Q. Zach, firstly welcome back, tell us about the journey this week coming back from Mexico but also how the 12 months since last year has changed things for you?

So obviously just landed in this morning and it’s been a pretty big day and a half for me but I’m feeling pretty good. I just had a nice pie from the bakery in Arrowtown so that’s fixed me up pretty good. It was an amazing week last week in Mexico and then the last 12 months has been a bit of a blur for me really. It’s been a lot of, obviously starting really here last year I sort of kick-started me for 2019 and I played quite well up in Asia and in the co-sanctioned stuff and then was able to finish the year decent at the PGA and get my European Tour card so that was a huge bonus for me.

Q. How do you feel you played in Mexico last week?

I got food poisoning on the Tuesday so my expectations got severely lowered. I didn’t go to the course on Wednesday at all. I battled around for the first couple of days and played quite nicely. I relied on my caddy quite a bit. Simon Clarke, he sort of just guided me around really and I just sort of sipped on the water and played really nice on the Saturday. I probably could have had a couple more but I was sitting nicely at 15^th and then on the last day I didn’t really do much wrong but I probably just ran out of a little bit of gas and made a few soft errors. I played with Tommy Fleetwood on the last day and it was nice to see how they play compared to my game plan. My game plan is probably quite conservative compared to theirs.

Q. I’d imagine there are pros and cons playing the week before so far away and only arriving the day before you tee off as a defending champion but playing in a big event you’ve got to do it. I suppose the first round is just trying to feel your legs and feel your swing again is it?

I’m about to go out and play nine now and see how it goes but obviously it helps being young I think at the moment I’m feeling pretty good. I had a fair bit of sleep on the plane and the last few months my swing has been feeling pretty consistent. Obviously last week, I get a lot of confidence from that and then I think I’ve said it all along this is one of my favourite places in the world, Queenstown and coming here I was really excited.

Q. What is different coming back as defending champion coming in the gates the first time? How was that feeling?

When I rocked up to the hotel this morning my photo was in the front of the hotel so that was quite strange. It’s just so cool. I’m super excited and I think just getting those feelings back of last year and I’m playing here tomorrow but playing at The Hills on Friday and sort of maybe going down the 18^th it’s the next time I’ve been down there since last year that’ll be pretty cool. There were a lot of nerves flowing there last year so probably not as many on Friday but hopefully I can reignite that stuff and get the lead on Sunday.

Q. Have you spoken to Ryan Fox about how he handled that trip last year and I think it was the second and third days where he really felt it. Have you spoken to him about it?

I played with him in Mexico on the Saturday actually so I had a little bit of a chat to him but I’m sort of fortunate in the regard that I think jet lag, I just don’t get quite, it just doesn’t affect me as much as it does others but touch wood it’s alright this week and I can get some good rest tonight. He had some really good advice and then just expectations this week because obviously coming here to try and defend my title and probably I am going to be a little bit tired so there’s probably going to be a bit of frustration sort of that could potentially happen so it’s just all about trying to do the best I can off the course and recover and just do all the one per centres as well as well as trying to enjoy the week. It’s not often you come and defend a title but I’m definitely here and going to give it a red hot crack.

Q. Back to Mexico last week, how did you handle playing, how did you find your club selection?

Pretty good actually. I felt as if I controlled it quite well and I think sometimes because I had food poising I sort of wasn’t really thinking about it too much. I was just sort of getting the number then just going for it. I think it can be one of those ones if you really get too involved in it, it can sort of throw you out a little bit. I got a handle of it straight away. I got over there a couple of days early and it was good, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Q. What did you eat?

I don’t know. I had a little siesta in the afternoon and woke up and I was in all sorts. I hadn’t had that much. I’d eaten at the players’ lounge and the hotel and nothing. Nothing crazy. I hadn’t gone wild on burritos or anything.

Q. Returning as defending champion, does that put more pressure on you do you think?

Nah, I won’t put any pressure on myself. Obviously the expectation is to come back and play well and my game is in good shape. I’ve got a lot of family and friends over this week and it will just be nice to get out there and play. I’m playing with the same amateur partner as I did last year, Scotty, so I’m looking forward to that as well.

Q. Are you not a suspicious guy, you’re not doing the same things you did last year?

I’m playing here (Millbrook) first round tomorrow and I played here first round last year so that’s a big tick for me. I didn’t warm up last year because it was too cold so I might just sit in the clubhouse again like I did last year but nah I’m not that suspicious. We’ll just go out and give it a run.

It surprises me every time we live over in Australia and travel a long way to go on holidays and this place is 2 and a half hours away in a plane and we don’t come here all the time. It is a miraculous place and I had a great time here last year.

I loved it and if I had any chance to come back I was gone to do it so here I am.

I t has been a change since I moved back to Australia after 20 years in America. Doing the school run a lot more, not getting on a plane every Sunday night has been nice. Getting used to that and settling the family down in Australia has been cool.

