Q.  How’d you find it out there?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, it was good.  Good first round.  I mean, it was a little scrappy I guess on a couple of the holes, but I mean, expected, first tournament back in a few weeks.  No, I created myself pretty good there.  I could have made a few more birdies, but it is what it is.  There’s a bit of grey on the greens and it got pretty windy out there, so that’s expected.

Q.  Do you feel like it’s the kind of course where you could have one big day and set yourself up?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, definitely.  If you do all the right things and hit good shots, yeah, there’s a lot of birdies out there.

Q.  Do you take anything away from playing partners, how they played?  Do you sort of pay attention to those guys in this sort of event?

MIN WOO LEE:  No, it’s actually very fun, it’s enjoyable.  Su hit it pretty far, she was – there wasn’t anything weird about it, I don’t think.  It was my first time playing with a lady in an event, ever.  So no, it was actually really cool, I enjoyed it.  I mean, Su putted really well.  I could probably get that off her, but other than that, Windred played solid, but yeah, if we clean up a few things as a group, we’ll have a low one.

Q.  Is it the sort of course where you feel like you almost get better every day as you learn it a bit more and you get back into the rhythm of tournament golf?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, for sure.  The first two days was a bit confusing out here practising and definitely got the gist of it a little bit.  But yeah, definitely, any course, it definitely helps playing it more.

Q.  So you’d be able to hit your driver literally everywhere?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, most of the time.  I mean, only a few holes where it’s a bit shorter and you need to hit one less, but yeah, it’s pretty wide out there.

Q. What about 12, the driver?

MIN WOO LEE:  12 I hit 3 wood and it got like pin high right, so I mean driver was too long, it was downwind, that hole.

Q.  What do you think our winning score might be this week?

MIN WOO LEE:  I want to say maybe 15-under, maybe a bit more.  I think if you shoot 15 you’re going to be up there.

Q.  Much banter with Su or were you keeping to yourself?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, I mean, I knew her from junior golf and amateur golf, so no, it was fun.  I haven’t seen her in a while so it was good to catch up with – I mean, everyone out here is pretty good mates from junior and amateur golf, so it’s good to see.

Q.  It’s been a concept, it’s not new, but it’s still relatively novel.  Do you think it’s got legs, the combined events?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, for sure, I definitely think, it was fun.  I didn’t complain at all.  I mean, it brings everyone into golf.  I mean, yeah, it’s a good concept.  I really like it.

Q.  Are you pleased with the news about the Tour here, extending the time out here?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, for sure.  I mean, it’s huge for Australian golf.  I was pretty devastated when there was no, I mean, a lot of people were devastated when there was no golf in Australia because there’s such good courses here, so it definitely is a happy smile to start off the year and hopefully there’s a few more tournaments.  But no, congratulations to the guys that made it happen.

Q.  Thank you mate.

Q.   Thanks for coming along today and welcome to Geoff Ogilvy, long time great Australian player, back to the PGA, past winner of this event.  Geoff, how is your playing form?  You have a lot of other things in your life nowadays now you’re done touring and you’re obviously doing your architecture and you run your own tournaments.  Have you got something left in the locker there as a player this week?

GEOFF OGILVY:  I guess we’ll find out.  I’m not really sure, to be honest.  I’ve played less golf in the last two years than I’ve probably ever played since I was about six or seven really, so a bit hard done by in Victoria, a little bit there for a while.  But it’s been okay. We played the Sandbelt Tournament, which went really well, just after Christmas.  I’ve been hitting a few at home and playing a fair bit of social golf I guess in the last few months.  So, we’ll see.  I mean, tournaments are different from home golf.

But it’s a bit like riding a bike, I was sort of a bit uncomfortable and I don’t know, just not that comfortable at home for some reason but as soon as I got on the range yesterday, it was like, I remember this, this is what I do.  So, we’ll see.  The short game is usually the question mark when you come back after a long break, but I don’t know, as I said, no expectation.

Q.  Talk to us a little about Royal Queensland because I understand you’re going to be doing some work here in the architecture sense in the future as well, so talk to us a bit about the new Royal Queensland and how that sets up for a tournament like this?

GEOFF OGILVY:  It’s quite different, obviously.  There’s obviously quite a lot of stuff here that’s like the old Royal Queensland, similar holes, like 10’s the same and 17 was there and run-off stuff, but it’s evolved into a really good course.  I’ve been around it a lot looking at it with the architecture eye, sort of critiquing it from that sense, but haven’t actually played a serious round with the score card in my pocket here, so time will tell about how that works.

But, I think it will be great.  It’s quite strategic.  We’ve got to think about it.  There’s some really interesting decisions to make off a lot of tees. It’s not just bombs away.  It always gets a bit windy in the afternoon and it can get pretty firm here, so I don’t know, time will tell.

I mean, it’s almost impossible to guess what guys are going to shoot these days.  Look what Cam shot the other day and Jonesy, Jonesy shot 23-under on the weekend, last weekend in Kapalua.  I mean, everyone’s really good here, so I think it will be a good tournament.  I think it’s a great course.

