28 September 2010
An Interview With:
CAPTAIN COREY PAVIN
GORDON SIMPSON: Corey, welcome
back into the media centre. I hope you've had a
good night's sleep and feeling refreshed and your
team has had a good morning. Take us through
what you've been doing last night, and also today
on the golf course. Start with last night.
COREY PAVIN: Last night, you know, we
just got together and had dinner and a few gifts
were given out. Then we just kind of hung around
the team room and everybody did what they
wanted to do, play a little ping-pong, goof around,
hang out and off to bed. Got up this morning, did
the team pictures and everybody went out on the
golf course and played, and playing, I guess.
GORDON SIMPSON:
Obviously you
could have done with doing the pictures now rather
than first thing in the morning.
COREY PAVIN: It was actually nice out. I
liked that little bit of fog and mist. It makes for
good photos.
GORDON SIMPSON: What sort of vibes
have you picked up from the players so far out on
the golf course?
COREY PAVIN: I think the players are
relaxed. They are out there just playing and taking
a look at the golf course and trying to map it out
and plan their strategies. Everybody looks like
they are pretty comfortable out there and just
enjoying the nice weather. Just, you know, looking
to see how they want to play the golf course. It's a
practise round.
when you're playing in a Ryder Cup, wind or
rain?
COREY PAVIN: I don't know. I think
when it's windy and rainy, it would be worse,
wouldn't it?
You know, to me, weather is not a big
deal. You know, in The Ryder Cup, you just tend
to ignore what the weather is happening. You are
just focused on playing your opponent and trying to
win your match. The weather seems to be less
important in The Ryder Cup. You just don't really
pay attention to it as much. I know I've played in a
few Ryder Cups in rain, and you know, I can barely
remember it really raining. Sometimes they said it
was raining really hard and you're like, "Oh, really."
You just ignore it. You have other things to focus
on.
Q. Colin has been pretty forthcoming
with his strategy to a certain degree; what can
we glean from what we see out there today, the
way you've put the guys out in foursomes, the
way they are paired together in matches within
the groups that could give us a hint of what's
to come?
COREY PAVIN: Well, I guess hindsight
will be good on Thursday when the pairings are
announced, when you see Friday afternoon and
Saturday. You know, the guys are playing in the
groups for reason, and it will become obvious later.
I think you'll see different groupings
tomorrow, as well, with practise rounds, and
looking at a lot of the different combinations with
the guys.
Q.
How did your first Ryder Cup
compare to subsequent Ryder Cups, nerves
and such, and what advice do you give to your
rookies?
COREY PAVIN: Well, you know, my first
Q. Talking of weather, and there has
been a lot of talk of it here, which is worse
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Ryder Cup was Kiawah, and you know, I just didn't
play as well as I would like to. You know, the golf
course was hard for me. And then my next two, I
played a lot better. But for those rookies, I like
these rookies.
They are aggressive, positive
players. You know, it's kind of the different breed
when I was -- back in the old days when I was
playing. These guys are aggressive, positive, and
they are going to come out firing. There's not
really much to tell them. I think I just want to make
sure that they are emotionally under control and I
watched some of them today and they seemed
quite fine out there, very relaxed.
Q. At The Presidents Cup, Tiger and
Steve Stricker made great partners. Can you
comment on why they were such good partners
together?
COREY PAVIN: Besides the obvious, that
they played better than their opponents?
You know, they are both great players.
Tiger has been No. 1 in the world for -- I'm sure
somebody knows the stats here, but a long time.
And Steve was playing great last year at the time.
Those were probably two guys, the top two players
in the world maybe or two of the top three,
whatever it was. It's a pretty healthy combination.
Steve is a great putter, gets the ball in the
hole and makes important putts, and Tiger is pretty
good at it, too.
So it's a pretty solid combo. When any
two players are playing well, they are going to be
tough to beat, and it doesn't matter who they are.
But those two, in particular, are pretty tough when
they are playing their best golf.
Q. So it wasn't that they worked well as
a team, particularly, just that they were playing
well?
COREY PAVIN:
Well, I think it's a
combination of that, too. When you partner up with
somebody, usually -- and you win your matches,
there's some good chemistry there. But you do
have to play. You have to perform. Just because
there is good chemistry doesn't mean you're going
to win your match. You have to perform and make
your putts and you have to hit good shots.
Q. This is probably the only event in
golf where the negative gets emphasised;
where people cheer for a missed putt, as, you
know, everything else is good sportsmanship
in all of the other events. Are American golfers
prepared for what they may face out there?
