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JOHNNIE WALKER CHAMPIONSHIP AT GLENEAGLESAugust 21, 2013Marc WarrenGLENEAGLES, SCOTLAND MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thanks for joining us, as always. Always nice to welcome a former champion back and a man in some serious form. What have you been up to since that great result at the PGA? MARC WARREN: I went to the England Scotland game‑‑ just took it pretty easy last week. Didn't do too much golf‑wise. Just kind of enjoyed a good performance at the US PGA really. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Has that had an impact, that result? MARC WARREN: Yeah, for me, it's the highest level. I've never really played as well in that in a major before. To finish one shot out of the Top‑10, I was really pleased, especially after it wasn't a great first round score‑wise, you know, it did feel as if my game was in a good place and I could at the very worst make the cut on Friday, which the position I was in was the main goal to be there for the weekend. And to put good scores together after that in the weekend was very satisfying and to finish 12th was a really good result. MICHAEL GIBBONS: We've had a few chats but must be satisfying to know that you sort of almost belong at that level and that you can compete at that level. MARC WARREN: Yeah, I think the last couple of years, I've consistently done pretty well on Tour, European Tour level. You know, like I said, the next level up again, major level, is really satisfying. To know that everything I'm working on, my game is obviously getting better and bet we are time and standing up to those types of pressures, I suppose, or just pressure, not the actual tournament, but the fact that it's such a demanding, tough golf course. You know, from short game to driving, everything's got to be pretty much spot on. Every part of my game is strong enough to pretty much compete, I would say, at that level, especially the scores I showed on the last three days. Q. I think I'm right in saying two years ago, you were 500‑odd in the world. How satisfying is it that two years on, you've worked hard and you're in the top hundred? MARC WARREN: I still believed as a result of all the changes I made on and off the golf course. Changed management team, changed clubs, changed everything I was doing and it was purely because I felt I could be doing better than I actually was. It was always a belief that I had, so I when I lost my card, it was disappointing and tough at the time. But I suppose looking back it gives you that extra bit of impetus, that extra kick up the back side I suppose, all the changes I made, time to start showing through and that I was going to start improving. Since then, I think the Dunhill was obviously a massive turning point that year, that I got enough points to retain my card and get my card back for the season after. It was a great feeling, took a lot of confidence out of that, performing the way I did. Since then, it's just been steady improvement working on very similar things, but just getting better at them all the time. Q. When you lost your card what was your thought process to getting it back? MARC WARREN: I was fortunate, because the European Tour, supported me for the start of that year and gave me quite a few invites to play. I had a couple of decent results and then in Dubai I finished Top‑20. But I remember after I played in Norway, going down to see Pete Cowen, and had a chat about what I was going to do. I thought, you know, the position I was in, I was going to have to play really well, whether it was Challenge Tour or main tour to retain a full card for next year. And Pete said: Well, which one do you feel you would do better on? And I said: Six events should be enough to get my card back, and turns out I got a few more than that and that was enough to retain my card. Kind of backed myself a little bit, but after Norway, it was a decisionto fully play Challenge Tour, or get as many invites as I possibly could and hopefully a couple of Top‑10s would top the number of tournaments up. Q. Would you say more about what you thought of that week in Norway, was it hitting you that you were suddenly on the secondary tour and you shouldn't be there? What was the thought process? MARC WARREN: Obviously I deserved to be there, just because I was. I tried to do it properly. I took a caddie, when I played, I think I played one event where I didn't. And it was just that it felt so different. It felt as if it was almost‑‑ just like I was playing a game with friends. Couldn't quite concentrate. I remember Norway, I took Gary Edwards, who used to caddie for me my first couple years on Tour, and we started back up again pretty much about then. And I remember doing that, and instantly just felt as if I was going about it more professional than I had been just by carrying one bag or whatever. Obviously, you know, it's not quite the same atmosphere as a normal Tour event, and it's something over time, you get used to being out here. When I first came out here, this was very different from Challenge Tour, but obviously after five years or whatever on Tour and going back to play a few Challenge Tour events, it was pretty demanding. But like I said, it made me definitely‑‑ definitely made me realise that I definitely want to compete. Q. You've always someone that the more you're in contention, the better you play, but when you are not in contention, that's when you tend not to play so well. Have you managed to sort that out in your mind? MARC WARREN: Yeah, I think so. I think part of that was mental. If I wasn't going to win, I wasn't really interested. I never played for any other reason than to win. In golf, it would be a bit short‑sided at times because obviously World Rankings, Order of Merit, you need to be finishing‑‑ you're not going to win‑‑ the percentage is going to be very, very little. I changed a lot of things. I felt as if there were a lot of technique problems which didn't allow me to play consistently well and I think the results the last couple of years, especially this year, have proven that mentally, physically, everything is on the right lines, where, you know, very little missed cuts and the cuts I do make tend to go forward to the weekends and kind of racking up the Top‑20s and then, you know, hole a couple more putts, you're in the Top‑10s. I think in the last five events, five Top‑20s, so good form going into this week. Q. You've come off Twitter; is this part of a conscious decision to try to declutter your mind so that you don't have outside influences? MARC WARREN: Yeah, like I said, changed a lot a few years ago, off the course as well as on the course. Everyone knows about the on‑the‑course stuff, but off the course I changed a lot as well, changed management and everything. I think the Twitter thing, I spoke about that before, and seeing obviously recently what happened, I feel as a golfer, how easily things can get out of hand, whether people think you do right or wrong, doesn't matter, you're going to get criticised anyway. I didn't really want to do it anymore. I think it's good for keeping up‑to‑date on sport but that's as far as I'll go with it again. Everything else, life off the course is great. Couldn't ask for more, had a baby boy this year, and everyone is healthy and happy, and on the course, I feel as if everything is moving in the right direction. I'm really enjoying what I'm doing every day. Q. Has that validated, that suddenly‑‑ is it more important now? MARC WARREN: I think when I go to practise now, I definitely have something in mind I want to work on. It's not just I'm going to go golf for a day and end up puttering about and doing different things. It's, I'm going to go for two hours and this is what I'm going to work on. Last week, didn't pitch it well and doesn't control wasn't great, so go and work on that. Definitely much more zoned in I suppose on what I'm practising, and a long with what I've learned from Pete, I have a much better understanding of my technique and everything. I work on technique in front of a mirror at home, so the feelings I'm getting into the right position, I can take it to the golf course. Q. No chandeliers? MARC WARREN: No, chandeliers, the lights are all under it (laughs). Q. How do you reflect on your win here you? You must be able to take a lot of belief and confidence in that. MARC WARREN: Yeah, it's a golf course I've always enjoyed playing. I have a win here and I think I have a few other decent results, as well. I think it's quite a long golf course, if you drive it well, you can definitely make a lot of birdies. I think Adam Scott was 24‑under or something one year which was incredible on a golf course as tough as this. But I think the changes they have made to the course make it even better. 18, the green, I think that can make it on exciting and I think you can make eagle. The hole plays shorter and it's easier on Sunday to make eagle but you can also make five or six. I think condition‑wise, it's the best I've ever seen it. The SubAir system is obviously doing its job in drying out the course a lot. I think we hear a lot of guys saying that it's the best we've seen the course this week. But going to back to the win, it's always nice to return to a place where you've won before, good memories, and you always get asked questions about when you won, etc. Brings back a lot of good memories, and I will definitely be drawing on a lot of those memories this week. Q. Leads to the obvious Ryder Cup question. Where is the Ryder Cup in terms of your priorities of getting on the team next year and what would it mean if you could do it? MARC WARREN: Yeah, it would mean a lot. It would be huge, normally to play in a Ryder Cup, but to play in it in Scotland, it's every Scottish golfer's dream. But it's so far in the future that anything can happen between now and then. I might absolutely be nailed on the team or I might be just outside, whatever. But like I said, I've totally changed how I look at golf now. I look at more day‑to‑day and focus on controlling the little things that I can control. Outside of that, I might have the best year ever next year and not qualify for the team and be sat down at home and watch The Ryder Cup at home and be satisfied with what I've done; or, I might get a few good results at the right time, so it's all up in the air. Obviously points don't start until next week, but yeah, it's definitely something it's exciting and great goal to have. Q. Listening to one of the SKY