It’s nice that it’s getting a great field, men and women’s, that sort of show off Royal Queensland a little bit and how it can be played really well and I think it will be a good challenge for everyone.

Q.  Geoff, you mentioned before the lack of golf in general for everyone.  Can you just talk about what it’s been like for the fraternity to have such a long time between drinks, I guess?

GEOFF OGILVY:  I mean, I’m a little bit different.  I kind of came back to Australia because I was ready.  I was ready for a bit of a break, sick of being on the road all the time, missed Australia a lot.  I wanted my kids to have a bit of time in Australia.  2019 was I think was my sort of gap year of playing, get home and then I was going to sort of head off and play 10, 15 and sort of have my cake and eat it too almost as a dream.  Just sort of play a part time schedule but still get to live at home.

That didn’t pan out, so you sort of pivot along and I just tried to play a bit of social golf and in Victoria we had golf and then we didn’t, then we had golf and then we didn’t, so I’m a little bit different from some of these guys.  I feel a lot for these kids, sort of 19, 20, 21 who were all about to take that sort of get on the aeroplane, go to a Q-School or go play overseas and that’s sort of been put on hold a little bit in the last two years, which is really tough I think for them, kind of really an awful time for that sort of thing to happen.

But it will be build resilience or sort of show their desire or no desire.  I mean, if they’ve got the deep desire, it would have got stronger, I would have thought, not being able to do it.  It’s been a tough run for everyone, but I think it’s been great to watch.  We’ve had Aussies winning all the time – Minjee’s just won a Major, Cam’s been playing great, Min Woo played great this year.  

Someone told me a stat – you guys I’m sure know it – we’ve won 20 or so tournaments in the last two years, Australians around the world, which is incredible really.  Probably the strongest run of wins we’ve ever had maybe, during this period.

So we’ve all been sitting back here and they’re all friends with these guys, so it’s pretty inspirational and stuff and I think it’s been tough not being able to sort of free wheel it, just come and go wherever you please.  The guys in Japan have had a really tough run, that’s been brutal.  They’ve spent half their last two years in hotel rooms.  Seeing Instagram of them having chipping cups up hallways and stuff.  So that’s been tough for everyone, but it feels like golf and professional golf is in a really good state.

I think our girls are a lot stronger than they’ve ever been.  I think our female side of our game is getting great.  We’ve got a tonne of these kids who are, as I said, very enthusiastic and excited to get overseas, because they’ve sort of been held back a little bit the last couple of years.

So I think it’s a really good period for us and good things coming.  Wins like Cam’s on the weekend, you can only do everything, but get everyone excited about doing it again.

Q.  That ties into something else I wanted to ask you about the tournament and Vic players in general here.  Obviously harder and harder to get the guys back from the US, running out of room on their schedule, then there’s new tournaments popping up in Saudi being another hurdle.  But it sounds like there’s a way forward without those big names.  What do you think about that battle that seems to come up every year, throwing those big names back?

GEOFF OGILVY:  I think there’s been far too much focus on prize money and big name players.  I mean no one really minds who goes to play in the Australian Open Tennis – that’s not exact today, but they go anyway.  The Melbourne Cup’s the biggest horse race in the world and nobody cares what horses are running, they want to go anyway.

I think we’ve sat down on Tuesday and Wednesday press conferences for the last 20 years in Australia and say, isn’t this a shame Geoff, there’s no one playing here this week?  So who’s going to come and support the Tournament when we tell them don’t come because there’s no good players?

I think all pros are great players.  I think we need to focus on building great events, sort of build them from the ground up again.  We’ve had this sort of all or nothing approach, that unless it’s a big massive event with the top 10 players in the world, it’s not worth having.

I think if we can sort of go back to the basics, fundamentally sell events, just put them all on, give somebody the chance to play, build them up, build them up, build them up gradually, and the big name players will gradually come.  I don’t think you need them for a great tournament.  I mean, we come to a tournament – I think people come to golf tournaments for a couple of reasons.  One is because they want to see people in draws with drivers and people who can do stuff that they can’t do – and everybody here can do that.

Everyone here is impressive to a club golfer, if you ask me, and two, you go for the contest.  It doesn’t matter if it’s the 1000th player in the world versus the 900th best player in the world for one and two, the contest is the contest and that’s exciting – guys holing putts and hitting good shots and coming up with the stuff under pressure.  I mean, I think, I was at the Ashes Test the other day.  It wasn’t really who won or lost that, it was just how good it was to watch and I think all elite sport, including golf, is like that.

If you have a great contest, it’s appealing to watch and I think if we can focus on that rather than who’s not there, I think we can rebuild and create an unbelievable tour, I think.   I think golf’s a massive sport in Australia, people love it.  You’ve just got to give them a reason to come, not give them a reason not to come.

