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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 20, 2014Martin KaymerVIRGINIA WATER, ENGLAND MICHAEL GIBBONS: Welcome to Wentworth and the BMW PGA. I think you should probably tell us about your recent form, pretty good, Martin, PLAYERS Championship victory and obviously things going well for you again. MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I think I've done well the last few weeks. Not only‑‑ THE PLAYERS Championship was obviously nice. A nice bonus to win that one. But coming into that week, I think I played fairly well at the Masters and then Hilton Head. Charlotte, I had a good chance, put myself in contention and then, yeah, PLAYERS, I started really well. I had a good start and then it was really important to keep your expectations low. Just one round doesn't mean that you should win. Usually you have to play four rounds. So I mean, it's really nice now to be here, to be home in your open, even though it's not Germany but at least we are close, because you know, I've been in America for the last seven, eight weeks and you do start missing home a little bit. So I was very glad to get on the British Airways flight yesterday to get here. MICHAEL GIBBONS: And you're obviously looking to take that form home. MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, you know, I think I've done okay in the past. I never gave myself a chance to really win that tournament, and really that's the goal every week we play is to have a chance on Sunday afternoon. That is the main thing. You can't win it really on Thursday but you can put yourself‑‑ you can try to put yourself in a position to do well. Q. How do you think your form now compares to when you were world No. 1? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, playing‑wise, I played really well. I don't think that I‑‑ I can hit any shot that I want to hit, which is important, and I didn't believe that I couldn't do it when I was No. 1 in the world or even when I won the PGA Championship. It was very easy for me to play golf, but it was not satisfying. So now I would say I'm a more complete player. But it's very important that we don't put it in the wrong perspective now that I should play well every week. You know, obviously golf is a very difficult sport and a very important word is the expectations that a lot of people have, and me as a player, you know, I know where I can rank my expectations. It's just important that others don't always think that we have to deliver every single week, what I said just outside with the German National team, they are going to play the World Cup in a few weeks, and even, you know, when I played with different players every week, we talk about the World Cup and every says, oh, yeah, Germany should win. That's a good possibility, but it doesn't mean that we have to win or that you keep the expectations low. You know, you can only get disappointed otherwise, and there's a lot of pressure that those players have to handle. I think that's what people forget sometimes. It's not that easy. Q. Last week in Dallas, you talked about the energy level being a little bit down. How many weeks running have you been going, and what are you doing between arriving on the British Airways flight and Thursday morning? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, the last seven weeks, I played six tournaments, and the week off in between was after Hilton Head where I practised a lot. I would say I played the last eight weeks pretty much every day. I took maybe a day off here and there for traveling but just played a lot of golf. I was hoping that I could go all the way through to now Sunday afternoon. Physically I feel fit, but that win at THE PLAYERS took a lot out of me, so that's why I feel that the tank was a little bit empty on the weekend. Thursday, Friday, still it was fine, and you're very motivated, and the weekend, I was very motivated, too, because I was up there, had a chance. But you can't force your body sometimes. You can force your mind and your mind wants, but the body says at one stage, that's enough. It's a shame but it is what it is. Q. So what are you doing to get the energy level back up? MARTIN KAYMER: There's not much you can do. You can just try to rest and just go through it. I know I have the next two weeks off, so I will try everything I have left. I will try to get it out and hopefully use it for those four days. I don't need to practise much because I've hit a lot of balls in that few weeks. I've played enough golf, it's just about is, yeah, resting and trying to be ready on Thursday morning. Q. You shot 63 in the first round at THE PLAYERS. Do you feel that was the finest round of golf in your career to date? MARTIN KAYMER: I played very, very solid. I didn't make many mistakes. I missed a couple of putts here and there, but confidence‑wise, it was not much wrong. And the same at THE PLAYERS, I played very, very solid. I didn't make many mistakes. I didn't make many bogeys. I had a lot of good up‑and‑downs, so that makes you feel like you can play a little bit more aggressive because you