Some of them know, and I just wonder, will you
explain that this will be a different situation to
the rookies?
COREY PAVIN:
The rookies will be
prepared because we've talked about it. But I don't
see a situation happening out there that the people
will applaud for bad shots or missed putts.
The way it's happened the last few Ryder
Cups, and being over at The K Club in '06, there's
a nice pause if an American misses a putt or hits a
bad shot. There's a nice, polite pause before
there's applause. And I think that's the way it
should be.
So I've seen that a lot. You know, there
might be a comment here and there that somebody
makes, but it's few and far between, and I think the
fans out there are very respectful of both sides,
and I expect the same to happen here.
Q. It's pretty well established that you
and many of your team are committed
Christians. I wonder if you will have the usual
faith this week in your leadership role and will
you get the guys together who are committed
Christians and that's part of your preparation?
COREY PAVIN: To me it's a personal
issue to me and it's my personal preference, and
each player on the team has their own deal. It has
nothing to do with the team this week. We are just
going out there as Team USA and playing golf.
Q. As a follow-up, there was conjecture
before today as to what sort of reception Tiger
would receive here and what sort of mood he
would bring to the course; so far, the welcome
has been very warm and he seems relaxed. Is
that a source of some relief to you that it's
worked out so far that way?
COREY PAVIN: I really didn't expect
anything different. The British Open, or I should
say The Open Championship, he was very well
received, and I didn't expect anything different
here.
I think it's fine.
Q. Several of your guys have been
playing a lot of golf here the last several weeks
going back to late July, and while in some
circles, it's viewed as being good that they are
sharp, I'm wondering if you're concerned about
guys running out of gas this week at all and are
doing anything to try to be careful about that.
COREY PAVIN: Yeah, I'm not worried
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about it at all. I think having a week off before THE
TOUR Championship was very helpful, and I've
talked to the guys probably for the last month, to
talk to them about planning their weeks and their
energy level. And we have talked about it even for
this week to kind of be aware of their emotions and
what they are feeling out there and not to try to
over practise the next couple of days, especially
after flying over. We all have little bit of jet-lag
today, for sure. I really don't want them to practise
a lot today. I want them to go out and see the golf
course and do some chipping and putting and
relax, and they can do a little more work tomorrow
and the next day.
I'm going to give them the option to play 9
or 18 on Thursday, as well. It's all about being
ready on Friday; it's not about being ready on
Tuesday or Wednesday.
Q. Another question, the reaction of
the fans.
Two years ago in downtown
Louisville, Paul Azinger at a pep rally said that
you can cheer on missed putts and in the
Official Programme here, Monty has asked the
fans to be respectful. Do you think it's right
that he's gone out of his way to ask for
respect?
COREY PAVIN: I wasn't in Louisville, and
I never really heard anything negative about the
way the fans behaved there, so I think the last
large group of years, for The Ryder Cup, I think the
away fans, or the home fans have been respectful
of the golfers. You know, I know Colin very well,
and that's certainly what he would say and it's what
I would say if we were over in the United States, as
well. So it's the right thing to do.
Q. What's Tiger's relationship with the
wives and girlfriends off the course? Is he
getting any of the cold shoulder and have you
told the ladies to pretend to be nice to him
(laughter).
COREY PAVIN: Everything's fine. Team
room's great. I didn't talk to anybody about
anything like that. It's not necessary.
Q. A few of the Europeans, and in
particular, Rory McIlroy have been quite vocal
about want to go play Tiger, saying he's
probably more vulnerable; is there a part of you
that actually likes hear that because it's
probably going to motivate Tiger all that more?
COREY PAVIN: Anything that motivates
players is great. You don't need a lot of motivation
on The Ryder Cup. If the players take it as
motivation and use it in a positive way, it's great.
Q. Colin said yesterday that he was not
going to trick up the course. You've had a look
at it today.
Have you found anything to
surprise you?
COREY PAVIN: No, I think what he said
yesterday is what's out there. The rough is thick.
It's hard to get out of, but the fairways are the
same widths as they were for the Wales Open
when I played a year and a half ago. It's set up
very fairly. It's going to reward good play, and
shots that are off the fairway in this rough, you're
going to be penalised.
It kind of reminds me a lot of maybe the
way the PGA is set up a little bit, the PGA
Championship. It's very fair. How you play is what
you're going to get out of it.
Q. America has not won in Europe
since 1993.