Q.  You mentioned your own expectations are lower, but having watched you play the Old Tournament last year (?), that seemed to raise it a little bit, because you’re getting used to it, how do you temper your expectations against not playing tournament golf?  How do you keep yourself level headed and not maybe go back to your arm chair (?) thinking about how you’re playing?

GEOFF OGILVY:  You tell me how to temper expectations and I’ll put that into practice.  But it’s tough.  I think it’s partly why we are what we are, because we set ourselves really high standards and it’s very easy to have no expectations today.  If I hit a few good shots today, all of a sudden I’m going to come out tomorrow all excited.

That’s really the challenge of a golfer, to be realistic, stay present, just hit good shot after good shot, after good shot and sort of add them up at the end and see how you do.  It’s very easy to not miss a shot on the range on Thursday morning and bogey the first hole and the whole thing comes unravelled.

So, I’ve been better at it I think over my career.  I think that’s just a maturity, growing up thing and an understanding that golf very often doesn’t go how you want it to go.  So I’m still working on that.  Hopefully I can just try to enjoy playing a golf tournament I think and that’s usually a pretty good recipe, so we’ll see.

But if I do get grumpy or annoyed that I’m not scoring how I want to score, I need to admonish myself a little bit, because that’s not realistic.  I just haven’t done what I’d normally do and I’ll do my best to play good golf and I’ll do my best to keep my headspace in a good place, I guess.

Q.  Does that lack of tournament golf help you avoid going down rabbit holes and things like that with golf when you’re only playing average golf, I know you’ve spoken about before at tour events, or do you still think a lot of golf [inaudible] do you still stand in front of the mirror and fashion positions and [inaudible] pick something different?

GEOFF OGILVY:  I have golf clubs all over my house.  I’ve got a putting mat in front of the TV.  I haven’t stopped swinging golf clubs.  I’ve made more practice swings in the last two years than I’ve ever made, than I’ve made in the previous five years.  It never goes away.  I think it’s been a nice period for that, because when you’re playing week in, week out, it’s very difficult to really sort of take a deep dive into your golf swing and how you hit it, because you have to perform at the same time you’re doing it.

I think really the only way to be honest and actually get somewhere with golf is to disregard how you’re hitting it for a while and when you’re playing tournaments that’s really difficult, because it’s very hard, with a bit of ego involved, it’s hard to have a bad score knowing that you’re on the way to a good score.  So you end up sort of half working on it and half trying to play well at the same time.  

So it’s been an interesting period, yeah.  As I said, I’m constantly swinging, I’m constantly sort of trying to get deeper and deeper into why when my swing went bad, why did it go bad.  The goal really is how simple can I make it.  Can I pare this down, can I see two or three simple things that if I can stick to, then I’ll be okay.  Because we all have patterns that we follow our whole life and I’ve been trying to sort of unravel why my pattern is my pattern – if that makes sense.

Q.  Your chances this week, you’ve played Royal Queensland in the past, but you wouldn’t have chipped and putted on greens themselves for a long time.  Is that something you’d spend a bit of time on today, get used to it and just like riding a bike, it’s come back to you?

GEOFF OGILVY:  I think it’s a bit of both.  I think I certainly will be chipping and putting a lot today, definitely chipping as well.  I think Bermuda grass – Bermuda – I would say Bermuda, but 328 or Couch or whatever we call it, grey haired grass, is different.  When I first played, when I first started coming up here for amateur tournaments and stuff, I was just completely lost.

But after 15 or 20 years in the US, you play on this sort of grass 30 per cent of the time probably, so I got a bit better at what I’m looking for.  So, it would probably wouldn’t take too long.  I don’t know if I can be completely back and home and accustomed to it by tomorrow morning, but certainly I think by week end I think I would be.

So, a lot of chips today, a lot of putts today, try to let my, whatever my learnt experience over the years, sort of come out.

Q.  You were talking about the tournaments, probably from a media point of view they’d still love to hang their hat on a big name.  I mean, would you expect because of COVID that these guys have been stuck overseas for so long, that a couple of them now would say we’d like to come home and free up towards the end of the year with Opens, PGAs and things like that?  The Cams, the Adams, the Leishs, Jason?

GEOFF OGILVY: I imagine so, I would be.  I think there was one summer I didn’t come back and by like about February I regretted it.  I was just counting down the days until that November or whatever we could come back for the Open.

I imagine if we can present a good looking schedule there in November, December this year, I think they’ll all be very, very keen, especially Leish, very Aussie, Cam’s very Aussie, Scottie hasn’t been here for a little bit.  Yeah, I imagine, we’ve got an opportunity this year, as you say, just by COVID and them having no golf to play in Australia for a couple of years.  I think if it’s smooth sailing or an easy way to do it this year, I think it’s an opportunity to get them all to come back, absolutely.

Q.  Just on Min Woo Lee, the highest ranking player in the field, just about to play his first Masters in like April.  What’s it like for him going into that first sort of Masters when he’s there compared to your first Masters maybe?

