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BALLANTINE'S CHAMPIONSHIPApril 24, 2013Louis OosthuizenICHEON, SOUTH KOREA PAUL SYMES: Well, Louis, many thanks for joining us. Welcome to the Ballantine's Championship, your first time here. Just perhaps start by telling us why you decided to add it to your schedule this year. LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, it's nice being here. Thank you all for having me. You know, I've seen a lot of this tournament on television. I've heard a lot of good things about it from Ernie, and, yeah, I mean, I think they made it really easy for us to come, putting up a plane all the way from the States over here. Made life a lot easier to come. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the week and looking forward to seeing the golf course out this afternoon, and you know, see what it presents. PAUL SYMES: Obviously disappointed to miss the cut at the Masters. What part of your game let you down and have you managed to rectify the problem since? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Definitely my short game. My putting wasn't very good when I played those two rounds. I had a lot of putts, and you know, ended up missing by two. I hit it okay, not great, but you know, around Augusta, you need to putt really well. The greens just got the better of me for the two days. PAUL SYMES: I know you had a game of Tuho with Y.E. Yang yesterday, how did that go? Did you enjoy it? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I'm glad I'm sticking to golf. I'm not going to take that on as a profession. Yeah, it was good fun. It's always nice in different cultures and different parts of the world to see here what their sports are and things that they do. Q. I want to ask you questions about why other players are not coming because of the current situation in the South Korean Peninsula, and as you know in north Korea they conducted some nuclear tests only this year. So what is the main reason you're coming for this match championship, and what do you think about that? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I think once you get here, it's probably a lot different than what the news make of it. But yeah, it was a personal decision that the two of them made, not coming here, and you know, you can't really give them any hard time about it. I think it was‑‑ both of them made the decision with their families not to come. I had a look, as well, a week ago what I was going to do. Management kept on it and spoke to the Tour, and I took the word of the guys that everything's fine over here. You know, I was looking forward to the week and I think something drastically needed to go wrong for me not to come. Yeah, I'm glad I came. Q. Any fear? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No, I'm all good, don't worry (smiling). Q. Through this year's Masters game, a new rule called Tiger rule was created, so I know that you won several Masters games and you've also played alongside with Tiger Woods, so what do you think about this rule, Tiger rule, and what do you think about the fact that Tiger Woods violated the rule at the Masters game? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Well, to me, he got the rule wrong in where he could drop it. It's not‑‑ I don't think he did it intentionally. He just was mixed up in all what he needed to do at the moment. But he got the rule wrong, and you know, after signing your scorecard for the wrong rule, it was definitely a DQ, and I just think the officials misinterpreted the rule completely. That rule was meant for something that you were unaware of that you did. I just think they got it wrong at the end. But you know, that's sometimes how it goes in the game. To me, I think they got the rule completely wrong. Q. So my question is: How did you get to play golf when you were young? I understand that from the foreign press, I learned that your father had a farm and you saw your father playing golf on that farm when you were young. So what motivated you to play golf? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I grew up on a farm. It was actually my brother that started golf. My father started playing golf after the two of us. Yeah, looked up at guys like Ernie and Retief in South Africa. You know, I just started playing golf and I hit it really well, and in the Southern Cape back in South Africa, I was leading my age group all the time. Eventually represented South Africa in World Amateur events and just basically grew on from there. You know, turned professional, and here I am now. Q. So you said that you had a practice round yesterday, and back in 2012, we noticed that this golf course is indeed a very difficult one, and the weather is going to also affect greatly in your scores. So this time around, what do you think would be the most important variable for you to do well in this tournament? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I haven't seen the golf course yet. I didn't play a practice round yesterday, so I still need to go out and see what it's like. Just standing on the range, it looks that there can be a few narrow holes off the tee and I need to play to see what needs to be done. But yeah, for now, I'm just trying to hit a few shots again and then just get the jet‑lag out of the way and just get the swing on plane. Q. So if you go to many different countries to play golf, I understand that you mostly stay at the golf course or hotels and you don't really get to experience the local culture there; so did you hear from any other players about Korea, and is there anything special that you look forward to experience here in Korea? LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Not really. I mean, at the moment, it's golf course, hotel for me. Still 13‑hour time difference from where I came; it's tough to go out and enjoy a bit of Korea, because you know, I need to prepare myself for the tournament. But you know, it's a shame, I think a lot of times you want to spend a few more days and a few more trips here and a lot of countries just to feel that you've actually seen more of the country. But unfortunately with the traveling that we do, it's difficult to actually go out and see those kind of things which makes a country good. PAUL SYMES: Thanks very much, Louis, appreciate your time, and have a great week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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