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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK HOSPITALS CLASSICOctober 18, 2011Bobby GatesLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA DOUG MILNE: Like to welcome Bobby Gates. Bobby, you're No. 124 on the Money List; you're a rookie. Tell us about your thoughts coming into this week. Obviously we know your goal is to stay inside the 125. Just kind of talk to us about your thoughts coming into the week. BOBBY GATES: My thoughts are just have fun. All the last four weeks it's just been so chaotic. Everyone wants to make a bigger deal out of things than they are. We were watching the Golf Channel one night and they said, Oh, you know, if he does this and if he does that. I said, Well, we've only played one round of golf. These guys want to make it a big deal. And it is a big deal and it's your job, but it's such a fluid situation. You know, one guys makes a birdie on the back nine on Thursday, and everyone wants to make it into the -- that that's the end all be all. It's not. If it comes down to the last three holes Sunday, then, yeah, it's pretty important. For now, it's just have fun, make birdies, and what's going to be is going to be. You can't worry about what everyone else is doing. So for me, in the last four or five weeks it's just relax, play golf as usual, and let it happen. The chips are going to fall where they may, and I can only control what I do. Growing up in Gainesville, coming down here and playing a lot here, it's kind of a fun homecoming week just playing the same courses you've always played. They haven't changed. They might've added ten yards to one or two holes... But it's a nice way to come home, play golf, and relax. Got to feel pretty good about playing somewhere like this. Q. Do you have good memory from playing here? Any tournaments or anything? BOBBY GATES: Yeah, AJGA had the Polo All-American tournament here, and the first year I played in it I made it to the semifinals. Yeah, we played 36 holes of stroke play; I was in playoff and made the top 64 via a playoff into match play, and then lost in the semifinals to Niklas Lemke. You know, it was a good field and I played well. I think I've probably been around it 15 or 20 times on these courses. So, you know, it's one of the few weeks I feel comfortable knowing I've played as many rounds as most of the veterans out here. Q. So you don't feel like a rookie? BOBBY GATES: I don't feel like a rookie this week. I know not to stay on site. I know where to sleep and eat and how to get around. So it feels good. Q. How old were you? BOBBY GATES: I was probably 17 or 18, so that was 7, 6 or 7 years ago. Q. You going to have any homies coming down to watch or support or cheer you on? You still got family up there, I take it, right? BOBBY GATES: Yeah, the whole family is up there. This is kind of a most serious week for me. If things are going well this weekend we'll have 'em down. But for right now, it's kind of business as usual. Trying to do my own thing. I don't want to be out of my routine. Sometimes when you're at home people want to come and watch and do dinner, and it's just hard. Especially when you're a 7:50 tee time on Thursday. You need to be in bed by 8:30 and you need get up and your thing and not worry about who's coming, leaving tickets, doing this, doing that. Q. Did you notice your pairing the first two days? BOBBY GATES: I did. I'm with James Driscoll. Q. Do you know your status relative to his on the Money List? You're 124 and 125. I'm guessing it wasn't accident that they paired you. BOBBY GATES: Like I said, I'm just having fun. The Tour loves doing stuff like that. I think they have kind of a twisted irony in them. But I don't know. Like I said, I know James is a great guy. It's tough, but it's our jobs and we're competing against each other. I'm sure we'll have fun and we'll just enjoy it. The first two days here it's going to be make as many birdies as you can and see what happens on the weekend. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY GATES: Absolutely. I mean, we're at a spot now where we're just kind of playing and having fun and whatever happens, happens. I don't think getting tense or trying to hold on or anything is going to do any good. You're just going to do more harm than good. So for us, I'm sure we'll be -- first off we'll have great greens, as good as it gets on Thursday. And then Friday we'll have some good greens in the afternoon, which is good. I'm glad we're playing the afternoon wave of Magnolia, because in the morning, especially on Thursday, if it's wet, it can play long. So I think it's good. We've got a good tee time, good grouping, and a great draw. So it should be good. Q. And it's not a zero sum game either. In other words, if you play well it doesn't knock him out and if he plays well it doesn't knock you out. BOBBY GATES: No. You know, it's not match play. Hopefully if we play well we can feed off each other. If one of us is having a rough go, the other one can just kind of just keep doing their thing and doesn't influence them. Like I said, it's so fluid. We could both play great, and, you know, five or six guys finish top 5 and knock us out; or we could both play poorly and somehow miraculously not get knocked out. So it's just one of those deals that until Monday morning or Sunday night you don't really know. You just do the best