|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 16, 2014Kevin NaPALM HARBOR, FLORIDA DOUG MILNE: Kevin, thanks for joining us here again after the conclusion of the Valspar Championship. Not the outcome you wanted but you certainly hung in, especially today like you said, the wind was a factor. You said on your way in everybody just kept hearing roars in front of you all day. With that, just some comments on the day and the week in general. KEVIN NA: I played well this week. Today I knew coming into today that I felt like if I shot par I had a chance to win. If I break par, I felt like it was going to be a lock. I started off great. I hit a lot of great shots and fortunately I had a little bad string of holes but I mean 6 is such a hard fairway to hit. I hit 3-wood off the tee and it wasn't even that far left but straight downwind, went through into the trees, made bogey. Then 7 I hit a perfect 4-iron from the fairway that I thought was going to be stiff but I hit it too good and went through the wind and back edge, made bogey. Then that just little 3-putt from probably five, six feet on 8, just three bad holes in a row kind of got myself kind of behind the 8-ball a little bit. I settled down, made a bunch of pars which pars are good, was good today and gave myself a few chances for birdie. I made a couple but happen to be one short. DOUG MILNE: With that, we'll take some questions. Q. Par was going to be good today because it was so windy out there or because it's Sunday? KEVIN NA: It's so windy out there, 20-mile an hour with Sunday pin and the course was getting crusty. It was firm, fast and it was not easy. Q. Talk about those last two birdies and how exciting it was coming into the finish like that. KEVIN NA: Yeah. The par 5, I was in the rough, caddy Kenny looked at me. He goes -- he was about to give me my lay up number. "What is it to the hole?" "235." "What to carry the water?" "200." I pulled out a 5-wood. Kind of looked at me, "I got this." I said, "How is the lie?" He said, "It's good enough." I went for it, hit a great shot up there and had a chance for a eagle. I left it short. The putt was slow. Nice birdie there. And I made a great par on 16. And 17, you know, right when I hit it, I was just hoping to come down a little soft and going to be close. Going right at it and I thought for a split second I thought it was going to go in the hole. Back to back days I kind of scared the hole there. It was nice to make that putt to give myself a chance on 18. I thought I hit it down the center, right center there but kind of rolled out to the first cut. Unfortunately I caught a little flyer off the first cut and the pitching wedge flew probably over 140 yards in the air. Q. Were you hoping that shot on 17 might influence the guys ahead of you on 18? KEVIN NA: Yeah. I'm sure John was watching the leaderboard. That one shot lead versus a two shot lead is a little different. I don't know what he did on 18 but I saw he made par so I needed to make birdie. Q. You got a lot you're thinking about, a tough day like this, but Masters ever enter your mind at all over the weekend at night or -- KEVIN NA: Yeah, of course. I love going to the Masters. Talked about this yesterday. I've been for the anyway to play last four times and, you know, I like to keep the streak going. I still have a chance with a few more weeks to go. It's not over. Q. How did the three bogies that you had in a row -- KEVIN NA: Bogey, bogey do you believe. Q. I'm sorry. What's the one shot perhaps that you would have most liked to have had back? KEVIN NA: I think it's the putt -- it was actually I had the photo per out on 7 behind the green. I changed it the a wedge and the. The reason why I had the putter out even though it was sitting nice in the rough but the chip shot was landing straight downhill and I knew it was going to be really difficult to hold the green. So with the putter I was going to brush it out of there and let it trickle down. There's a big column of rough behind the ball that made me change clubs to the wedge and I think that just changed my momentum there making bogey there and I don't think -- if I hadn't made bogey there I don't think I would have doubled the next hole. Q. Not to belabor this, Kevin, you mentioned being in the Masters four straight years. If you were not to get back, would you watch it or -- KEVIN NA: Of course. Q. Would it be hard to watch? KEVIN NA: Of course I would watch it. I'd be getting comfortable on a sofa with a drink (laughter) and some snack and I'd be enjoying it. It's a great tournament to watch. If I'm not in it I definitely be watching it. Let's hope I'm playing in it. DOUG MILNE: Anybody else? Q. Kevin, after what happened yesterday with all the slow play stuff, did you think about that at all or was it a complete non-issue today? KEVIN NA: I was just playing my game. I know if I play my game it's not going to be an issue. As tough as it was playing today -- you guys don't have to tell me. I know I got ripped yesterday, I got criticized but I really don't think it's fair, I really do. I mean Robert backed me up on this. I even had a little talk with him on the range. "Thanks for backing me up." He says, "No problem, Bud." Basically he's telling how he feels and he felt like I wasn't the issue and, you know, for how much -- for as how much criticism I got, I'm proud of myself how I played today and I hope people talked about every hole I was waiting, me and Robert was waiting for the group in front of us, every hole. And with Robert being 5-over on the front and I was 3-over on the front and we were waiting every shot. If they didn't talk about that, I don't know what to tell you. DOUG MILNE: All right. Kevin, congratulations on a good week. KEVIN NA: Thanks guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|