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RENO-TAHOE OPENAugust 1, 2012Rod PamplingRENO, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Rod Pampling into the interview room here at the Reno‑Tahoe Open. Rod, obviously played well here in the past. Pretty comfortable with the modified Stableford scoring system after winning the International in 2004 and a couple other top 10s there. Talk a little bit about how you think that scoring format will translate here to Montreux, and maybe then we'll go ahead and open it up to questions. ROD PAMPLING: Yeah, obviously, yeah, I have played here a few times and had some great success. I think with the new format, hopefully the officials will set it up so that we can be a bit more aggressive. There are certainly a lot of holes out here where in normal play set up the normal way, you're being a bit more careful than you normally would. I think with this setup, I think coming down Sunday, especially now that they've switched nines, there are potentially three holes where you could eagle coming down the stretch, or four. You know, the two par‑5s, and then if they do the tees up on 17 there's a chance there. And I guess is it 14, down the hill, dogleg right? That's a potential, which you normally wouldn't hit driver. But if you hit get the right conditions there you could run it on there real quick. But normally you don't because the hazarded is on the right. So I think it's going to set up to be‑‑ as I say, hopefully the officials will set it up so that we can be pretty aggressive. That's going to make it pretty exciting coming in the back nine. I think the course sets up really good for a lot of points, sort of a Steve Larry kind of finish. THE MODERATOR: All right, thanks. We'll go ahead and open it up to questions. Q. Can you explain why you do so well in these mountain situations? What is it about mountain golf that works for you? ROD PAMPLING: Well, we were talking about like the first year I went to Colorado, I was just like, What in the world is going on here? I had never played in altitude. I had no clue what to do. One ball would go a long way; next ball wouldn't go anywhere. So I was very confused. Then the next year we went there, and for whatever reason to clicked. I think my ball flight is not as high as most guys, so I think I can control my distances a bit better. Obviously they still go a bit further than normal. But a lot guys get the ball up in the air, and once it's up there, anyone can guess how far it's going to go. So I think my distance control is a little bit better than guys who hit it high. So I think that's where I have that slight advantage. Obviously it's helped. Q. How is the course playing so far this year compared to the last few years? ROD PAMPLING: Really good. I guess they had a pretty bad winter up here, but wouldn't know it. The course is fantastic. They were starting to get a little bit of poa over the last few years. The first year here the greens were phenomenal. They were close to being the best on tour, and they slowly sort of dwindled. But this year they have done a great job. The course, I think it was playing fantastic. There was no stand‑out areas of massive amounts of poa. They've gotten rid of quite a lot it, and hopefully they'll keep that up. Q. I wanted to do something a little bit on the putter controversy that's going on. What are your thoughts on what the TOUR or the USGA should do about it? ROD PAMPLING: It's always going to be one of those tough calls that someone makes. I was there using the belly when I won the International the first time. I just don't like the anchoring part of things. It was there. I was more so using the belly putter as a training aid, and then I took it out and it worked. So, yeah, it's a tough call. Personally, I just think the anchoring part shouldn't be allowed, I don't think. So whether they do that‑‑ I think they just bring in that rule, then I don't know how many guys are going to use a putter that's long if they can't anchor it. Q. Slow play, I think every year it comes up. This year it came up a little bit earlier. Seems like this course would really lend itself to slow play. They do some things to try to speed it up. Do you think it's slow here or pretty good here? ROD PAMPLING: Well, it's slow here because you can't breathe. You're so is tired out there. You walk up a hill and I think most guys, if they say, Hey, you need to hurry up, would just say, Just give me the fine. I can't hurry up. You can't breathe. Slow play, it is a problem, but the golf courses are set up so hard now. It's not like the pins are four and five from edges. They're two and three. So there is a lot more chipping involved, and you could be just the same distance from the hole. Here, the greens, the pins aren't as tucked as much. They're still tucked, but they're not as difficult a pins because the greens aren't that severe. A lot of the golf courses we play now the greens are just everywhere. There are so many undulations. I think sometimes time par needs to be changed, but it's still an issue. I don't know. There hasn't been a great way of changing slow play. It's just it is what it is, unfortunately. I think everyone has got to look at how difficult the golf course we plays. Like you go home and play a golf course at home, pins are in the middle of the green and you can just fly around. When they're tucked from an edge and there are hazards, bunkers, whatever want left, you're going to think about it a little bit more. Then when you miss the green you've get a short game shot, so that's where you lose‑‑ it takes longer to play. Q. Does the fact that you played modified maybe more than others give you an advantage going into this week? ROD PAMPLING: Oh, played it well I think is agood ‑‑ yes, definitely I'm very happy with the format obviously. What's the secret to it? I don't know. I just play my own game. I think sometimes guys try to become too aggressive. That's where you can, instead of making your birdie, definite birdie, they might make par or bogey and lose points. But I would say playing well in this format is a huge benefit to look back at previous years and know I've played well with it format. Just bring it out here and hopefully it stays with me. THE MODERATOR: Anything else? All right, Rod, thanks for your time. Play well this week. ROD PAMPLING: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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