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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 23, 2010

Martin Kaymer

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

MARK WILLIAMS: I'd like to welcome Martin Kaymer into the interview room at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Thank you for joining us. Last week in the match play, second-round defeat to Tim Clark who is from Phoenix. You're here for the second tournament on the PGA TOUR, but you've played and made a great start in Europe with a victory and another top 5 in Dubai. So just talk about what you're looking forward to here this week and the state of your game. It's obviously pretty good.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, what you said, I had a good start, and in Abu Dhabi where I had my first victory already two years ago and played well in Dubai, as well, finished top 5 there.
I unfortunately lost to Tim Clark last week, but it's one of those weeks, match play, you can lose against everybody. And if the other guy makes a couple more birdies, then that's just how it is. It doesn't really matter if you're 5, 1, or No. 64 in the world; everything can happen.
I'm looking really forward to the week, especially on the back 9 obviously, last three or four holes, seen a lot of footage already about 16 and 17. Especially today when we went there, it was very special feeling to stand on the 16th tee box. I'm really looking forward to the week, play well, trying to enjoy it and have some fun.
MARK WILLIAMS: Your first look at the golf course today, this week, what's your impression of it?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I've played it a few times already, because I'm living here in Scottsdale.
MARK WILLIAMS: This week I mean.
MARTIN KAYMER: It looks good. I think the fairways are looking good. The rough is not so thick. I was expecting a little thicker rough, little more difficult. But I think you can make it difficult with tough pin positions. You can set up the golf course very difficult, and I think that's what they're going to do on Saturday and Sunday.
MARK WILLIAMS: Questions for Martin?

Q. Golfers and tennis players, as yourself, literally play one side of the world to the other, and you were just in the Middle East. You're living here. Do you sort of feel like you're caught between two cultures or two worlds, or is it just a golfing world or a tennis world and everybody's the same inside?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I think -- yeah, what you said, when you're traveling a lot, I think in my age it's great to make that experience and to see the different cultures, play different golf course every week. At the beginning of my career I'm trying to play as many different golf courses as possible to learn more about my game, to learn more different kind of golf shots. Because it makes a difference if you play in Scotland and then the next week somewhere in America. You need different kind of golf shots.
I think at the beginning of a career, it makes sense to play different kind of golf courses, to learn more golf shots, to have more options on the golf course.
Right now I'm really enjoying the traveling. I played a lot of tournaments in Europe, obviously a few in America. Of course you get a little bit tired from the traveling, time changes. When I came from Abu Dhabi, came back here, it was 11 hours' time change and it took me almost a week to get back into, to get normal sleep. I'm still young and I think I can handle it.

Q. Do you feel -- I was talking to Michael Sim. He misses the food in Australia. Do you miss the food at home? Do you miss your family? That type of thing. Golf courses are golf courses, 18 holes and you go out and you tee off, but do you feel sometimes like "Where am I"?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, sometimes you wake up in the hotel room, it takes you -- honestly now, it takes you a minute to realize where you are. But at that stage, you know that you've play too much golf, too many tournaments in a row. It's true.
When you're playing too many tournaments in a row you wake up the next morning and think, what is this? Okay. It takes you a while. You realize you're in America or in China or wherever.
But, yeah, of course you can't travel with your family all the time. You can't travel -- or you're traveling by yourself pretty much, but this is part of our job. And we have phones, we have e-mails, so that works.

Q. Maybe this is a stereotype, but there haven't been many German golfers. Jack Nicklaus has German ancestry, and Bernhard Langer is a great player. They're both very methodical. That's always the stereotype with Germans. Does it apply to you? Is there something in the culture as you've grown up that makes you that way? Do you feel that way compared to your peers, very careful, methodical, and organized?
MARTIN KAYMER: I think a very German thing is that you're very organized, what you said. I think in the world of golf, it definitely helps. And I think Bernhard Langer, he was always one of our heroes in Germany.
He was one -- he's still the best golfer that we have in Germany with the success that he had, and then I always try to be as calm as he was on the golf course, because when you're calm on the golf course, I think it can help you in many different ways.
But here in America I'm a little bit more often American now, and I think this week is going to be a little bit different as well.

Q. You wouldn't see this in Germany?
MARTIN KAYMER: No, that wouldn't happen in Germany or anywhere in Europe.

Q. How close do you actually live to the TPC Scottsdale?
MARTIN KAYMER: You want to visit me tonight? I invite you for barbecue.

Q. Dinner?
MARTIN KAYMER: No, just 15 minutes down the road, Scottsdale Road.

Q. Is it more fun being able to stay at home?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I mean, it's actually -- we should really -- I should really appreciate that, use that possibility to stay at my own place, sleep in my own bed, know where to go for breakfast, know where to go for dinner, maybe cook my own dinner one day. It will work out, I hope.
Yeah, it's nice. Just stay at home. Obviously we don't have the possibility every week, but I think you have to see it as a nice week. I just really try to enjoy this week. It's not one of the most important weeks in the year, it's not a huge -- it's not like a Major or anything, but for me, playing kind of in front of my friends here, amazing spectators, of course I want to do well and just want to enjoy the week.

