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JOHNNIE WALKER CHAMPIONSHIP AT GLENEAGLESAugust 22, 2013Tom LewisGLENEAGLES, SCOTLAND Q. How was that today? TOM LEWIS: Nice start. I had three weeks off at home practising and having some time off, as well and it's obviously come together today. Even though I made double on the third hole. I was just cruising around today and I made a lot of nice putts and some good up‑and‑downs, and I drove it solidly, as well. So it gave me opportunities out there. Q. You mentioned that double, so this is a terrific way to bounce back and a wonderful way to finish? TOM LEWIS: It's a nice hole, the last hole. It's quite a short par 5, but the green sits at a funny angle and I hit a great shot in from sort of 200 yards and didn't quite get the distance; but where I was was quite a good place to be and I hit a good bunker shot and resulted with a birdie. Q. There have been times when you said it's been difficult to recover from mistakes, so something obviously worked and the positivity was there today. TOM LEWIS: Yeah, I was positive out there. I've been working with Dave Alred, he's been working hard with me and it's really come together. I feel like if I can get a couple more good rounds under my belt this week and take confidence into next week and just build upon that. Q. Do you like the nature of this course? TOM LEWIS: Yeah, it's lovely, coming to Scotland, I always love coming here, the Home of Golf and Gleneagles is a lovely place. The course is really set up well this week and the greens are quite firm, and they are playing tricky, they are really quick and if you are on the wrong side, you can make mistakes but today I hit it very well so gave myself a lot of opportunities. Q. And of course there's an awful long way to go but this is the venue for The Ryder Cup next year, so is that something that is an aim or target or nice wish perhaps? TOM LEWIS: Yeah, obviously it would be lovely to be here in a year's time. I spoke to Paul earlier in the week, and we are going to get together and have some dinner next week and hopefully he can give me some tips. And hopefully if I win this week, maybe this time next year as well, it might put me in a good spot. Q. You mentioned the new coach; how recent is that? TOM LEWIS: It's in the pipeline for a little while but come together the last sort of month. I worked with Dave a couple of times, a couple of weekends. We've been working hard and we've been speaking every night and we've been working a lot more on performance than maybe mechanics which I've been working on for maybe a little bit too long. There are always going to be faults, but I was obviously not concentrating on the right things. But it's all kind of come together today and hopefully I can go out there and have the same mind‑set as I did today and I'll speak to Dave, I'm sure, as soon as I finish with you and then we can try and talk about practise this afternoon and then going into tomorrow. I don't know what the weather is going to come in this week‑‑ I think if the weather stays like this all week, it would be great but I think the wind is probably going to get up a little bit I'm sure at some point and I'm sure we'll get a little bit of rain. As long as I can focus on my game and focus on my goal, then that's all that matters. Q. What about your previous coach‑‑ TOM LEWIS: I've still got my old coach. I've got all sorts going on. I've worked with all the best people in the business and it's been great to have their knowledge, along with working with Butch Harmon on my swing and my dad has always been a good influence on me. My dad's always been a good influence on me, and I've worked with Dave Pelz over in America and done it all really. Bob Rotella has obviously worked on my mind as well. So I couldn't ask for a better team, so I've got no real reason to fail. Q. You're not getting too tied up with technique? TOM LEWIS: I think you've got a lot of focus on trying to hit the perfect shot every time; and I think everyone says that and I think it's quite hard to get out of that mind‑set of trying to get everything perfect, because nothing's going my way. But if you go out there with the mind‑set that things are not going to go your way but you've practised all the ugly stuff, you're ready to go if it does go bad. That's what happened to me early. I holed some putts and made a mistake obviously on the third. But didn't make double and bounced back with a birdie straightaway. I was out there thinking, did I birdie it because I practised it or did I birdie it because it was a fluke? I think a bit of both. If it comes along like Portugal, it's meant to be and if it doesn't, I can move away and build upon what I did well. Q. Do you think you're a better player now than when you won Portugal? TOM LEWIS: I think so. I was on a high coming from The Open and turning professional and probably didn't know what to expect, and that probably played in my favour; whereas now I know how tough it is out here. If I can raise the bar and try to push myself to get higher goals and having no limits, then obviously wins will come my way in time. But obviously if I can play well for the rest of the year and I do win, then it's meant to be and if I don't, then when it does come, I'll be ready for it. Q. Did you expect to find yourself in this position, two years on, 93 on the Order of Merit? TOM LEWIS: I don't even look now, it upsets me. I've always tried to play well. No one tries to play badly but I think I wasn't ready to win, and it gave me two years to learn. Instead of learning on the Challenge or Euro Pro and building myself up, I did it in the limelight. It's been better for me long term, even though the results have not come my way, it is one of the toughest fields in the world and we'll just see how it goes. Q. What happened on the third? TOM LEWIS: I drove it in the bunker, tried to lay up in the rough and blocked my wedge into the bunker and then missed a little putt for bogey. Q. And how did you birdie the last three? TOM LEWIS: I hit a blocked drive on 16 and that went between the two bunkers and I thought, well, favors my way a little bit today and hit a great 3‑iron into the middle of the green, just skimmed the edge from eagle and it was an easy birdie. And on 17, I pulled my 6‑iron sort of back left of the green. Hit the putt a little bit hard and it sort of slowed up and turned in for me at the right time, probably about 45 feet. 18, we did what we did. It was a good, I hit a great drive and I hit a great 4‑iron in from about 211, and just got in the air a little bit but finished in a good spot. I think if it went actually pin‑high, it would have rolled up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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