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PORTUGAL MASTERSOctober 12, 2011Richard GreenVILAMOURA, PORTUGAL Q. Talk about coming back as defending champion? RICHARD GREEN: It's a pretty nice feeling to be honest. It's brought back some nice memories, and I guess to be honest, I never really had a chance to celebrate this win last year. You know, went on to Valencia the week after and Valderrama the week after that, and played those few tournaments, went back in the swing of playing golf again and I've never really celebrated it as much as I would have liked. But it's nice to come back here and feel the memories and all of the feelings that happened in that final round and then afterwards and how it all panned out. It was nice to sort of experience all of that again I guess. Q. How it all panned out, was that a little bit surprising in a sense? RICHARD GREEN: It was. You know, the tournaments that I had won previously to this, I had to seriously play some -- I played some amazing golf to win here obviously. But you know, tournaments I won previously, I had to win them in playoffs and it's been a lot more difficult, because I guess when I finished here, I posted a score as good as I could, and it was up to other people to sort of decide whether I won or not. And in some respects, I felt a bit out of control but in other ways, it felt a lot nicer to be told you won at the end. It was good. Q. A pretty long week. RICHARD GREEN: It was. It was nice to know that I applied enough pressure to make the win. Q. How has your year been in the meantime? RICHARD GREEN: It's been okay. Coming up to this stage this year, I was in no better position last year. Whether I have that finish or not this year, I don't know, I'm going to be working towards it, so it's been okay. I had a good week in Ireland and good week at the British Open this year and played some nice golf at The French Open. So my game's been okay. It's come good at the right times, and hopefully just going to try to get it across the line. Ireland would have been great but beat by a better player on the day unfortunately. Q. You used to be renowned for the consistency and at the moment, it's not quite like that. There are one or two highlights and then we don't see you for awhile. RICHARD GREEN: Had a break recently and spent a bit of time at home with my daughter in Australia, which I needed to do. Yeah, I guess I've gone from, probably been playing some steady golf and Top-10 finishes and stuff like that over the course of maybe 2007 through 2010 or something like, that a lot of Top-10s, and then no real -- I guess I won in Austria in 2008. But yeah, if a win comes along and I don't play well the week after, I'll take it still. Obviously trying to work on playing consistent golf and that sort of thing, and you know you've got to take what you can get I guess. Q. And you're fit, refreshed, batteries recharged after six weeks out? RICHARD GREEN: Yeah, definitely mentally ready to go and wanting to play. It's nice. My body is probably a little bit stiff and not quite there, but it sort of comes through playing tournaments. I think it's a different physical sharpness to you play tournaments, you get good at playing tournaments. If you don't play tournaments, you don't get good at playing tournaments, do you. You can practise all you like and you become a very good practiser. But playing tournaments and being tournament sharp is a different thing. So I'm hoping to sort of build that up to a competitive level over the next couple of weeks and be ready to play at Valderrama and also onto Dubai. Q. You've practised in the Pro-Am, how is it out there? RICHARD GREEN: It's in great condition. A lot better condition than last year. The greens are fantastic this year and the weather is nice. It's nice to have sun on your back. It's my type of golf. Q. How did you play today? RICHARD GREEN: Okay. I reckon I shot 1-under par for the day. It was all right. Nothing too stressful. Just enjoy the day with the playing partners and get into the serious stuff tomorrow. Q. And of course we never have a conversation these days without talking cars. So you've been racing again? RICHARD GREEN: A bit of practise at home and a bit of fun. It's the sort of thing I want to get better at over the next few years. I've got to practise to get better at it. So any chance I get to get out, I'll do that. Q. Remind us of the motor, how fast it goes and how well you did in these races? RICHARD GREEN: It's hard to say. I think where I was on the last day that I went out, the fastest probably part of the track is probably 270K an hour I suppose, and the car is quite capable of -- that's top speed in that part of the track. Yeah, I went all right. I went better the time before I went there. So that's what it's all about. Q. And you're still just as calm and assured when you're at the seat and wheel of a car as you are on the golf track? RICHARD GREEN: I think I'm a little more nervous I think behind the wheel of a car than I am on the golf course, but you know, that's a different -- it's a concentration thing that I like to practise, as well. It's forced focus. If you don't focus, you'll have an accident; whereas out here, you're either in or out of focus. You concentrate while you're hitting the golf shot and then you can talk and then you go back to focus. I like to practise and be forced to focus. It's certainly a good test. Q. And if you don't focus here, you can have a big accident as well? RICHARD GREEN: Yeah, you can. There's lots of trouble around, and if you don't have your wits about you and play accordingly away from the dangers, you make a mistake and cost yourself a good result. I guess the other flipside of the coin on the racetrack, it's a bit more life-threatening. Q. The accident here is just a bad number. There it could be hospital? RICHARD GREEN: Exactly. But I love the challenge of it and both the level of concentration required to win a golf tournament, as opposed to also the level of concentration to try and race well, it's pretty awesome to test yourself under those circumstances. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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