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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 14, 2014Martin KaymerIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We will go ahead and get started. I would like to welcome Martin Kaymer to the HP Byron Nelson Championship. This will be your second start. Had a good finish last year. If you want to talk about what you've done in the last couple of days after your big win at the PLAYERS Championship and then we will have a few questions. MARTIN KAYMER: I stayed in Jacksonville, and went to the airport and our flight got delayed and then in the end it got cancelled, so I had to stay another night. I flew out yesterday morning, got here around noon and then I was very, very tired. When you are sitting at the airport all day, and what happened on Saturday and Sunday, it takes a lot out of you. I didn't do much practice yesterday, I slept, actually and I went back to the room and slept for three hours, which was not planned but I was very tired. I decided to come back here to the Byron Nelson, because I played decent last year and I enjoyed the golf course. The whole tournament was comfortable and very convenient and I entered to play here anyway, so a lot of people asked me if I considered not coming, but I believe once you play well, you should continue, and I was committed to play, so those are the reasons why I'm here. Q. Speaking of airports, were you aware that people were tweeting pictures of you sitting on the airport floor? MARTIN KAYMER: There were a few people who took their phones and they were kind of like bending the phone, taking pictures, thinking you don't see it, but there is not much you can do, and I don't care, you know. Q. Does that show that you're almost at celebrity status? You were No. 1 in the world a couple of years ago, but when people are taking pictures of you in the airport does that bother you in any way? MARTIN KAYMER: Doesn't really bother me, it's just part of it, you know, that you need to get used to. I had similar experience when I won the PGA‑‑ or when I made that putt at the Ryder Cup and becoming No. 1 in the world. I know how it feels. It's not my favorite feeling, to be honest with you, it's very tough to have a little bit of privacy wherever you go, but it's part of it and it's just‑‑ it comes with it, you know, when you play well, when you're in the news. My dad, he called me this morning and saw that picture of me sitting at the airport on CNN in Germany. So, yeah, I think it comes with it. Q. Martin, how many times have you seen the videotape of that putt on 17? Have you watched it much? MARTIN KAYMER: I like the Golf Channel, so I watched it a few times. I was actually looking forward to seeing how I played the last three holes. I'm trying to get a DVD or something to watch it. Because I think you can learn from those situations when you watch yourself, how you behaved, how you swung the club in certain situations, and I haven't seen it yet but that putt, yeah, a lot of people tell me how good that putt was, but it was a little bit of luck involved well. That's what I think people don't realize. It was a good stroke and a good read, but at the end of the day to make a good putt like that, you need a little fortune, too. Q. How tough is it to come off an emotional win like that and play well the next week?  How much of a challenge is that? MARTIN KAYMER: It's not so much of a challenge, it's just nice going back to a tournament where you have done well in the past. Like I said earlier, I really enjoy being here. It's a nice city, some friends of mine live here, they come out and watch me play, we're going to have some nice dinners, so it's going to be a comfortable week. Knowing that you have done well last week doesn't be mean that you can relax, because an important tournament. It's a big tournament, and it's pretty much my last regular tournament I play on the PGA, this year, because the others are only going to be Majors, and then the FedExCup. So I think you should put everything you have left into the next four days, even though I play another tournament next week in Wentworth, but you kind of think about this. For tomorrow it's important to shoot a good score, and try your best until Sunday afternoon. Q. We have a pretty well known German athlete here, Dirk Nowitzki. Wonder if you have ever met him? And how is he regarded back home? MARTIN KAYMER: Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to sit down and talk about our careers and our lives and we didn't really get to know each other. I know there were a couple of e‑mails back and forth, but that was three years ago when I was the No. 1, and after the Ryder Cup putt. I think he was fairly busy last few months, they didn't make the playoffs, or any further. I would love to play a round of golf with him. He's very, very well liked in Germany because of his‑‑ the way he handled everything coming to America, did everything himself, he's very down to earth and is really just about his business and not so much about the fame and doing all the stuff off the basketball court. It's the way we Germans are, usually, and it's the way the people like to see their athletes. Q. Apologize if someone covered this, but what did you do to celebrate Sunday night after you finished? And also do you have thoughts about maybe taking this week off and celebrating, getting ready to go to Wentworth? MARTIN KAYMER: Sunday night I got a nice text from Paul McGinley, and he asked if we had plans or should we sit down at the bar and have a drink. We met. I took a shower and met him and my caddy at the bar, and we had one or two drinks and I was very tired. We talked about the Ryder Cup, about a few things about Wentworth, about the European Tour, and I said earlier I committed to play here, and I did well here last year and that's why I wanted to come and play. Q. You didn't think about taking a week off? MARTIN KAYMER: No. It was my plan, and I usually stick to my plan and my work. Q. Martin, what did you and Paul talk about with regard to the Ryder Cup? MARTIN KAYMER: We were talking