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HUMANA CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONJanuary 15, 2014Brian GayLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: Like to welcome Brian Gay to the interview room. Defending champion of the Humana Challenge. Real quick, the cake ‑‑ Brian has a history after he wins he likes to treat the media center and all the hard working media with a cake the following year. So we have Brian to thank for our dessert this afternoon, which it will be‑‑ ‑it's being cut up now in the media center now, so make your way over afterwards. That's our thanks go to Kimberly and Brian on that one. So Brian if you want to start off and just kind of give some general comments on coming back and driving in this week and seeing your name on all the pictures and bill boards coming in and then we'll have some questions. BRIAN GAY: All right, yeah. Well the cake's really my wife's doing of course, I wouldn't really think about doing a cake for you guys. I'm not quite as nice as she is, but anyway. No, it's great to be back. We were here over a month ago a little bit for media day. So now it's not too big of a shock to come back after being here early December and we got beautiful weather again and we're looking forward it a good week. MARK STEVENS: Take questions. Q. I suppose you've been around and played some of the courses already this week. What's it feel like to be hitting balls here again as opposed to the media day where you just had to deal with us? BRIAN GAY: It's nice. The weather is phenomenal and I played a few holes on the Palmer yesterday. I've been struggling with some neck issues the last couple of weeks so I rested Monday. And I played a few holes and hit some balls yesterday. So kind of taking it easy right now. Q. Obviously, you had success across the street at Q‑School here, success here, what is it that works for these courses the style, the weather, do you like mountains, what's the deal? BRIAN GAY: It's everything. It's a pretty special place for me. Getting my card here in the fall of 1998 at Q‑School and I always enjoyed coming here. And being from the South it was really super cool thing to come here back then for the first time to play up against the mountains and I thought it was super cool then. And the golf courses are fantastic and they're always in great shape. Just enjoy playing here. Q. Is there something about the golf courses that work well particularly with your game or is it just your mindset of the beginning of the year that you're ready to go? BRIAN GAY: The golf courses, yeah, they fit me good. They're not overly long, there's some of them you got to be pretty precise on. They're narrow off the tee. Some hazards to deal with. So you got to be accurate. You got to make putts, because you got to make a lot of birdies this week. And I think just waking up to that clear blue sky and sunshine every day just kind of energizes you around here. Q. What do you consider the most challenging hole out here for you? BRIAN GAY: Good question. There's a lot of holes. (Laughter.) I don't know if I can answer that. Q. 16 along the water on the left and mountains on the right? BRIAN GAY: On the Palmer? Q. Yeah. BRIAN GAY: That's a hole where you hit a 3‑wood and get it in the fairway and it's not a particularly difficult hole. On the Palmer, probably number 9 or 10 would be the toughest. 10 would be one of the tougher driving holes depending upon which way the wind is blowing. 9's a tough hole. 9 ‑‑ I would say 9 and 10 on the Palmer Course are probably two of the tougher ones. And number ‑‑ toughest par‑3 would be, is it 5? 5's a tough hole. Q. Talk about the week, is it a little bit more relaxed because it's a little bit easier, the courses are setup to make birdies, you got carts for your practice rounds, the days are shorter because it gets dark earlier. Is it a little bit more laid back this week? BRIAN GAY: Carts are nice. It would be nice to have carts every week. Guys are casual running around in carts, hitting shots. Zipping around, just kind of hanging out. And practicing a little bit but, yeah, it's a different vibe, it's always a little different when you have multiple courses and amateurs playing. So it's probably the right term, a little more laid back, a little more casual than a regular event without amateurs. Q. Have you played any courses out here during the summer? BRIAN GAY: I've actually never been to the desert in the summer. I've always wondered, is it hotter here or in Florida with all the humidity, but I've only been to the desert in the winter months, so I never experienced the 120 degree temperatures. Q. You mentioned neck. Is that an issue here or is it just a crick and you're going to be fine? BRIAN GAY: It started as a crick two days before I went to Maui and it's lingered and lingered. It's been better some days, worse some others, I've had treatment. However, I woke up today with a completely new issue on this side and I couldn't even turn my head. So hopefully that will go away quick. And it will continue to get better. Q. No idea what caused it? BRIAN GAY: No, it all started just when I woke up at home one day and just thought it was a bad crick in my neck and got treatment and it got better for a couple days, flew to Maui and then when I started practicing in Maui it got worse and was kind of going down with pain into my shoulder. And it would get better for a day or two and then it would be really bad and some days the treatment would make it worse. And taking a lot of Aleve and that didn't seem to work. Actually, yesterday, probably felt the best of any day yesterday afternoon swinging the club and pain free and I woke up this morning and it was kind of a new spot and worse. Q. How did it affect the way you played in the two Hawaiian events? BRIAN GAY: I felt like more with the longer clubs, I would say, not so much pain when I swing, but when I turn my head when I'm over the ball and I turn to look at the target or down the fairway I get a lot of pinching and pulling over here. And I felt like that it was giving me a little bit of a jerk in the top of my swing at times. Maybe I was a little flinchy with it and a little afraid of it, because it was hurting certain days. But I don't think it affected me a ton playing‑wise, just really uncomfortable. Q. How do you fix that? Is it a chiropractor or stretching or how do you get rid of the kink? BRIAN GAY: Well, I've done all that. I've had the TOUR therapists work on it a couple times, and other therapists in Honolulu. Just taking anti‑inflammatories and icing it. The original spot's getting better and for some odd reason, I don't know if everything's pulling and this other side's compensated and going wacky this morning, but hopefully it will get better. Q. You got off to such a good start last year, obviously winning here. How would you characterize the rest of your year and do you feel like maybe in the fall series you started to put some Top‑25's together and started playing better? BRIAN GAY: Yeah, it was a good first half of last year. I felt like I fell back a little bit kind of late spring, early summer. And then began to play better again towards the playoffs. I had a great finish at Sea Island to start this new season. I felt like I played pretty good in the first two Hawaii events. My short game wasn't quite where it normally is. My long game was pretty good. So I felt like I definitely will do a little better when the short game comes around. MARK STEVENS: Well thanks four your time, Brian, best of luck this week. BRIAN GAY: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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