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BMW MASTERS PRESENTED BY SRE GROUPOctober 24, 2013Luke GuthrieSHANGHAI, CHINA PAUL SYMES: Congratulations on a fantastic round, you said you had 19 putts today; I guess any time you do that you're going to have a pretty good day. LUKE GUTHRIE: Yeah, it was a great day. It was one of the better rounds I've ever played. It's playing difficult out there right now, and like you said, I had 19 putts, and that was definitely the key to my round. I was on 10 green and had about a 25‑, 30‑footer, and kind of realised this was my first long putt of the day and then I realised I had one putted the first nine holes, and I was like, all right, I'm doing all right. No, it was a good day. PAUL SYMES: You obviously come here pretty good form, finishing tied fifth on the PGA Tour, so confidence and belief were pretty good coming into the week. LUKE GUTHRIE: Yeah, it was nice to get some time off there. I had about five weeks off before I played the last two weeks over on the PGA Tour, and I've been playing solid, been on good form, hitting it a lot better and just been getting a lot out of my rounds again, which is nice and really scoring well. PAUL SYMES: First time playing here in China; I guess you quite like the place. LUKE GUTHRIE: Yeah, I love Shanghai. This is my first time over in China and Asia, and just wanted to challenge myself to come travel kind of abroad and get used to this, and just keep gaining experiences and get better at becoming a global player and it's nice to get off to a good start today. Q. I was going to ask you why you're here, and you've just answered it but given the start of the new season and I don't know what you've got planned McGladrey, México‑wise, but why go all the way over just to come back? LUKE GUTHRIE: I am going to play McGladrey and México, but probably three months ago, I just made it, when we were done with this new 2014 season for the PGA Tour now, I just wanted to kind of go somewhere overseas. When I played the British Open this year, just kind of got a little shocked by just kind of different golf, just the little things, I kind of drink a lot of Mountain Dew to a fault and couldn't find Mountain Dew. Just little things like that, and like I said, gain experience and just keep getting better as a player. Q. Found any over here? I'm thinking no. LUKE GUTHRIE: No. I packed some, so I'm learning (big smile). Q. For quite a long while, there was a period when the Americans didn't seem to travel at all and now most like yourself want to be global players. Is there come‑on factor as to why that's changed? LUKE GUTHRIE: I don't really have a great answer for that. But yes, a lot of young guys that I grew up playing junior golf and college golf against, like Peter Uihlein, Brooks, they are over here and competing and playing well. And just kind of like I said, it's important to play an international schedule and just keep getting better as a player. I think that really builds experience, and you really can then handle situations on basically anything thrown at you. That's kind of the reason I'm here, on top of this being a great field and a great tournament and great venue. Q. Have you been monitoring what Peter and Brooks are doing? LUKE GUTHRIE: Definitely, everyone has, because we all kind of know each other and they have been playing great, and it's great to see somebody you know and kind of some of the young guys your age from America playing well. Q. Can you tell us about your experience and your professional career, where have you been in 2013 and also before that, and are you done with university? Do you already have your degree? LUKE GUTHRIE: Yes, I just got done with my degree at the University of Illinois. I got done December of 2012 is when I completed that. I became a‑‑ I started my pro career in June 2012. Finished up school that following semester and a played the Web.com the rest of that year and got my card through that, and last year was my rookie season on the PGA Tour and was able to keep my card and now I'm starting in 2014. Q. Are you familiar with Peter Uihlein, and what do you think about American power on The European Tour? Are you planning to play more outside America? LUKE GUTHRIE: Yes, I know Peter. He's the same age as me. He went to, we played junior golf together and went to Oklahoma State and played a lot of golf against him. He's a great player. I think everyone knew he was going to be very successful as a pro, and it was pretty cool that he started, and he went over to Europe and is kind of building his career through here. Like I said, he's a great player. Q. What do you think about Americans on The European Tour? LUKE GUTHRIE: Like I said, I think it's important that everyone plays a global schedule and just continues to grow. It's important for young Americans to come over here and kind of get themselves out here and experience something different. That's a big reason why I'm here. Q. You said you like Shanghai very much. What is your favorite Chinese dish? LUKE GUTHRIE: I haven't actually got outside the resort because I got here Tuesday night from Las