Are you going to break this
hoo-doo?
COREY PAVIN: I would like to break that
and take the Cup home with us. That's what we
are here for. It has been a long time. I like Team
USA and I think Europe's got a very strong team,
as well. It's really just going to come down to who
makes the putts and at the right times.
Q. Is that a concern at all, though, that
it's been so long, psychologically?
COREY PAVIN: You know, I think the
guys that have played the last group of years,
there's a lot of new blood on our team. Like I said,
I think we have a lot of aggressive, positive players
and they are just going to go out and play. I don't
think they look at the history books in that regard. I
want to have them look at it as a challenge and go
out there and try to win for the first time in 17
years.
Q. You had lots of captains that you
were playing for in the past; who had the
biggest influence on you, and what did they
say or do that made an impact and has stayed
with you?
COREY PAVIN: You know, I played for
three captains and they were three different types
of guys. They brought something different to the
table, all three of them.
Captain Stockton was very meticulous in
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detail, and besides him going to USC, other than
that, he was a pretty good guy, since I went to
UCLA. (Laughter).
But I talked to Dave quite a bit in the last
two years. He's a great guy and has a lot of good
advice.
Tom Watson was my second captain over
here at The Belfry, and he was kind of a lower-key
type captain. And obviously very competitive. I
actually just spoke with Tom right before we got on
the plane, I spoke with him for a little while.
And Lanny was captain No. 3 for me. You
know, I was playing very well in '95, and he called
me up a couple of weeks before and he said, "Just
make sure you're in shape to play five matches,
because you're going to play five matches." And I
never forgot that. Even though I felt pretty good
about my game, him just giving me that confidence
that I was going to play, and he wanted me to play
that much, is something that I'll always remember
with Lanny, as well.
Q. What's going to be your DNA when
this is finished, what sort of captain will you
be?
COREY PAVIN: You'll have to ask the
players. They will be in later (chuckling).
Q. Can you just explain the nature of
the practise this morning? Have the guys been
playing matches against each other? Have you
been switching pairings or anything like that?
COREY PAVIN: You know, I just put them
in groups together, and whatever they do, I think
there's a few games out there. I'm sure that Phil
and his group are playing some kind of a match,
because I don't think Phil can play a practise round
without having a little wager out there. I don't know
what the other guys are doing.
I know those guys are. You can talk to
them. I'm not sure if any of them are coming in
later. But whatever they want to do. I'm not really
about structure. I just want them to go out and
play and do whatever they need to do for
themselves to be ready to prepare on Friday. I
can't tell them what to do. They know what to do.
Q. So you sent them out as fours,
rather than two twos, if you see what I mean -COREY PAVIN:
I think they are in
foursomes out there.
Q. Paul Azinger described your team
as the longest-hitting team in Ryder Cup
history. Does length off the tee, is that an
advantage over a course like this?
COREY PAVIN: Well, if you hit it long and
straight it is. It's always an advantage to hit it
longer, if you keep the ball in play.
So you just have to know when to use the
strength and the distance and when to hold it back.
And I think these guys are pretty smart players and
they will figure it out. That's why they are playing
the practise rounds now, to decide what holes
might be 3-woods or irons off the tee and what
holes they can be more aggressive.
Q.
Do you have an example of
something that was said or written about you
that gave you extra motivation?
COREY PAVIN: I can't really think of
anything off the top of my head. I was always
pretty motivated when I played in Ryder Cups.
I don't know if anything could have
motivated me anymore when I was playing. But
you know, as I said, I always enjoyed the
competition. It wasn't a be-all and end-all for me,
but it was a very important competition to represent
the United States and to play the best golf I could,
and as long as I did that, and I felt like I did
everything that I could do, then I had a good week.
Q. The story you told about Lanny
Watkins calling you up, did you do that to
anybody?
COREY PAVIN: That would be giving
something away now. I'll tell you afterwards.
You know, it's funny how I think the
perception is that guys that are playing great or
playing well don't need to be talked to. They need
encouragement, as well. And that's what I learned
from that from Lanny is that no matter how well
you're playing, no matter how confident you are,
when someone still gives you a compliment that
you respect like that, like I respect Lanny, it meant
a lot to me and it stuck with me at that time. I had
won the U.S. Open and I had had a pretty good
year and things were going nicely, and that still
gave me a boost.
So you can never be short on compliments
to the players on the team, and I've always
remembered that. I'm certainly using it this week.
GORDON SIMPSON: Okay, Corey, thank
you very much for today.
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