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ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT SCOTTISH OPEN


July 11, 2012


Martin Kaymer


INVERNESS, SCOTLAND

THE MODERATOR:  How are we?
MARTIN KAYMER:  How we are?
THE MODERATOR:  Yes.
MARTIN KAYMER:  Fine.  So far, you know, I was ‑‑ it's a very relaxed week, which is nice.  I had a very nice arrival yesterday.  Everything was very calm.  When I came here, I felt very relaxed, very refreshed.  I had a couple days at home.  I played very early on Saturday and Sunday in France, so I drove home on Sunday afternoon and had all evening then on Monday was a relaxed day at my grandma's house and we did a little bit in the backyard.  Just to get away from golf a little bit and think about something completely different.  When I arrived here, I felt totally refreshed.  It always helps if you can sleep a couple days in your own bed.
THE MODERATOR:  And you mowed the lawn?
MARTIN KAYMER:  I did.  She's too old now.  So I did it.  And then ‑‑ I don't know how you say it in English.  If you take those ‑‑ like the bad flowers.
THE MODERATOR:  Weeds.
MARTIN KAYMER:  Weeds.  Yeah.  That's nasty work, but to do that once in a while is nice.
THE MODERATOR:  Do you have gloves on when you do that?
MARTIN KAYMER:  I'm a man.  We didn't do that.
THE MODERATOR:  We'll have to talk about golf as well.
MARTIN KAYMER:  Yes.
THE MODERATOR:  Let's go into the golf.
MARTIN KAYMER:  I really enjoy it.  When you cut the trees and how you say, the hedge?
THE MODERATOR:  Hedge.
MARTIN KAYMER:  Hedges.  I really enjoy that.  It's fun.  It's a different ‑‑ I think maybe you can call it like therapy a little bit, you know, to get completely away from golf, think about something else, just do normal work.  You know, what normal people do and how my family is, you know, very obviously down to earth, worker family.  And that's what I enjoy once in a while.

Q.  Was your grandmother yelling instructions or did you know what to do?
MARTIN KAYMER:  What?  Yelling?  She told me what to do?

Q.  Yes.
MARTIN KAYMER:  Well, she's my grandma.  She did.

Q.  How long did you work on the hedges?
MARTIN KAYMER:  Not too long.  Maybe three and a half or four hours.

Q.  What's the hourly rate?
MARTIN KAYMER:  There's no rate.  Maybe a cup and coffee and a cake after that.

Q.  Do you wish you could get more time away from golf like that to relax?
MARTIN KAYMER:  I think it's all up to yourself.  You can make your own decisions.  And obviously it was not planned to have a day like this, but it was nice.
It's always nice to go back to the old days, let's say, when I was a kid, I was playing in the backyard a lot with my brother who played football, and you go there and just have a completely normal day where you just hang out with your family, talk about completely different stuff than birdies, world rankings and golf courses, how many bunkers are there and all that stuff.
So it was nice to just hang out with them and see them again.

Q.  How old is your grandma?
MARTIN KAYMER:  Maybe mid 80s or so.  She's still fit, though.  She can still give me instructions.

Q.  Does she give you instructions about your golf game?
MARTIN KAYMER:  No.  She has no idea about golf.

Q.  What's her name, Martin?
MARTIN KAYMER:  It's my father's mom.

Q.  And her name is?
MARTIN KAYMER:  Inge.

Q.  (Indiscernible)?
MARTIN KAYMER:  Yes.
THE MODERATOR:  Looking forward to the papers tomorrow.
MARTIN KAYMER:  Yes.  It's a lot about my grandma.  Finally she's in the papers.

Q.  (Indiscernible)?

Q.  Martin, as a past winner, how much will you think about that in terms of maybe kick start your season?
MARTIN KAYMER:  No.  It was not too dramatic.  Obviously my last years, my last past years I always had early success in the season.  Hasn't happened yet, or it hasn't happened this year.  But Scotland is always ‑‑ you know, I had good success here in Scotland.  I won at St. Andrews and Loch Lomond three years ago.  So for me it's so much fun to play this golf course because it's not only about pretty golf shot.  It's not only about hitting nice high draws or fades and all that stuff.  It's just getting the job done, grinding it out and just playing the game.
It's not so much controlling ‑‑ of course, there's a lot of luck involved as well, depending on some balances and stuff, but it's more about playing the game, playing golf and not trying to steer it here and there.  So that's what I really enjoy, you know.  It's fun and it's got feel and touch and imagination.  So that's why I choose to come here.
I didn't enter ‑‑ I think I just entered two weeks ago because I changed my mind that I would like to play here, play here the week before the Open.  I heard it's good preparation.  So it's good that I came.

