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EMAAR-MGF INDIAN MASTERSFebruary 8, 2008Damien McGraneNEW DELHI, INDIA SCOTT CROCKETT: Thanks, as always, for coming in to join us. Another good day, a strong finish and a strong position in the tournament, give us your thoughts at being at this stage at the halfway point. DAMIEN McGRANE: Yeah, I backed up yesterday's round with a good round today. I played a lot of good shots and gave myself a lot of birdie chances. I seem to be birdieing the more difficult holes out there than the easier holes for some reason, but you know, yourself, you take the birdies any time you get them out there. But you know, the temperature was very cold out there today and it really was a lot more difficult than yesterday. So 3-under par is a good number and I'm happy enough with it today. SCOTT CROCKETT: Did it feel a bit like a cold, Irish morning? DAMIEN McGRANE: Absolutely. It's the same as being at home. I think we got lucky today with no fog early on, but it was cold and the ball was losing a little bit of distance. But the course is good out there, and if you hit a lot of good shots, you'll have birdie chances. SCOTT CROCKETT: Did you feel any more pressure this morning from obviously a great first round, did you feel pressure to push on from there? DAMIEN McGRANE: No. To be honest, I've been playing well lately so all I need to do is just keep doing the same thing and hit as many good shots as I can and the putter, I seemed to hole a few putts when I had birdie chances, so that's all I need to do. SCOTT CROCKETT: Let's go through the details. You bogeyed your second hole of the day, the 11th what did you do there? DAMIEN McGRANE: I hit a good second shot there, 6-iron, got a bit of a flyer out of the rough, landed at the flag and jumped over the green, poor chip, 2-putt. 14, the par 5, I actually laid up second shot there, and hit a sand iron to three feet. 3, the third hole, I hit a 7-iron second shot middle of the green to about 20 feet or a little more and holed a good putt there. Bogey at 4. I hit my tee shot into the right hand rough, hit a nice second shot but plugged in the face of the bunker and flashed out to 15 feet and 2-putt. SCOTT CROCKETT: And good recovery on the next. DAMIEN McGRANE: Yeah, I hit 6-iron on the par 3 to eight feet and holed a flippy left-to-righter there which was nice. On the next hole, I hit a 6-iron again to three feet which was a good, solid shot. SCOTT CROCKETT: Great finish on the last. DAMIEN McGRANE: Yeah, I hit a very good 3-wood down the middle of the fairway and an 8-iron to maybe ten, 12 feet and sneaked it in the side door. So that was a very pleasant way to finish. Q. Did you bring enough warm clothing with you? DAMIEN McGRANE: I've been playing the last four weeks so whatever is in the suitcase in, to be honest. I possibly have about four sweaters in the suitcase but as I say, I packed for four weeks, so I'm glad in this type of temperature, I wouldn't like to be roasting out there because generally the temperatures here are sky-high. Q. What's your schedule after playing four weeks in a row? DAMIEN McGRANE: I'm going to take two weeks off and then I'm going to play the next three. I tend to like playing golf out this side of the world. It makes me concentrate and focus, and I enjoyed the courses, I enjoy the culture, I enjoy meeting different people. So I think it brings the best out of my golf. Q. If you're playing well, is there a temptation to continue? DAMIEN McGRANE: No. I have a schedule and no matter what happens I'm going to stick to my schedule. I make up my mind what I'm trying to do, and after that, then hell, rain or snow, I'll stick to my schedule, regardless of the golf. The golf is really secondary to be honest. Q. Strategy for the next two rounds? DAMIEN McGRANE: I would like to try to do the same thing day-in and day-out. I found a formula around the course that seems to be giving me good numbers, so try to hit the same clubs off the same tee boxes and give myself as many birdie opportunities as possible. Q. Did you use your driver today? DAMIEN McGRANE: Possibly today I used it three times. Q. Thoughts on winning score? DAMIEN McGRANE: Well, depending on the weather, but you'd have to think 16-under would be there or thereabouts. If you play really well out there, you could shoot a really low number. You know if you've got the putter going. So I would have to think 16-, 17-under would be the winning total. Q. Have you felt your game improving over these past four weeks? DAMIEN McGRANE: No, to be honest, since Abu Dhabi, I played reasonably well in Abu Dhabi for my first tournament back after my winter break. I've been hitting a lot of good shots and I've been sneaking in a few birdie putts here and there. So to be honest, it's just a continuation of what I've been doing. Q. What did you do before these four weeks? DAMIEN McGRANE: I went to Australia before Christmas and I played the very same golf out there. I played nice and steady. You know, it's about making a lot of birdies every day, because you need to make five, six, birdies a day to be shooting in the 60s every day. So I've been making the birdies, so that helps. Q. Weren't you supposed to go travelling to the Antarctic but didn't go for some reason? DAMIEN McGRANE: Well, my ship got damaged the week of Christmas, and the day I was leaving Ireland, I got a phone call from the company to say the ship was damaged and because it was Christmas week it wasn't repairable and my trip was the first trip after Christmas, so my trip was cancelled. So I went on my booked flight to Chile, Santiago, and I ended up spending two weeks there, myself and my friend. We had a good holiday there but really we wanted to go south and see Antarctica and see something very different. Q. Did you do that because it was just a complete break from golf? DAMIEN McGRANE: I am into nature and I liked seeing some wild life and because I travel the world, I see a lot of things, I wanted to see something different, something I would enjoy. And getting away from golf, to be honest, once I go home, I get away from golf anyway. But it would have been something I wanted to do and I would like to do it in the future. Q. Did you go to the Galapagos Islands? DAMIEN McGRANE: Once our trip was cancelled, the company cancelled the charter and we would have had to get the ship down to the Arctic Circle. So once the trip was cancelled, I just took my original flights to Chile and basically stayed in Santiago for two weeks. So it was a little disappointment, but it was a bit of a misfit and because I'm used to traveling it was no big deal but I definitely do want to get down to the Arctic Circle and have a look. Q. Have you had any skirmishes with animals here? DAMIEN McGRANE: No, I saw a couple of mongoose which is nice to see. No, it's very different in India, it's great wildlife and looking at wildlife programmes on the TV with Tigers and all sorts. But it's great and it's nice to be here. It's nice to see some different wildlife wandering around this course. Q. How are the crowds out there with you? DAMIEN McGRANE: Once I realised I was on the leaderboard they tagged along and seemed to be excited whenever I made birdies. I was in a good threeball today, so there was a few birdies being made and the people seemed to enjoy it. Q. How to Indian crowds differ from Irish crowds? DAMIEN McGRANE: To me, well, there would be a lot more vocal I suppose the Irish people and being Irish they are going to support me as well, and maybe they are more knowledgeable about the sport. But the few people that were here this morning seemed to enjoy spectating and the scorers coming around with us seemed to enjoy it. But you know, it's all about the Indian players this week for the Indian spectators, and obviously they are hoping for one of their own to come through. Q. But you'd like to spoil their weekend though? DAMIEN McGRANE: If possible, yeah, if possible. SCOTT CROCKETT: You might not have got to the Antarctic but you got the temperatures this week anyway, good luck for the weekend. End of FastScripts |
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