you can and deal with it when you get there. Q. Will this be four in a row? You played all the Fall Series? BOBBY GATES: Yeah, I did, and I played pretty well. I played well in Vegas and I had a bad final round, and played solid at CordeValle and just didn't make a whole lot putts. Last week I played good I just didn't score well. I know my game is there. I've been saving 'em all for this week, so hopefully they fall in. Q. (Question regarding FedExCup.) BOBBY GATES: Um, I actually did not make the FedExCup. I've really played well this year. The events I played well were the opposite field events, so that really hurts you in the FedExCup. To make a lot of money and look at your Money List ranking and see, Wow, I'm top 150 on the Money List, but I am 152 in FedExCup points. You know, every year there is people like that, and vice versa. I think William McGirt was the opposite. I think us being best friends out here, we know and we kind of say, Man, that's too bad. But, hey, he made a great run. It's just part of the game. It's a nice thing to get in, the FedExCup, because those are great events and it's a championship we all want to win, but it kind of just proves that you got to play well at the right time out here. Q. I am trying to remember, but you weren't in any bubble situation on the Nationwide last year as far as the 25. BOBBY GATES: No. I won the first event in New Zealand and finished third, so I was 15, 16 pretty much towards the end of the year. So I wasn't in that drama, thank goodness. But, yeah, being my first year on the Nationwide last year I had a lot fun. I think that helped me this year to be able to just play golf and realize that -- you know, just like the Nationwide, everyone makes a big deal out of who is 24, 25, and 26. For those guys it is a big deal. Now I'm one of 'em and I get to do my best at kind of blocking it out and focusing on golf. Q. I know you have your own work here, but will you pay much attention to Luke Donald and Webb Simpson's battle for the money title and how that might effect you in the Player of the Year race? BOBBY GATES: Webb has had a remarkable year. I played a lot golf growing up with Webb, and I would love to see Webb win that title. I know what it means to him as a player. I know what that means to all of us as competitors. And not to take anything away from what Luke's done this year because he's had a remarkable year, too, but I would personally like to see Webb win. But, you know, if Luke goes out and dominates this week, which he very well may, then he deserves it. It has been an interesting battle to watch, especially last weekend with all the drama at Sea Island. That was pretty interesting knowing what's on the line. Webb knows that he had to play well to catch Luke, and he did, so... Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY GATES: No. I wouldn't say that it's the end all be all of who won more money, who did this, who did that. At the end of the year, we'll kind of look at and go Webb, what did he win three times? Or almost -- two times? Won twice and lost in two playoffs. So that's pretty good. He beat some tough fields. Everyone was gunning for him at the Sedgefield because it's the final event before the playoffs. So that was a good field. He's played really well all year. The only thing that I think favors him here is that I think Luke played a little more of an international schedule, so I don't think he got as much publicity for what he did. He kind of did it in fewer starts, I think. But he had a great year as well. Q. How do you define best? They're going to mail you a ballot and it will have three, maybe four names on it. All these guys that have won twice this year. You've got Bradley won a major. Some guys would say majors are worth X wins. Is it top 10? Is it stroke average? They're not going to tell you how to vote. You're going to have to decide in your own mind what your yardstick for best is. BOBBY GATES: Yeah, I think each person is going to be different. I think the responsible players that really understand the awards, and, you know, it's not a cut and dry. It's not like a Vardon Trophy or a Mr. Palmer Trophy or something where it's the stroke play or the money or whatever. It's something that you kind of have to look at all of the statistics and figure out what you value the most and who did well in those categories. I know majors are huge. I think Keegan Bradley had a phenomenal year being a true rookie out here and being 25, 26 years old. To me, that's a rookie. Charl Schwartzel had a great year, but he's played on the European Tour and then played probably 50 to 75 events on the PGA Tour in his career. So to me, majors are the best. I think everyone measures their career on majors. I think you look at someone with two majors, they would say I would take that over 15 wins on the PGA Tour, because in the Hall of Fame and all that they look at majors. I think that if Keegan, at the end of the year I look at his stats and see where he finished on everything, if I think he's the best player, then I'll vote for him. But I think Webb had a phenomenal year, and so did Luke. So I'll probably just look at those guys and see where they rank on the world rankings as well their statistics and finishes for the year. DOUG MILNE: Okay. Thanks, Bobby. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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