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SHELL HOUSTON OPENMarch 28, 2012Charl SchwartzelHUMBLE, TEXAS JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Charl Schwartzel into the interview room here at the Shell Houston Open. He's making his fourth start at this event with a T-3 in 2010, his best finish. Charl, I know it's an important time of year for you, big week for you next week. But first things first, talk about being back here in Houston. CHARL SCHWARTZEL: It's always one of my favorite events. Not because it's the week before the Masters, the way they set-up the golf course, it's known to be very good practice for Augusta, but, you know, I just like the golf course as it is, and it's just a bonus that they do set it up, you know, very similar. So, I enjoy it and I've had a good finish here, and I played pretty decent today, so I'm very excited for the next few days. JOHN BUSH: We'll go right into questions. Q. Charl, could you talk about what it would be like going into next week as the champion? KYLE STANLEY: It's exciting. You don't get to do that very often. I went back there for the very first time on Thursday, spent a day there, and it brought back very good memories. And I went and played with my dad and my brother, and I had one of the members accommodate us. We had a fantastic day. On next week, like I said, I'm very excited. It's going to be a big week, and I'm going to try and keep it as normal as possible. Q. How much did winning there change your life? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: A lot. Yeah. It's hard to explain. So many things have happened. You know, my golf game, it's boosted my golf game, made me a better player. You know, it's -- obviously I get to do a lot of this a lot more, you know. And that's all the things that come with it. It's all been positive changes, put it that way. Q. For a lot of players or quite often, someone will win their first Major and then can't get back up and don't play well after that. You said it boosted your golf game. Can you get into how it boosted, how it made you a better player? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I think a lot of people try and change things after winning a big tournament like that. My biggest goal was to remain the same, to do everything I did before, because that's what made me win. You know, I didn't need to change a lot of things, maybe just improve on what I had. I think probably that was the key to me playing consistently. I thought I could play very consistent and I -- it could have gone the other way and got maybe a few more wins. Q. What about the respect that comes with the game when you win a great tournament like that? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: There's a mutual respect between the players. I think they all obviously, you know, the Masters, I would say between the players and I think between everyone, I feel -- I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it's the Major that stands out the most. That's the way I feel about it. I think a lot of guys do. By winning it, you gain a huge amount of respect from everyone. Q. A lot of guys are making little advance scouting trips to Augusta right about now. Did you run into anybody else when were you there? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I saw Adam Scott. I think there was a few guys that went up before I was there, but I think there will be quite a few guys this week, obviously not playing here, would be preparing there. Q. Charl, you know, all the media buildup to the Masters, been a lot on Tiger, lot on Rory, lot on Phil. Not a whole lot on Charl. I talked to a player today, he said that some players use that to motivate themselves, they're not being talked about as the defending champion. Do you use that as motivation for you? Do you think about that or anything? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: It does make a difference. In a way, you feel you're being overlooked and you can work under the radar. All the other guys, they apply a lot of pressure on them, and you can go about your business the way you normally would and catch them off guard. Q. Can you, you know, are you removed from what you did on those last four holes on Sunday, can you just tell us how -- when you look back, what do you think about? Does it still kind of blow your mind a bit that you were able to make history, birdie those last four and remain champion and just come out of that whole thing as -- with a win, or how do you look at it, I guess? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I look at as just a good finish at the right time. Q. Really? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I think a lot is being made of the four birdies, and I mean to be fair, I'm not going to say I made four birdies. I'm not that type of guy. I'm not going to -- I feel that at that stage, I just executed the right golf shots at the right time. I was giving myself opportunities to make those birdies, and, you know, I put it down to, like I said many times, the whole week I felt very, very calm and very within myself, and coming down the stretch, it didn't change. And I think that just allowed me to hit some really good shots and make the putts and lead to exciting finish. Q. Couple of guys have said that the birdie at 17 is maybe the most overlooked birdie; that that was -- that impressed them. CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I think they're all pretty good (laughter). Q. That's just a tough hole to birdie. CHARL SCHWARTZEL: From where I came from, from being in the rough on the right side there with that green being that firm on a Sunday afternoon, it is very, very difficult to hold the green, you know. And I played it to perfection. It pitched a yard onto the green and totally released to the back of the green. Anything pitching long on the green would have gone over the back and probably lead to a bogey. Q. Who are you sharing a locker with at Augusta? