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HUMANA CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONJanuary 22, 2012Robert GarrigusLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA DAVE SENKO: Robert, thanks for joining us, 22‑under for the tournament. Maybe just talk a little about your day. You had a good look at 18 there for the eagle and. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah. The 5‑iron I hit a little high on the face. If I would have hit that on the button, I would have hit it to about two feet. I don't know where it landed, but I'm pretty sure it landed in the rough just short and bounced up there. That's the only way it could have got there. But, yeah, I had a good look at it. I hit it hard because I‑‑ that's the only thing about the long putter that I was struggling with a little bit was speed, so made sure I got it there and I just hit it a little too hard. It just went right by the hole, and if it hit the center, it might have gone in, I don't know. But it was a great week, after being 6‑over standing on that fairway on Thursday, I think I beat everybody. So I'm pretty happy about the way things turned out. Q. Dave how long was that putt at 18? ROBERT GARRIGUS: It was probably‑‑ the eagle putt was probably about 35 or 40 feet, I think. The birdie putt was 10 feet. I hit it pretty far by it. It was a little down slope and it took it past the hole. But I had that putt right where I wanted, I just couldn't see the break. It looked like it was breaking left and I kind of looked at it from when I hit it, it went back by the hole and kind of went that way and it didn't do that coming back. So I'm really pleased with the way I played today. I held it together and it was a heck of a lot of fun. Mark's a good guy, Zach's good guy, we had a blast out there today. It was a lot of fun. Q. Did you feel like you were racing the darkness and how dark did it feel at the end? ROBERT GARRIGUS: We really couldn't see much. I could barely pick up the flag on 18, and, yeah, we were kind of getting going, and then we get to 18, and we're sitting there and waiting. We're like, Well, I'm making eagle, so looks like we might go into a playoff, and that was my thinking. And I thought, Well, can I do it tomorrow? I wasn't even supposed to be there. We were supposed to be on the beach in San Diego today watching football or something. My caddie kept telling me that all day. He's like, Man, we should be on the beach, what the hell are we doing out here? So he just kept me loose all day. It was a lot of fun. We had a great day and it got pretty dark though. I wish I could have read that putt a little better. Q. You referenced a rookie start to the tournament, then you came back with an eventual 61 in the third round and then you're on the 72nd green putting for the lead. Maybe talk a bit more about the tournament's ups and downs as whole for you. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah, my caddie said to me, We're probably‑‑ his name is Brandt Henley, his brother Kip caddies for Brian Gay, and he's been out here for a while. He caddied for Woody Austin forever and ever. So I thought it would have been pretty funny if he would have fell in the water on 17, he almost did, but... No, he told me in the 18th fairway when I was 6‑over, he says, Well, we're probably not going to win the tournament, but let's do something. And I looked at him and I'm like, You know how many birdies and eagles I could make from here on out? And he's like, 30? And I was like, Yeah, I think that's a good number. And I made birdie on 18, then I made a birdie and a birdie and an eagle and made a bogey and then birdied ‑‑ it was just crazy how the week went because he's like, That was probably the best tournament I've ever seen in my entire life. Just because of the what we are thinking of on the 18th fairway on Thursday to what I was thinking of on the 18th fairway today, I'm like, Can you believe we actually have a shot to win this thing if I make this eagle putt? It was just, it was exciting and that's what we live for. And I got a lot of guts, and I don't like to lay down very easily. So it was a blast. We had so much fun this week, and especially the 61. It could have been 54. I was making everything and anything that didn't go in just hit the lip. It was a blast. I'll never forget it. Q. Given the way you were putting in that round and then today, even with the diminishing light were you thinking this 28‑footer, I can make this, absolutely, was it looking ‑‑ the hole looking bigger to you than maybe it normally would? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah, and I wish it wasn't such a tough putt because if I had a flat look at it, it would have touched the hole at least. I had to go up over a four‑foot ridge and then it dove down and went to the left and then went back to the right. It broke four or five times, and it was uphill and downhill then back up and then back down. It was pretty much the toughest putt on the golf course, and I still thought I could make it. That's why I switched to the belly putter. I got a lot of confidence with it. I'm very happy with the way I putted with it. I rushed that stroke on 17. That was really a bad stroke. I didn't slow down and I didn't, if I would have stroked it slow it would have went in. And that's just one of those things. I'm really confident with that thing right now and I'm pretty excited about the year. Q. Can you talk about the difference on that last big putt of how much fun