|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPMay 6, 2012D.A. PointsCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA JOEL SCHUCHMANN: D.A. Points, thanks for joining us here at the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship. Maybe we'll start with some brief opening comments and go straight into questions of the. D.A. POINTS: I lost in a playoff. I played really well. Really all week. The first day I shot 6‑under and didn't really feel like I made very many putts and the second day I shot 4‑under and had a couple good things happen. The last two days I hit it really nice and was a little bit tentative with the putter. Now, these aren't the easiest greens we play all year, so it's‑‑ I don't feel that bad about it because these greens are really difficult and it's hard to be too aggressive on these greens. But I will say that I think the gentleman told me I went like 40 holes without making a bogey, so obviously I was doing a lot right. Q. I guess people are going to want to know about the approach shot on the 18th since you're one up with one to go. What was your yardage what was your lie and what happened? D.A. POINTS: Yeah, the wind was whipping around a little bit, but I had 100‑‑ I think 165 to the front off a downhill lie out of the rough, and generally speaking I hit an 8‑iron 165 yards, so I was just trying to hit that right up the middle of the green and land it right on the front fringe and hope it kind of bounced up there. And the ball was on a severe downhill lie, and I just slid a little bit ahead of it, got ahead of it, and it went out to the right. And then it got a little bit of an unfortunate break. It hit on the corner of the bunker and shot to the back. I was hoping that I was going to be a little bit more on an up slope and be able to hit a higher, softer shot. Instead, I kind of had to try and hit something low and try to run it down there, which obviously didn't work very well. Yeah, it wasn't my best swing, but it was also not that easy of a shot. Q. The interaction you had with the fans all week, is that typical for you, and when you saluted everyone afterwards, does it feel like more of a connection this week than normal? D.A. POINTS: I definitely do, I feel like more of a connection, the amount of people and everybody rooting and high fiving and giving me knuckles and everything, definitely more of a connection. I pretty much say thank you to the crowd after every round on Sunday that I finish on 18. Sometimes when I finish on 9 and there's like three people I don't really bother (laughter), but on 18 when there's somebody there, I try to say thank you, and obviously the crowds were spectacular. You know, yeah, I like giving people high fives and talking to everybody. A lot of times there's just not that many people there when I'm playing, so it was nice to have some people to talk to. Q. You all hit three really good tee shots on 18 in the playoff. That pin didn't look particularly easy. Talk about Rickie's shot in there. D.A. POINTS: To give you some perspective, I had 148 yards to the hole, and the wind is supposed to be‑‑ all day it's been north northeast, so that should have been in and off the right. And I was trying to fly it 142 yards, and I normally hit a pitching wedge around 135 yards. Well, I know that I'm obviously going to be a little juiced up, and I was going to try to turn it in there. My pitching wedge flew 158 yards, and it's because the wind flipped around and went the other direction. And same with Rory's. That's why Rory's went so far by. And Rickie, he and his caddie picked a good club. They picked a club that was either going to go there or it might go in the creek. And you know what, to hit that shot, that was the kind of club he needed to pick. I actually kind of thought I was picking that club, that I was going to have to just smoke draw a pitching wedge to get it anywhere near that hole, and I did that, and it turns out I hit it 14, 15 yards too far. But the shot he hit was spectacular. Q. You've always been terrific about the perspective questions. I'm just wondering if you could comment about Rickie kind of getting off the snide because he's been obviously a focal point out here and under a little duress for not getting the job done. D.A. POINTS: It's wonderful for the game of golf. I'm so happy for Rickie. I'm so happy for golf and the PGA TOUR, because he is honest to goodness a good kid, and I really like being around him. He's got tremendous talent. He deserves all the pub and he certainly deserves this win. Q. How difficult is it to refocus after 18 and go into a playoff? D.A. POINTS: Not too bad. You know, I've been in a few Playoffs on the Nationwide Tour and in my life, and it's actually kind of a, oh, okay. The way I was joking with Steve Rintoul, I knew I was not going to finish worse than tied for second, and I have a great opportunity to win. And so to me when I look at it that way, all the pressure is off and I can go ahead and swing free, and that‑‑ in normal play we probably wouldn't all be firing at that flag but now we know we've got no reason not to, we might as well go ahead and try to do something spectacular, and if we do it, great, if not, oh, well. Q. How would you assess your ball‑striking this week? D.A. POINTS: Yeah, as good as it's been, gosh, in a very long time, since probably 2009 maybe. I had a stretch there for a while from the Honda on for a while where I hit it really good. But yeah, I started working with Kevin Smeltz, a Leadbetter guy at the end of last year, and he got me back hitting a cut, which this guy sets up like garbage for a guy who cuts it, but I at least know which way it's going. That's half the battle for us out here, hitting it straight with a little bleed is what I like to see, and that's what I was doing really well this week. Q. How will you look back upon this weekend, as one that got away or a step forward? D.A. POINTS: Oh, a step forward. I mean, I was never like, woohoo, this is so easy and this is super comfortable. I've won once. I think my other best finish out here has been a third. I would love to say I'm relatively seasoned. I've been playing out here for a while. But I haven't really been in the second to last group all that many times going into Sunday. You know, Rory is, what, the one or two best player in the world. This probably isn't that big of a deal for him because he's been there enough. You know, for Rickie and I both, we were both, I think, a little nervous the whole time, and Rickie's round today was great. You know, it just gives me a little more comfort so maybe next week when I'm in the same situation, I'll be able to handle it just a little bit better than I did this week, not that I hit it all that poorly, but maybe a little bit more comfortable. Q. Just your perspective on Rory today, he seemed a little down, disappointed. D.A. POINTS: Rory was? Q. Yeah. D.A. POINTS: I mean, yeah. I mean, I guess. He's great. I mean, he's a really good player, he seems like a nice kid. We had a good time. He had a couple loose shots, but you know, it happens. I don't think he‑‑ I don't think he could feel that bad about a 70 out there today. I mean, it's a hard golf course. The greens were concrete. I mean, it's not a pitch‑and‑putt, so I think he played fine. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you, D.A. Points. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|