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COMMERCIALBANK QATAR MASTERS PRESENTED BY DOLPHIN ENERGYFebruary 3, 2012David ProbynDOHA, QATAR Q. David, if you could start by updating us on the current situation? DAVID PROBYN: After conversations with Commercialbank and the event here and television, there was a decision that they adamantly wanted to end the tournament on Sunday night. So taking that into account and the fact that we don't have enough daylight, even if we count to 15 ties, to do 36 in a day here. So that has effectively reduced us, given the amount we've lost already, to 54 holes. So although the wind may recede a little bit before the end of play today, although we don't necessarily expect it, there's actually no point in us even putting the guys out on the golf course this afternoon for one or two hours because there's not been a change of situation in terms of what we can achieve if we have to finish by Sunday night. So we've taken the decision to suspend the play for today, come back tomorrow morning. We're going to restart at 8:45 and that'll allow the groups to tee off fairly close to their originally scheduled time, albeit 24 hours later, which will give us hopefully the best package for the players and television. The wind is still going to be pretty strong when we get up in the morning. The later we go, the less chance it's going to have any impact on us, but we're really not expecting a problem. It's going to be maybe 20 miles an hour maximum tomorrow, which should not be a problem for us. It's just been the gusts over 35 miles an hour today that have led some problems. Q. What consolation is given to the spectators for the winds? DAVID PROBYN: We've not reached a level out there today where we've had infrastructure at risk or boards flying around or that sort of thing. Certainly we've had situations where if the winds got to a point where it does start to impact infrastructure, we would look at that separately, but that's not been the situation so far. Q. In terms of ‑‑ I guess the ball was moving or what was happening out there in terms of conditions? DAVID PROBYN: Yeah, that's right. The ball decided to move on the green when we suspended play at quarter past 9 this morning, which is really the mandate for us to at that point declare play unplayable. And from then on we were waiting on the winds to recede to a point where that's no longer a risk. Unfortunately throughout the day up until even now balls are still moving on the greens, so we've not reached a point where we can put the guys back out. Q. If the winds don't die down tomorrow, what happens? DAVID PROBYN: Yeah. We have to take it day by day, but at this stage the forecast is for the winds to recede now from tomorrow going down through the day tomorrow and being quite relatively calm on Sunday. So what we're saying today with the upper winds being sort of 45, we're not seeing any of that in the forecast for the weekend, so we're really not anticipating a problem from now on. With the restrictions we have at this time of year we've gone beyond the point where we can achieve 72 before Sunday night. So that's driven that decision. Q. And yet it's always European policy to try to do 72 holes. There's no persuading them? DAVID PROBYN: Our policy is to do 72 holes within the time allowed. That's really the way the regulation is written. Our time allowed has kind of really been reduced to Sunday night here. If we felt that it was in everyone's interest to push this thing on into Monday, we would do it, but it just doesn't seem to be in anyone's interests as far as the partners of the golf tournament are concerned. Q. Despite the fact that we're in Dubai next week, which is only an hour's flight? DAVID PROBYN: Yes. That's obviously a factor for us to take that into account, and we put that into equation and say it's not one the guys have to travel too far from. But we know finishing a golf tournament on a Monday can be a very poor result for everyone. They obviously suffered today in terms of exposure and crowds, and they're very keen to have things done properly on Sunday in time for television, in time for dignitaries that are hoping to come here on Sunday in fan court. Across the board and taking everything into consideration, that seems to be our best decision. Q. On many occasions you're known to play 36 holes in a day if possible. I take it it's the daylight hours here that forbids that? DAVID PROBYN: It does, yeah. We're probably about an hour short, even if you had the best possible cut at 50 and ties. It's just not achievable on Sunday, and that's the first thing we looked at. Obviously that's what we would have liked to have done, but the daylight hours just don't permit that. Q. Care to explain the strength of those winds and what we can expect from now on as well? DAVID PROBYN: Yeah, today we've been gusting up around 35 miles an hour. That's just been too much. Even though we didn't cut the greens between yesterday and today, it's just ‑‑ the balls have started moving on the greens, which is also an indicator for we've gone beyond. The forecast now is that the winds will ease through the night tonight. They could still be in the 20, 25‑mile‑an‑hour zone in the morning and gradually reduce through the day. 15 years here I've seen us come off the golf course only twice, and we know we can play generally through 20, 25 miles an hour when we do the right things on the green, so I don't really see an issue tomorrow. The winds are significantly down on the forecast from today. Q. I gather today there were even some players that wanted to carry on, because clearly it depends how you're playing out there at the time. Some wanted to come off much earlier. DAVID PROBYN: That's always the way, and also it depends where you are on the golf course when the winds get up.  You could be in a situation where you're not feeling as much as the other guy, and in those situations guys do see things differently. If it's not happening to them, if the ball's not moving for them and they've been out there, they may feel they want to carry on. But we did have issues with TV not wanting to put guys up in cranes and towers, and all those things come into effect that the bottom line for us was at that time the balls were starting to move, and that we felt was quite enough. Q. And with Saturday particularly in mind, is it very much a case that you don't want to go too early because the winds might still be strong as well as be fair to the guys that have already got up early on the second day, in a sense? DAVID PROBYN: There's a little bit of everything there. Absolutely the later we leave it, the wind will die as much as possible. Certainly we are considerate of the needs of forecasters and everyone from the media perspective, and with the time set for tomorrow, it will work better if we're a little bit later tomorrow. And also from the event perspective, they don't want play to be finished too early tomorrow and impact on their corporate side of things as well. Q. Can I just ask you, can you confirm, the scores that they made today will carry on tomorrow, so they will complete their second rounds tomorrow, not start again? DAVID PROBYN: Absolutely. That's correct. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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