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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 22, 2012Martin KaymerVIRGINIA WATER, ENGLAND PAUL SYMES: Martin, warm welcome as always. This is the Tour's Flagship Event, the sun is shining, youÂ’re a BMW ambassador, you must be looking forward to a great week. MARTIN KAYMER: Obviously this is the biggest tournament that we play on The European Tour. I've done fairly okay in the past. So yeah, the last couple of weeks, I played in America, last week in Spain, only two rounds (smiling). But obviously it's a big event for us. It's a world‑class field, a lot of guys from America came over. It's nice that Luke and Rory, they are here. There are a lot of World Ranking points. So it's a very big week and important week for us. PAUL SYMES: Have you played a practice round yet? MARTIN KAYMER: I played nine holes just before I came in here. PAUL SYMES: And what do you make of the slight tweaks? I don't know you if you played the front or the back nine. MARTIN KAYMER: I played the front. Christian, my caddie, said there are a couple of changes on 17 and 18. So I will find out tomorrow. PAUL SYMES: Ernie earlier was saying that due to the changes, scoring will be lower this year and 15‑under is likely to win it. MARTIN KAYMER: Well, they changed the 12th hole to a par 5 again, and I don't know how 17 and 18 will play. But 18, obviously when you take a bunk era way, if you make it easier, then most likely we can be a little bit more aggressive. 17, I don't know how much it will make of a difference. I just heard that there is rough now, so, I mean, I don't know how it looks like. But the golf course plays fairly firm, and the ball is rolling a lot, even though it was raining here I heard the last few weeks (laughter). I think the golf course is not in great shape; it's okay. It was in better shape the previous years, but I think it has something do with the weather. But it's not a big deal. I think it's in general nice for us to be here, to play the golf course. PAUL SYMES: Disappointing to go out early in the Match Play last week. Did it give you time to work on your game and address things you weren't too happy with? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, in general, I was practising more than playing so far this year. I didn't play a lot of tournaments, but obviously it has a reason. I'm just practising towards a goal, and I think it's pretty normal that you can't play great golf every week. And that's what we talked about earlier, when I went to the Champion's League final, and even the semifinal, if you see those great players failing once in awhile, you know, people have to understand in sport that every athlete is human, as well. You know, when Messi missed the penalty in the semifinal and Robben missed the penalty in the over time, Schweinsteiger missed it the last one. So it was for me important to see that even those guys, you think they are world‑class athletes, even they can fail or miss once in awhile. So it's just a matter of time that I will play great golf again. But everybody goes through a time when it's not ideal. Q. You just said about the Champions League and about the footballers. But is that a newfound thinking of yours, or maybe two years before, did you push yourself really hard if you were not performing that well? MARTIN KAYMER: No, I think the expectations are quite high at the moment for myself. Because I practise so much‑‑ I haven't practised like this the last four or five years really. I've practised a lot. And then you force‑‑ you almost force the success. You think you work so hard for something, why is it not paying off. So I almost was not patient enough, and I need to go a step back now and just wait for my chances. I practise a lot, and it will pay off, sooner or later. It's just sometimes a little frustrating when it doesn't pay off straightaway, but that's what it is in sport. You just have to wait, and wait, and it will happen. (Smiling). Q. That sounds very philosophical, but are people asking you, what's wrong, almost? MARTIN KAYMER: There's nothing wrong. You know, to be honest, I think that is one of my strengths is that I know what I have to do and I know what I am doing. When people say that I am not playing go or that I'm doing the wrong things, they are always‑‑ when you don't win, there are a lot of people that tell you what you do wrong and what you have to do different. But I don't really mind that. It doesn't bother me. It's just for myself, I know what I have to do. I know what my goal is. And, you know, that is in the end of the day what matters to me. Q. What is the goal? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I'm working on a few things. Obviously swing‑wise, fitness‑wise, a few things that I just want to do for myself. And it's all towards or it's all good for golf, obviously. But you know, I think that you have to‑‑ if you change a few things or if you try to improve a few things, you've got to go back one step in order to go two steps forward. So for me, I'm still young. I don't need to worry about it that much. Q. Does it concern you that the clock is ticking on The Ryder Cup, or does that not worry you too much? MARTIN KAYMER: No, not a big problem for me. I mean, I'm trying my very best to make the team, and that's all I can do. I don't want to put myself under pressure because of the qualification of The Ryder Cup Team. I think if I am playing well enough, then I will make it. And I am not playing well enough, then someone else should play it, because he's in better form at that stage. Q. Are there particular shots that you are trying to get into your game? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I want to become better in short game. That is pretty much the most part that I am focusing on at the moment, just trying to figure out the natural way for myself in order to save more shots on the golf course, because I lose a lot of shots on the golf course through my short game, and that is pretty much a part of my game that I need and I want to improve. Swing‑wise, I'm pretty happy where I am. Obviously you always keep working on a few little things, tweak it here and there with my coach. But you know, I never had a big problem with my swing. I'm a fairly consistent player. But if I compare my short game with the other world‑class players, it's not as good. So I need to work on that. Q. Do you still have a plate in your foot, and do you still go go‑karting? MARTIN KAYMER: No, and yes. I don't have anything in my foot anymore, it will, actually, I think I still have one little pin in my big toe, but it doesn't bother me. But go‑karting, yeah, I actually did it last time with the guys from BBC. They were all in Arizona and we went to the go‑kart track, and Shane against me. It was an interesting race. Yeah, it's just the passion, you know. I mean, it was a very unlucky thing, you know, what happened to me two years ago, three years ago. Happens. Q. Did you do any other sort of dangerous sports? Are you‑‑ board surfing or whatever? Snowboarding? I'm very old. (Laughter). MARTIN KAYMER: Well, you don't go snowboarding, do you. (Laughing). I like every kind of sport. As long as you don't go too far, but that is the fun part, sometimes. You know, to go a little bit over the line; then the adrenaline comes out. Then it's fun. So, of course, I do certain things. Maybe not the right time and place to talk about it. But it's fun. I'm 27 years old. I don't want to hide in my apartment and just play golf. There's more than playing golf. You've got to have a life off the golf course, what normal people do. What we are living in is not normal. It's not a normal job. It's obviously nice to do all of those things, but you've got to get away from golf once in a while and do things that are completely different. Q. Did you drive from Germany to Wentworth? MARTIN KAYMER: I drove yesterday. Q. How long did that take you? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, unfortunately I could only drive 40 minutes through Germany. I thought I could save some time in Germany, but then I drove through Holland, Belgium, France and then I took the train from Calais to London. Q. What time did you drive? MARTIN KAYMER: I had a lovely breakfast in Germany, around 9.30. And then I left home at 10.00. And, I don't know, took the train probably about 2.00 or 2.30 and got here about 5.00 or 5.30 or so. Q. Have you ever been caught speeding on the Autobahn? MARTIN KAYMER: I don't have any points yesterday, because probably I'm not often enough in Germany. But I'm a very responsible driver. Q. Looking ahead to the three majors left this year, have you thought about the courses and how they may suit you? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I haven't been to any of those. But I will go a little bit earlier to the U.S. Open this year. My brother, he will fly over to Scottsdale and then we fly to San Francisco maybe the weekend before and see Alcatraz, for example. I will go there probably on Friday or Saturday and play the weekend when it's fairly quiet and not a lot of people around. But I look really forward to the British Open. That is always my favourite major, because that is different golf. You need to be‑‑ you really need to play the game. It's not standard golf shots that you have to hit. So that is what I like. I think I see myself having the best chances at the British Open. PAUL SYMES: Thanks a lot, Martin. Play well this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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