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OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016: GOLFAugust 11, 2016Graham DeLaetRio De Janeiro, Brazil GORDON SIMPSON: Thanks very much for coming along, Graham DeLaet, 5‑under par today, first man out on the course in the three ball. George line is the last Canadian to hit a shot when he won the Gold Medal. What were you feeling on that first tee? GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, a little bit nervous actually. You know, we do this for a living week‑in and week‑out, but there was something different about that first tee shot today. It was a different announcement for us, and it was just a really cool feeling. I was playing with a Brazilian, and that was neat. We had a lot of people out, especially for 7.30 in the morning, more than I anticipated. It was a lot of fun. We said as we were walking off the first tee, this is pretty cool, first time in over a hundred years, and we're kind of the lead group. It was nice. And then obviously I shot the low round in our group, so I'm the Olympic leader right now, so it's pretty neat. GORDON SIMPSON: And you're an Olympian, officially, as well. Obviously you'll be conscious of the symmetry from 1904 to now, the Canadian connection and you presumably knew that when you were picked in the first group. GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, I think it was pretty special for Addison to lead things off. I was happy to‑‑ I don't know if it's because we are the defending champions or how I ended up there, but it was a nice tee time, too, because we played the front nine with not much wind. There's always a little bit of wind out here but we definitely had a good tee time. Our last five or six holes, it started pumping pretty good and it was bouncing around a little bit and it was nice to get in early. Q. What is the difference from playing in a regular tournament? GRAHAM DeLAET: It did feel a little bit different. I mean, obviously it's a stroke play like we play week‑in and week‑out. Playing for the flag, I think is a little bit different than playing for cash or points or your family or whatever it is. I know that I've got tons of support up in Canada week‑in and week‑out, but this week I think is a little bit more special. It's nice to get off to a good start. I've been doing this for a long time, so I know that I'm only 25 per cent done, so I'm not getting too far ahead of myself. It's definitely better to shoot 5‑under than 5‑over to open up. Q. Does it make a difference, being with other athletes in the village, does it make you want it even more? GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, I think it definitely does. We went to the Canada House on Tuesday night and the Rugby 7s girls were with us on the bus going over there, and they got their Bronze Medals when they got there. You know, we got to hold it. We took a picture with the girls and that's when it really kind of became real to me how amazing it would be to get that chunk of medal. Obviously gold would be incredible, but I think bringing home anything would be really, really special. I know that countries always count medals, so to be able to add to what Canada can rack up would be pretty awesome. Like I said, we've got a long ways to go, but it's a good start. GORDON SIMPSON: What did it feel like, quite heavy? GRAHAM DeLAET: It was extremely heavy, beautiful, a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. Those girls were wearing them pretty tightly around their neck. I'm sure they weren't going to give them up. Q. How was the course today? GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, I missed‑‑ I'm not sure the total, only four greens all day. A couple of them were just on the fringe. But yeah, my speed was really nice today. I really like these greens. They roll super true. Every time you look up, it's pretty tight on the ground. You know, it felt good. The putter has been feeling better the last few months, and hopefully I can keep it rolling. I told Ray on 15, I almost made a huge bomb, 15‑footer with ten feet of break. I said, I feel like Jordan Spieth with this thing in my hand right now. Hopefully that can continue for another few days. Q. How are you getting over ‑‑ GRAHAM DeLAET: In all honesty, I'm getting it all the time. I'm still dealing with it a little bit. You have different options. You can putt, you can kind of hit bump‑and‑runs. You can hit high soft ones. The greens are soft so you can kind of hit the spinners. So there's a lot of different options. I'm battling through it, so luckily today I hit the ball pretty well. Q. The course is soft, mud balls‑‑ anything you see for Sunday‑‑ GRAHAM DeLAET: Possibly. The first time I kind of felt that little bit of fire on the course, my second shot on 18, I think I had like 225 front edge. I just kind of lost a 4‑iron a little bit to the right and ended up pin‑high in a pretty decent spot just off the green. As we were walking, I was like, I don't know, it would have taken a perfect shot to hit this green in two, and I hit a nice, big drive there. That was the first time it was straight downwind and you probably would have had to land something 15 yards short of the front edge and use the slope to get it anywhere near having a legitimate eagle putt there. Q. Obviously took some time off, did you miss competing or playing in tournaments? GRAHAM DeLAET: Obviously a little bit of both. I'm a golfer and I want to be playing, but I have a new family and twins at home, so I got to spend a lot of time with them, which is really nice. A little bit of a break for my brain and just try to regroup. Yeah, everything is feeling better and better all the time. I know that when I finally get through the whole thing, it's just going to be a little blip on my radar when I look back on my career and that's how I look going forward. Q. At any point in the process did you consider not coming? GRAHAM DeLAET: No. Q. How has it changed your perspective? GRAHAM DeLAET: I knew it was going to be a really cool experience. Not once did I think about not coming. We haven't seen one mosquito. I've been here since Friday and we haven't seen one mosquito. That's been nice. It was amazing when we got to go to the opening ceremonies on Friday. I think it's different for a golfer, professional player, because you become‑‑ we play last week, we come down here for a week, we're in Greensboro next week type of thing and the Playoffs start right away. But when you see how much this means to the other athletes, they have been working at this for four straight years and they are trying to peak for this time, and coming out in the opening ceremonies, you can see how much it means to them, and the pride and the excitement that they have; that's been probably the neatest thing for me to see is just how much this means to those other people. It's such a cool event. It's one of those times every four years where you watch sports you would probably never watch, maybe they don't get the press or television time, but it's so neat. We went to table tennis and synchronized diving and swimming. It's been a really, really cool experience to see the pride from every single country and through the athletes village, which is a really neat place. Everybody wearing their colors everywhere they go, and it's just an amazing, amazing experience and I hope to be there in Tokyo, as well, in 2020. Q. Does it feel like you're playing a new golf course‑‑ GRAHAM DeLAET: Yeah, the one thing is, it's new for all of us. So we're all kind of trying to cram in a two or three‑daytime span, so nobody really knows the golf course that well. We go to different places that host majors or whatever it may be, or your rookie year, everything is new to you and you learn as you go, and even today, we learned a few things. Like coming to 18, I know that if I have something that's reachable tomorrow, it's going to probably have to land ten yards short if we have the same kind of wind. As you go, you kind of pick up things along the way. Definitely nobody really knew what kind of scores are going to be shot out there, how the course is going to hold up, but so far, so good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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