know there's a good possibility you can save par. Just the combination of playing and mentally was very solid, solid base, very nice fundamental. Very similar to when I played in 2008, 2009, 2010; not much going wrong, because I know where my missed shots are going to be, and once in awhile you hit a good one and you make birdie. So it was very clear, and that was the way I felt at THE PLAYERS and even last week, just last week, what I said earlier, getting a little bit tired and then you make mistakes. Q. You talk about the expectations for the German football team. For yourself, do you feel there are great expectations when you go home and play in front of your home fans like in Cologne this year, or does that lift you? MARTIN KAYMER: No, you know, by now especially after my win in 2008, when I could win the BMW International Open, when you come back, all of a sudden everybody expects you to win again. Because, why not? The golf course, you've won there before, you've played good rounds. So there shouldn't be any excuses. But unfortunately it doesn't work like this. Even after that, after I shot the 63 in Sawgrass, the next day, your body feels different, you have new pin positions, could be different wind. It's the same golf course but it's different. So it's a new start. You can't really compare. If you start comparing, if I would have compared my play Thursday to Friday, I think I shot five or six shots worse on Friday on the front nine. But I still shot a decent round. If you start comparing, you have to see it as a new beginning really. Q. And how important are the fans to you? Can they lift you? Are they worth a shot or two? MARTIN KAYMER: They were really helpful in 2008 when I almost let it go, the tournament. I was I think leading by six shots going into the final round, and then after 11 holes, it was gone. And then it's quite nice to be of some support. You know, when you see the German flags on 18, it's still really nice and very nice memories. It's not so much to do with‑‑ you know, it's a different way of success and a different way of happiness to have that real support that comes from the heart; they really want you to win. It's nothing to do with being selfish or anything. It's a big support from your country and it's very rare. But it makes you very proud to be German and so I hope I can be in that position again. You know, this year, we play in coal own; it's even closer to where I grew up, and, you know, support is always there. But it's never easy to play in your home country, as well. Q. You've talked a lot about mental things. I have a question here, watching your play on 17 and then 18, and you also kept the strong mental side; what is your key to success here? How do you do that, and what was going through your mind? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, a lot of players, caddies and some journalists ask me, what do you think when you stand over that putt; what do you think when you're on 17 or when you're on 18. I can't tell you, and I don't really want to know, as well (laughter). It just works. It's very tough to explain. I think if you try to explain it, you're searching for something. But there is nothing to look for. There is just, you know, it's the same thing when I have to do a clinic sometimes, when people ask me, how do you hit a draw, how do you hit a fade. I can tell you the things that are in the book, what you can read about, but I just feel the shot, and I just hit it. It doesn't give you much. I know that, but that's the truth. And when you stand over that putt on 17, knowing you have a one‑shot lead, I didn't really think about making this putt, because there's a lot of luck involved, as well. It's a big bonus, but I just thought, you know, if you make it, great; and if you don't make it, you can still make birdie on 18 to win it. So it's very clear thoughts, and it's very nice to have those clear thoughts. It's not distracting, and that was the same at The Ryder Cup. So it's very tough to explain. I'm just very glad that I don't think about anything that can distract you. I really try to use that situation that brings, fortunately, really good things out of me. To make one of those putts is rare. Is if you give me ten balls, I don't make many. It was a good putt and a bit of luck. I mean, I could barely see the line; it was so dark. It just worked. Q. You couldn't over‑think it, that's for sure. MARTIN KAYMER: I think sometimes really simple things are difficult and we make it way too complicated. So the tough part is to think simple. Q. Can I quote you on that? MARTIN KAYMER: No problem. Q. You mentioned having the next couple weeks off after this. What's the rest of your preparation like leading up to Pinehurst, and have you already played it? Have you had a chance to play it yet? MARTIN KAYMER: I wanted to go actually on the Monday of Sawgrass. I wanted to play Pinehurst but they had a tournament there, so I couldn't do that. Q. If you have a tee time‑‑ MARTIN KAYMER: No, they have a tournament, so it is what it is. So I didn't play, but the preparation is, next week, I don't want to play golf. I want