Q. European golfers basically end up or Australian or non- Americans either end up in Arizona or Florida. How did you happen to come here instead of Florida?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, some friends of mine, they've lived here since over 20 years, and four years ago I was -- I asked them if I can come over for practice in the wintertime, because in Germany obviously it was too cold.
They said, Yeah, come over and practice for a couple of weeks. And I liked it straightaway. I like the mountains a little bit more than the beach, so this is obviously -- Florida they have the beach there. Here are more mountains. And I think the climate is a little bit better. I feel the dry heat is a little bit better for me, I think, if you think about the health, as well. So I really enjoy my time here, and it's a beautiful spot.

Q. Is that when you first started riding the Go-Karts when you came to see your friends here?
MARTIN KAYMER: No.

Q. You had started riding them back in Germany?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I was in a Go-Kart club when I was young in Germany. I started in Germany. And here I just -- the first time I was on the Go-Kart track was probably a year ago, and the second time I went there, I had that accident.

Q. What communication have you had with Langer? Is he a mentor? Do you ever talk to him?
MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, I just see him twice a week at the Masters and in Germany at the BMW Open. Obviously he's sending me some e-mails when I win and text messages, but besides that, not a lot.

Q. Would you welcome his advice or...
MARTIN KAYMER: He offered if I have any questions or anything I want to talk about, he's always there and I can call him. But so far, the people I have around me, they help me out a lot, anything what I have to do. Obviously my family, my manager, Fanny Sunesson, my coach in Germany, so so far, I didn't call him.
MARK WILLIAMS: You're No. 8 in the world currently and there seems to be a handful of Europeans up there in the top group of the world rankings. Do you see that happening more? I mean, is there a competition amongst -- do you talk amongst yourselves and say, Hey, I see you moved in the world rankings? Do you guys notice that?
MARTIN KAYMER: Of course. I think the field last week, there were a lot of Europeans in that field, and you can see that Europe is getting stronger. They are supporting the teenager a little bit to get more into golf, and I think if everybody keeps playing like this, we gonna have a real young Ryder Cup team this year, and I think this is great, you know.
Everybody is hungry, want to get the title back, and really, they are really motivated and fired up, so I think it's awesome. It's a lot of fun to play in Europe. It's always great competition.
Everybody was saying, You have to go to America to get the best competition. It is still tough to win here, of course. But Europe is getting better and stronger, and that is big proof when you have a look at the world rankings how good the European players became.

Q. What's the best part of your game, would you say?
MARTIN KAYMER: It used to be my driving, but I mean, it's still okay, but last year I won the putting statistics in Europe, so I would say or I have to say my putting now.

Q. Either one is good. If you were going to pick two, those would be it.
MARTIN KAYMER: Still here, I think when you come to America, there is still a big difference between the European and the American players. I mean, you could see that in 2008 at the Ryder Cup how good the Americans were putting and chipping.
It was nice, you know, when I was at the Ryder Cup when I was there and they finally invited me and I could see all this. Then I realize I have to get better in short game. I spent a lot of time here in Arizona to improve my short game, and it was great for me to see myself up there last year in the putting statistics.

Q. Why do you think the Americans, by your perception, have a better short game in general than the Europeans?
MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, it's difficult to say, but I guess they always have perfect conditions, you know. We don't have those kind of greens in Europe where we can practice on them. We have that during the tournament week, but when we have off weeks, we don't have great conditions. We have good conditions, but not like here. So that's why I was picking Arizona for my, you know, kind of my second home to practice, to get better.

Q. You can just try more shots and do more things with the clubs?
MARTIN KAYMER: You get better feedback. When you read the putt, you hit a good putt, and you think it must be in.
Sometimes in my home club in Germany, like a five-, six-footer, I will miss it by a cup when I thought it was a good putt. It's kind of bad feedback. Here, if you read it well and putt it well, it's in the cup.

Q. Is it the preparation, the greens? I mean, the fact that, you know, you hear guys say, This is a great green, and everything I hit, or other greens -- I mean, is that why? Because they just don't prepare the greens correctly at your home club?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, we don't have those -- you know, we have snow in the winter.

Q. Yeah, right.
MARTIN KAYMER: We have frost pretty much four months. So I think it's almost impossible to have those conditions. No wonder why a lot of Europeans use the possibilities to go to the American colleges, to become better and to enjoy the support from American colleges.
MARK WILLIAMS: Appreciate your time, and good luck this week. Thanks for coming in.

End of FastScripts

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