Vegas. That's as close as I could get here. And played a Pro‑Am yesterday with, went to sleep and got up and played this morning. But I tell you what, I love Lake Malaren. Q. Not being a European Tour Member, how did you get into this field? LUKE GUTHRIE: I got a sponsor invite into this field. They were very nice, nice enough to give me a spot, and very excited to be here. I was really looking forward to this tournament on my schedule, and just can't be more happy to be here. Q. So HUGO BOSS sponsor? LUKE GUTHRIE: Yes, I'm sponsored by HUGO BOSS. Q. When exactly did you get the exemption? LUKE GUTHRIE: I got the exemption‑‑ not exactly sure. I think I got the exemption like maybe a month and a half ago, a month. Q. Did you think about Australia at all when you were looking for a country that didn't have Mountain Dew? LUKE GUTHRIE: Definitely. I definitely thought about the Australian Shiraz events. That's even a longer trip to get down there. The field was very strong here, and I wanted to challenge myself. I can kind of get back and have kind of a half‑off‑week in the U.S. and go to McGladrey and it's not too strenuous. Q. Lastly, can you give us some details on the nine putts on the front, how many of them were for par, longest one for birdie and that should do it I think. LUKE GUTHRIE: I only hit three greens on the front. Made three birdies. Birdied No.2; hit it in there, drove it pretty close to the green. Hit it in there about five feet, made it. Put it to a couple inches on 3, so just kicked it in. And 7, made like a 4‑footer for birdie. Got it green‑side on that par 5. Besides that, I think I made‑‑ No.9, I made about a ten, 12‑footer for par. That was probably my longest putt on the front. I was just able to get them all up‑and‑down, because I kept the ball in the best spot, kind of against the wind with chipping and I could kind of throw the ball up in the air and stop it pretty quick; it's blowing pretty hard. Q. Did you say you hit driver on No.2? LUKE GUTHRIE: Yeah, hit it right down there. 59 yards to the pin. Q. Can you tell us what is your most memorable tournament yourself, and why you enjoy this game so much, is it all because of trying to pick up the trophy at the end of the week? LUKE GUTHRIE: Probably the most memorable tournament I've ever had, has to be The Honda Classic last year. I got third place, my best finish on the PGA Tour so far. I was the leader for the last two rounds, and was just a great experience for me to be thrown kind of my feet to the fire a little bit there. Was able to handle it pretty well, and it's just so much fun being kind of right there in the mix. Definitely the reason I think everyone plays is that for the back nine on Sundays, is kind of get those feelings to have a chance to win. It's just no matter what, if you pick up the trophy at the end, you're the best golfer that week and it's a great feeling. Q. Please talk about your chip‑in on No. 14, and also your chip on 17 or 18, you had two chip‑ins? LUKE GUTHRIE: 14 and 15. Q. Can you talk about it? And do you think it's lucky? LUKE GUTHRIE: Yeah, I chipped it in on 14 and 15. The one on 14 was for birdie. The one on 15 was eagle. It was my first eagle kind of in a while, so that felt good. But yeah, the one on 14 was probably about, almost 30 yards, 25 yards from the pin. It was pretty good. I had to kind of loft it up from the rough up and over a bunker. The wind was really coming hard off my right, and the green kind of sloped to the left, so I just tried to throw it up into that slope and hit it high and putt a little cut spin, and it landed soft and took the break. Didn't have a really good angle from where I was at whether it was going to go in or not but disappeared, felt good. Then on 15, hit a really good 3‑wood in there, skipped through the green, and had a pretty tough shot. I figured the only way I could get it reasonably close was just to throw it way up and use the wind as blowing into me. There wasn't really a chance to get it super close. So I'm like, the only way this stays close is if you hit the pin. Threw it at high as I could, landed soft and it would probably have gone four or feet by or so, but hit the pin right in the heart so hit it exactly where I wanted to be. Q. The course is playing very long today, especially with the really strong wind. You're quite happy with how you hit your driver? LUKE GUTHRIE: Yes, it's playing pretty difficult. Obviously it's blowing pretty hard. I drove it really well today. Kept it in play and gave myself a lot of good chances from the fairway and gave myself the best chance, basically. But I missed a decent amount of iron shots, but like I said, I always missed it in the correct spot to give myself a chance. But yeah, No.9 is playing very long. That's a tough hole today. They put up the tees on some of those 490‑yard par 4s, they are playing dead into the wind; that's nice of them.  I'm still hitting driver, 3‑irons, driver, hybrid into 9, so it's still playing long. PAUL SYMES: Well done, Luke, and hopefully see you tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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