|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 11, 2014Martin KaymerPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA LAURA NEAL: It is my pleasure to announce that we have a champion and to introduce our 2014 PLAYERS Champion, Mr.Martin Kaymer. Maybe just give us your reaction on such a roller coaster of a day, but most importantly you're here with that trophy. MARTIN KAYMER: It was a shame that we had to stop playing because I was playing really, really good at that stage and I played really solid. Hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, had good chances. And then as always, it's a little bit difficult when you come back out on the golf course. Hit a fairly poor tee shot on 15, didn't give myself a chance to make 4 after the second shot because it was a bad pitch. And then on 16 I should have chipped that shot next to the green to give myself a better birdie chance. So I made a couple mistakes coming in. I need to admit that. But knowing this and already reflecting on it, probably it will help me in the future. So overall, obviously it was a successful day, but it was a very, very long week, and I just hope that we can continue today because from the first day on, there was a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations, and even though I was trying to talk about it in a way that it was only the first day, only the second day, but somewhere deep down you hope that you can bring it home already because you play well and you hope that you can finish as high as possible, but obviously winning, I never really lost the lead, so you can only lose the tournament then once you lead. It was quite a long week of pressure. Q. Do you have any idea how your ball wound up where it did on 17, and is that one of the wildest pars you've ever made? MARTIN KAYMER: I thought it was actually a good golf shot. It was maybe two feet too short. I don't know, that's the way it looked from the tee box. I was aiming right over that bunker, and I thought‑‑ I was a little bit in between clubs, in between pitching wedge and gap wedge, but under those circumstances where you're a little bit more pumped up you take the shorter club. Yeah, I was very surprised that it didn't even‑‑ it was not even on the green. It was a very awkward chip from that Bermudagrass, close to the water. Yeah, but I look forward to seeing the 17th hole in general. It was a very strange way to make a 3. Q. Have you had a ball spin that much all week? MARTIN KAYMER: I don't even‑‑ I mean, it can't be really the backspin because usually‑‑ it was raining a little bit, so it should rather skid over the green. I don't know where it pitched. It was too dark to see where it really pitched. I thought it pitched on the fringe or so, but again, I think a foot or two feet further would have been fine. It was very strange and very nice way to make a 3 on that hole. Making a putt like this is more than big; I think I will realize it the next few days. Making those putts in those situations is quite impressive, you know, that‑‑ it gives me a lot of belief and a lot of confidence that I can make those putts. I've done it in the past, and today again, it's a great feeling. Q. How much break would you say was probably in that putt, and afterwards can you go back to 16 and talk about the thought process of putting rather than chipping? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, on 17 it was fairly dark already, so it was very, very tough to see the entire line, but I've done that‑‑ obviously I've made that putt in the practice rounds and you know it will break a lot. It was downhill, downgrain, but at the end of the day, you just trust your instinct. You pick a line approximately there and there. I think it was three, three and a half feet, left to right putt, but you need the right line and the right speed. So there's always some luck involved. And then on 16, you know, I thought I could give myself the best chance to make 4 with the putter, but today was another proof that on that Bermudagrass, it's very, very tough to putt if you are four, five yards away from the green. You never really know what the Bermudagrass does, so you have to chip that one. I didn't really feel comfortable with chipping. I should have done it. But that's okay. Q. You spoke about pressure, and the pressure you were under and where your career has been, where does this rank alongside your other career accomplishments? MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I think the pressure and the feeling was pretty much the same when you compare the PGA and this one. I don't really make a difference. The name is different. There's no major behind the tournament here, but at the end of the day, for all of us it's a major. It's the biggest field. It's a tough golf course, a very tough week, and very difficult to beat all of those guys. Pressure‑wise it's probably‑‑ I can compare it to the PGA Championship, obviously the playoff that I played. You can't really compare it to the Ryder Cup. Ryder Cup is something completely different, I think. Q. Was your mind racing a bit at that point prior to that putt on 17? MARTIN KAYMER: At the end of the day if I make bogey there, I still have a chance on 18. Obviously you cannot expect yourself to make that putt. That's what I said; I just played with a lot of instinct and there was a little bit of luck involved that the ball went in, and it was quite a nice feeling walking onto 18 knowing that you have a one‑shot lead. And then the first three