about picks, how the team could look like, about the golf course in Gleneagle, preparations toward Gleneagle, just some regular stuff to catch up. Paul and me, we don't know each other that well. I think we may have played once or twice together, but that was three or four years ago and that was just a nice evening. He said to me, I know how it is when you win a golf tournament and you come back to your room and it feels lonely, because everybody left, and you are actually ready to have a drink at the bar and let it sink in. Not just so much partying, but relaxing and talking to someone about it, and it was nice. So he texted me, and we met and he was commentating for Sky, and he talked about other players and how they played certain holes, and I could compare myself, and therefore you can learn in a different way again, and especially with his experience. He gave me some tips. It was just really nice, so I think we had a good conversation. Q. Did you make him buy? MARTIN KAYMER: No, I paid. Q. Did you give him hints as to who you would like to pair with at the Ryder Cup? MARTIN KAYMER: It's very early, you know, but you can see the team is shaping slowly together. First I need to make the team. I'm just in right now, so it's still a long way for me to go, because the next few weeks, starting with the U.S. Open, it's going to be big tournament, and there are some names that are not on the Ryder Cup right now, Westwood, and Luke McDonald, Graeme McDowell, and so they are gong to fight a lot next few weeks, so I could drop easily, so it's not right for me to think I'm on the team already. Q. Congratulations for giving the viewers a great show at the PLAYERS, and talk about Jordan Spieth and playing with him as a young man staying neck and neck with you? MARTIN KAYMER: I said last week already, I think it's very tough to describe a person like this because everybody says the same thing. He's mature, he's doing great, and he does. But for me it's more impressive the way he talks to you. The words that he's using, it's not the normal stuff that‑‑ it's not over exaggerating, it's very true. Something like this I've seen very rare for someone who is that young. So that is, for me, the impressive thing. If he plays good or bad, it's another thing. It's just part of what he does, but as a person, you know, I think he's a very, very good kid. Q. Martin, when you look at your victory, do you look at it through the lens of the quality of the fields that you've beaten, especially having won a Major, having won a WGC, having won the PLAYERS, those are big, quality fields. Does that impact you at all when you reflect back on those victories? MARTIN KAYMER: I think my last four wins, they were only very big tournaments. I think it started with the HSPC in China, then I won Ned Bank, that was a big one, now I won Sawgrass, so they are very big tournaments. It's quite nice satisfaction when you know that you've played the best from ‑‑ that you beat the best players in the world. I know that Tiger Woods was not there last week, so ‑‑ but it's still a win, you know? It would have been nice if he would have been there and he would have been in the field, and I would have won, but at the end of the day as long as you win the golf tournament, it's always nice. At the end of the day doesn't make a big difference if you win, say, a Major or a regular PGA TOUR event in terms of, like, satisfaction. Long‑term, I think it's nicer when you win a Major. Obviously it's so huge, but any tournament it's big these days. It's very tough to say I just play this on the side to prepare for this and this. I think it wouldn't be fair to the tournament, and I think you would never give 100% as well. So it's tough to be satisfied if you don't put everything you have into it. Q. If I'm not mistaken when you were 25 and came to Texas you played in the Spirit International event. Had you been to Texas at that point? That place is in the middle of nowhere. What do you remember about taking part in that? MARTIN KAYMER: That was pretty much one of the first times I came to America, and it's a funny story. I came from the airport and somebody picked me up, and I was hungry and I wanted to eat something but I didn't speak very well English and he dropped me off at Pizza Hut, because that was the only place I knew. And I ordered the pizza, and I didn't know the sizes because it was inches. In Europe it's different; we have centimeters. I ordered medium pizza, and it was massive, and always everything here in America is a little bigger. I ate half. I couldn't do more, and then waitress came over and said "Do you want a box?" And I said, "What?" And she said, "Do you want a box?" And I said, "For what?" We didn't have that. She said "Well, you can take it home." And I said, "I don't know, why?" She probably thought I'm completely crazy. So that was a nerve‑wracking first week in America for me, even though I think we did very well in the Spirit. The guy I played with he had a very, very good week. It was enjoyable because the team Spirit, you know, it was a lot of different countries come together, best two or three players from each country, girls and boys, they play for quite a big trophy for us, back then and exciting to come to a different continent and make special experiences. Q. I imagine you get a lot of congratulatory text messages. Did you hear from Bernhard? MARTIN KAYMER: Bernhard was one of the first. He sent me a nice text message right after my round and we haven't talked yet because I think he's playing a Major this week, so I didn't want to bother him with anything, don't want to bother him with anything. I think for him the Majors are very, very important, and I think he always had a good chance to win it. So I'm sure we're going to catch up in Germany, because I'm sure he's going to play, or I hope he's going to play, I'm going to be there so maybe we can play a practice round and talk a little bit. THE MODERATOR: Thanks for your time, Martin. Best of luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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