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ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIPSeptember 25, 2013Martin KaymerST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND SARAH GWYNN: Thank you for joining us today. Must be nice to be back at a place where you've won before. MARTIN KAYMER: Yes, it's nice. It's nice to be back here at any time, not only for the Dunhill, I mean, St. Andrews is my favourite golf course in the world, and it's very nice, I played with my brother this week, my dad will caddie for him and it will be entertaining for sure and that makes the tournament very nice, especially in our case that I can always take someone that I know very well and we always have a good time. I come to St. Andrews; yeah, I like it here. SARAH GWYNN: In 2010 when you won, you were probably in your best form ever. How close are you to finding that form again? MARTIN KAYMER: 2010 was a nice year, it was very special, a lot of good things happened to me. Every tournament I played, it was like I wanted to win‑‑ it's not like I was thinking about finishing Top‑10 or anything. After we came here after we won The Ryder Cup, and the same happened last year, won The Ryder Cup at Medinah and came here. It's just nice to play the tournament, because people understand. The people in Scotland, they understand the game of golf. They understand the sportsmanship, the whole thing. That's why it's really enjoyable to play here. It's a very nice golf course they play. It's very challenging, but the form, it's very tough to continue. If you win four tournaments in one year, including a major, it's very difficult to keep that up. Q. You're playing with your brother; who is more nervous? MARTIN KAYMER: More nervous? I don't think we are nervous. I think I'm very he excited to play with him, and I think he will look forward to the week, as opposed to, we don't have a chance to win really because his handicap is plus one. He has to shoot better scores than the winning professional on Sunday I guess. For us, it's very important to spend time the three of us together; that we don't get into any arguments on the golf course. Q. Could that happen? MARTIN KAYMER: No, it's not going to happen. It's never going to happen‑‑ it's more funny. You're always going to be a little nervous on the first two holes, because I think that it's normal and it should be like this. If you're not nervous, then you don't care and you'd rather stay at home and do something else than play golf. Q. Could you explain the difference between the courses? MARTIN KAYMER: The difference‑‑ let's say the weather is okay, then the golf course, I think Carnoustie is the toughest because it's fairly tight and I guess it's the longest golf course. St. Andrews is I think one of the most scorable golf course in the world if the weather is good, and Kingsbarns‑‑ I don't know Kingsbarns that well as good as Carnoustie and St. Andrews, but the history of the tournament always showed that Kingsbarns is a very scorable golf course. Carnoustie, you make something around par and you're happy. St. Andrews‑‑ yeah, is St. Andrews. Q. When you came here last year after what happened at The Ryder Cup, the winning putt, etc., you must have been absolutely exhausted mentally and physically. This year presumably you feel fresher. MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I had three weeks off. I didn't have a night out on Sunday like last year. I slept a little bit more last Sunday than last year Sunday. Let's say that the spirit and the golf‑‑ we are all in golf heaven pretty much. Something very, very special happened there for us and especially for myself, talking about me now, that I will keep for the rest of my life. And so you're coming here, you come to the tournament, say, okay, it would be nice to play good. If not, you just want to relax and want to reflect on The Ryder Cup, and that attitude makes you play better. If you don't care that much, you're still giving 100 per cent but you don't put so much pressure on yourself for playing a good tournament. This year, yeah, I definitely had more sleep. Q. When you look back on the season, particularly the Majors and the three WGCs, how would you assess your performances this year? MARTIN KAYMER: Bad. Not good. People obviously want to be very kind to me and say it was a fairly average season; it was not a good season. We can be honest about that. I had a few good finishes, a few Top‑10s here and there. But I think the standard has to be higher than Top‑10s, especially if you won a major, if you have been the No. 1 in the world; since I became professional, everything was going my way. But I've said that earlier in an interview that this season has been golfing‑wise not my best. But I learned a lot, so what other people don't see, they are not supposed to see, but for myself, it was still a very, very good season, probably the best season off the golf course that I had. So it's all fine, but no, I was not thinking that it would take me that long again to play better golf. Q. (Inaudible.) MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, I don't want to get too much into details, but I would say you grow more as a person. Q. I think I'm right in saying that you would have been eligible for the Seve Trophy, but you're not playing in it; is that right? MARTIN KAYMER: Correct. Q. Can you tell us the reason why you decided not to take up a spot on that team? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, it's very easy answer. I played a lot of tournaments the last few weeks, and there are very, very important tournaments coming up. I want to play all four events towards The Race to Dubai and I want to prepare as good as possible. I play this week and I play Portugal, and you know, I can't play every week and I can't‑‑ I want to prepare good for tournaments. And if I play too much, then you enter tournaments with only 80 per cent. My caddie, the people I work with and myself, it's not fair if you enter tournaments where you can't be your best. Q. Even though the event is one of Seve Ballesteros, the name, does that come into it? MARTIN KAYMER: It definitely does play a role but unfortunately I never had the pleasure of meeting him. José Maria, he came up and asked me if I can play, that was in the middle of the season and I said, you know, I would like to play, but let me figure out my schedule first and see where I'm going to play tournaments, and if I'm going to win here and there, then there's a better possibility. But I haven't been satisfied with myself with the season, so that's why I need to focus on myself right now. I can't do the best for the team right now, and I'm sure other people are more motivated to play, so there's nothing really to do that I don't like Seve. Unfortunately I could never meet him. SARAH GWYNN: Martin thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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