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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE INSURANCEMay 27, 2014Carlos OrtizDUBLIN, OHIO THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Carlos Ortiz to the interview room. Carlos currently is No. 1 on the Web.com Tour regular season money list. He's won twice this year ‑‑ Panama Claro Championship and El Bosque Mexico Championship. And he also got an invitation to play this week. Carlos, start off with your thoughts on the golf course. CARLOS ORTIZ: The golf course is amazing. Coming from the Web.com Tour, we don't get to play these kind of golf courses, and I'm just happy to be out here. It's a great shape. And also the service you get out here, it's amazing. You don't get that out there, and I'm just really happy to be out here. Q. Is it hard for you to believe that you're here, playing on this level here this week? CARLOS ORTIZ: It's not hard to believe. It's impressive. It's different from what I've been used to. And I'm just happy. It's a new experience, and I'm just going to try to enjoy it, not try to put any pressure on me. And it's a bonus for me. Right now I'm playing the Web.com Tour and that's my focus, and that's how I'm saying it's a bonus for my great playing this year. Q. Could you talk a little bit about when you found out you were going to play here? And I saw on your bio where you put you would put Jack Nicklaus in your dream foursome. Could you talk a little bit about being here and possibly being around him? CARLOS ORTIZ: When I first found out, I couldn't believe it. I've never played a PGA TOUR event before. And making my debut on the PGA TOUR in this tournament was just great. It took me a while to realize that I was going to play out here. And being the Jack Nicklaus tournament, I always look up to him as a player and as a‑‑ as a man, how he is. And just an honor. And I'm just really happy and I'm going to try to really enjoy this week. Q. Just wondering if you could talk for a minute about any influence that Lorena Ochoa has had on your career or your golf or any connection with her. CARLOS ORTIZ: She's really been a really big influence on my career. We are from the same country club. So I grew up with her. When I was young, starting to play golf, she was a sensation. And just being able to see how somebody can make their dreams come true with the hard work. Because I saw how hard she worked and dedication. And so being able to see that from close, it's really an inspiration. Q. Have you talked with her recently, all the play that you've had, the good finishes and so forth? CARLOS ORTIZ: Of course, she's unbelievably nice. She reached out to me and offered any advice. She's going to be there. And she keeps sending me e‑mails and making sure I'm good. If I ever need anything, she says she's going to be there for me. And she's really a nice person, really humble, and I'm just pretty lucky to have her close. Q. One of Lorena's passions was to try to grow the game in Mexico, to get more people playing the game. Is that something you'd like to play a role in, too, is to bring the game to more people? CARLOS ORTIZ: Of course. I think she did a great job. And like in Mexico, of course, golf is not a big sport. But after her, it changed. People know about golf, at least. I really would like to start putting my name out there and making people see that golf is also a sport. And now it's going to be an Olympic sport, that's going to also help. So I'm going to try to make‑‑ to help put the name of golf out there in Mexico, how Lorena did. Q. A lot of young golfers have had instant success it seems here recently. Does that give you any confidence that you can go out and do the same thing that these other young golfers are doing? CARLOS ORTIZ: Well, of course, it's like in the Web.com Tour, when I first got there, I was kind of scared. It's something new for me. But I just think somebody told me that and I think it's pretty true that if you shoot under par, it's going to be good everywhere‑‑ college golf, Web.com Tour, and PGA TOUR. So it's just the same. You shoot low, it's just different names in the leaderboard. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Carlos. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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