to do certain other things. There's other things that I want to do, see family, see some friends. I have three cousins that they had triplets and I would like to see them, play with them some football. And then the week before the U.S. Open, then I see my coach again. But next week is more about fun, hopefully reflecting on what happened the last few weeks, enjoying the success a little bit. On Tuesday, I go to a place where the German national team, they practise, so I'm looking forward to seeing some players, talk to them about how they feel. Obviously the World Cup is coming up and how they feel about that. I'm sure you can always take something out of their preparation. But no golf; I'm okay with that. Q. You're not playing with Oliver Sorg? MARTIN KAYMER: I haven't seen a schedule yet. I know that they are going to meet and do something, maybe drive a car around I guess. But I haven't seen really what we are going to do on the Tuesday. I just look forward to see them, play with them some golf hopefully. Q. If you bump into Toni Kroos or Thomas Müller, will you ask them when they are joining Manchester United? (Laughter)? MARTIN KAYMER: Do you want them to come? Q. I would not say no to it‑‑ or any of the German squad. MARTIN KAYMER: Well, that's true, right. I think anyway, wherever they feel more comfortable. I think they have been very successful in Bayern Munich. And who knows if they are really happy there. What people write, what their coach says, what Matthias Sammer says or, you know, it depends on where they want to play, and I think it's up to themselves. If they want to go to Manchester United, I'm glad for you guys. I hope to see you in the Champions League in the final. Q. I did have a serious golf‑‑ just wonder, after the victory of the players, kind of substantiates you in the public eye as a major contender at tournaments again after the last two years you've had. How do you feel in yourself after that win in terms of confidence going forward into the summer into the U.S. Open into The Open Championship? MARTIN KAYMER: Again, it's about the way I won. If I would have won about I for or five shots, or two or three shots‑‑ I'm sure if we would have just kept playing without the break, I would have gone better but in the end of the day, it worked out great for me. If the way I won, it takes a lot out of yourself, but a belief that you can do it any time. And in the end of the day, you know, those three holes, it's just about how much you want it. It's not so much about playing good golf for playing bad golf. I could have hit a bad shot here or there. Of course you do that and it does happen, but it's just about the will. You play with your heart and we try to bring it home, and how much you want to win that tournament. So that is just really satisfying that I would win, especially after that break, after the double bogey, and then I didn't let it go. It was very easy just to be frustrated, and think, I did this wrong and I should have done this. Q. Are you happy with‑‑ inaudible. MARTIN KAYMER: I think there's a lot of people said that, the people that were involved, they don't really run it very well, and for some it works, and for some it doesn't work, but they are happy and they are very true to themselves and there's a character. And that's I think that's the best thing for them and that's the way it works, and I'm very, very happy for them because they are fighters. They are always behind them, doesn't matter where they play, so it's true, there's no fake, so I'm very, very happy for them. Q. After your finish at THE PLAYERS, somebody saw you sitting on the ground at the airport like charging your iPhone. Some of your sponsors then are not happy to see this, but nothing happened. MARTIN KAYMER: Why are they not happy? They should be happy because I'm not‑‑ it's just the way I am. Yeah, we were sitting on that plane, we were supposed to leave Jacksonville and I missed my flight already on Sunday. So I thought, okay, take it Monday, sitting on the plane, the pilot said we can't take off because of the bad weather in Dallas, but we were together on the plane for one hour and I got a lot of text messages and I wanted to take to some people, and so I need to charge my phone and I don't really know what the problem is sitting on the floor. I'm not a king or anything. And then I missed the flight because, you know, we never took off, so I just stayed another night in Jacksonville, and then the preparation was a little bit shorter than I wanted it for Dallas. But I have a question for you. Why are the sponsors not happy? Q. Because your sponsor think you should be maybe sit in the VIP room, not on the floor. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Have you ever been to Jacksonville airport. (Laughter). MARTIN KAYMER: Jacksonville, yeah, it is Starbucks, Chipolte and that's about it. I believe in‑‑ I don't think why they want me to do that. It wouldn't be me. It wouldn't be real. I feel come for able to on the floor, then I sit on the floor. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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