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JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPENOctober 2, 2012Kevin NaLAS VEGAS, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the defending champion to the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Kevin Na. Thanks for joining us for a few minutes. Just start with some opening comments on how it feels to be back defending a title. KEVIN NA: It feels nice. I spent a few weeks off last few weeks and I've been here practicing. I brought a lot of memories of last year and it was a bunch of good memories. I tried to hit some of the same shots from the same spots but just couldn't pull it off like I did last year. It was a lot of fun. It's pretty cool to walk in and see your picture up on the wall. It's a great feeling. I got a chance to defend this week. I haven't been able to defend any of my Nationwide Tour victories because the year after I couldn't make it, but first time getting a chance to defend so I'm excited. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: Well, I'm playing okay right now. The last few months toward the end season my putter kind of went cold. I actually started driving the ball better this year, and that was my main focus. I think because of that I didn't spend much time on the putter and it kind of got cold. Recently it's been coming back a little bit, warming it up. Hopefully this week it'll get hot. You need to make a lot of putts out here because the scores are low. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: Yeah. The biggest change I saw was 11 over the bunker, the trees. You get blocked out. I really noticed that one. Besides that, I felt like some of the fairways were a bit narrower this year, and definitely the rough is definitely higher. You can catch a lot of flyers and bad lies out there, so fairways are going to be a premium this week. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: They do. They do. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: First of all, you know the golf course very well because guys come out here and practice and you know the greens. I think the big key is distance control here because the ball goes further out here. Some of the guys have trouble adjusting to that. But if you live out here you know how far your ball is flying, so it's easier to club yourself with the irons. That's a big edge on everybody else in the field. If I was honest put my money on the guys, if you gave me a handful of guys to pick, I would pick all the local guys. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: I would pick Piercy, Watney, Moore, Hoffman. I would pick those guys, yeah. Myself, but I can't pick myself. It's against the rules. It's against the rules. I play Fantasy Golf, too. I told you guys about that. I had money on Matt Kuchar at the PLAYERS. I won. (Laughter.) I told the story many times. His caddie, what's his name, Lance? We were on the range on Wednesday at the PLAYERS. We're talking and we're picking ‑‑ we picked two players, like five, six guys, and it's five bucks total money, friendly game. Pick the winner and first and second, 15. If both of your men miss the cut, it's another $5 penalty. So I think my first pick was Stricker, and then we were on the range and the guys were all talking. (Indiscernible) Lance. Go away. Why? I picking your man. He goes, Hey, that's a great thing. Sure enough, we're paired together on Sunday. At the end of the tournament I played bad. So Lance was having dinner with Kuchar that night, and he goes, By the way, you made Kevin ten Bucks. It was 50, you know, just five guys. I said, I've got that going for me. How do you feel when you had to play against a guy when you got money on the other guy and you're in the final group with him? It's kind of fun. Q. Did you watch Ryder Cup? KEVIN NA: Oh, yeah, I did. I watched a little bit every day. Pretty much heartbreaking. First two days dominated, and then Sunday kind of the wheels were falling off and going the other direction. It was really kind of sad to see. What can you do? The Europeans played very well. They played like champs. I think they're giving the guys way too much of a hard time for the loss. Poor guys played their hearts out and gave it all they got. They don't deserve any of that. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: It's terrible. But the guy was up. He had a team up 10‑6 and it went the other way Sunday. It was unlucky. What can you do? He tried his best. Trust me, nobody is crushed as much as he is. But to put salt on his wound, that's not very cool. I am playing with Davis this week. Trust me, I will not bring up Ryder Cup. He's a champion. Class act. I think Davis did a great job. It was unlucky that he lost, but he gave it all he could. You guys got to take your hat off and clap for the other guys. They played great. What can you do? It's tough to take a defeat, but some guys get hot. They're the greatest players in the world and get hot. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: The ball is going to go further. I think it's supposed to cool down on the weekend a little bit hopefully. Only thing is not favoring the local guys is it's playing soft. We Vegas guys are used to playing everything firm being the desert. It's really soft. I talked to the rules officials, and they're trying to cut water off little by little. Hopefully by Sunday it'll firm up. As it's looking right now, I don't think it'll be as firm as they want it to be. THE MODERATOR: One thing of note talking about next week, you're going to Korea. KEVIN NA: Yeah, 11:30 flight on Sunday out of LAX. Wish me luck. Q. (No microphone.) KEVIN NA: Take a charter over. Oh, they'll hold the plane for me. Q. How did the win last year win change things for you? KEVIN NA: Just confidence towards myself. Just the fact that I was able to pull it off. It was a great feeling. Now I know I can do it, so if I get in the same situation again, be able to do it again. THE MODERATOR: Kevin, we appreciate your time. KEVIN NA: Yeah, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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