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THE HONDA CLASSICMarch 5, 2009Robert AllenbyPALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA DAVE SENKO: Robert, thanks for joining us. 4-under 66 today. Birdie on your last hole, and it looks like right now you are our leader. Maybe just a quick kind of run down of your day, and we'll get some questions. ROBERT ALLENBY: I played very solid all day. Obviously tough conditions when it's blowing like this out of the north. I just sort of played within myself, you know, to allow two clubs more when it was into the wind and just tried not to force it. Just tried to feel my way around the golf course. Hit the ball very solid. Made some really nice putts. If I missed the green, most of the time I got up-and-down. And you know, yeah, I played solid. No real bad mistakes. The only bad one I could really point out would be the putt on 8 for par. That was purely just lack of concentration. I just wasn't focused on what I was doing, and I guess they are the ones that get away from you when you don't concentrate. I was very happy to hit a 6-iron at the last to six inches, and just tap it in and walk away. Yeah, I'm happy with 4-under. I think any time you shoot under par around this golf course, you're doing well. I think 4-under is a fantastic start. Puts me in great stead for the next three days. I'll be looking forward to getting out there tomorrow morning and hopefully the play will be a little quicker than what it was today, because it took a long time to play. DAVE SENKO: Obviously wind was a factor today, but how much during the round, did it diminish from the start to the finish? ROBERT ALLENBY: It blew all day. It never changed. The only thing it did toward the end was get cold. It cooled down so the ball was not traveling as far. You know, that's all right. We're good enough to adjust to that. It's just not an easy golf course. It really isn't. There's probably seven or eight holes that are really, really demanding. You must commit to your tee shot, and a couple of the par 3s, especially on the back nine, 15 and 17, probably two of the toughest par 3s that we play in golf. I was happy to walk away 1-under on those two holes. So, played them well. Q. Obviously this place has worked for you the last couple of years, you've been right there, but can that comfort level be overstated? Is it a real significant factor, do you think, because you have plenty of good feelings around here? ROBERT ALLENBY: I was pretty nervous out there today. I think more so because I knew I was going to have a lot of people come out and support me and a few friends, and it's only going to get more and more as the weekend comes in. But you know, I kind of used it I guess to my advantage, as well. I kind of felt comfortable after about three or four holes in there. It's just a matter of trying to make some good putts and hit some good shots and get settled. The quicker you can settle down, the quicker you can try and make some birdies. But just staying at home these weeks, is just nice and relaxing, and I think that's why I probably play so well here every year. But you do have to be a good ball-striker to play well here to win this tournament. So I know I've got that going for me. It's just a matter of rolling a few putts and staying calm, really. That's all I really need to focus on the next three days. Q. I would think for a guy like you that wind blowing might even be an advantage since you generally hit it on the clubface most of the time. ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, I manage to find the clubface most of the time. (Laughter). Yeah, I think it's an advantage. The harder it blows, the better for me. Then it's not a putting contest. You have to be a ball-striker to be up there. I know if -- even today, I putted great. Take the 8th hole out of the equation, I putted fantastic. And I've got a lot of good vibes going. I had good vibes coming into this week, and you know, I like this golf course a lot. I've played it a number of times even when the tournament is not on here. So, yeah, I mean, if I can do what I did with my partners last year in the Tico Torres charity golf day, shoot 23-under, I think we shot, that would be nice. It's just nice staying at home and a very relaxing atmosphere this week. Q. Are you in Jupiter? ROBERT ALLENBY: Admiral's Cove, just north of the Bear's Club. Q. Can you walk us through the 6th hole when you went shoeless and sockless and almost pantsless? ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, I hit into the right there. I was trying to hit it into the bunker and just let it drift back with a draw into the fairway and I just left it out to the right. The lie I had in the rough looked like it was going to jump out. So I had about a 5-iron yardage, and anyway, I took the 5-iron, thinking that I was trying to just punch it out, kind of low, and if it jumped, it would land just short of the green and bounce just on to the front edge where the flag was. You know, I never thought that I would be getting the ball up in the air with the lie I had. Well, this thing went straight up in the air, the wind took it and bounced to the left, landed and just rolled down into the hazard. It was sitting pretty, but just in a lot of gunk, just mud. I was going to take my pants off but I thought that Ian Baker-Finch, that seen had been shown so many times, and I know I've got better legs than him. (Laughter). I just rolled them up, took my shoes and socks off and got in there and sunk about a foot. I was like, oh, this is nice. Just opened up a sand iron and gave it a big hack at it and came at it absolutely perfect. Q. Play like an explosion shot? ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, I took the sand iron, because it had a bit of bounce on it, because I knew once it hit that ground, it was going to be soft. I couldn't have hit a better shot. There's no way I could have hit a better shot out of that mud. So I got pretty lucky there. You know, it was my first bogey for the day, and this golf course, you're going to make bogeys. So it's like, well, why make anything of it. So I was happy to make bogey instead of double. So I was happy to give myself a chance to make a par, as well. You know, there's some tough holes out there, and No. 6 is probably one of the toughest ones out there. Q. If this was not one of the drier winters on record, would you even have had a chance to hit that shot? ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, if it was wet, then the ball probably wouldn't have bounced in there. Because it's dry, it bounced into the hazard, and if had been soft, it wouldn't have got within five or ten feet of the hazard. So it works both ways, really, when you look at it like that. But the water level is down, a lot, here. It's everywhere. I think all of Florida is the same. Q. Were you kidding about Snedeker? ROBERT ALLENBY: I've seen him take his clothes off quite a few times. Starting to worry about him for a little while. Q. Veterans like you don't think about winning a tournament when you're leading on Thursday, but in light of what you talked about the other day and how much you want to win a tournament, what would a win mean for you this week? ROBERT ALLENBY: It would mean a lot. It would definitely mean a great deal to me after losing my mom a month ago, and knowing that my dad is coming over in three weeks. But you know what, I've been in this position whether I'm sitting here on Saturday night leading the tournament or close to the lead, whatever. I've forced it and I've now just sort of said to myself, you know what, it is what it is, and you know, the more patient I am, the closer I'll get to winning. It may not be this week. But I feel like I'm getting closer. I'm definitely more patient and I'm in no hurry, that's for sure. I think when you're in that state of mind, it will probably come a lot quicker anyway. But I can only do what I do, and if it's good enough, it's good enough, and if it's not, I'll just keep trying and just keep plugging away. I'm doing all the right things, and I've worked on certain parts of my game to make them better in the off-season, and it's getting there. Q. Is it any harder when you have a day like today where you're standing around thinking, you know, you just have so much time where you're not playing? ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, it was very slow out there. Obviously the conditions were tough. Yeah, I try to focus away from any sort of thoughts of my mom or anything like that. So it was good that I had some really close friends out there, and I was able to have a little chat with them. So I've got a lot of support this week, so it definitely makes it a lot easier. Last week was a pretty tough week for me, just being out there by myself at the match play. So I was pretty happy to get out of there and come back home. You know, it will be like that for a little while, and it's just a matter of, it is what it is, and your mom's your mom. Q. I know this is a sensitive issue for you, I read a story about when you were playing down under and your mom was on the golf course and you had I guess a hard time keeping your composure there for a while. It must have been an amazing experience for you, nice to have her there and get to see you play one more time, but I guess it must have been awful hard for you to take a club back and hit a ball in a forward direction. ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, it was tough. I knew that it would be the last tournament and last shot that really she would ever see me hit. I stood up on the tee on 15, the par 3, and I just glanced over and I could see the golf course coming, because I knew she was coming around the 15th, 16th tee. I just sort of glanced over and I could see her coming down with my brother-in-law driving the golf cart, and I sort of just lost it. Q. What did you make on that hole? ROBERT ALLENBY: I made a double. But eventually once I got out of the bunker, it took me three goes to get out of the bunker. I hit my tee shot on this par 3 in the bunker, and then it went out and went into another bunker, and then I left it in the bunker, and then I got it out. And it was probably the easiest bunker shot that I'd ever have in my life. I had three shots; under the circumstances, probably the toughest. Q. Did she say something to you at any point along the way during all this? ROBERT ALLENBY: Once I got it out, she was away from a distance. Once I got it out and I got it to about 25 feet out, it was a terrible shot, but I nearly picked it up and threw it out, because I didn't think I was going to get out of the bunker at one stage. Obviously I had tears in my eyes and stuff, and just had so many thoughts going through my head, and losing my composure very, very quickly. I made the putt, I don't know how, but it sat on the lip; I hit it and I couldn't even see the line. I didn't even read the line. I hit it and was just sort of looking down. The ball was sitting there and I could hear the crowd, "Go in, go in." I look up and it's still sitting there, and I start walking towards it, and it just fell in. I guess it was meant to be. I hit great shots on the last three holes. I had three chances for birdie on last three holes, but the putts didn't go in. As it was, I needed two birdies to get back to the lead, and I didn't make the putts. My mom was there, and I walked off on the 16th tee, and she just said: Look, it doesn't matter. There's more important things in life than winning tournaments. Q. Did you see three guys or three tries? ROBERT ALLENBY: Three goes. Q. How old was your mom? ROBERT ALLENBY: 71. Q. When we came in today, Erik Compton, he started with a triple on the second hole and had gotten it back to 1-under; obviously in a pretty good spot given the conditions today. How much do the guys on TOUR follow what he's been through and his whole story? ROBERT ALLENBY: It wasn't long ago that a piece was on him. I knew that some things -- pretty much what had happened, and then I sat down and watched it when it was on. It's incredible that he's here, first of all. And then he's competing as well as he is competing. My hat's off to him. He's doing fantastic, and I think it's wonderful that the tournament gave him an invite to play this week. I think it's very nice of the Honda Classic to give him a sponsor's invite. I don't really know him, but he seems like a really nice guy, and you can only wish him well, because of what he's had to go through to get to where he is right now. I mean, no one has fought for their life really on this TOUR as much as he has. Q. You say your dad was coming over soon? ROBERT ALLENBY: Three weeks. Bay Hill. Q. What's your dad's name? ROBERT ALLENBY: Don. DAVE SENKO: Thank you, Robert. End of FastScripts |
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