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RBC CANADIAN OPENJuly 24, 2012David HearnANCASTER, ONTARIO LAURY LIVSEY: We'd like to welcome David Hearn to the interview room of the RBC Canadian Open. You're making your ‑‑ I believe it'll be your 11th start, and you've played here before. I think you played in '06 and had a good finish. DAVID HEARN: '03 and '06. LAURY LIVSEY: Talk about the state of your game and coming off a pretty good finish in Mississippi last week. DAVID HEARN: Yeah. You know, obviously quite a bit of a different challenge last week to this week, but I feel like my game is solid. I didn't have my best stuff last week and was able to kind of get a lot out of it. You know, this is a golf course here at Hamilton that you're going to have to drive it very well to have a good week. Obviously the greens are tricky, so getting it on the greens are going to be a priority for me in preparation. So I feel like I have all those parts of my game in good shape, so I'm really looking forward to it. LAURY LIVSEY: We'll take some questions. Q. David, I just wanted to say congratulations on the birth of your daughter, and just how has becoming a father changed you and changed your schedule? I know it's early, but changed so far? DAVID HEARN: Yeah, I took a few weeks off, so it's definitely changed my schedule a little bit. Yeah, it's been exciting. I think anyone who's had a child before knows it's a pretty special moment, and we're very excited and proud; and it's a new chapter of our lives and we're really looking forward to it. Q. Did you consult your buddy John on becoming a father? And a followup to that, I just wanted to get your remarks on John qualifying for the Open this week as well. DAVID HEARN: Yeah, well, it's great to see. I think we got quite a few Canadians through in the Monday qualifier yesterday. It's obviously great to see a lot more Canadians out here this week. John's not been playing the golf that I know he's capable of, and hopefully he'll turn it around this week in Hamilton here. Q. You said that for a Canadian to play well this week is a tough challenge to say the least. To get your game up for once in every tournament is rather difficult. Is it unfair considering it's been 58 years since a Canadian won this? Is it unfair to see that every year? DAVID HEARN: You know, honestly‑‑ you bring up some good points, like there's only a few players in the world that are really capable of gearing their games up properly for a few events of the year, and those are like the Tigers and the Phils and players like that. And to be competitive in any particular PGA event is not an easy thing to do, so for anyone to try to gear up and then be competitive at a week like this, that's why it hasn't happened in 58 years. Mike for the last decade, up until the last few years he's been playing world‑class golf; and a player of his ability level came very close, what, in 2004? You know, so it's definitely something that is not an easy task at any PGA event, let alone for a Canadian to do it here in Canada. That being said, everyone ‑‑ all the Canadians here really do feel like we want to make the country proud, we want to play well. We want to do very well for everyone, and you know, I certainly hope that that 58 years without a Canadian holding the trophy ends soon. But I can't predict what's going to happen. I'd like it to be anybody. I'd just like someone to achieve it and I think it would be a lot of fun and would be a great story. Q. This isn't a home course because you're from down the road, but this is pretty much as close as you're going to get. I assume you're very familiar with this place? DAVID HEARN: Yeah, absolutely. I don't think Brantford is going to be hosting a Canadian Open anytime soon. Too logistical. Great golf course, but it's just not going to host a Canadian Open. This is as close as I'm going to get to a home game, and I really do feel like it is ‑‑ it feels like it is a home tournament for me. I've got a lot of friends and people even out in the practice days coming out and talking to me, and it's going to be a lot of fun for me to play this week. It was in 2006 and in 2003. I get to stay at home and sleep in my own bed as well. So it really does feel like a home game to me. Q. How many times have you played this golf course? I mean obviously not as much as Brantford, but I assume you've played this a lot. DAVID HEARN: Yeah. I'm very familiar with it. I didn't play it a lot as a junior player, but there's a friend of mine that I've known since junior golf that's been a member here. And we play here every summer, and I've got a few friends that are members here. And it seems like I play here probably a handful of times every year, and it is a golf course I'm very familiar with, and you know, I guess you're always learning new things every time you play, but it's a place that I am familiar with. Q. Just continuing on with the local angle, I talked with Adam yesterday about playing last year. He talked about the way a player approaches it. You know, he said he likes to just kind of relish is, just kind of enjoy the moment, friends, family around, that type of thing. Do you approach it differently or is that the way you would approach it as well or do you have to ‑‑ I find that some players have to tune things out as opposed to taking it all in? DAVID HEARN: Yeah. You know, Adam had pretty good success here last year, so it seemed to work. Maybe that's a formula I need to look into. But no, I feel like there's going to be a lot of people out here this week that want to see me do well, and I obviously want to play well, but I'm trying to treat it like I prepare for a lot of different events. Obviously being a Canadian and here at the Canadian Open our time is a little bit more limited preparing for the event, but I feel like I've done a great job preparing leading up to this. So I try not to treat it too differently, and you know I would love to play well in front of my family and friends, but I try not to do too much different. Q. Would you just talk a little bit about your season, how you've played this year from your Top 10 at Sony at the start of your season to last week in Mississippi? DAVID HEARN: Yeah. It seems like every year is an interesting year, and this year I got off to a great start with that tenth place finish at Sony. I was just a couple shots off the lead going into the weekend. I thought I would be in contention more this year. It's something I really have not been more successful with. I've had a lot of very good finishes, but I haven't really been in contention much. I feel like I've made a lot of progress over my game last year. I'm getting a lot more out of my game, but I also feel like there's room for improvement, and I'd like to see myself get into contention here sometime soon. Q. Really quickly, your game would seem to suit this golf course kind of well. You drive the ball very straight, and maybe not the longest guy on TOUR, but this is not a golf course that's going to be overwhelmed by length, I wouldn't think anyway. DAVID HEARN: No. Q. In your experience of playing this, size it up versus how you're playing at the moment? DAVID HEARN: Yeah, I tend to be the kind of player that I play pretty steady golf. I don't make a lot of bogeys. I tend to do well at tournaments like the Greenbrier where you're not going to make a lot of birdies, and your goal is to keep the bogeys off the card a little bit. So this is the type of golf course that really does reward steady play and good short games, so that's what I've been doing very well the last couple of years, and hopefully it suits me well this week but you do need to make birdies to win, so I gotta work on that. LAURY LIVSEY: Anything else? David, we really appreciate your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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