days I always hit driver on 18, and I missed it yesterday a little bit to the right, and then you never really know when you're in those trees, you can be blocked out, so today I played a little bit more safe in an aggressive way, but the thought process, 17, it was a good putt with a little bit of luck. Fortunately it happened at the right hole. Q. How much does it mean to you to win this tournament on Mother's Day, and how much were you thinking about your mother out on the course today? MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, to win on Mother's Day, what I said on the stage already, that we show our parents way too little, way too less. We always need some occasions to show them, which is what you realize when they're not there anymore. So to win on those days, when you win the U.S. Open, I can still remember when Graeme McDowell won it and his father was there. Such a nice thing. So it adds a little bit of a nice thing to the whole week. Yep. Q. Were you thinking about your mother throughout the day today? MARTIN KAYMER: I think about her every day. I don't need a Mother's Day. Q. What was the nature of the text from Philip? MARTIN KAYMER: That stays between us. It was a very nice text. It was very emotional. I don't get those texts usually from my brother. I was just alone today. There was no one really here from my family or anyone else, and I just had Craig, Craig and me. We battled our way through the last two days, and we did a very good job. So they were with me somehow, but they were not. But it was a good weekend for all of us, I believe. Q. You've talked all week about the journey, kind of getting back to this point and playing this level of golf, and I'm curious what was your lowest point over the last few years, and did you ever maybe wonder or question whether you could get back to this level of golf? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, the belief is always there. I knew that I could win a golf tournament again. It was not like that traumatic that a lot of people made it. But obviously a lot of people, they look for something that you don't really feel, that you don't really think is right, but it's okay. But I knew I was doing the right thing, what I said earlier in the week. I just didn't know it would take me that long, but it did. It proved that everything I did, even though it took a little bit longer, it was all good because I work with really good people. My coach and me, we work for 15, 16 years together now, and he's always really under the radar, but he has the biggest influence of my game. The way he's teaching is not a way that you always need him. He's not a very selfish person; he teaches the way that you can help yourself in a very simple way. He has the talent to teach really everyone, and that is for me really a world‑class coach. He doesn't like the big stage and he doesn't like to be in all those newspapers and stuff, but I believe he really deserves that. But it doesn't make him a happier person, and that makes him even nicer. I think I have to give a lot of credit to him, and therefore working together worked out very well. We have a lot of trust in each other because it worked out fairly well the first 13, 14 years, so now I can bring the trophy home and show him that we did well. Q. You talked a lot this week about how this course forces you to be brave. What shot will you remember today as your bravest? MARTIN KAYMER: That's a tough one. I think on 13, the par‑3. I had a very good number. It was just a regular 9‑iron for me. There's water on the left side. You can bail out on the right a little bit. But I just thought, go straight at it. You hit the ball great, so if you're on the left side of the hole, even though there are only five or six yards, it's an uphill putt and a great chance to make a birdie. The way I approached that golf shot I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I hit the shot that I wanted to hit. So overall that was a quality, great golf shot. That gave me so much motivation for the next few holes, and then they called it. (Laughter.) But it was a brave shot and very well executed. Q. In the context of all the work that you've done and where you've been in the last couple of years, can you sort of put it within that context and say what this victory means to you? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, a lot of satisfaction. What I said about the Ryder Cup putt already, those things, they make you so much stronger. You learn so much about yourself, and at the end of the day‑‑ you know, today the last few holes, it was not about how good I play or how bad I play, it's about how much you want that win. You can hit good golf shots, but everybody hits some bad golf shots. How bad are the bad ones? And how much do you want to bring it home the last three, four holes? I didn't show much of it the first two; I know that. But 17 and 18, I really, really wanted it, and it gives me a lot of satisfaction. For my caddie, as well. We worked so hard and we went through up‑and‑downs the last two years, and it's very tough because as an athlete you always want it now, you always want the success now, but in golf you just cannot force it. If you win one of those tournaments, it's a big relief that you have done well in the past, but now it's important that you don't stop. It's very easy to just be happy now, relax and let things happen. But now it's a time we have to work even harder. I need to sit down and reflect on the round, reflect on the last 36 holes that I played because I shot only 1‑under par on the weekend. It's okay, but there was a lot of room to be better. We still have three majors left this year. I'm not saying that I'm thinking about it now, but there's still a lot of golf left this year that I would like to participate on the weekends. Q. Where did you spend the rain delay, and was that room colder than this one? MARTIN KAYMER: I'm still really warm right now, but I was in the locker room. I was watching the replay with Lee Westwood and Sergio. We were sitting there and just waiting with some referees. Q. When you came back out after the rain delay and started to stumble a bit, how much of that was the delay, and how much of it was possibly the nerves of having not been in that position in a year or so? