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CIMB CLASSIC

October 19, 2016

Gavin Green

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

THE MODERATOR: Gavin, thanks for joining us. This is your first time playing in the event. Just tell us how you feel coming into this event.

GAVIN GREEN: Obviously it's a great privilege to play, especially it was a tough call for me because I was in between in making it through World Ranking and playing qualifiers and I kind of had to play qualifiers. I was fortunate enough to win it.

And yeah, here I am, so really excited, first CIMB. It's going to be a great one.

THE MODERATOR: And you played your first PGA TOUR event last week. Tell us about the experience.

GAVIN GREEN: It was a great experience. I played a practice round with Paul Casey and Lucas Glover the first time and then the second round I played with Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan. It was a great nine holes I played with them.

Just talked with them, getting used to the atmosphere and that was a more different thing compared to being back home in Malaysia. The crowd was huge. The whole hole was filled with people. First time for me, first time for me playing that event and it was a good experience overall. Playing with those people and being part of that, I feel like was a huge thing. It's a huge getting used to with the atmosphere.

THE MODERATOR: Helped you feel comfortable for this week?

GAVIN GREEN: Definitely helped me a little bit. I was nervous last week. I guess it's normal, first PGA TOUR event. I guess it was a great experience but definitely helped out for this week and in the future.

Q. What are the key things you learned?
GAVIN GREEN: It was kind of weird because it didn't look like they were doing anything special. Just kind of played their own game. Yeah, I played my own game but I was just, you know, overwhelmed with all the top players playing, Mickelson and all those guys.

I guess it's kind of normal. It's only my first year still. Second year I guess now. Getting used to all the atmosphere, the people, just the amount of people. I was lucky enough, I had Justin Rose's caddie on my bag, Fooch. He played a big role. We talked a lot. It was a fun week. Even though I missed the cut, I feel like experience played a huge part. And then Fooch kind of helped me kind of stay calm and kind of learn how to be a PGA TOUR pro. It's a lot different from here.

You know, it's not much but the line, it's a fine line, and just getting used to things, I think that was a huge part for me.

Q. You would be I think playing on the qualifiers for the Web.com. So when is that?
GAVIN GREEN: I got through first stage. Second stage is November 8-11. So I have two weeks at home, rest, work a little bit and I'll go back and play that, and then I'll finish a couple ADTs coming up.

Q. Tiger Woods was supposed to play Safeway.
GAVIN GREEN: Yeah, supposed to play.

Q. Crowds must have been quite excited.
GAVIN GREEN: Yeah, the practice rounds, it's getting quite big, and it was a practice round. On the range, we had people lined up, stands lining up. You don't see that here every day. And it's normal for them in and out.

And you know, it's a great experience, especially having Justin Rose's caddie on my bag. We talked a lot. We kind of know what the good and bad of my game was that week. He said nothing was wrong. It's just when you're nervous, you just can't control it. You've just got to use it. You've got to move on. You've got to, you've just got to play your own game.

Q. So where is your game at now?
GAVIN GREEN: I would say it's okay. I would say around B maybe. Before this, I was hitting it great. It was just that one event, and all the nerves and anxiety and just overwhelmed by things. I'm beginning to control that a little better and it's only going to help. It's not going to hurt me. It's all learning. Hopefully I have a couple decades playing this game and it's only going to help, so yeah.

Q. So this has been a big year, right. Going to Rio, playing in your first PGA event. How has this whole thing been?
GAVIN GREEN: It's been fun. Obviously I would like to make the cut last week but like I said, it's a huge learning curve I feel like. It's best to take it slow I feel like. You learn, move on, you learn, move on, instead of just jumping all the way.

I'm glad this week I got in, two qualifiers, and I'm able to just play my game and see what happens.

Q. How did you get Justin Rose's caddying for you?
GAVIN GREEN: My agency is with Justin Rose and Kuchar and Tiger and all those guys. Justin Rose was going to be off for like four, five, a couple weeks, and my agent said, do you want him. I was like, yeah. I mean, that was a no-brainer, because he's the guy that won an Olympic medal with Justin Rose and won the U.S. Open with Justin Rose, and I think they have got like 11 victories on the PGA TOUR and European Tour. It's just a great thing that I was fortunate enough to have him on the bag.

It's only going to help. He's actually here this week caddying for Paul Casey, so yeah, we are pretty good friends now.

Q. What are the things that the caddie helped you with?
GAVIN GREEN: It's funny, when things don't go right, he's actually very positive, and that's something that helps me calm down in a way and kind of helps me, kind of help me like don't worry about it, you've still got a lot of holes. Just move on, move on, and he was able to help me move on, which was great. We talked a little bit about Justin and all this stuff.

It was pretty cool. I mean, he's won a lot of times, won the U.S. Open, won Rio. He's won big events and it's good to learn from somebody who has been on his side for nine years. He's been caddying for Justin for nine years. It was just all experience I feel like that week.

I didn't play as well as I wanted to obviously but you know, it's going to be a huge learning curve moving forward.

Q. Who is on your bag this week?
GAVIN GREEN: My dad. He told me, "You get in CIMB, I want to caddie."

"Okay, I'll give you the bag."

It's great, having father, son, home course in, front of Malaysian crowd, can't be any better, yeah.

Q. I'm sure playing the PGA TOUR would be -- would you sacrifice playing --
GAVIN GREEN: It's going to be tough because I'm still in the mix of going to Web.com Q-School, and it's tough. It's not easy. There are a lot of good players and they are all trying to make it, also. So I've just got to keep my head down, keep practicing, keep working out and just keep doing the best I can every time I tee it up to play.

I'm obviously as fast as possible, but I'm not going to beat myself down that I didn't make it or whatever. I know it's a process. It's a long process. I just turned pro, and you know, like the way Justin is right now, I think it took him like 20 years or whatever it is, so it's a long time.

You know, I think a lot of it is experience, and if I can improve that and just keep getting more and trying to use it and trying to, just trying to make everything more simple, you know, don't be overwhelmed. Make things simple, makes things a lot easier.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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