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BALLANTINE'S CHAMPIONSHIPApril 28, 2012Bernd WiesbergerICHEON, SOUTH KOREA STEVE TODD: Many thanks for joining us. Second consecutive 65, five‑shot lead, I guess that's what you call a good day at the office. BERND WIESBERGER: I think that's what we call a great day at the office, yeah. It was fun out there. It was nice conditions again like yesterday, and really nice set up for the course. Yeah, I enjoyed myself out there. Made a lot of putts and that was the key to another sort of day, perfect. STEVE TODD: No bogeys on the card. You said to television, you pretty much holed everything today. It must be a nice feeling. BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, I don't know if I've ever gone two bogey‑free 65s in a row ever. So it was great. You know, out there on the greens, I really felt like I saw the lines perfectly today and I putted the ball nicely. Even though I didn't hit it as close as I wished, I felt that I could make a couple of birdies out there. That was the key today. I stayed calm in the beginning, when the first putt dropped, a bit of a relief there, and played nicely from there. STEVE TODD: You won a couple of times on The Challenge Tour, two years ago, and runner‑up twice on The European Tour last year. Are you feeling more comfortable in this position and looking forward to handling it tomorrow? BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, I think The Challenge Tour, when I had to go back after my year on The European Tour in 2009, I knew where I had to go in order to win tournaments. I was able to do it on The Challenge Tour. I never went into a final round with a five‑shot lead, but I came from behind in Toulouse and two shots was the lead going into the final round in León. Anyways, it feels like I'm getting into position more often, and kind of played well when I was in those positions, and in the last half of the year last year. So, yeah, I don't know, it was a good preparation the last two years, and I hope it pays off tomorrow. Q. The 10th hole has been playing the toughest all week, so do you think after the front nine, was fairly steady today, but the birdie at 10 really got you going for the back nine; five birdies on the back nine was a terrific way to finish. BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, it really kind of jump started the back nine. But it was a little bit less wind than it was maybe the first two rounds; straight into there, so it makes the tee shot kind of narrow, and it slopes to both sides. It was a facial accessible pin today, and I had a fairly easy uphill putt there, not too much break on it. I had a couple of really good putts in a row there, even the one on 11 was not too far away. Obviously 12, 13, 14, I really got it going there. Yeah, it was a good start. I thought that Marcus was going to come chasing a little bit on the back nine, which he did. Yeah, it was important for me to hole that one. Q. Do you think the back nine is the easier scoring nine this week, and if so, that's going to make for a good finish tomorrow, because someone could really have a charge; what do you think? BERND WIESBERGER: I can't really say that it's the easier nine. But if you drive it well off the tee, you've got a lot of wedges in. I hit wedge into 10, into 11, 12, 14 and obviously 18 is playing very short. So you've got a lot of chances, but the key is to get it on the right level of the greens to have kind of a flat putt, which I did really well today. I did well to control my distance today, and I think that is the key. So you need to really have a good‑‑ first of all, hit it well off the tee to get it in position and then to have a chance to attack the pins. Q. So I read somewhere that you hurt yourself while you were skiing, and it sort of maybe affected your golf game, if you could talk about that? BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, that's right. Must have been 2003, and we were on skiing holiday with my parents, and I had one of these short skis and we went down the slope at night and I ran over a ski instructor and I broke my collarbone. But didn't affect my golf, luckily. Just had to take a couple of months off. But fortunately didn't harm my game. Q. So I think No.9 for your second shot, you had to make the second shot in a very narrow place between trees, so I was wondering if your style is originally very aggressive in terms of playing on the field, and also to clarify a lot of confusion, if you could tell us the exact pronunciation of your name. BERND WIESBERGER: Yeah, on No.9, actually I got lucky there. I was in between a couple of trees there, and it could have been closer to the tree and I wouldn't have a swing. I got lucky. I had a really good yardage for my shot. The only problem was the overhanging tree in my line, so I had to kind of draw it over it, not as severe as Bubba Watson at the Masters, but kind of‑‑ a bit of a tricky shot, and in a moment where I was a bit under pressure after a bad tee shot. In general, I feel like I'm a feel player and I can produce shots that I will have to curve the ball a little. Yeah, it was a nice shot but I got a way with it with a good lie. Yeah, I was able to pull it off and have a birdie chance there. Q. So you're from Austria, and I think in Austria and Germany, the favorite, or more popular sports, are skiing, winter sports and soccer, and so I was wondering if you could tell us how you got into golf, and also, who is your role model, especially for the past two, three years during the big tournaments, maybe the Masters or the British Open, maybe somebody left a great impression on you? BERND WIESBERGER: Well, yeah, it's true, in Austria, the biggest sport probably is soccer. But unfortunately we are struggling a little bit there to get the first Champions League win down; hopefully that's coming up soon. And skiing, we are a big skiing nation, and had a couple of great wins this year. When you grow up in Austria, there is a lot of sport, and my parents, they have a sports store, so I kind of could choose whatever I wanted, and I chose soccer and to ski and all kind of sport. There was a golf course built very close to where I live, and my dad was one of the founders there. So kind of took me and my brother when I was six, seven years old, and started from there. My parents now are at the pro shop there, as well, so kind of built up. I did lots of sports until I was 14, 15, but then I decided to play more golf. Yeah, haven't looked back yet. Well, it's tough to say as a professional maybe a role model. There are so many great young guys coming out right now, like McIlroy or Matteo Manassero, Rickie Fowler, Ryo Ishikawa; Noh from Korea. Most of them I've played in amateur days, so that inspires me, as well, to work at my golf game and try to get where they are. It's kind of nice to see where they came from and I was playing with them, as well, and I want to kind of push into that direction where they are right now, as well. Q. So on the No.9 hole when you made the tee shot, it sort of went to the right side, but, despite that, you seemed very calm, so I was wondering if that's how you play your game, you're very calm, no matter what happens. And also, Matteo Manassero, he is also like that, very calm, so is he maybe someone that you might look up to? BERND WIESBERGER: You know, when you play well, there's no need to be upset. But sometimes I can be quite hard on myself, and expressed that, as well. But I'm trying to calm myself down and, yeah, today, I just had a lot of fun and I felt like I don't have to get too angry with shots that did not work out perfectly. Normally, you know, I'm a bit more of an emotional player, but today I was very calm, and yesterday, as well. And obviously on the first day, you had to be really calm and relaxed and patient. So maybe it's something in the food over here that makes me relax a bit more. Yeah, normally I'm a bit more outgoing on the course. Q. You talked about the food and maybe something about the food makes you relax; can you tell us some of the Korean dishes or food? BERND WIESBERGER: Unfortunately I cannot. It's my first time in Korea this week, but I cannot say any local dishes unfortunately. It's tough with the language barrier, but yeah, we get taken care of very well at Konjiam Resort and the food is great. Yeah, maybe it's something in the buffet there. STEVE TODD: We hope you enjoy your meal tonight. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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