it is to be in that position, the challenge and the pressure. ROBERT GARRIGUS: The challenge is what we live for and the pressure is why we work out and why we practice and all that stuff. That means so much to be able to handle all the pressure. I did miss that putt, I did 3‑putt, but I wasn't lagging it. And that's my mentality. I'm sure the other two guys were very happy that I didn't lag it up there. That was probably a difference of about $190,000, but you know, whatever. It's golf, I get to play it for a living and I'm very blessed and I'm very happy to have a support system. Family's been awesome to me and it's just, it's so much fun to be a professional golfer. Chris Di Marco said about me that I probably enjoy being out here more than anybody, and I really do. And it's awesome and I live for it every week. It's just a gamble every week how we're going to play and it's also a lot of fun. Q. That was a long day. You had five holes to play before you could even start your fourth round. When you started the five holes this morning were you out of the 59 mode and thinking about what was going to happen? ROBERT GARRIGUS: No, no way. I was locked in as soon as I woke up at 5:45. I'm like I've got a chance to shoot a 59, I never had a chance to shoot 59 on TOUR, and I was ready to go. Q. Nobody's ever shot 59 on two days. ROBERT GARRIGUS: No, but... Q. That would have been a first. ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah, that would have been and lot of fun. I was pretty locked in this morning. I was ready, I worked out at 5:55 or 6 o'clock or so. I worked out in the morning with my trainer, did some stretching and got to it and made the 25‑footer right out of the gate. I was like, Here we go. And I left another one hanging on the lip, made the next one, and then hit it in the water and hit a great shot to get to about 30 feet, and I'm sitting there looking at it like I can make this thing. And I just hammered it through the break and made a good par coming back. And then the last hole, I was trying to make it for 59, and my caddy's like, You better hit this at the flag. I hit it right at the flag, but it came up short. And it was a lot of fun. You don't get that many chances to do that out here. Hopefully I get a couple more. That would be nice. Q. Could you just take me through a little bit the evolution of how you got to the belly putter, why you did it and what you think it's doing for you? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Well, it's really all about my coach Jim Ahern. I would have never in a million years been like, Oh, I think I need to go to a belly putter. He took it out to the putting green and he's like, Hey, try this for a little bit and don't‑‑ he's like, Don't say anything, just putt with it. And I putted with a few different styles, the belly, I tried the chest, and the chest ended up being perfect. It was 46 inches, which is three inches shorter which is kind of fitting, because my other putter was about seven inches shorter than everybody else's. But I started rolling it. I started getting confident with it, and about five or six days before I came out here, I found the perfect grip for my putting stroke, and it took all the tension out of it. Man, I tell you what, I haven't rolled it this good in quite a long time. It just‑‑ it's so easy to take it back and take it through. I hit so many good putts this week, it was the straight putts I always had problems with, I always pulled them, now those are starting right on line and it's just awesome. I'm just very, very excited about the year. Q. Two things, one, can you talk about the fact that you, did you think you had to make that putt to get into a playoff and then, two, you had the right to say, look, I can't see, we need to come back tomorrow, what was your thoughts on that? ROBERT GARRIGUS: We were finishing today. I could see enough. I did think Mark was going to make that putt 100 percent. He had been putting awesome all day and he doesn't really miss those when he gets an opportunity. He's a pretty darned good player. So I was going to finish out. I had a good enough read, I just‑‑ if it was a little bit lighter, I might have been able to see that there wasn't that much break. But I tell you what, I hit it right where I wanted to and that's that. So I didn't want to say, Hey, I can't see, let's come back tomorrow. I think that ‑‑ I don't know. Mark had already won the tournament, but I didn't want to be the only dude to come back out here and putt just to finish solo second. So we're going to be leaving tomorrow anyway, so it's ‑‑ I don't have any regrets about it. Q. Talk about the first playing in this format and this title sponsorship and how it's changed and how it's different than years passed? ROBERT GARRIGUS: Yeah, it's nice that Humana and Bill Clinton stepped up and came, Greg Norman came and Phil came. It's really nice. Like the format with one amateur, especially the same format that it was at Disney and I won that one, so I wish I could just have an amateur play with me all the time, that would be pretty nice. But it's a great format because you're not out there trying to give three guys a tip when you're trying to win a golf tournament, and I think the one amateur is great. There's a lot of people that stepped up and threw some money into this tournament, so it's been awesome. DAVE SENKO: Thanks, Robert. ROBERT GARRIGUS: You got it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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