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ISPS HANDA WALES OPENJune 1, 2012Ross FisherNEWPORT, WALES Q. Quick reaction from your round? ROSS FISHER: Yeah, obviously delighted. Any time you can shoot under par is great. Conditions were a lot fairer to us today. Wasn't much breeze when we started off. Got a little blustery towards the end, but the course was a lot more scorable today. The greens were not quite as firm and we didn't have the breeze. It was there to be taken really, and fortunately I played some good, solid golf and holed some good putts. Very pleased. Q. Yesterday really set you up for today. Do you think that gave you the confidence today to go and really attack the greens a little? ROSS FISHER: I think so. I didn't play fantastic yesterday. I mean, I didn't drive the ball very good at all. I hit maybe four fairways but I putted unbelievably well. I made some ridiculous par saves from everywhere. So that gave me a lot of confidence, shooting 1‑under yesterday. I was really, really pleased with that. I knew the game was there. I just needed to find my long game, and I think my long game was a lot better today and just had to be patient and hope that the putting stayed as good as it was on Thursday, and it did, and I holed some really nice putts. Again, needed to make some good saves at crucial times to keep the round going and I did that. Very nice to finish with a couple of birdies coming in. Q. This is one of the tougher courses; do you enjoy this course? Do you enjoy the tougher course being a bit more of a challenge? ROSS FISHER: Yeah, it's playing totally different to what we normally come down here in May, June. It's going to be wet and quite foggy and the greens, it's tough to hole putts, because with the amount of traffic, soft greens, you see a lot of footprints on them. But the course setup this year is fantastic. The weather has obviously played a big part to, that but you know, the course is fair. You know, yesterday it was close; with that breeze, some of the pin positions and the tees, with the greens being that firm, I was kind of hoping that we wouldn't get so much wind today, although they watered the greens. Fingers crossed, we can have two more good days of weather. I hear Sunday is not supposed to be too good but hopefully the guys at the Tour set the course up tough but fair and if you play good golf, you get rewarded. If you're slightly off, you get punished and that's how you want to see it. Q. You started with a 6? ROSS FISHER: Yeah, I did. Thanks for reminding me. Q. Well, move on to the good stuff. ROSS FISHER: Yeah, kind of a bit unlucky. Good drive and rescue, pitched just short of the bunker, popped over and went into the hazard. Made a very good 6 to be honest, chipped it back down almost too my feet and got up‑and‑down for a 6. Then made a good par on 12. Parred 13. 14, again, I was in the hazard but I managed to play it. Hit into the green‑side trap and knocked it out to about ten, 12 feet, and holed that for a par. Q. Where was the ball? A mud ball? ROSS FISHER: It was in the hazard but on the grass. It was a nice 4. And then hit a good drive by the green. Good pitch to about five feet and made birdie there. 18, hit a drive just up the right and laid up. Had a good distance with, I think it was 50 to about 100 yards, and hit it in to six feet and made birdie there. Parred 1, and then 2, hit a good drive, just up the right‑hand side and laid up. Hit a nice full pitching wedge to probably about ten feet, I would say. Par 3, hit a nice 6‑iron below the hole to about 12 feet, 15 feet and made that. Actually felt like I was going to hole that because I think either I had that putt or Poults had that in The Ryder Cup, so I knew exactly where I was going to hit that putt. So there was no way I was missing that one. Q. Was it you? Can you remember? ROSS FISHER: I think I had a similar putt, if not a little shorter in the singles. But I'm pretty sure Poults had one in the four‑ball on the first day. Then after the par3, parred the next. Got up‑and‑down on 8 and decided not to hit a drive on 9. Thought I'm not going to get it there in two so played it strategically. Hit rescue, 3‑iron up there and then hit 7‑iron, really nice shot just right of the pin, probably again, ten, 12 feet, and really nice putt there. Then on 10, hit a lovely 8‑iron in. Thought it had a chance of going in, and left myself probably four, five feet below the hole uphill right‑to‑left. Nice way to sign off. Q. Sounds like you're drawing on those good memories, talking about remembering