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Seve. Q. Charl, when you were here last year, was there anything you saw or felt in your game that gave you an indication of how you might play the next week? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I felt -- you know, I don't know where I finished last year. JOHN BUSH: T-30. CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I felt like I played so much better. I was striking the ball well, and I was very good on Sunday with myself, with my finish, but very confident going into Augusta. I felt like I knew exactly what I was doing with the golf ball. So I gained a lot in that sense, and also I had a lot of problems in 2010 with the speed of the greens at Augusta, and I spent a bit of time before this week, last year working on quick putts, fast putts, and I came and did that all week. These greens get really, really quick, and I was still practicing the putts to prepare for that and felt that that helped me a lot. Q. Charl, Ernie Els said that today he's almost resigned himself to the fact he will his miss his first Masters since '94. How sad will that be from a player's perspective? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I think that would be a loss to a Major Championship to lose -- not losing a player, but he's not going to play of that stature. He's such a world figure. It will be sad not to see him. Q. Charl, some guys like yourself who are here this week, some guys this would be the last place they want to be playing a week before the Major. Can you talk about what you think you get this week as opposed to if you were at Augusta just playing practice rounds every day or were you at home working on the range? What do you feel you're getting by showing up this week? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I think you practice -- you can't practice the confidence you get by playing tournament golf. You can stand on the range and prepare all you want, but I think you gain a lot more when you play tournament golf confidence-wise and also, you know, hitting shots under pressure. You can't simulate shots under pressure hitting balls at home, where, yeah, you can actually gain it, that confidence in hitting some shots under pressure here and going into that week. Q. Do you understand when people have -- when people never play the week before Major? Do you understand? I mean, have you switched the way you think about things like that? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I mean, everyone is different. You know, there's guys that play. Tiger has proved it time and time. He hardly used to play. Every time he came out, he won, just about. For some people, it works. For some, it doesn't. For me, I like to play a week before. That gets me going the second week into it when I play my best. Q. I know this is an exciting time of year for guys anyway, and obviously you have even more excitement because of your personal circumstances. With so many of the elite players seeming to be right on the top of their game as we head into the first Major, does that change the vibe, the atmosphere at all? Does it charge it up even more? Is it any different than other years? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I don't think from a player's perspective, no. For me, it hasn't made any difference to whoever is in top form. Maybe for the viewers and you guys, you know, it makes it more exciting, but from my side of that, each week is different. And you know that when you play -- I know when I play at my best that I can compete with the best. That's what I work towards. I can only do what I do. Q. Has anybody given you any advice about how to handle what's coming next week that really resonates with guys who have been through this? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, not really. Q. You talked about winning a Major and not changing the way you approach the sport and the game. But how has it changed the way you approach life and things that off the course are so different, aside from the helicopter and flying now? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah. I mean -- I don't know how to answer you, to be honest. Q. Do you get a different reaction from people? Like even today, I know on practice rounds, there's not a lot of people out there, but are they saying things to you that they -- CHARL SCHWARTZEL: You have to understand, I played on the European Tour and was pretty successful, won a couple times, and you walk around there and people know you. When I came to America, people know of you, but they don't really know who you were. You could hear people saying, "Who is that?" It's the way it was. After winning a tournament like that at the Masters, all of a sudden overnight everyone knew who you were. It's pretty different. Things change. JOHN BUSH: Anything else? Q. I just wanted to know, are you starting to think about the Champions Dinner and what you'll say? Have you gotten some advice? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Is there a Champions Dinner? (Laughter). Q. Have you gotten any advice about what to say, or have you tweaked your menu or anything? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No. It is on my mind, yeah. It's something that I'm very excited about and yet very nervous. You're going to be around legends and past champions in a room. It will probably be the best evening ever my life, but, you know, not quite sure what to expect. On the menu side of it, I've got it all sorted out. Q. What are you serving again? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Lots of meat (laughter). Q. South African? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, mostly. Whatever we eat back home. Q. Has Ben reached out to you at all? Has Crenshaw reached out to you at all? CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, I've not spoken to him. Q. He's kind of the host. CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I saw that. JOHN BUSH: Charl, we appreciate your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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