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EMAAR-MGF INDIAN MASTERS

February 6, 2008

Shiv Kapur

NEW DELHI, INDIA

SHENTON GOMEZ: Firstly, thanks, Shiv, for taking time off to attend this press conference. You must be glad to be competing on home soil again.
SHIV KAPUR: Yeah, it's nice. I had to skip the Indian Open last year because I was trying to get my playing rights in Europe and I love playing in Delhi Golf Club. I've obviously grown up here. It's home for me, and any time I get a chance to play against the best players in the world on my home track, it's really exciting.
SHENTON GOMEZ: You are the course record-holder with 10-under par last year; you must be feeling pretty at home and relaxed.
SHIV KAPUR: If I can get anywhere near that, I'll be pretty happy. With all of the changes they have made to the course, I think the course record is intact. So I'm glad they made those changes so I can have that title for a while.
No, the course is playing good, in good condition; in spite of all the weather and all of the stuff we heard about how bad it's going to be. It's a bit of a pleasant surprise. The greens are rolling well and we are getting good lies on the fairways, so can't really complain about course conditions.
So it's always nice to have played well before on a course you've played well and coming in with confidence. And it's a track I've played before, all my life. And I know if I get off to a bad start, I know there's birdies to be made out there if I get off to a good start I still know how to hold it together. That's always a plus.
SHENTON GOMEZ: How different is the course playing this time around, and what is the key for a low round, do you think?
SHIV KAPUR: Well, the keys on this golf course are always the same. You have to be a pretty straight driver of the ball. Guys have to know how to back off and just discipline yourself to hit lots of fairways. I think that's the key. It's a very penal golf course off the tee, but once you do that part right, I think you've done the hard work.
I think with the sort of inclement weather, cold weather and bit of rain forecast and all that, that's not usual for Delhi, that's the only thing, but the golf course by itself, basically you've just got to keep it pretty straight off the tee.

Q. (Chances for an Indian to win this week)?
SHIV KAPUR: I think it's very strong. We've all seen how Joyti plays on this golf course, if I was a betting man I would bet on Joyti. And Jeev has found some form, and Joyti's got probably the best record at Delhi Golf Club of anybody, and obviously the list goes on. So I really won't be surprised if there's an Indian winner. A lot of the Indians are playing well and in good form.
The advantage we have over here is we play for 12 months of the year, and nobody has really had much of an off-season and everybody is in the swing of things. For a lot of the European guys, they are coming out of the off-season and this is one of first few events they are trying to get into form. So from the Indian and Asian point of view, we have a bit of an advantage there.

Q. (How is your game right now after last week)?
SHIV KAPUR: I'm feeling pretty good about my game. I found some form over the last couple of weeks. I played quite good for probably 90 per cent of the tournament last week in Dubai. I'm happy with the way I'm swinging.
You know, usually you need to come into a course like this with a bit of confidence. If you're spraying it off the tee, it's not usually a fun course to play, but I'm feeling pretty good about my game.

Q. (Good Chance this week, any home-course advantage)?
SHIV KAPUR: Well, I said this earlier, as well, if I like my chances to beat Ernie Els, it's probably here on my home course and not anywhere else. So if I've got a chance of beating the best players in the world, I'd like to do on a course I've played a thousand times.
So obviously there's a bit of home advantage there, but at the same time comes a bit of added expectation and pressure. But it's a good pressure and positive pressure that you're playing in front of people you want to do well and for all of the members of the clubs, all their friends and everybody who is around but at the same time.
I know every sort of blade of grass on this golf course. I think as long as I keep my head on my shoulders and just concentrate on what I need to do, I should be all right.

Q. (One of the big events of the year)?
SHIV KAPUR: It's one of the big ones. It's obviously nice when it's at home. I'll probably be able to answer that better once the week starts. But you know, you never know. There's always expectations. I won't say it's the biggest week but it's probably one of the important weeks.

Q. (Like a major)?
SHIV KAPUR: British Open would be more pressure or something I think.

Q. How is your form at the moment, you had said it needed a bit of work?
SHIV KAPUR: Well, I worked quite a bit in the off-season on my game. When we spoke, I think that was Singapore you are referring to, I was playing pretty good. I was driving the ball pretty straight at that point. My short game was sort of see-sawing and I was having good and bad day with the putter.
But I worked pretty hard with my short game during the season and that's held me in good stead over the last couple of weeks. My putter seems to be working; hopefully it stays that way, but that's really the area that I've been paying a lot of attention to.

