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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPApril 30, 2014Jonas BlixtCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA THE MODERATOR: I would like to welcome Jonas Blixt to the Wells Fargo Championship. Jonas, you have had a couple weeks off since the Masters. Can you tell us what you have been up to and your thoughts coming into this week? JONAS BLIXT: I had a great week at Augusta, absolutely, I played well and had fun with my family and friends. On the way back we stopped for lunch and I kind of stretched my under arm out, so I wasn't able to play too much golf, and I also got a good cold for about six, seven days, fevers and stuff like that, so not too much exciting going on the first week afterwards. You know, the last week it's been trying to get back into playing and, you know, getting my game up to speed. Q. You said you couldn't stretch your arm out? JONAS BLIXT: Well, the car door flew up, it got a gust, and it stretched my under arm out on my left so I couldn't take the club back. So that was a little bit of an issue. Q. For the time you've been off and the cold and the arm issue, how do you feel your game is coming in off of the wonderful performance at the Masters and you have had a couple of Majors that have been solid as well. JONAS BLIXT: I feel like my game is getting close to where it was at Augusta so I don't think it should be an issue for this week. No, I'm looking forward to a good performance this week and, you know, Majors are very special. I think they catch us‑‑ my attention maybe a little bit more than other tournaments, and it's another way of playing golf. It's more of a defensive way of playing, I think, than normal tournaments where you go out and the try and make as many birdies as possible and it fits me really well. I'm looking forward to this week. I like to come back here to the Wells Fargo Championship and, you know, it's a special place, I think. It's tree line, what I grew up with, and the greens are great this year and the golf course looks like it's in good shape, so it's going to be fun. Q. How much have you reflected on the Masters and what did you take out of that weekend especially of being right up there? JONAS BLIXT: Being in contention with all those great players, yeah, you definitely get a little bit of a confidence boost doing that, and that you can compete with them. Now you need to do it on a more regular basis. But being up there and having all these people‑‑ I mean the acoustics around that place, it doesn't get much bigger for a golfer and to be able to perform during that was very satisfying and I hope to build on it absolutely. Q. You're the only player who has finished better than 8th in the each of the last two Major championships. What has that done for your confidence and what has been the key to the good results? JONAS BLIXT: Short game, I think. I think I feel like Majors you play a little more defensively and you're not‑‑ like I said earlier, you're not trying to make birdies everywhere. Sometimes you've got to be okay with making a bogey or a par or something like that, and you don't get stressed out if you make a bogey or a double. You know everyone is going to do it, and I think that relaxes me a little more, puts me at ease if I screw up. It's a cliche, but you take shot by shot and all the shots are the same, if it's a par putt, eagle putt, doesn't matter. Q. What makes you a defensive player? Have you always been that way and why? JONAS BLIXT: I don't think I'm a defensive player but‑‑ I think it helps my putting a lot. The greens are so firm and fast that you can't really‑‑ you're trying to get your putt as close to go in as possible but you try not to have your second putt too long. You're trying not to screw up and 3‑putt. You're trying to give yourself a chance, but your first objective is to 2‑putt. I guess my speed has been better doing that and my putting has been great during those Majors. Q. (Away from mic.) JONAS BLIXT: I don't think I said that. But you can angle it however you want. I know you like to do that. Growing up I didn't hit the ball very well, I still don't do it that great, but I think I've improved a lot. So trying not to screw up, I guess, if I can get on the green in the right amount of shots, I think I have a really good chance. I think I build my game around my short game, and my confidence is there, and I think I just‑‑ you know it relaxes you more, too, during Majors because you have to use your imagination, and I feel like I have a good imagination around the greens and a good feel and how to play the golf course. That makes it easier, too. Q. (No microphone.) JONAS BLIXT: I have no clue. I didn't make money, though. Q. So a couple of years ago you and I sat on a bus after Puerto Rico on a Saturday going to the airport and we had an engaging conversation which I must say was fun for me. I feel like a little bit of a proud papa giving you whatever small advice I could give you, but what do you think is the biggest change from that moment, because you were kind of‑‑ I don't want to say lost but you weren't sure what you were doing and now you're brimming with confidence. It's amazing to see. Was there anything that sticks out in your mind that changed everything? JONAS BLIXT: Yeah, when my family came over, I think. Two things. My rookie year, I stayed with a family in Dallas and they made me very welcomed and they took care of me real great, and it was just‑‑ I was just very relaxed those two weeks, and I played well and secured my card. Then I wasn't able to play for a couple of months but I came back and my family came back with me, my sister, my brother, and one of my best friends, and having those people around and making me not think about golf outside the golf course made me play a lot better and kind of relaxed on the golf course, played better golf, trusted my instincts instead of thinking about swing thoughts and everything that could potentially happen. I think, yeah, having family around, it's‑‑ it makes me a lot, you know, calmer and stuff like that. I think my buddy, Torsten, he's been here