I got busy in the last half of the year with the Presidents Cup. The media used me a lot and the Tour wanted me to do a lot of PR stuff as I lived in the city where the tournament was to be played. That turned out to be an incredible tournament and we had a good week. Ernie was a great captain and Tiger was obviously a great captain on the other side. We got beaten by too much talent in the end but golf wads the big winner. Melbourne put on a great tournament; Royal Melbourne showed itself as good as it is and everyone wants to come back – and the Presidents Cup is great and I can’t wait till next time.

I am going to play a bit more. I am certainly not done. I’d like to think I can have my cake and eat it – be a good dad at home and still play a few tournaments around the world. The US Open is back at Winged Foot this year and I try to play a little patch around that and see if I can get through and have to qualify for that.

The northern summer there are a lot of good choices and see if I can pick out a little schedule and see if I can play well. If I don’t, I don’t.

The game is changing and getting a bit younger and more powerful but while you lose a little in length, you gain it in experience so golf looks after to you a bit. In other sports the manager says you are done, go do something else. But golf doesn’t do that. There’s plenty of time, I am not in a hurry to do anything.

I am loving living back in Australia again., I would love to get back and play a few good ones, but if I don’t, I don’t.

It would be brilliant to go back to Winged Foot. Unfortunately we never got back there in Tour so I didn’t get back there as much as I liked to. It is an incredible place. Obviously good memories. A major is a major, it is New York and a lot of good reasons to be there and enjoy the week.

I had a couple of good rounds at the Vic Open and got blown off the course like a lot of people did which was a little more than I was ready for.

It felt good yesterday and no reason why I can’t have a good week.

It is the same for everyone who is in their 40s breaks are almost good to fresh the brain. I haven’t looked after my body as well. I would play better if I was playing tournaments every week but that doesn’t mean you can’t play well when you are not.

The idea is that golf’s footprint doesn’t need to get bigger. It doesn’t make sense to have a golf course on 400 acres when you can have a perfectly good one on 300 acres. Tees are out of bounds at St Andrews, Augusta is buying land all over the place to lengthen holes that are outside the original properties. It doesn’t make sense. The bigger hitters should be the biggest hitters. They always were. Nicklaus hit is 300 yards in the 60s.

There are multiple guys who fly it 330 yards now and that wasn’t reality 20 years ago and 20 years before that it was shorter again. In 50 years time if you follow the distance curve, golf holes will need to be 800 yards long. That does not make a lot of sense.

I am sure it will be slow and take time. I think Rory said recently it is time to split the rules – pro rules and everyone else’s rules.

The equipment is easier to use and created more enjoyment for some level of golf but for pros balls going 350 yards doesn’t make sense because you need so much more land. If you can’t play tournaments at these great courses that too does not make a lot of sense.

{Professional golf is in a great spot. There are 15 guys who could be number one at the end of the year. It has never been like that. There is a lot of depth at the top.

They have to tread carefully but if you look to the future and golfers are hitting it 400 yards it does not make much sense.

Almost every sport does it (different rules for professionals) but golf does not which is great for the manufacturers and the club golfers who gets to play the same game as Tiger Woods and compare.

Sports like tennis, squash, baseball do it and it does not seem to ruin those sports. That might be a direction they go. It seems that there is a tipping point with the speed – if you get over a certain clubhead speed then the distance explodes.

It does not make sense for golfers to hit it 400 yards so whatever way we can fit golf as we know it into Augusta and the Old Course and Royal Melbourne then all the better.

The courses are quite different. The Hills is quite dramatic – more elevation change and quite friendly with the greens. Milbrook is more traditional and normal.

They are different enough that you know you are playing a different course but you are in the same atmosphere and similar grasses. I enjoy playing both. They have different personalities. They are great fun to play. If you play well at one there’s no reason you can’t play well at the other.

They are different skills now. It has become more of a power game, how do I create a lot of speed and maximize that. Everyone drives the ball amazingly now. The art is hitting it a long way, hitting it to the right spots, inside 100 yards is more important than it has ever been – the skills are different not more or less. It has evolved in to a slightly different style although you still have to be amazingly good at it.

Q. It looks to me like a different Michael Campbell to 12 months ago

I’m back to my fighting weight you could say. I’m down to 90 kilos which is what I was when I was playing which is nice. The only thing that’s lacking really is a bit of match practice, competitive rounds. I haven’t played since November so once again coming into this tournament I’m not expecting too much. I just want to support the New Zealand Open obviously and support my sponsor Manuka Doctor, who brought me over here. He’s been instigating the whole thing about me returning to New Zealand which is fantastic. So without his help and stuff like that I wouldn’t be here. It’s nice to be here. Both courses are fantastic. In great condition, wow. The Hills and in here (Millbrook) it’s a bit more lush, a bit more green, the rough is definitely longer than it was last year. I’m playing with another Major Champion, Geoff (Ogilvy), a very good friend of mine so it’s going to be fun playing with him and my sponsor Matt.