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, the nerves were fine on 15. After the tee shot, after the second shot, everything was fine because I was completely under control. But then making that mistake to be too aggressive with that flop shot instead of hitting it on the green and making 5, you're only one shot in the lead all of a sudden, even though you're thinking 16 there's a good chance to make 4, but I managed to make 5 every day, even though I was in good positions. So the mindset was fine, and I was not very nervous, and I was not‑‑ I didn't think that I would screw up anything here. It was just the wrong mindset on 15. You don't do those mistakes. You just don't. Not when you try to win a golf tournament. Q. But when you think your shot is on the green on 17 and you walk up there and see that it's almost in the water, is there any part of you that thinks, this might not be for me? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, it was a good shot I thought, and that was all I could do.  If it's unlucky and goes in the water, I have to congratulate Jim. It didn't, so I won the tournament. There's not much you can change. It is what it is. Q. Did you think at all about the Ryder Cup putt before you putted at 17, and also, what was it that you said to your caddie when you holed out and made the putt and won? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, on 17 I didn't think about the Ryder Cup putt. Like I said earlier, if you make two putts, you still have a chance on 18. I thought a lot about the Ryder Cup on 18. I was very surprised that the second shot came up that short. I probably hit it a little bit fat from the fairway. But then I thought, you know, you need only two putts, like two years ago at Medinah. The first one I think had a very good chance to go in, and then I had three and a half feet to make the par putt, and when I was standing over the putt, I just thought, it would be really nice to make that putt now. Would be very nice, a nice way to finish. I just said to my caddie that we did a good job this week. I congratulated him because what I said earlier, it was very tough for us, especially yesterday when I played with Jordan. Obviously there was a lot more support for him, and he plays in his home country and it's normal, but it's never easy to win a golf tournament with a size like this on a different continent, as a foreigner. But I could manage that at the PGA, and fortunately we could do it this week again. Q. After this swing thing that you went through, not being able to work the ball both ways and now winning this tournament, what are your long‑term goals now? MARTIN KAYMER: To improve more, even more now that I can hit those shots under all circumstances. On 16 it's not the right thing to putt it. It's a soft egg. (Laughter.) You have to chip that one. Even if you're not the best and not the greatest chipper, you've got to chip in. The worst you make is 5, but you've got to do it. Those things, it's not so much‑‑ the swing is all good. I'm happy the way that it works out and the way I go. Everything is fine, and I'm really happy about this. But those things, to really stick until the very, very end to your game plan, play with your heart, whatever happens happens, but at least you're very true to yourself. On 16 I was not true to myself, and that's painful. It really is because it's just not right. But you can think I won the golf tournament, yeah, I should be happy, and I'm very, very happy about this, but those are things that I would like to improve for the future. Q. You've also done your Ryder Cup prospects a lot of good. How important is that for you this year given what happened two years ago? MARTIN KAYMER: Once you play the Ryder Cup you always want to be there. That's the bottom line. And my experience that I made two years ago added a little bit more of it. I just don't want to miss out on that tournament, and Paul McGinley, he walked with me on Wednesday a little bit. We had a very nice chat, and I think he will be a brilliant captain because as a person the way he talks to you, he's a very respectful man, and he really listens to you and he wants to help. He's not a selfish player and not a selfish captain; he wants us to feel as comfortable as possible, and hopefully I can make the team. I think it was a good start this week even though it doesn't help me anything on the European Tour ranking, obviously in the World Rankings. But I just need to continue playing well to get points on the European Tour rankings to make my way in there. At least through the World Rankings it's very difficult. LAURA NEAL: Martin, thank you, and congratulations. 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
|