Q. Are you happy with the changes to the golf course?
SHIV KAPUR: No, I don't, actually. I approve of a couple of the changes, but some of the bunkers that have been put in, I'm not really excited about. I think the main character and the main hazard on the golf course is the bushes. And when you put bunkers like that in, you take the driver and the 3-wood out of a lot of the holes, especially the sixth hole for one where you have a couple of bunkers added which I don't think was required. That's one.
14, they have gone back to a par 5 so I think that's a smart decision. You don't really want to have a par 4 where you could potentially be coming into a green that's ten feet wide.
The 8th hole, again that bunker takes the driver out of play. I think if you encourage people to hit a driver on this golf course, you're going to see more birdies and doubles and triples, as well. You want to see that risk/reward and I think they have taken a bit of that risk/reward out by adding these bunkers.
If I was to set up the golf course, I would shave the rough completely, have it hard and fast so the ball runs into the bushes and take out these bunkers and let people have a rip with their driver, and then you'll see some big numbers, as well.

Q. No. 1?
SHIV KAPUR: Yeah, one, as well, correct. I think all they have done is move the tee back so it doesn't really change the width of the fairway.
I think if you are going to put a back-right pin position, you need to have the tee up on No. 10 because otherwise it's an inaccessible hole. You can't come into with a 5-iron and try to stop it at that flag. This is not a U.S. Open-style golf course, so you can't do that.
No. 1, slipped my mind, that bunker is pretty much in the No. 1 position where you want to hit it off the tee. You never put bunkers in a place where you want the ball to end up. If you hit a bad shot, you should end up in a bunker, or if it's bad planning. On a par 5 to have a bunker at 280 yards off the tee, I just don't see the sense in that.
18th I agree with, because 18 becomes a very wide driving area. You want to encourage people to go down the right side, because if you leak it slightly right, you'll go in the bush. That bunker makes sense because it makes you strategize a bit. And it is the last hole of the tournament, you want a bit of excitement. Whether it be the first or sixth or even eighth hole, I just don't see the point of putting bunkers there.

Q. (One of your favourite courses)?
SHIV KAPUR: Across the world, this is one of my favourites, several reasons, this is home for my and the golf course I've grown up here. It's the kind of golf course you can play every day and not get bored of.
A lot of courses you play -- the character of this course with the trees, you seem to be hitting a different shot and different lie every day, which you don't get on the new courses. So this is one of my favourite courses the world over.

Q. (Cricket interfering with the golf this week)?
SHIV KAPUR: It is, always, I have to wake up early to watch the first innings and then get here. So it got in the way yesterday. I didn't get to the course until 12 o'clock.

Q. (Disappointed with your finish last week)?
SHIV KAPUR: Yes, I was quite disappointed. You know, all of Sunday and Monday it took me to get over it, but something you've got to putt behind you.
I think the positive I've taken out of the week is that I played 95 percent of the tournament really well. I had one bad hole which is on the 13th and wasn't really a bad hole. I think it was a bad decision I made and something I learned from. I tried to go from the green from out of the rough and probably should have held back instead of going for it at that stage.
In hindsight, just say that's experience and next time around I'll know better and lay up and try to make a birdie with a wedge. Barring that, I think I took a lot of positives out of last week.

Q. Goals for this year?
SHIV KAPUR: Yeah, I obviously want to qualify for the tour championship in Europe. That was one of my goals last year but unfortunately the injury sort of held me back.
Winning is always a goal of mine. You can finish 10th or fifth on the Order of Merit, but if you don't win an event, there's always that regret. So winning is one of my goals. The next goal before the BMW PGA Championship, I want to try to get in the top hundred in the world.

Q. Do you think this event will have an effect here?
SHIV KAPUR: Well, I think only if it's backed up. If it's going to be a one-off event, I don't think it's going to do a whole lot, it's going to be just like it came and went. But if they committed to a long-term plan of holding this event three years or five years, I think it's going to do a lot for the juniors.
When I grow up, I was watching the Indian Masters and Indian Open, it was, oh, what a cool thing this is to do, and the same thing here. When they see us playing with Ernie and you know, Darren Clarke and all of the other top names that are here, they will say, wow, this is a really cool profession, I want to be able to do this. You get to be on TV, thousands of people come to watch you, you're playing with the best players in the world. So a lot of the juniors will want to take this up as a career because they can see it in their own backyard this is what there is -- if you do well, this is what the sort of goal is or you get to play.
But if it happens once, it's not really going to have such an impact. It needs to be a sustained sort of commitment to this tournament.
SHENTON GOMEZ: Thank you, Shiv, and good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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