Q. Talking from how you played last year, how much have you come along since then?

Leaps and bounds. I played I think 12 events last year, finished I think third in one and 14^th in another on the Seniors Tour. A bit disillusioned with response from sponsors. I thought that I’d at least get 10 invites from the Champions Tour but I thought my resume was good enough to have own national Open winner playing in their events but it’s not to be. It’s a very closed shop over there and it’s basically guys who have played the PGA TOUR, it’s based on career money list where before it was a points system and they changed it about five years ago so I think I wrote away to about 12 sponsors and got one. Paul Lawrie is in the same boat as me. Basically I went to the Tour School, finished like 20^th and there’s only five cards so now I have to Monday pre-qualify which is a little bit disappointing but it is what it is. I need to up my game and hopefully get a few good starts on the Champions Tour next year.

Q. What do you want from 2020? What are you wanting to achieve this year?

Just to get on Tour, just to get some sort of schedule going. Last year, I was waiting around for five or six weeks and not playing and I was in America away from home so it was quite hard doing that. I want just a solid schedule and build up momentum. It was very scattered you could say last year with my schedule.

Q. Now that you’ve gotten into shape again, I remember last year you said you’ve done all that when you were younger touring and playing and didn’t know if you wanted to do that, are you now thinking you do want to do that more?

Yeah, absolutely. I see all my friends now out there playing with Retief Goosen had a great year last year. He and I are good mates. I know that I’ve got the ability to do well on the Champions Tour and on the Seniors Tour in Europe as well. I tried to play a few events on the European Tour, on the regular Tour, but the courses were too long for me. You see now, I think, Podrick Harrington, he struggles out there, Thomas Bjorn, around the same age as me. I spoke to Retief recently about playing a few events. He played a few events on the PGA TOUR. You just know you’re not good enough for these young kids who hit it so far now. The courses suit them better with the bunkering system. They carry it 300, 310 in the air and I can’t do that physically. Whereas I find myself more competitive on the seniors tours.

Q. Would you rule out playing on the regular tour again after trying it last year?

Probably not. I threw myself in the deep end a little bit last year. I played five events over there and I just thought, this is not for me. You kind of know as a competitor, as a player, that you’re not good enough. If I pick and choose my courses, if I play shorter courses like links courses it’ll be a little bit different but there aren’t many on that tour. Most of the courses now are over 73, 74 thousand yards.

Q. What are you driving now?

Around 280, 290 but I played with Luke Brown yesterday, a young kid who’s I think on the Japanese Tour, and in Europe, and he hits it 60 yards past me. He’s a bomber.

Q. Is that demoralising?

No, actually it’s made me realise that the game has moved on a lot. I don’t like it to be honest with you. I feel that it’s lost its creativity, imagination, because the ball doesn’t move as much and all they do now these days, these kids, they just bomb it and swing the club as hard as they can and find it. I’m old school obviously and I’m used to the Langers (Bernhard Langer) and the Faldos (Nick Faldo) and those guys back in the 90s and even Tiger too obviously and we’d just shape the shot more because you could. But not these days. That’s why you see Tiger have a, play with a spinnier ball, because he wants to shape the ball more but he loses distance. So it’s definitely changed. Is it evolution? Yeah I think of course it is. I’ve been in this game since 1993 I think it was when I first turned pro so a long time.

Q. That 290, what were you hitting 15, 20 odd years ago?

I was probably about 20 yards shorter. Funnily enough I was looking at my driving stats and definitely it’s improved every single year, 10 yards or five yards here and there give or take but it’s completely different. A completely different game.

Q. Geoff was talking about that. Has the skill been taken out of the game do you think?

Absolutely. I remember when I first turned pro and 15 guys were going to win every single week and they were the most talented ones. Whereas now you’ve got these rookies winning every single time which goes to show that the less talented, due to the golf ball and the design of the club, the driver, whatever you want to call it, the sweet spot is bigger, it gives them more of a chance. I agree with Geoff what he said. I think we both agree. Both Geoff and I are in the same boat. We’ve a similar age, obviously I’m a bit older than Geoff but we’ve seen the huge transformation, the big jump in how the game is played now.

Q. Better?

Well I guess views are up so people like to see guys smash it now like Justin Johnson and Brooks Koepka and all these guys bomb it, Rory McIlroy, they bomb it now and I think people like to see that so they get more views. So I suppose it is but if you go back to the old school, and I’ve said this many times, I’d rather see the ball maybe played or even the clubs themselves, played a little bit harder so you need more skills. The skill set’s a little bit different now. I noticed as well that the 25, 26-year-olds their short game isn’t as sharp as it should be because they rely on their distance.

Q. How about you mate, you had a sore ankle last year. Is that all sorted?

It’s all sorted now. That’s one of the things I had to do was just a bit of rehab on my ankle and that’s no problem now.

Q. And expectations for this week?

The thing is the expectation for this week is pretty much I’m taking it easy. I’m not practicing as much and as I said before it’s my first tournament in four months so I’m just going to go into this week and enjoy the moment and support the New Zealand Open and my sponsor.