GEOFF OGILVY: I talked to Lucas about this actually, because he’s about to go play his first one.  I think the best thing you can do is go early, before the Tournament.  You’re going to be a fan of the Masters and you’re going to be open eyes.  It’s like going to Disneyland for a kid the first time you go there.  

I think you’ve got to get that out of the way, but you’ve got to allow yourself that, because you’ve been waiting your whole life to get there, so you’ve got to go do that.

So my advice to him, and as it was to Lucas, I said if you can get there early, maybe call Cam or Leish or Scottie or someone and say, are you guys going the week before the Tournament, can I come and tag along, show me the ropes a little bit?  Get it all out of your system.  Drive down Magnolia Lane, go in the pro shop, buy all the merchandise, go behind the trees on 13, feel the shot, do all that stuff.

Get that stuff out of the way, so that when you come back a week or so later for the Masters that you’ve got that out of the way and you can play a golf tournament.

Historically they all say that you can’t play well there first time, but I don’t think that’s true.  I think you absolutely can.  I think if you can get to the first tee and have all that sort of fan stuff out of the way, the wide eyes, like be ready to play on the first tee, I think you can do it.

I think it’s a relatively simple course to play basically right and then it’s 50 years of experience to get all those little 1 per centers, you know what I mean?  So I would say go early and play as many practice rounds as you can with people who have been there – the longer they’ve been there, the more you should seek out their practice round.  Langer, Couples, Scottie, like all those guys.  Go play with them and see how they play, because they seem to hit it to spots where they don’t ever make bogeys and when you’re a rookie there, you just seem to hit in spots where you can’t make pars.

Just watch how the experienced guys play it.  Just get the visit out of the way so you can get back there on the Monday of the Tournament where you can just be ready to go.

Q.  Geoff, thanks very much, thanks for coming.GEOFF OGILVY:  No worries.

Q.   What’s it like … how do you get your head around an invitation to the Masters at Augusta.

MIN WOO LEE:   Well top 50 (ranking) wasn’t even a goal until the second last week of my Tournament schedule, so I come fourth in the AVIV Dubai Tournament and I was like just under 60th ranked, so it only just popped in my head, I had to play good in that last Tournament.  I think if I did make a birdie on the last I would have not been in the top 50, so it was great to make that birdie and I would have kicked myself if I didn’t, because I didn’t play that good that last day.  So no, I’m really looking forward to it.

Q.  The second thing I wanted to raise, I’m sure a lot of the journalists here will want to talk about the Tournament but the Greg Norman Medal’s tonight and both you and Minjee, your sister, were nominated.  How did that feel from a family point of view, to both being nominated and has that ever happened before?  And if Minjee wins it – which is a good chance probably – maybe you can scrub out her name or something?

MIN WOO LEE:  No, I was going to say an engraver can fix it.  She’s already got one, so she could hopefully give me one.  Obviously, (Lucas) Herbert’s had a great year, Mark and Cam’s had a really good year.  We all play good golf.  I mean, we’re all trying to be the best golfer in the country and the best golfer we can be, but we all had a good year, so a pat on the back.  It would be nice to get your name on that medal, but I don’t know if I like my chances against them.

Obviously Minjee won the Major and Herbert won two Tournaments.  I mean, Scottish Open is pretty good, but I don’t know, we’ll see.

Q.  Min, do you think this year you’ll have a bit more expectation going into it, particularly this week, if that changes in the way you do anything or just the way you have to deal with things, sort of these couple of days leading in?

MIN WOO LEE:  My coach and I worked on a few things, but at the end of the day, the last three months from the end of the year everything’s been improving, everything that I’ve needed to get better at, I’ve been getting better at.  So I think just keep playing and the more tournaments I play the more I get to practise what I’ve been practising and trying to resolve, so hopefully I can do that.

Q.  Around a golf course like this with the fairways so wide that there’s better angles from different sides, is it hard for someone like you who’s going to be the long player in the field, not to just hit driver everywhere, to sort of dial back?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, it’s a very quirky course.  I played nine holes today, nine holes yesterday and some of the greens are really tricky.  It’s not like a course where you can just hit average shots and get away with it, you’ve actually got to hit good shots.  I’m looking forward to the test.  But I mean the fairways are wide, but it’s nearly harder that way because it’s not – there’s nothing to kind of like go into.  There’s such a big fairway, so I have to, you know, when I get in the zone I’ll be fine, but I’m looking forward to it.

Q.  And shooting and putting on grainy sort of surfaces, how do you go, have you done that before?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, I mean on Tour there’s a few grainy places and you’ve got to adapt to wherever you play, so I mean I guess we’ll see.  But no, it’s pretty grainy out here, some of the spots can get pretty tricky, so hopefully don’t hit it there, but I’ll try to do my best.

