|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
RBC HERITAGEApril 17, 2013Jordan SpiethHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Jordan Spieth into the interview room here at the RBC Heritage. Special temporary member on the PGA TOUR. Comment on your season up to this point. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's been extremely successful. I think the goal at the beginning of the year was to earn my card for next year, and to be able to play on the Tour this year is a dream come true. And you've got to play well for the rest of the season, but it's nice to have a lot more starts. JOHN BUSH: Pretty good track right here. Talk about being here at Harbour Town. JORDAN SPIETH: I saw the course for the first time yesterday. Never played the Junior Heritage or any event prior to this. So I had heard about it. I've heard it's ridiculously narrow. You have to have all the ball flights; can't let one stray. And it's true. And it's a perfect course. It's in great shape. And the greens are spectacular. It's going to be difficult. JOHN BUSH: Quite an eventful Masters this past week. I know you were watching. And just talk a little bit about, I know over the past year you've played a couple of times with Angel Cabrera, who finished runner up, but in a classy way. Your comments? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I enjoyed watching Tiger when he chipped in on 16. I thought that was my favorite Masters at the time. I don't remember any Masters before 2003. Yeah, this might have been the most incredible Masters that I've watched. It was pretty special. You know, playing with Angel, he doesn't speak a lot of English, but you can tell he's extremely classy in the way he conducted himself there. That's how he was when I played with him; complimenting when I hit a good shot and picking me up if things didn't go wall. It's great. It's how most of the veterans are out here. I always love watching the Masters. I only was able to catch the back nine Sunday. So it fortunately was a good one. JOHN BUSH: That's when it starts, anyway. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. Q. I guess what were your intentions coming out this year, and what was your contingency plan if you weren't able to gain this temporary membership you have? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, well, starting the year out I didn't have any status anywhere, but knew that I would have‑‑ I had a good idea that I would have a lot of sponsor exemptions on Tour. And I knew I had the first exemption on the Web.com Tour in Panama. And all I had to do was get ready. And really a good year for me would have been playing well to start the year, and on the Web.com Tour, and continuing to play on the Web.com Tour the entire year, to earn top‑25 on the money list and play out here next year. And that was a good year for me. A great year would have been somehow within seven starts earning enough to do what I guess seven other people have done in the past, Bud Cauley being the most recent and earning PGA TOUR status that way. That would have been‑‑ that was something that I thought about, but something that I'd have to get really, really lucky along with having the right event. So fortunately Puerto Rico and Tampa allowed me to do that. But, yeah, I mean honestly a good year would have been playing the Web.com Tour the entire year. Q. Going forward could you take us through your schedule that you know what you've got coming up the next four or five weeks. JORDAN SPIETH: Yes. I have three in a row here: Here and then New Orleans and then Charlotte. And then pending, if I don't win I won't be in PLAYERS. And so I'll have that week off in Dallas to prepare for the Byron the week after. After that I'm not sure yet, still talking to and having a lot of interest from tournament officials and looking forward to a pretty full schedule. Q. That being the case, has this become the challenge now, part of the challenge, a lot of these courses you probably haven't played? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, there's only a few that I've played before. So I'm going off talking to people leading up to events that have been to these events. And pretty much just asking, you know, what's the golf course like? Do I need to be practicing a certain shot or two? Do I need to practice launching the ball way up in the air? Practice keeping it under the wind? What do the greens typically look like? Then I go either practice on bermuda greens or bentgrass greens leading up to the event, because they have both in Dallas. It is different and it's difficult. But as we get closer here to Dallas, then I'll have obviously played that course before. A lot of these courses I've just watched on TV. I know some of the holes just based on watching it. Q. A couple of questions, Jordan. You obviously don't really have your pick, but are you trying with the sponsor exemptions trying to plot out a course where you feel you can do well at? And secondly, what has sort of been the hardest part of this season so far? Obviously you've played well. JORDAN SPIETH: Honestly I'm trying to play in every event I can. I don't have to search for seven events on courses that are perfect, because now I have unlimited, which is awesome. I think I'll earn my way into a couple events without an exemption, which is great. The hardest part, the hardest part is just adapting to the travel and off course, I think. I've been striking the ball well week to week, even playing four in a row, which is reassuring, because I had never done that before; I didn't know how I'd hold up. When you're coming up to a three‑week stretch it's getting enough rest and keeping hydrated leading up to it. Some of these guys do six, seven in a row, and I'm not to that level yet. What they do is pretty special. And after the fourth week I'm pretty dead tired. Q. What's the most you've played in a row before, even going back to your amateur days? JORDAN SPIETH: I'd played two in a row one time in my life. So then I went down to Panama and played four in a row there. That's the second time playing more than two in a row, with Puerto Rico and Tampa being the third and fourth week in a row. Q. How did you feel after that? JORDAN SPIETH: I was ready to go home and get some sleep. No, I felt great. To be honest, I would have been fine with going and playing another one at that point. But, you know, when you're playing well, you just want to keep playing. You don't necessarily think of it being four in a row until you get home and you start watching golf, and you're kind of upset that you're watching and not playing. Q. Are you traveling with anybody? Do you have a support group? Do you have somebody to give you advice with you? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, my caddie, I've taken on for this year was a friend that's caddied for me before, and he's traveling with me, flying with me to each event. And we're staying at the same place. And my manager, Jay, he's based in Fort Worth, he's been to pretty much I think all but one event so far this year. It's helpful to have those two guys, even though I do take money off of them in poker every night, it is nice to have them around for advice. Obviously it's new to me. Q. Did you feel it was important to have somebody? Did you make a conscious decision to make sure you travel with somebody with some experience, traveling on the Tour? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's underrated. I'd never really thought about that leading up to it. But after having gone through the beginning of this year, it has been extremely helpful, because I'm kind of a klutz, so I would have probably gotten lost by now, so it's nice. Q. What's your caddie's name? JORDAN SPIETH: Michael Greller. JOHN BUSH: We appreciate you coming by. Play well this week. 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
|