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ALSTOM OPEN DE FRANCEJuly 6, 2012Jean Van De VeldePARIS, FRANCE Q. Ian just feels the changes that he made bringing in the fairways, they just made it too much like a U.S. Open or something like that. JEAN VAN DE VELDE: True, well, first of all, everybody is entitled to have an opinion, and we respect everybody's opinion, especially Ian. The good thing I would say in his favour, that it is actually playing to his advantage right now. He played in the morning, in the benign conditions, and he is now actually I think three shots off the leader. So it's true, it's a very difficult test. It's true it's very exposed. We all know that when a storm is coming, the wind is picking up. This is unusual. The speed of the wind is more than what we expected. And at the end of the day, yes, it's tough. But it's a big tournament. It's an extremely large purse. You have to try different things. I think that sometimes you get into a routine where it gets boring to play the same course day‑in and day‑out. Before the greens were very soft and now they are a little bit firmer but comfortably firmer; they are much better. There was an option taken of trying to bring the assets of the course back into play. Like the first hole the rough is coming from the right‑hand side toward the left side, and that's just to bring the water back into play. And that's the way it was designed, because you have to remember that we first played here in the very early days of the 1900s and we had wooden clubs and a feather ball, we were not hitting the ball that far and we were not coming in with a wedge. We have to find a way to make people think. As Wayne mentioned, very rightly, it's not that the course is super fiery. It's still soft enough. Sure, the wind doesn't make it easy, and sure, when you're going to miss fairways you're going to be into trouble. But for players who hit the ball so straight, you've got to think that there must be some of them with a little smile. I mean, Graeme McDowell is 2‑under par through seven holes. Q. The point you made about Ian Poulter, his score and position on the leaderboard may be in some ways goes against what he was saying, but in fairness to Ian, what he was going onto, is saying we need variety and we don't want a run of tournaments which is all the same. It's nice where one week par is a good score and the next week players are shooting birdies and eagles? JEAN VAN DE VELDE: I think we have a large priority, and you hear a lot of players, I heard five or six players told me already, courses setup like this, we should have them more like this on the Tour. Some people will say some things and some will say another thing. What we need to see is a tough contest and the best players are going to come out at the end of the week, fine. I don't think it's set up as the U.S. Open. I don't think the greens are reacting like they do at a U.S. Open; neither the fairway. But it's true, you miss the fairway and it's tough. And the fact that it can get very windy, that can blow the ball right and left into that airy rough. On the other hand, you know, what do you want? Very wide fairways, soft, receptive? What is the right balance for this golf course, and that's what we are still experiencing. It's very hard, as well, with the growth of the rough. That's another element that you have to take into consideration. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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