Q.  Back to the first question, is it sort of coming into a time where you see how you’ve gone in that, given the circumstances with some of the guys overseas and just you and the guys, you’re the guy everyone’s coming out to beat and stuff, that you go into the event with a bit of a target on your back, does it feel a bit different?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, I feel like at the Vic Open I kind of had that feel of being a high ranked player.  Hopefully the crowds are going to be awesome and out there and cheering me on, so I think that’s a big advantage, but you know, I’m just going to go out there and play.  If I don’t play so well, but hopefully I do, I do play well and get the year rolling.

Q.  Cam Smith’s obviously playing well in his Tournament, we saw him win again yesterday.  How much does how he’s going sort of inspire you guys, when you see how well he’s playing?

MIN WOO LEE:  He’s been playing so good since he’s been on the PGA Tour and that’s probably the perfect way to be a top 10 player in the world, every year just keep putting pressure on the results and just winning every now and then, a couple of times a year, it’s awesome to see.  So hopefully I can do the same thing, but he’s done a really good job.

Q.  You’re talking about you improving and you’ve been working on things, what are those things you’ve been working on?

MIN WOO LEE:  Pitching was probably one of them that I wasn’t good at.  It’s one of the things where, I’m not like too struggling, but everything else is pretty good ranking-wise, like strokes gained and everything’s been pretty solid.  So that’s just one of the things.  Putting’s probably one of them, if I just get it to level strokes again I can do some damage on the course.  But yeah, when I putt good, I usually do really well at tournaments, so hopefully I can do that on the grainy greens this week.

Q. The same kind of test  for links golf was the Scottish Open, your success there, I mean, this is probably the closest we’ve got to links here.  Do you think it’s going to adhere well to this week here at Royal Queensland?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, I think especially it’s going to get windy, so that’s going to be a protector or scores.  I mean, l love playing in the wind, so I think that might play a bit of favour, but all the guys in Australia have to play in wind and all that, so yeah, I’m just looking forward to the test. I mean, Scottish Open wasn’t – it was quite wet, so it wasn’t too linksy, but it’s like a mis of both.  That wind definitely boosts my confidence, but yeah, it’s a different challenge.

Q.  Just getting back to Smithy talking before, he seems so relaxed when he plays, he doesn’t put any undue pressure on himself.  Do you like that style, his laid back, because you seem like the same sort of guy.  Is that the way you work?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, I don’t really try to take things too seriously.  It is golf at the end of the day and you’ve got to play – you don’t need to worry about anything or anyone else, except yourself, so yeah, I think I’ve got a lot better at that since in turned pro.  Just pretty much take care of yourself.  If you do the right thing, do the 1 per cent of it right and hopefully it can add up at the end of the week.

Q.  Are you trying to challenge Cameron Smith with the hair at the back?  Are you starting to grow a mullet?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, I actually posted my first mullet on Instagram and I got a bit of backlash over it because it wasn’t cut high enough and that, so it’s a little shorter and a bit more defined.  So yeah, I mean, I’m not challenging him, that’s why his is pretty dirty and I probably can’t match that, but you know, as someone said, it was like the first mullet to ever win, so that’s pretty cool.

Q.  Just on the Masters, can you put into words, you get an invitation and open it, that moment you’re going to Augusta, how cool was that?

MIN WOO LEE:  I didn’t get the actual invitation, my manager did, so hopefully when I get it, it will be like that, but I mean, just to share to the world that I got into it, it was – it got a lot of attention and it’s just awesome.  I think I said in my other interview, it’s just something you dream of as a kid and you try to get to the Masters.  I don’t think it will sink in until I get there.  It’s just going to be a different field, so I’m looking forward to it.  It’s going to be pretty special.

Q.  Can you confirm, are you the best in your family at the moment?  Who’s the better player?

MIN WOO LEE:  I don’t know.  I mean, we’re pretty close, I would say we’re pretty close.  One thing I can say is – I probably shouldn’t say it – but no, no, it’s good.  I’ve said it in every interview, but we played a few tournaments and we’ve halved in all of them, so maybe the next one is the rematch, but I don’t really get to see her.  We try to get away from golf as much as we can when we see each other.

Q.  I know you’ve got many factors that are your favourite, but are you able to just turn to Minjee and say, I’ve just gone 50 metres past you?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, I mean, 50 is pretty generous, I’m more than that.  But she does everything pretty solid.  She doesn’t really make a mistake and in the long run she might get me in that, but if there’s a short stint, I might be able to get her on that.  No, it’s good fun.  Off the same tees obviously I’d hit it too past her, so she whinged and she says I need to play off the ladies, so I have to give her a little handicap if we do play on the same tees.

Q.  Does it impress Mum and Dad?  What impresses your parents for you two, we talk about you guys are going to head down the golf course, what are your Mum and Dad most proud of?

