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ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPJanuary 15, 2014Martin KaymerABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES STEVE TODD: Martin, welcome back to Abu Dhabi, a very happy new year to you. I'm sure it's a place you have some very fond memories, obviously three‑time winner here and a great record. Just talk about playing here to start your year off. MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I mean, I've started here the last‑‑ I think every year, since I'm on Tour since 2007. And I've been very successful. This is always a place where I like to come‑‑ you know, I started off well, almost every year. I won or I missed the cut, and then the other results, they were still fine. I think I finished in the Top‑10 a lot of times and that gave me a lot of motivation for the beginning of the season, so it's always worked out very nicely here. STEVE TODD: Got into a bit of consistency at the end of last year. Just tell us about the preparations over the Christmas period and how you're feeling about your game coming into this week. MARTIN KAYMER: The Christmas preparations, or the preparation for this year was a little bit different. I went home to Germany for Christmas, since I've been home for seven years, and so it was a little bit of a‑‑ going back and forth always. I was in America before, just on holiday with some friends, and then I came back on the 23rd of December back to Germany and then stayed there for three days and then went back to Phoenix to practice. It was a little bit‑‑ I mean, I really wanted to be home this year, but it was not ideal, because, you know, it takes a lot of energy. Usually when you have time off, you don't want to go through jet‑lags, but I did it to myself, you know, because I went to America before I was in Germany. So one jet‑lag there, back to Germany; another one, back to America; back here. So I didn't really save much energy or gain much energy. By the time that I practised in Phoenix the last couple of weeks was quite nice. It's always tough to say how you will start off if you have five, six weeks off. We'll see. But I look forward to play golf this week and to play golf again we will see. Q. To what extent, if at all, is The Ryder Cup already in your thinking for this year? MARTIN KAYMER: Not now. You know, it's not so much about The Ryder Cup, it's not much to do with winning Abu Dhabi, Qatar or the next two, three events that I play. You can win this week and Qatar, and it doesn't mean that you are in The Ryder Cup. It's more about the big events. Q. But in terms of the year, I presume that's the one‑‑ your ambition is to be on that team? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, it's not the main goal right now. Because if you focus on the ultimate, you forget about the others. The point is that there's steps to get there. The goal is to play well step‑by‑step and eventually make it, and you will think a little bit more seriously about it maybe a couple months before. Then maybe you change your schedule a little bit to get into the team. But now, it's way too early. Q. Obviously you know this golf course very well, having birdied all 18 holes on this golf course. But did you find some changes this year? Guys have been really talking about height of the rough that's going to be really penal. MARTIN KAYMER: Obviously, yeah, the biggest change is the rough. It's not only higher. They grow the rough from the green towards the tee; that if you miss the fairway, you always hit into the grain, into the deep rough, so you don't get really far. Today, I missed a few fairways and I could only chip out, 50,60 yards. So you got really penalised for not hitting good tee shots. And then there's a change on 18 with the tee box, which I think doesn't make a big difference. It's a change; it actually makes the hole look nicer, because you see more of the entire hole. Before that, you could only see the bunkers and a little piece of the fairway but now you're a little bit elevated and you see more, which is quite nice. Q. I know you've got two new sponsors but looking at 2014 and the bigger picture, what's the sort of big objective for you? MARTIN KAYMER: The bigger what? Q. The objective for you on the year as a whole‑‑ you mentioned Ryder Cup‑‑ MARTIN KAYMER: You mean my goals? Q. Yeah, just for the whole year. MARTIN KAYMER: The goal is more about the big tournaments. I won a few of The European Tour events, which is always nice to win those to gain motivation and see on what level you are playing right now. But the main goal is to put yourself as much as possible, preferably every week, into a possibility of winning the golf tournament on Sunday afternoon. And then obviously by the end of your career, comes down in my opinion, how many Majors, how many World Golf Championships events and Ryder Cups you've played, and won. That's the main focus, the big tournaments. I would say the ultimate of golf, what we all play for, what we prepare for already now, thinking about Augusta, how you're going to set up your schedule; so those things, they are very important, which doesn't mean that the other tournaments are not important. But it's more like a step‑by‑step thing towards the main attraction of the whole year. You know, you only have four chances. So that's the main thing. Q. Given you've had so much success here, do you feel like you come here with an extra, I suppose, spring in your step and a bit more confidence than perhaps somewhere else, or is it just business as usual and is it just the same as any other tournament? MARTIN KAYMER: Obviously I've won here three times but it doesn't mean that I play well every year or that I have a big advantage. You know, everybody has played the golf course as much as I have. I made a few more birdies and less bogeys than others, but it doesn't mean that's a big advantage. I feel comfortable here, that's for sure. But every year is a new start, and there are new players on Tour that came from Challenge Tour. I didn't develop my game, so it's changing every year. So the expectation is not like, come here, if I don't win, it's like, oohh, kind of like a disappointing start. That's not the case. There's more competition, but it's in general, I really enjoy coming here overall; the people, the golf course, the food, the hotel, everything feels really comfortable to me. Q. I'm sure Craig Connelly will be keen that you make The Ryder Cup Team if possible. Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with him and his main attributes, please? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, Craig and me, we started working together in 2010, and obviously we had a very successful year. Then because of certain reasons, we split up for, yeah, pretty much another year. Then I decided and I asked him if he would like to caddie for me again, because I have so much fun with Craig. It's very important that you have someone even off the golf course you get along, because you talk once in a while on the phone, get to know the person that you have someone that you travel with three or four weeks in a row; that you can have dinner with and that's really nice and he's a really good character and really fun, and he takes a lot of stuff away from me. So he's not only a caddie in the way of he knows the golf course and he knows how to play the game; he really tries to take a lot of stuff away which is not important, like distractions that he knows that I don't like through experience and through all the months and years we worked together. So I'm very glad to have him, and especially the last year at The Ryder Cup, or two years ago, he helped a lot in the last three or four holes but it's not easy when you are in a situation like this which is very unusual, or you can't really prepare. And if you have a laugh on 15 or 16 because of some, I don't know, I can't say the word now, but something completely stupid, then yeah, it relaxes you a little bit. Q. Going back to the condition the golf course is in, do you think a score like 24‑under with which you won is possible? MARTIN KAYMER: It's possible. I don't believe so but it's possible. I think less is a good chance. Not 24‑‑ why 24? Did I shoot 24? Q. Yes, you did. MARTIN KAYMER: I don't believe‑‑ because the golf course, it definitely hasn't been tougher. I think it's very difficult now to play, and today was a very calm down. Usually it's more windy and obviously it becomes more difficult. However you want to, I would say if you shoot 3‑under par every day, you will have a realistic chance to win it by Sunday, that would be my guess. So we'll stick to that. STEVE TODD: Thanks for joining us, best of luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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