today, and good luck this weekend. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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