putts? ROSS FISHER: It's always nice to come back to good hunting ground, familiar turf. Yeah, Ryder Cup will be no different. It was a great experience. I played really well that week and really enjoyed it. Yeah, there is certain spots that you think, yeah, the pin was there in The Ryder Cup, or I hit it here and holed this putt, or hit that shot from here. You do, you try and remember those memories, and feed them into a positive outcome for this week. Yeah, have some fond memories and I've had some decent results here, but it's a course that I feel should suit me. It's not far from home, either, only a couple of hours, so it's always nice to play in the U.K., because we don't have that many events anymore in the U.K. So it's always nice to be back. Q. Have you been waiting for this; the results the last 18 months obviously have not‑‑ ROSS FISHER: Yeah, for a long time. Obviously different this year with the equipment change, so it's probably taken me longer to adjust than I would have liked. But I felt like I really got it nailed in about the ten days that myself and Adam spent over in America before the Tavistock seeing the guys there, and I feel like it was really nailed on. Felt good in Augusta. Like we discussed, you're playing in perfect conditions over there; it's hot, it's warm, and on perfect golf courses, perfect greens every single week. Whereas you come to Europe and they are not quite as perfect as in America. When it's a little bit chilly, a little bit cold, you know, at times we struggle to get distances with clubs and sometimes they are going a bit short. The good thing is we haven't had any of, how far has that gone kind of thing. Obviously disappointed to miss the cut last week at Wentworth. So, you know, was really upbeat coming here this week and felt like the game was in good shape. Had a good week in Korea. Hit the ball lovely in Seville and just missed the cut by a shot. Hit the ball great at Wentworth and just didn't putt very well. I've been working really hard with Phil Kenyon and trying to work on ways of getting the ball in the hole. So far, for the first two days, it seems to be working so hopefully I can continue that trend for two more days. Q. How have you coped with not getting the results the last 18 months? ROSS FISHER: You've just got to deal with it. I suppose the highs of The Ryder Cup in 2010, it's happened to a few of us I guess. That's just golf. Peaks and troughs, and my career has steadily risen and gone upwards. Unfortunately last year was disappointing. So far this year, nothing has really happened. So I need to try and turn that around and hopefully this will be the start of, you know, a big summer for me. Q. Are you going to feel more pressure going out there tomorrow? ROSS FISHER: No, I've been there before. So just go out there and play my own game and hopefully I'll play as good as I have done the first two days. You know, just keep hitting good shots, keep holing the putts, and you know, if I can play how I have played the first two days, especially probably tee‑to‑green and putting today, I feel like I'm really tough to beat. I've just finished the morning, so obviously you have all of the guys in the afternoon. So just have to wait and see where I stand. Q. What prompted the change of equipment? ROSS FISHER: Just felt like the time was right. Q. And you know from past experience, it does take time? ROSS FISHER: Yeah, it does take time. You know, it's taken longer than I would have hoped. The Desert Swing was disappointing. Probably in fairness, we probably didn't have the right ball for my style, and that's no fault of Nike's. It's probably down to my fault playing the schedule and not being able to go over during Christmas or the new year. I felt like the equipment was pretty good, and then got out to the Middle East and it was really, really windy and just really struggled. Now I've got this new ball in play, which put it in for the Tavistock and the Masters, my first competitive tournament, and it feels a lot closer to where I want it to be. Q. Obviously The Ryder Cup is on this year; are you sort of aiming for that? ROSS FISHER: Yeah, love to be. Once you've played one, you don't want to miss one. So still a goal of mine. It's a big outside goal at the moment, because I've got to play damn well to get on that team and haven't given myself the best opportunity so far. I need a big finish here and hopefully a big summer and we'll just have to wait and see. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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