Q.  How much of a factor that Scotland is perceived as the home of golf.
MARTIN KAYMER:  I think in general it's not so much about Scotland.  In general it's about Great Britain.  It's very enjoyable to play here because the people they know about golf.  They know about the sport.  When you have a difficult shot and you place it 20, 25 feet away from the flag, it can be still a good golf shot, and the people, they appreciate that.  They know it.  So that makes it interesting and good to play here, the knowledge of the fans.

Q.  Is it very different here, Martin, that playing in America, in terms of audience and in terms of crowd reaction and appreciation of the shot?
MARTIN KAYMER:  And reindeer.  No, I think in America the understanding of golf is very similar.  It's just a little bit ‑‑ it's a different ‑‑ I think in Great Britain it's a different level.  You know, they're a little bit more ‑‑ a little bit calmer, a little bit more reserved.  In America we see they show the emotions a little bit more.  But both sides are fun to play.  To have both the opportunity that we have, if you're one of the best players in the world and you can choose to play on both tours and then compare them.  I think you can't say this one is better or worse.  They're both great in their own ways.

Q.  The way you played Saturday and Sunday concern you or do you just dismiss that?
MARTIN KAYMER:  It doesn't ‑‑ of course.  You don't like to play ‑‑ or you don't like to shoot in the high 70s.  Of course.  I mean if you're a professional golfer, you don't like to see that.  But on the other hand, you know, I was pretty much after Saturday for me the tournament was over.  I couldn't win anymore.  I could have shot 5, 6‑under on Sunday and it wouldn't have made a big difference.  So on Sunday it was more like playing 18 holes, trying a few shots.  It was more like a practice tournament round, and yeah, it was just trying to prepare a little bit for those two weeks as well.  Just trying to hit some low shots, some bump and runs if they were possible.  So it was more like practicing on Sunday, but it was not so much about the score.

Q.  Do you like at the Ryder Cup table and think I need to get going again for that reason alone?
MARTIN KAYMER:  I know how I felt in 2008 when I was trying to make the Ryder Cup.  I wanted it so bad and it was more like a distraction, so now it's one of those things, yeah, of course, I try everything to make it happen, to play the Ryder Cup.  But that's not the main goal.
The main goal is just to play good tournaments, to put myself in contention, to enjoy the golf tournaments that are coming up now, because the next four tournaments I play the next five weeks, they're very important and big tournaments.  And then you know, I hope I will make the Ryder Cup team, of course.  It will be nice to play in America, but I don't really think about it that much.  I think other people think more about it than myself.  And even the people, fans and the friends and media in Germany, I think they are more concerned about my golf than me.
I don't think it's that dramatic.  It happens that you don't win for a few weeks or a few months, it does happen, but it doesn't mean that you lost it or anything.  So I'm not that concerned than anyone else, I believe.

Q.  Is Glen eagles in your schedule?
MARTIN KAYMER:  No.

Q.  (Indiscernible)?
MARTIN KAYMER:  I hope I don't have to go, but I play so many tournaments ‑‑ or I will play a lot of tournaments.  I played in obviously the U.S. Open, then Munich, then France, and now the next four weeks out of five.  I mean I don't know.  I really don't know if I will play.

Q.  How well do you know next week's venue?
MARTIN KAYMER:  Nothing.  Nothing about it.  I heard it has a lot of bunkers.  But that's about it.  I try to approach that week ‑‑ obviously it's a huge tournament, and it's going to be a fight.  But if the golf could suit me or not, I don't really know.  I just try to really have fun, because those golf courses, if you don't enjoy those golf courses, it will back fire, I think.  You know, you have to enjoy it.  It's really a pleasure to play those courses, and especially with the fans there next week, it's so cool.  And hopefully my family will come over and we have a good time.  We are renting a house with a bunch of players.  So it will be a good week.

Q.  When you go to a major and you haven't played the course before, do you sort of scope out the course beforehand or do you just sort of take it as it comes?
MARTIN KAYMER:  No.  I just go there Monday and see what I get.

Q.  Is your grandma coming?
MARTIN KAYMER:  No.  I don't think so.

Q.  (Indiscernible).
MARTIN KAYMER:  You gotta ask her that.  I don't know.

Q.  (Indiscernible)?
MARTIN KAYMER:  Yeah.  Yeah.  Of course.  Yeah, I'm not going to sit on there.  Yeah.  You gotta push that thing.  She always reminded me to not cut the wire, you know.  She's a tough one.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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