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ISPS HANDA WALES OPENMay 30, 2012Jose Maria OlazabalNEWPORT, WALES STEVE TODD:ﾃつ Josﾃδｩ Maria, many thanks for joining us, welcome to your first Wales Open.ﾃつ You received a very warm Wales welcome last night, of course, it's not your first time in Wales after The Ryder Cup a couple of years ago, but if you could just start with your opening thoughts on being here this week and playing in this tournament. JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ Obviously great to be here.ﾃつ It's a big event, great golf course, conditions are pretty good, and the golf course is playing firm and fast up to now.ﾃつ Hopefully the weather will stay like this and you know, delighted to be here.ﾃつ Obviously wonderful memories from two years ago, and, well, looking forward to try and play some decent golf. STEVE TODD:ﾃつ You say that, you have been playing quite well of late, good finish at Wentworth and good start in the U.S. Open Qualifying, as well.ﾃつ How are you feeling about your game coming into this week? JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ Well, there are certain areas that I have to improve, but some other areas I'm pretty happy with it, mainly the driving and the 3‑wood is getting me down. But all I can do is just work at it.ﾃつ I had a great practise session yesterday but you know, that's all I can do.ﾃつ I tried to go out there on the golf course and see if I can hit more fairways than I usually do and from there on, try to score well. STEVE TODD:ﾃつ Being at Celtic Manor, obviously The Ryder Cup was close in everyone's mind.ﾃつ Tomorrow obviously you're playing with a couple of potential players in Gonzalo and Paul Lawrie; good to see them close at hand, and good draw for you, as well. JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ It's a good draw because those two players are good players.ﾃつ I think Paul is pretty much in after what he did last week.ﾃつ If he plays, you know, just decent golf from now on, I'm pretty sure that he will be on the team. Gonzalo on the other hand needs to step it up.ﾃつ He needs to play a few good events.ﾃつ This is a good stretch of tournaments from now all the way to the Open, and you know, as I said, he needs to play a little better than he has the last few weeks. Q.ﾃつ Are you playing with Paul again because you couldn't believe how appalling he played in Spain? JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ No, I mean, I have to make it clear that I haven't made any requests regarding who I want to play with.ﾃつ And he didn't hit the ball all that bad at Seville.ﾃつ We had a tough draw and I think we were in the wrong end of the draw that week, teeing off Thursday morning.ﾃつ I think we had the worst of the weather of the two days.ﾃつ But you know, as I said that week, I'm not going to judge a player just for what happens in a given week.ﾃつ He proved last week that he must have played really well to shoot 6‑under par in the last round and to finish second on that golf course, which I think nowadays is a huge challenge. Q.ﾃつ What has impressed you most about Paul? JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ Well, he's always been, from what I've seen of him through the years, he's always a steady player.ﾃつ His short game is good and his putting is good, but it's true that the last few years, he has struggled a bit with his game.ﾃつ He was hitting ‑‑ most of the shots that he missed, he missed them left.ﾃつ But somehow he's got it back.ﾃつ He's got the confidence back. ﾃつWe know that he's a fighter. So I think his character on the golf course is pretty good. Q.ﾃつ You know what it's like to play against these young guys in their 40s.ﾃつ How hard is it to play‑‑ well, you do.ﾃつ How hard is it for somebody like Paul to drift off and then come back and play with these young guys? JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ Well, I think it's harder when you've lost confidence.ﾃつ When you start in your first years as a professional, you obviously are full of confidence.ﾃつ You only see positive things.ﾃつ I think it's worse when you've been there, you've played great golf and all of a sudden you've lost your confidence and then trying to regain that is tough.ﾃつ I know that and I've been through that and still going through it, and I have to take my hat off to him, because the last part of the last season was extraordinary for him.ﾃつ He played really well, and he has kept that level through these years.ﾃつ No, it's good to see that. Q.ﾃつ Why don't you want to play with potential candidates? JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ Now it's too early.ﾃつ Ten players are going to get in. Q.ﾃつ But you will; you might request it? JOSﾃ窶ｰ MARIA OLAZﾃδ。AL:ﾃつ It depends.ﾃつ It depends, yeah.ﾃつ But at the moment, you know, I know that ten guys are going to make the team automatically through rankings, and it's early days as a said.ﾃつ We will see what happens when decision time comes. The only thing is that by then, we won't be able to have too many events to play yet, because it will be just past the PGA, you have the week before the PGA is Firestone Country Club.ﾃつ So there's not that many weeks where I can play with players when those dates come. STEVE TODD:ﾃつ Thanks for joining us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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