|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACERMay 27, 2015Candy HannemannGALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY Q. How do you feel coming into this week? I guess just take us through the sponsor invitation process, when you found out, what that whole process was. CANDY HANNEMANN: So I found out in April from Tim, and was just super excited about it, obviously. It's so nice to be back. You know, I wrote a letter and I've known Tim for a long time, and I wrote him a letter explaining my situation, and just feel incredibly grateful to him and ShopRite to get the exemption. Q. Also did you know him just from playing on tour before? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes. Q. And you kind of kept that relationship? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes. Q. And you came back with that? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes. Q. That's awesome. And now, you've been playing on Symetra mostly? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes. Solely on Symetra. I've played five or six‑‑ five events, I think. Hasn't gone obviously exactly the way I wanted. Q. Sure. CANDY HANNEMANN: But it's rusty, and that's okay. I expected that, but it doesn't‑‑ you know, still super motivated. Q. Sure. CANDY HANNEMANN: And I feel like it's coming closer together. Q. What does practice look like now compared to what it did on tour before? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. Very different. So I only have about three and a half, four hours to practice a day. Q. Okay. CANDY HANNEMANN: You know, workouts, everything kind of end, because I do like to spend time with the girls. I don't like leaving them all day, especially when I'm at home. Q. Sure. CANDY HANNEMANN: So it's just‑‑ I try to be a lot more efficient now than I used to be when I was‑‑ when I didn't have kids. You just have to be. Q. And where are you based now? CANDY HANNEMANN: Boston. Q. How old are your daughters? CANDY HANNEMANN: My oldest one is almost 3. She'll be 3 in June. And my youngest one has just turned 8 months. Q. Okay. What are their names? CANDY HANNEMANN: Stella is the oldest. Luiza, L‑U‑I‑Z‑A, is the youngest. Q. Do they travel with you at all? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. They're here. Yeah, they travel. We have a nanny. And that was part of the deal. I wouldn't do it if they weren't able to come with me. They don't come every week, but they do come. Q. As much as possible? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. Q. When did this vision or dream start? Was it as soon as the Olympics were announced? CANDY HANNEMANN: No. Q. How did that all come about? CANDY HANNEMANN: No. Because I had a wrist injury, so I just wanted to make sure that I was okay with that. And then in May I was pregnant with Luiza and I went home to Brazil and a group of guys at my home course at Gavea Country Club, they kind of talked me through it, and it just really‑‑ and then, you know, steps that needed to happen happened. And then I was, you know, official, official probably in June, July. And then I gave birth to Luiza in September and then started. Q. Like get her outta here, I gotta go back to work: How soon after did you start practicing? CANDY HANNEMANN: Two and a half months. So after I‑‑ so I played my last LPGA event in '08, and then I played an unofficial event in '09. And I had surgery in June of '09. And I didn't touch a club until 2011 or 2012. Q. So two years, three years? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. I didn't touch‑‑ Q. Zero? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. I didn't play at all really. Q. Wow. CANDY HANNEMANN: But yeah, it's great being back. Q. Has it been funny seeing old faces and hugs? CANDY HANNEMANN: It's been great. Q. Has it been like back to school kind of? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. I mean I don't know most of the girls, which is the way it should be. But you know, the core group is still here, and you know, it feels like just coming back home. It's very nice, feels very comfortable. Q. When you say you took two years off basically where you didn't touch a club, was that just because of the wrist or was that because when you hang it up, you hang it up and you don't really want to be around it as much? What was the thought process? CANDY HANNEMANN: I think it was the combination. I got married at the end of that year, and my wrist was so painful for so long that I just got tired of playing hurt. And I just needed a total break from it. And I think when you don't compete also‑‑ I think it was a combination, when you don't compete, your motivation just kind of changes. And then I started playing again for fun, and I loved it. It was great. Q. It's a lot different when you're playing for fun. CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. But I think it was really good to play just for fun, because then you get back to really the reasons why you started playing. Q. I was going to say, is that one of those things you almost forget your love of it until you get back? CANDY HANNEMANN: 100 percent, because it's a job. When you're out here, it becomes such a job that you forget that you just really enjoy playing golf, which is‑‑ it was really good for me. Q. So how long is this process? Is this getting to the Olympics and then you're done or do you think this is a true comeback essentially for multiple years? CANDY HANNEMANN: As of right now, I think it's getting to the Olympics. And I think I'll be done, but you never know. I don't know what's going to happen. You know, if I'm playing really well and I feel like I want to do a little more. But once the kids are school age, and you know, I want them to be at home and have a community. Q. Right. So is the golf strictly to get into the Olympics? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes. Q. Is there any other goal alongside it? CANDY HANNEMANN: I mean there are other goals that I have to get in order to get into the Olympics, but the goal is the Olympics, 100 percent. Q. Olympics solely? Seems like the girls are‑‑ I don't know if you saw Scott's comments about the Olympics, about but it doesn't seem like that's the case at all for‑‑ CANDY HANNEMANN: I didn't see that comment. Q. Okay. He thought it was kind of an exhibition on the men's side, but it seems like the girls are all taking it very, very seriously. Is that accurate? CANDY HANNEMANN: I don't know. I can't speak for the other girls, but I know‑‑ I think the Olympics is the Olympics. It doesn't matter what event you play in. And if it's the first year, I mean you're playing in the Olympic Games, and we're the Olympic athletes, and I don't think you can compare that to anything else. Q. Do you think you'd be doing this if this was not your home country? CANDY HANNEMANN: No. Q. You wouldn't? CANDY HANNEMANN: Probably not. Q. I just wondered how much that factors in? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. A lot. It's in my hometown. Q. Are both of your parents from Brazil? CANDY HANNEMANN: My dad's German. My mom's Brazilian. I've always played for Brazil my whole career. Q. Pretty amazing time for Brazil, too, with just holding the World Cup and now the Olympics, too? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes. Absolutely. I mean it's a great‑‑ I'm obviously biased, but it's a great country. It's a great city, and I just love going back. I love being from there. Q. You're from Rio? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes. Born and raised. Q. Did you go back to the World Cup at all? CANDY HANNEMANN: I didn't. I was pregnant, and I thought that would not be a good combination. Q. When did you move to the States? CANDY HANNEMANN: I was 17. But I've always gone back. And you know, my best friend is still from there. And my good friends are still from there. I still have a strong connection with the country. Q. What about this, did you play here when you were full time on tour? Do you have any memories of this course? CANDY HANNEMANN: Yes, I did. I did play here. I love this course. I think it's a great course. I think there's a lot of shot making. I think the greens can get really tricky and you have to be super creative around the greens. So I think it's great. Q. How do the days differ now? Is there anything‑‑ obviously you've got four hours you've gotta build in of practicing a day. What kind of gets left out of the shuffle now is there anything you're missing now that you're playing or anything like that? CANDY HANNEMANN: From a golf perspective? Q. No, just from an everyday life perspective. Like anything‑‑ CANDY HANNEMANN: It's just not‑‑ there's no time for myself really. I mean golf is time for myself. But there is no‑‑ I mean my kids wake up at 5, and by the time 8:00 comes around and they're in bed, I'm done. So that part, you know, it's just tiring. I just don't have a lot of time to just relax. Q. Efficiency is key. CANDY HANNEMANN: Yeah. It's okay. It's part of it. Q. Perfect. Thank you so much. CANDY HANNEMANN: No problem. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|