|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
PORTUGAL MASTERSOctober 10, 2012Francesco MolinariVILAMOURA, PORTUGAL PAUL SYMES: Welcome, Francesco. Looking forward to playing with Jose Maria and Martin the next few days? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: We played the last few holes together in Medinah close to each other, and I'm sure we're going to have fun and relive some of those moments. Q. Sometimes your first tournament since The Ryder Cup, has it sunk in yet, what you and your teammates achieved over in Medinah? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, well, it definitely started to sink in. It's been a great. Obviously a tough week up until the Sunday, and then you know, we just had a fantastic day on Sunday. I think the more days go through, the more you think back about it and it seems even bigger and even better what we did. You know, we knew that we could do it on Sunday morning, but if you think back now, it almost seems unachievable. So it's just great to have been part of that team, and just a fantastic achievement for everyone. PAUL SYMES: Nice to re‑live the memories with José Maria and Martin over the first two rounds when you're paired together this week. FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it's going to be great. We shared some great moments, obviously Sunday we were playing in front, Martin was playing in front of me, and Olazábal was watching us in the last few holes. So we were in the middle of it, and it's going to be fun. Obviously everyone is going to try to focus on their game, but I'm sure we're going to re‑live a little bit of those moments. PAUL SYMES: Got a great record here, finishing second twice. What in particular about this course suits you so well? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: To be honest, I came here for a few years ago for the first time and didn't play very well, and since then I've had a couple of good finishes. I seem to putt quite well every time I play here, and I think the golf course is reasonably easy. It's quite long, but still, you get some good chances and you know, I just hope to have another good finish this week. Q. Martin Kaymer told me last week, he was totally worn out, tired. How important is it to get rest after such an event? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I think it's very important, and obviously especially if you win, it's nice to go straight back out on Tour. It's a special week, because everyone is really excited about it, and you get a lot of congratulations. I did it two years ago. I played in the Dunhill straight after Wales, and I didn't do very well. I think it's very hard to play well, but you can see why some of the players decide to play anyway. For me it was a good decision to go home last week and just try to get back to normality. I didn't do much work but it was just mainly about getting the energies back for this week. Q. What was more draining at The Ryder Cup, the mental fatigue or the physical fatigue, and what was the more difficult to get over last week? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: No, I don't think it's so much the physical part of it, especially for guys like me, and Martin, maybe we didn't play very much. So I at least played 18 holes every day, so it's just as a normal tournament. But it's just the mental fatigue, and obviously you're full of adrenaline for a whole week, and then obviously there's a big lull after that. I think you need a few days just to get back to reality, to normality, and just chill for a few days. I think it's nice, as well, to have a few days to think about what you did, and especially this time with what we did on Sunday. Q. Scotland and Gleneagles in two years' time, what's your thought on that and defending The Ryder Cup on Scottish soil? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Well, it seems a long way away now but obviously it would be fantastic for me to be there again. I never thought I would have played two Ryder Cups in a row, and you know, it would be obviously even bigger to play a third one, play in Scotland. I'm sure it's going to be a great atmosphere. I think Gleneagles is going to be a great venue. We know the golf course well because we play there every year. So I'm looking forward to it. Obviously it's far away now, but next year, starting from September next year, it's going to be my goal to make the team again. Q. Your match against Tiger Woods, two years ago you played him, you lost; and now you halved the game. Was it a little bit of a revenge for you after the game? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: No, not really. I mean, yeah, I wanted to do better than two years ago, but I think two years ago I played actually quite well. He just had a fantastic day, so there wasn't much I could do about it. It was a very different match. Obviously playing last and seeing how the other matches were going, there was I thought a lot more pressure, a lot more tension this time. And I'm just very happy the way I handle myself, the way I played the last few holes, and it was, you know, great for me, first of all to see Martin hole that putt on 18. And then to get the half point, it was really good. Q. Are you surprised Tiger gave it to you? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I was a little bit surprised. I said that they asked me over there‑‑ I said I was getting ready to hit the putt, because I didn't think he was going to concede it, but obviously it was a nice gesture of him. We just fought hard for 17 holes, both of us; under those conditions, I thought we played some pretty good golf. So as I said, I was just really happy to get the half point in the end. Q. Nice to play a game with Edoardo here, the two of you; he's had a season where he's been injured and not able to play. FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it's good to see him back. He's finally 100 percent fit, 100 percent recovered. So you know, it's very good for him, obviously I missed him a little bit in America. It was very different compared to two years ago without having him there. So hopefully he's fit now, so he just needs to play and get his form back, and hopefully we'll be both on the team in Gleneagles. Q. He likes the course, anyway, that's for sure? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, he likes it. I had some good results over there, as well. I never won; so it would be good to be there together, yeah. Q. The team talk that took place on Saturday night, was there a sense in The European Team room that you could do it, and where was the tipping point on Sunday where you thought, this is actually achievable? And also, did you sense that the Americans were beginning to suffer from the pressure? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: On Saturday night, definitely I think the first moment, obviously winning two points in the afternoon, the way the matches were going, was really big for us. And when the pairings came out on Saturday night, we had a meeting and we looked at them, and I think everyone saw that each one of us could win his match. So that was the first point when we thought, you know, this is actually‑‑ it's tough, but it's doable. And then I think yeah, the next day, you know, I think some of the Americans, especially the rookies, maybe suffered a bit playing on their own instead when they did very well in the doubles having each other there to support. So it was a bit different for them. And I think not having any rookies‑‑ well, apart from Nicolas, not having any rookies on our team, played to our advantage. Q. What do you think the win has done for The European Tour both in sporting terms, but also in commercial terms? Europe is under pressure commercially at the moment, but winning it must be giving The European Tour a huge shot in the arm. FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it's early to say maybe, but yeah, it looks like it's been obviously a great thing. That's one of the reasons why it's very important to us Europeans to win The Ryder Cup, because, you know, we want to show that The European Tour is second to none, and I'm sure it's going to have a great impact on the Tour. It's tough times, so anything we can do to try and help the Tour, we are happy to do it. Q. That means coming back and playing more in Europe than some of the top Europeans do at the moment; a lot of them are in America most of the time. FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, but you know, at the same time, it's not easy. The schedule of The European Tour is changing, and playing the World events in America obviously makes it a bit easier to stay over there for at least a few months. But you know, all The Ryder Cup players obviously are European Tour Members, so they are committed to be part of The European Tour and I hope and I'm sure that it's going to be the same in the future. So I think we are going to see probably the top players playing a bit more in America, but I'm sure that it will all come back at some point. 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
|