MIN WOO LEE:  I don’t know, I think obviously they’re happy.  They’ve actually got a café back home and they put up posters and newspapers, little things like that.  But Mum was bawling her eyes when I was calling her while my sister was winning, so that was pretty cool and she said the same thing, she did the same thing when I won.  So I think just, I don’t know, they created us and, I don’t know, we did well I guess, but yeah, genetically, she was a golf pro and Dad was pretty sport genetic too.  He was a swimming coach and he did every other sport, so I think it was good to play at a really high stage and show them what we’ve got.

Q.  Did they when you were kids drum into you, playing good golf’s good, but you need to be a good person as well?  How much of that came into your upbringing?

MIN WOO LEE:  Yeah, Mum’s quite hard work sometimes and I try and not be like her sometimes.  No, we learn.  They’re really good people and I think we’re just, I think my sister and I have got those genes and I guess you know, just doing all these interviews and being around a lot of people, I think golf makes you a good person.  I don’t think you want to be known as that mean guy or anything like that.  We like to enjoy it and have fun and mess around, so yeah, hopefully we can keep doing that.

Q.  Thanks very much Min for coming in and good luck this week.

SARAH KEMP

Q.  Welcome to another press conference and welcome to 12-year LPGA veteran, Sarah Kemp.  Kempy, it’s great to have you back for this new event.  You had a good year in America last year, how’s your form been as far as you can tell?

SARAH KEMP:   Not too bad.  I’ve been home since 10 December and just been working with my coach getting back into the swing of things, so I’m not really sure what’s going to happen this week, but I’m looking forward to it.

Q.  Talk to us a little bit about the Karrie Webb influence, you’re obviously playing for the Karrie Webb Cup this week.  Do you remember your first meeting with Karrie and what’s your relationship with her?

SARAH KEMP:  Yeah, Webbie’s awesome.  When I was growing up, she was world number 1, which was awesome.  I remember getting my LPGA Tour card and she was one of the first people to email me and we’ve been lucky enough to have a pretty good relationship and we have a few Queensland/New South Wales bets throughout the year that embarrass myself and embarrass her, which is good.

But no, it’s great to be playing for a trophy that’s got her name on it.

Q.  Just for background for all you people, Sarah had two top fives on the LPGA last year and was tied 19th at the Evian Championship, which is a Major and she was also in the hunt for the Pure Silk Championship until late.  Any questions?

Q.  Sarah, is this sort of the perfect start for your year?  You’ve got four rounds, you see where your game’s at before you get ready to head back home?

SARAH KEMP:  Absolutely perfect.  There’s no better way to start the year, especially playing at home too.  My coach is here, so he can see where my game’s at before I head over to the States, but no, it’s the absolute ideal start.

Q.  Last year your status was flipping to everything, the LPGA stuff, do you think that actually helped you play really well if you did get a start, because every time you did get a start in an event, you played some really good golf?

SARAH KEMP:  So my status last year was actually – it was better than the year before, so I got into more than I thought I would.  But it wasn’t that sort of last minute stuff where I had to worry about booking a flight more later.  The Majors, I had to all qualify for, but yeah, definitely helps when you know you’re going to be into, like next year I can already plan for a couple of Majors and book flights and accommodation for that, which is really, really cool.

Q.  The work in the lead up to this, is it just fine tune stuff or anything major for the year ahead?

SARAH KEMP:   No, not really.  I think I’ve pretty much done the same thing throughout my career.  We just kind of put band-aids on it and try and fix it as best we can, but yeah, it’s the same sort of stuff.  It’s great to get in to get eyes on it and fix it.

Q.  The golf course this week, probably a bit shorter than what you’re used to playing in LPGA Tour events, small greens, hard greens and it seems to be pretty tough for the guys and the girls at the same time.  How do you think the course will play here?

SARAH KEMP:  Yeah, I walked the back nine yesterday.  I played here when I was a kid in one of the amateur events, but it’s completely different.  But yeah, like you said, it feels pretty generous off the tee but small greens, but yeah, you’ve got to be able to – feels like a second shot golf course, which is great.  I love if you miss the green, it’s not going to be an easy up and down, so it should be a good challenge for all of us.

Q.  Just to expand on that, the format, the guys and the girls playing at the same time, I guess it’s something that everyone’s kind of asked you, but your thoughts on that?

SARAH KEMP:  The Vic Open has been my favourite tournament ever, all year to play in.  It’s so cool playing along with the guys and practising with them, and you’re just hitting balls next to them on the range.  I played junior golf and amateur golf with a lot of the boys and I haven’t seen them in 10, 15 years, so it’s nice to catch up and just be around them is great.  So it’s awesome to have another event like that and I hope we get more.

Q.  I just want to go to something that you told Tony Webeck before last year at one of the Majors, the pressure you felt Sarah, with Karrie Webb being world number 1 and you being earmarked as the next Aussie superstar, and now we’ve got these youngsters like Hannah Green and Minjee Lee really taking the pressure off everyone who’s an Aussie on the Tour. What’s it been like for you seeing them develop, and if you take us back to what it was like for you being under that sort of pressure.