commentators earlier, he said that he thought you were scabbed from the misses in the last year and a bit; do you think you need to prove anything to anyone? MARC WARREN: I think I know who it was and what he said. I think scarred, as in trying to win tournaments, and obviously touched on my recent years but it was obviously tough, went to a few Challenge Tour events and tried to get my card back and trying to win tournaments is nowhere near the pressure of that. Being scarred, playing golf under pressure, no, nothing like it. I don't think I ever will; I'm not that type of person. Day‑to‑day, I just get on with it really. I wouldn't take on a shot because I failed in the past, put it that way. I won't back down under pressure or win a tournament because I haven't won in the past, because I know I have what it takes to win. Put myself in position in bigger tournaments than I've ever done in the past, and, you know, to repeat myself a wee bit, that's why I made all the changes, to be able to do that, and to do it consistently, which I feel as if I'm starting to do that and do it more and more often. And if I keep doing that, the wins, I would say, are inevitable the way I'm playing. Keep putting yourself in position, it's going to happen. And obviously the confidence I've got, knowing I've done it a couple of times, I feel as if I'm playing better golf than did I then. It's not just about winning tournaments. Q. Just to take that next step, the feeling of having Scots in contention in major weeks, do you feel if you were in position, do you feel your game and your mentality is strong enough to compete in Majors, not only finish Top‑12, but to go one step further? MARC WARREN: Yeah, the first round wasnÂ’t great but the standard of golf I played was obviously good enough, but obviously until you're there, you never know. But I think understanding and the belief that I have in my technique, it shows that I can hit‑‑ you know, coming down the stretch there with butterflies‑‑ it's a big event and it was a chance to take a big jump up The Race to Dubai. I was really conscious that I wanted to finish that strong, especially 16, 17, 18, how tough the holes are. The way I played the last two holes, it fills me with great confidence, the tee shot and second shot I hit on 17, and just missed the green but holed a great 10‑footer for par, just when you have to grind down and keep the momentum going. And then the two shots I hit at 18, 18 was probably the best driver I hit all day and best iron I hit all day and hit a good putt and just didn't go in. Little things like that that you can draw on and take confidence from, when you're standing on middle of 18 fairway and it's ten deep going down both sides of the fairway, grandstands full, there's no getting away from what situation you're in, there's no pretend there. You're surrounded by everything that goes with it, and that's something I really enjoy and that's why I practise so hard is to get to that next level, and, you know, keep doing what I'm doing and improving all the time. Q. In a strange way, when you play that way in a major, do you kind of learn that you don't have to play phenomenal golf to be that good; you can just trust yourself to play good golf that you're capable of, you don't have to do anything ridiculous? MARC WARREN: Yeah, obviously in a major, everything that goes with it, it's easy to put pressure on yourself to be perfect, and that's exactly what I did the first round, practise, played great, probably a few of the best practise round I've ever played and then just tried to be far too perfect in the tournament. And then Friday, I was determined just to go out and play golf, and because of that, took confidence from that and played well the next two days, as well. But yeah, you're spot on. I don't think it's‑‑ if you're playing well, you're going to play well anywhere. Obviously there's a lot of good players, and strength and depth is deeper, but I think just doing a lot of the simple things well, just keeping it in play, and course management, I'm learning all the time is huge. Hitting a lot of irons off tees, 3‑woods, just keep the ball in play. Guys can be 100 yards to the green but can't get it on the green if they are in the rough; rather be 170 yards out and middle of the fairway. That was more the attitude I took last week and definitely majors, obviously watching guys like Woods, one is hitting driver‑‑ but along those lines, I think people can learn a lot from that, and I certainly have. Q. How important is playing in America, would you consider playing more on the PGA Tour? MARC WARREN: Especially moving into the Top 100, moving into Top 50, things like that. I'd love to; European Tour is where I started and I'll always play European Tour, but Top‑50 in the world for me to be the ideal scenario, obviously. Playing the WGC events and the four Majors, I enjoyed the atmosphere. And in New York, the fans are renowned for being very proud and support and turning out in the numbers they did, and they support no matter where you're from there, and I really enjoyed that. Yeah, it's something I'd love to play in a lot more of, absolutely. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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