a couple of times, and when he's been here I've made half my career earnings, so I guess he wanted to‑‑ I don't know what he was trying to say by that, but I think he was trying to get some kind of percentage out of it. Q. (No microphone.) JONAS BLIXT: Yeah, he's a great guy, he wasn't looking for that. I know having people around and having fun outside of the golf course really helps. Q. Jonas, can you talk about your opinion of the changes they've made on the 16 and 17 and the new grass on the greens? JONAS BLIXT: I'm sorry? Q. The changes that they have made on the greens, and 16 and 17, the changes there? JONAS BLIXT: No, I like the start of the Green Mile, 16; it's tough golf hole. The last one was tough as well. This brings in the water a little bit more and you might see some bigger numbers at times. It's a pretty big tee shot right now. It's not as hard as it used to be but the approach shot has more of a risk/reward to it. I think 17, if you play it all the way back, there would be probably 75‑‑ 70% of the players will bail out right and try and chip or putt it and try and make bogey. You need to move it up in order to make it a little more interesting. I think maybe they made it a little too long for people to watch it. It's still a great hole. It's beautiful up there. 18 I think they made longer, so it's harder to carry on the left there, but, I mean, that's a great hole as well. No disappointments at all, audience designed, probably want to see 17 shorter and the greens are great. I don't know what the grass is called but the greens are rolling fantastic, and I mean, they've done a really good job since last year. I mean, you gotta give credit to the greenskeepers and the staff. They turned this around from last year, and I know something happened last year but, yeah, got nothing to complain about. Q. (No microphone.) JONAS BLIXT: If you want to get it all the way back it's probably a hybrid or 3‑iron. You got water everywhere. So when you have a hybrid or 3‑iron, if you hit the green you're pretty happy about it. Otherwise you take the safe way and hit it a little right and try to get up and down, try not to make a huge number. Q. Jonas, listening to you speak it sounds as if part of your system in the Majors is you don't try to hit the perfect shot; you accept that you're going to have to deal with what golf gives you. Is that the challenge playing on weeks when you do feel like you have to shoot low scores just to have a chance on the weekend? JONAS BLIXT: I think you said it perfectly. I don't think I need to respond to that. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes you go to the golf course and it's a shoot out. You need to make great putts and great shots and if you don't you're going to find yourself leaving early on Friday or teeing off early on Saturday or Sunday. So Majors are‑‑ you're going to get weird bounces and you don't expect to hit the perfect shot every time. You know you're going to get breaks that are great and some are really bad. Q. How do you carry that over in tournaments outside of Majors so you don't let it bother you? JONAS BLIXT: You have to find out, I guess. I haven't‑‑ when my ball striking is on then usually I can play really well because usually I putt pretty well, and I'm pretty good around the greens, so it's all about getting on the green, right amount of shots. Q. Jonas, you talked about the Majors and playing good golf. This course will host the PGA in 2017. Do you have to be offensive‑minded or do you have to play more defense. Does that play to your strength of playing defensive golf? JONAS BLIXT: I think I finished top‑10 my first year. I like the golf course a lot. They probably set the golf course up differently compared to a Major, and it's going to be faster and the rough is going to be thicker but, no, it's a great golf course, it's why they get such a good field here. The guys want to come out here and play on the best golf courses and this is definitely one of 'em. I think this one fits me maybe more than the shoot‑out at times, but I'm excited about this week. It's a challenging golf course. Majors especially, you can sit there and think about the round, and you can shoot 64 as easy as you feel like you can shoot 82, and this one had the same feeling. If you're off you can get yourself in weird spots, but you can also get yourself in really good spots, and I think there are key holes out there that are tough, and if you can play those well, you can score well around here, but if you get in trouble you're going to pay for it. Q. Jonas, you been up to Pinehurst yet and how do you think you're going to do there, especially in light of your play at Augusta? JONAS BLIXT: I was up there yesterday. I like that golf course, it was awesome. I never played a Links course in the woods before, but, yeah, I loved it. They looked great! I think it's tough, it's gonna be probably one of the hardest Opens. I haven't played an Open yet but it might be one of them. It's long. There's maybe four holes, four, par fours that you have to lay it up and maybe have a mid‑iron in or short iron in, and they go over ‑‑ I think I have never asked the caddy that we had this day if this is a par 4 or par 5, because I'm usually pretty good, but there was a couple of them out there where I was like, wow, if this is a par 4, it's going to be really, really tough. And it's in good shape, too. Six weeks, I think, away, it is. It's going to be a fantastic Open, fantastic week. Q. How did the short game plug in there? How many times did you think you hit a good shot and it ended up in the collection area? JONAS BLIXT: Quite a bit. That's going to be a chip‑and‑putt golf course. There is a lot of run‑offs. I'm probably going to go up there a little earlier to work on my short game because that's going to be a major thing that week. There are certain angles into those greens that you don't want and certain things you want. It's a semi‑tough driving course but really tough around the greens. THE MODERATOR: Thanks for your time, Jonas. Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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