SARAH KEMP:  I think, yeah, I had a pretty good amateur career and there were comparisons right as I turned pro, so I think I felt a little bit of pressure back then, but I mean, Karrie’s career is like, it’s hall of fame, it’s one in – you know, even if you had 15 per cent of her career, you’ve had a great career.  So I don’t really feel any type of pressure and I don’t think the girls coming up should either.  Hannah and Minjee have won Majors in the last few years and that’s awesome.  But to feel what Karrie did, it’s a big ask.   I definitely think they can do it, but I don’t think they should feel pressure to have a career like Karrie.

Q.  The next cab off the rank is Stephanie Kyriacou.  Do you mentor someone like her, do you talk to her, because of your experience on Tour, about what it’s going to be like?  It’s actually very hard, she’s coming over to your place?

SARAH KEMP:  This morning I had to spent 20 minutes downloading an app to sign some papers for to get a visa, so yeah, I guess I’m helping along the process to get her over to America.  But yeah, I mean, I’m here, I guess being on Tour now for so long, you know, if any of the girls need any help, just travel or visas or stuff like that, yeah, I’m happy to help and I’m definitely there for all the girls.

Q.  I don’t want to labour the point, you haven’t won yet, after obviously being hailed the next one, is there a bit of pressure on you personally that you’d like to get one of those, particularly in the stage we’re at, winning the Karrie Webb Cup, just to put it up on the mantelpiece so to speak?

SARAH KEMP:  Yeah, I’d love to win.  I finished second on the LPGA and third, fourth, whatever.  It would be awesome to get a win, but I’m not putting too much pressure on myself.  I had my best year last year and I had a really good chat with Brad Kennedy yesterday and he’s 47 now and he talks about his last 10 years being the best of his career.  So, I nailed him down and got some good nuggets to take through my next 10 years.  But yes, do I think it’s possible – yes.  I feel healthy, I feel fit, so that’s the plan.  The plan’s to still win.

Q.  Sarah, after you we interview Min Woo Lee, who’s had a great year but still struggles to be the best player in his family.  You’ve had a fair bit to do with Minjee, how much has he got his work cut out to match what she’s done and how impressed have you been with that?

SARAH KEMP:  That’s awesome, those two, they’re great talents, represent Australia wonderfully.  Very happy for both of them, but yeah, I’m going for Minjee to win a couple more.

Q.  Can I ask, obviously you enjoy it with the guys, but does the dynamic change when you’re out there with the guys?  You’ve got to try and not be as long, how does the mindset work when you are alongside the guys?

SARAH KEMP:  I don’t know, I don’t really feel a mindset change, to be honest.  I’m playing against the girls, but I love playing with the guys.  I walked around with some of the boys yesterday and had a practice round on the back 9 with some wedges and putter and I loved watching the shots that they played.  But it doesn’t really change my mindset, how they play the golf course versus how the girls play the golf course.  I just like being around them.

Q.  Do you find the chat is a little bit more interesting with the guys or can you be just as brutal with the girls?

SARAH KEMP:   Yeah, it’s probably similar.  No, it’s not any different.  It’s just really, really awesome to have these mixed events like this.  I’ve never heard a bad – coming from all the girls, we all love it.  I really hope that there’s more going forward.  It’s awesome.

Q.  Thanks for that.  Thank you Kempy for coming up and good luck this week and we’ll have Min Woo Lee pretty soon, if you want to stay around.

ELVIS SMYLIE

Q.  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Royal Queensland, to all the media who are assembled here and welcome to Elvis Smylie, our young Queensland Pro who’s about to make his debut in this sport and then Australian PGA Championship, and of course, we have the Fortinet Women’s Australian Championship as well, WPGA Championship.  We’ll have some questions in a moment, I’ll just start off with Elvis.  

Elvis, first time in this event are there any nerves at all?

ELVIS SMYLIE:   Yeah, I think there’ll be a little bit of nerves.  It will be exciting nerves on the first tee.  I’ve played Royal Queensland quite a lot, so I’m quite familiar with the place and looking forward to getting the week underway with Clayts on the bag.

Q.  Any success at Royal Queensland in the past, you would have played a lot of golf here?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, I think going back to 2020 I played the Australian Amateur here.  I think I made the quarters and unfortunately went on to lose to Jed, who eventually won it, so it’s a little bit nicer to say that when you lose to the winner.  But no, I love the course and can’t wait to start.

Q.  Elvis, you mentioned Clayts, having him on the course tomorrow on your bag this Tournament, what does that do for you in terms of knowledge and working your way around the place?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, it means everything to be able to have a little bit of an inside scoop with the course’s own to be on your bag. This place is what you see is what you get around here and yeah, it’s very hard to be able to be flabbergasted when you’re off the tee.  It’s very clear right in front of you, but around the greens it can get pretty tricky with all the undulation and slope, so being on the right side of the hole is quite important around here. But yeah, Clayts and I will have that down pat, so we’ll be fine.

