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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AMFebruary 8, 2014Jimmy WalkerPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA JOHN BUSH: Like to welcome Jimmy Walker to the interview room. 4‑under par 67 today, Jimmy, that is a tremendous round of golf. If we can get some comments on your round. JIMMY WALKER: I played really solid today. I hit some really good shots into the wind shots, keeping it low, keeping it down, it played tough. Wind was really blowing out there, especially out on the exposed holes at MPCC and when you made the turn on 9, it was pretty brutal. Hitting 5‑woods and 3‑woods into 9, it's only 190 yards. 11, the par‑3 down the hill, I mean it was blowing so hard and hitting 4‑iron 165 yards or something. I mean it was nuts. But I played solid, made some really good putts, a couple good birdies coming down the stretch. JOHN BUSH: Take us through those birdies really quick. JIMMY WALKER: I birdied 2, made a nice little 15‑footer there. Hit driver, a little chip 9‑iron down into there. Then birdied 4, I hit driver and a really nice 8‑iron from like 140 or something, to the back pin. And made another little 10 or 15‑footer. The next birdie was on the par‑3, 7. I hit a 6‑iron to about 15, 20 feet or so. 15 feet, something like that. Made that one. Then I birdied 16, the par‑5, the new par‑5. I hit driver 4‑iron just short of the green, 2‑putted. And then I hit an 8‑iron on 17 to about, I don't know, it was about eight feet or something. Made that one for birdie. Q. You played all three courses and you made one bogey in three days, in these types of conditions. And that bogey came right before the horn sounded, as I believe. Could you talk about what happened on that one bad hole you had? JIMMY WALKER: It was a‑‑ I hit a good, I had what I thought was a good drive up the right side, and I was trying to drive the green because it was down off the left and blowing pretty hard, and I caught the lip of the bunker and it kicked out of the bunker. I had a really good lie and it was really windy and I had about 40 yards, and it was fast running to the green and I tried to hit this little kind of chip shot out of the bunker and I caught it fat and left it in the bunker. And so then the next one I blasted out to the front of the green and 2‑putted. So, it was kind of a that was my fault. Q. You mentioned the 4‑iron going 165. Was there a particular hole that's maybe a good example of how much the wind was affecting club selection? JIMMY WALKER: Yeah, I watched two guys hit 3‑wood into No. 9 today and par‑3 and it's 193 yards to the flag. I hit 5‑wood. I came up short of the flag. Q. What would you normally hit there? JIMMY WALKER: With no wind? I could hit 6‑iron. Q. Just again, talking about playing consistently throughout these last three days, with just one bogey. How have you been able to do that, do you think? JIMMY WALKER: I've gotten a couple of good breaks. I think you need that out here. I've made a lot of really good putts. I've made most of the putts you need to make to save par. A lot of the three, four, five, 6‑footers. Made a couple of longer ones and I've hit it really good. I hit good iron shots into greens and gave myself a bunch of looks. And I seem to, when I was missing the greens, missing it in the right side of the green where I had plenty of green to work with. And I've been hitting good chips and not leaving myself too much to work from. Some of the par putts haven't been too long. So, just been keeping it right around the hole, trying to. Q. What was your best par save today? JIMMY WALKER: It was probably the last hole today. We had the wind kind of down off the right, but the trees were blocking it and we finally got down there in the fairway and it felt like it was shooting up the fairway and I tried to hit this cut off the tee and it over cut into the rough and I had a goofy stance in some longer grass and hit it in the front bunker and blasted out to about 10 feet and made it for par. So that was nice to finish the day off. Q. How much different is it going into the final round in contention now that you've won twice of a fairly short period after going for quite awhile without winning on TOUR. How much does it change your demeanor going into tomorrow? JIMMY WALKER: I don't know, it still feels pretty new. I've come in before ‑‑ and it's been awhile, but tomorrow, who knows what the weather's going to do. I haven't looked at the forecast, but I would imagine it's kind of some of the same we had today, maybe a little better, I don't know. Maybe worse, I don't know. But I know that Pebble Beach is a tough golf course and especially with the winds and I'm sure it was really playing tough out there today, just like it was probably playing tough every where, I thought. But I'm excited. I'm excited to be here and be in the position and this is where you play golf and you work hard to get into these kind of situations. Q. Can you compare your level of play through 54 compared with Fry's or Sony? JIMMY WALKER: It's so different. We had really good conditions for those two events. And it seemed‑‑ this was just, it just feels like just a battle. You're not battling really anybody else, you're not battling the field or a tournament, you're just out there trying to‑‑ the golf course is trying to beat you up. And so it just feels like ‑‑ I know when I made the turn when I got ‑‑ I felt like I needed to make some birdies on the downwind holes, because I knew how tough the into the wind holes were going to be. I had heard horror stories of guys hitting driver into 9 and driver, driver, 3‑iron into a par‑5. You don't see that very often. So I felt like I needed to get a couple birdies under my belt and who knows what was going to happen on the into the wind holes. It was, it played tough. It really did. Q. When was the last time you had a six shot lead? JIMMY WALKER: I don't know if I ever had a six shot lead. Q. I'm going back to AJGA stuff. Anything? JIMMY WALKER: I don't think so. Honestly. I can't think of anything. I was kind of thinking about it on the drive over here, but I don't think there's been anything. Q. You mentioned sort of, who knows what the weather is like tomorrow, how different does a six‑shot lead feel, given the weather? If it were sunny and clear expected I imagine that would be a little more comfortable. But with the wind potentially kicking up, does that make a little six‑shot lead seem a little less? JIMMY WALKER: It sure makes it more dicey. It makes it dicey for everybody. I think when Pebble's playing tough and it's playing like it is, it keeps everybody on edge and everybody's, you ‑‑ every little thing in your game gets magnified when the elements are like they are. So it's going to be tough for everybody to go out and play golf tomorrow if the weather is like this. Q. How did you spend the two‑hour layoff? JIMMY WALKER: We ate some of that amazing pizza that they got cooking on that pizza grill they have got over there on about number 7 at MPCC for awhile. And then we went back to the clubhouse and hung out for a little bit. And it took awhile to get a ride back, so we all sat there and ate pizza. And it was good. It was fine. Q. Were you surprised when they blew the horn? What was it like there in terms of balls on the green? JIMMY WALKER: They were wobbling a little bit, but it wasn't really, there wasn't any precipitation. It was starting to be a heavy mist. And it was really blowing hard. It was really starting to move. So we heard the horn and it didn't surprise me, I wasn't ‑‑ it's hard to know what's going on at Pebble. You don't know if it's raining over there or what. It could be nice here, bad there; bad there, nice here. So it was tough to really tell what was going on. Because we kept asking questions like, what, is it rain, is it‑‑ they're like, no, it's wind. Q. A little bit of a provincial question, but to win at Fry's and play here well the last few years and then obviously be here in this position, what is it about northern California that seems to suit you? JIMMY WALKER: I don't know. I like the golf courses. They're, they just seem to kind of fit my eye. And I talked kind a little bit about that yesterday. Guys seem to play well at golf courses, because it fits their eye and you like the golf course and the shots and you feel like you can read the greens and the ball does what you want it to do when you're on the greens. You feel like you can make putts. So that happens, I think it happens for everybody. You get into these little grooves in places and you feel comfortable and you like them and the ball kind of goes in the hole for you. And I know that ‑‑ I've heard veterans talk about that they made the bulk of their money in certain places in the year and stuff like that. So I think guys get comfortable in spots. JOHN BUSH: All right. Jimmy Walker. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. JIMMY WALKER: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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