	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

August 28, 2014

Hunter Mahan

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

MARK STEVENS: Like to welcome Hunter Mahan. Exciting win last week at the Barclays. If you want to talk about the last couple of days, what you've been up to, and how you're preparing for the Deutsche Bank Championship now that you're No. 1 in the FedExCup standings.

HUNTER MAHAN: Obviously it was a great win last week. Played some great golf. And especially on the weekend, shooting 68, 65. It was a great win because a lot went into the win. I got a lot out of it so far. Jumping up to No. 1 in the FedExCup, and securing my spot in Atlanta. I've had a pretty impressive streak for the last seven years, I want to continue it this we're year. So it feels good having done that. And hopefully it gives me -- hopefully Captain Watson was watching and liked what he saw. It gives me kind of a ray of hope there and some light. My game, I've liked it for a few weeks, and excited about this week. I played well in the past here, and looking forward to competing.

Q. You said you hoped Captain Watson was watching, there's been no interaction, no text?
HUNTER MAHAN: He texted me after the win and stuff and said congrats. He liked how I played. And so that was the first bit of communication we've had. And Andy North and Steve Stricker texted me, as well.

Q. Do you now feel more pressure to have more decent week to give him something to think about, at all?
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, I mean there's -- you'd love to just play well and play solid and secure it up as best you can. And there's -- there's still lots of performances for the FedExCup. There's a lot of -- there's just a lot to play for and all kinds of facets. I just try to take it one day at a time right now, prepare for this week, and just leave last week where it is, behind me, and focus on tomorrow and having a good first round and kind of taking it from there. It was nice to get a win, not having a win in a couple of years. And that pushed me in discussion for a lot of different things. So that's definitely a place I want to be.

Q. We've heard that the course is firmer this year and the rough is a little bit more difficult. Winning scores not uncommon to be 20 or more below. The course conditions this year compared to past years, might that bring that score down a little bit lower?
HUNTER MAHAN: It could. You know, when we first got here, I played nine holes yesterday, the course was definitely faster. The greens are at a good speed right now. I know they'll get faster throughout the week. But there's definitely some firmness to the greens. And the course, like I said, the course is playing faster. The rough, it's -- it's long, but it's still -- it's not super thick. It's still a little bit drier than maybe years past. But hopefully we get some great weather and the course will be challenging. The wind blowing right now should dry out the course quite a bit and dry out the greens. We'll really have to think about our approach shots and how we want to come into the greens, and angles become very important. I know years past when it gets to 20-under, you can just sort of fly it at the pins, and you're taking a lot of trouble out of play. And I don't think that will be the case this year.

Q. It's hard to win out here. Can you put into perspective the push you get and what you feel mentally when you get over that hump and win again?
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, you know, it can become mental more than anything else when you're maybe -- when you kind of think that you should have won earlier, having two years kind of between the wins. I felt like I played some really good golf last year and had some opportunities, I just didn't play well kind of on Sundays, and kind of had that opportunity early this year. And you just start over thinking things. And you start worrying about results more than worrying about the process of just having a good day, having a good Thursday, and having a Good Friday, and breaking down golf into its simplest form, which is trying to hit one really good shot and the next really good shot. I fell into that a little bit. And just was trying to kind of win tournaments on Thursday. And it was just putting too much pressure on myself and I had to kind of just worry about becoming a better player, figuring out the things I needed to do, to do that and focus on that and not really worry about score, knowing that would come kind of just through the right process. And that's what I've tried to do the last month or two is try to go to the range, go to the practice green or chipping green and be very focused and not waste shots, not get up there and kind of go through the motions, but actually get better and focus on certain things and make sure I leave the golf course every day a better player, better kind of prepared player for playing tournament golf.

Q. You mentioned the FedExCup streak, what kind of satisfaction do you get from having played all of them? And also has there been some guys missing this week for a lot of very good reasons, obviously. Throughout your streak, did you ever think about skipping an event for whatever reason?
HUNTER MAHAN: No. Having a baby may be the only thing, like Graeme is doing right now and Paul Casey. This is something I started, taken seven years to get to this point to play them all, and I take great pride in that. I want to be the FedExCup champion and I was close a few years ago. I just love where my game is at right now, so I want to play golf. I want to play this week and the next couple of weeks and everything. We've always had a week off in between them. So I've never really thought about taking a week off, because I knew I was going to have a week off either before Atlanta or before the Championship. So this time of year I want to be playing and I want to have an opportunity to win. These are big tournaments. These are the best players in the world. I want to have that opportunity to win.

Q. Just curious, do you still look at it as -- does it feel like you should be No. 1? You know what I mean? Some guys have had outstanding years, Rory and stuff. But do you come to grips with this is how the system works?
HUNTER MAHAN: Yeah, it is what it is. This is the system that we have. And it rewards good, consistent play. I do think it's a microcosm of golf, though. Golf is all about winning. Top-5's are great, top-10s are great. But if you don't win, you're not making an impact in the game, like guys who have a bunch of top-10s. Winning is the most important thing. And it is heavily favored in this format. But it also creates a lot of movement and a lot of excitement for the game of golf. Rory is No. 2, and Jimmy is 3. It's not like they dropped too far back. One week doesn't really mean too much out here, I think. Still a lot of golf to be played. And if you look, I think, at the history of the FedExCup, most of the time the guy who's played the best and done a lot of great things ends up winning, anyway. I don't think there's been a big difference between a regular season and the guy winning the FedExCup. I think it's fun for our sport to have kind of a winner-take-home kind of mentality, since we really don't have that in golf, kind of a finale. I think it's pretty neat with so much on the line.

Q. You played in the first two rounds with Rory, what is your relationship with him? The when you do get this captain's pick, when you go to Gleneagles, is Rory the guy to beat, is he the sort of guy going around Gleneagles with a target on his back?
HUNTER MAHAN: I've been around Rory a little bit. I haven't played a ton of golf with him. But I've always been very friendly with him. I like him a lot as a person. I do love watching him swing and watching him play. He just looks so confident out there. And he just looks so in the moment and free. I just love how he plays and how he goes about his business. So I look forward to seeing him play and being around him for a couple of days. It's going to be -- that's going to be fun. I didn't really catch the second part of your question, it's pretty loud in here.

Q. I was asking when you get Tom Watson's wild card pick, and when you go to Gleneagles, and being that Rory is one of 12 players, is he like the guy with the target on his back, is he the guy you want to beat?
HUNTER MAHAN: I think whoever you're playing is the guy that you need to beat. I don't think anyone is going to take anymore -- I think previous years if you beat Tiger in a match or something, it was like two points for that team. I just don't see that. I think he's the best player on their side. I think -- they've got a lot of great players on their team. They've got a lot of great leaders on that team. Whoever you're paired up against, you've got to go beat those guys. You can't really worry about somebody you're not playing. They're going to pose a great challenge to us. And hopefully I can be a part of that. Because that would be a lot of fun, to especially do it over in Scotland, that would be a great challenge, but a great opportunity for the U.S. to kind of bring back the Cup, it hasn't happened in a while.

MARK STEVENS: Thanks for your time, Hunter, and good luck this week.

HUNTER MAHAN: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297