|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ALSTOM OPEN DE FRANCEJuly 6, 2012David ProbynPARIS, FRANCE Q. Still a weather delay here on day two of the French Open and things are brightening up. One of these frustrating storms that's come close but not hit the golf course. Things are looking better but it is frustrating to you because it comes close and stops play but doesn't really affect anything. DAVID PROBYN: That's right. We have got a situation which is very unstable right now weather‑wise, and these cells are popping up, four around us and we have had quite a few either side of us right through the afternoon so far. The fact is two came far too close and our lightning detection system has given us the warning that this is happening within a very short space, so we have to get people off the golf course. Didn't come right over the top at the end but too dangerous to leave the players out there. It's really guarded by our Thor Guard. The readings will dictate when it thinks the activity or potential for a lightning strike has come too close to the zone and that's probably within five to ten miles. It's come to red alert at that point. Q. Given this break, we had a chance to talk to a few people, the Tournament Chairman, Jean van de Velde and some of the boys talking about the comments of Ian Poulter about the golf course being set up the wrong way. As the tournament director, how much are you involved in that setup? And how do you feel ‑‑ Ian just felt that fairways were too tight, given the strength of the golf course already. DAVID PROBYN: Yeah, very much I get involved in the buildup to the event with the golf club in setting this up. It's one of the very challenging courses to set up, because we know without irrigation through the rough, with the way summertime normally here in France, you will find that because of theundersoil, often we find the banks are just blown away and there's very little rough. You build up rough as early as you can in the season and hope to hang on to some for the tournament. In fact, we really haven't changed the fairways much this year. We made one change on 1, and just pushed the dogleg out a little bit and we made one change on 10. But other than, that we have nod changed the width. But the guys, obviously seeing the widths much more because now if you do miss the fairway, because of what the weather has done in 60 years here, there's a real penalty here. I saw him saying every fairway has been cut by six yards. That just hasn't happen. I think now, the guys are seeing the width, what they really are, and the penalty has come in very severe, and with the rain over the last month. Q. It's more of a natural thing then really. DAVID PROBYN: It's very difficult to react constantly with the weather leading into a tournament. We always were expecting a couple of weeks before the event, the summer arrives in France. And the rough does burn away very quickly here. So we can't build up a base and hang on to it, often you'll see here the base is virtually nonexistence by the time we get to the golf tournament. This year, as I say, it's stayed in town and I think, unfortunately, with the forecast for windy days Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it's not what we really need. For that setup to be fair, it's making it tougher than we would like it to be to be honest, but it's fair, but I think the targets are still there to be hit. As I say, we could do without the wind. The greens are probably the best they have been. They are a bit firmer which puts that challenge on it. But the fairways are receptive enough and the greens; as we can see from the scoring, with the wind up as it's been today it's fair enough. 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
|