Q.  It’s a really strategic sort of a golf course and you come off playing the last event in Melbourne on a lot of strategic courses as well.  Does that sort of give you a lot of confidence going into the week?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah it does, most certainly.  Playing the Sandbelt Invitational where Clayts and Geoff, they both hosted that event and it was such a great first year for it.  Going into Royal Queensland, it reminds me a little bit of Sandbelt Golf.  I mean, obviously nothing similar to Sandbelt Golf when you’re away from Melbourne, but this is probably the closest thing you can get to it.  It’s a little lengthy.  There’s a couple of long holes in areas but yeah, just keep it straight, and knock it on the green, make some putts, keep it simple, it will be fine.

Q.  Elvis, watching Cam Smith this morning, how inspirational is that for you to want to go out and do what he did?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, it’s very inspirational.  I remember going back to 2019 where I spent a week with Cam over in Jacksonville.  That was great to be able to get an insight of what life’s like on the PGA Tour and most importantly what I need to do in order for me to get to that level.  That was a really good learning curve for me.  I think I was 17 at the time.  So I’ve had a couple of years since then to work on my game and find little holes that I might need to improve.  I like to call them the 1 per cent stuff.  It’s very inspiring.  He’s such a legend of a guy.  He’s such a down to earth guy.  So to be able to see him win, it was great to see that for him and for Australian golf.

Q.  Just further to that, to hold off the number 1 in the world, there’s a bit of ticker there, isn’t there, you need it in a bottle?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, I mean, to be able to shoot, I think Clayts told me it was 34-under for the week, I mean, that’s obscene, to be able to shoot that kind of scoring.  It doesn’t matter what golf course you play, you still have to shoot that, so to be able to see that happen, yeah, it was ridiculous.  I mean, he’s such a great bloke and yeah, I’m very happy for him.

Q.  Elvis, how’s your back and what did you learn in Europe?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, going back to the middle of 2021 I played the NSW Open in late March and then I had about a month off and then I headed over in about June to Munich and played off a couple of sponsor exemptions on the European Tour and learnt a lot about my game there.  Obviously, it was very unfortunate with what happened with my back.  I had a minor dislodge in my lower right back, which was – I mean, to be honest, it was probably just a bit of overuse.  It’s very hard going from Australia to Europe where your routines aren’t the same.  I think that’s the number 1 thing I learnt, was you have to adapt and adjust as well as you can.  Obviously going back over there in May after I play all these Australian events, I’ll have a very good understanding of what I need to do better and I’ll just know how to handle my business a little bit better.  So, I’m grateful to have that experience.

Q.  Have you done anything to try and recapture that form you had last year when you really burst onto the scene?  Was there anything that was working there that maybe didn’t work in Europe or have you got back to or anything like that?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  You know, it’s just keeping it simple.  I mean, not getting in your own way, I’ve got such a great team behind me.  Obviously, my coach, Ian Triggs, I’ve been with since I was about 8 years old and I’m still working with him and he’s great for me.  Then yeah, I mean, it’s just keeping it simple, just staying out of my own way.  I know what works well for me, I know what doesn’t.  Obviously, I’m focusing more on what does work well for me, but when things don’t go well, I learn from them pretty quickly and I know how to make that not happen again.  

Q.  You just mentioned before about going back to Europe in May, what’s your outlook or target for the year in general, mate?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  My main focus here is playing as well as I can here in Australia.  The Australasian Tour I think has about 11 events in this four/five month period, so I’m looking forward to playing all those and doing as well as I can.  Yeah, the goal is to do as well as I can on the Order of Merit.  There’s a lot of opportunities up for grabs and I’m excited for that.

Q.  This course is the Olympic Games course in 2032, I guess you’d like to be there?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, for sure, it would be a nice lead up for that this week, so hopefully I can – 2032 is a little bit of a time away, so I’m sure I’ll play a couple of times until then.  But I’m looking forward to playing here as much as I can and yeah, when the Games do play in 2032, I’ll be ready for that.

Q.  Elvis, I just wanted to ask you one last one about staying and living with Cameron Smith for a little while.  I remember Cameron told me that Louis Dobbelaar didn’t eat his vegetables very well.  Did he take you out fishing?  What was he like to live with?

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, well I mean, going back to 2019, it was Hurricane Doreen in September, so we were actually in lockdown for about three days of that week that we spent, so we actually went down to the Concession, where they had the WGC event there that Morikawa won this year, so we didn’t do much fishing, but just a lot of chit-chat.  I mean, when we were away from the golf course, we rarely chatted about golf, which I actually enjoy.  It was a bit of a flick of the switch I like to call it.  But yeah, he’s such a great guy and to be able to just be surrounded by him and learn as much as I can, it was awesome.

Q.  And Elvis takes a dollar for every time a reporter at a press conference asks him about his Christian name, so he’s missed out today.

ELVIS SMYLIE:  Yeah, very lucky.

Q.  I made that mistake in an interview once.

Q.  Thanks very much for that.  Thank you Elvis.

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