KATHIE SHEARER:  We’d like to thank you for being here.  Is it really about 15 years since you’ve been in Sydney?

ERNIE ELS:  Yes.  I came here, I just played a casual round of golf with a friend of mine, Mr Tiaan Strauss, he was a rugby player in Australia, he captained the rugby union side and for some reason I found myself in Sydney, me and the family, Liezl and the kids, had nothing to do on one day and came to play here, at this very golf course, but it wasn’t the same golf course. 

But yeah, I haven’t been back since, so it’s really nice to be back in Sydney.  It’s a shame we can’t really see a lot because of the smoke, but it’s a wonderful city, iconic city of the world.  So, it’s good to be here.

KATHIE SHEARER:  You’ve played today in the Pro-Am, how’s your game looking?

ERNIE ELS:  I’m good, I’m okay.  I haven’t played too much since the summer.  I’ve played in South Africa, not very well, but I had a lot of rust on my game, so it’s been nice to shake some of it off and do a bit of practice, down in Leopard Creek.  But my focus is really on the team, not really on myself.  Getting the guys going for next week, that’s really on my mind, but obviously I’ve only played one other Australian Open in my whole career and this is the second one.  But unfortunately for the event, my mind’s on other things, but I’d love to play well this week.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Do you like the golf course and the changes that you’ve seen?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, it’s very good.  Brought in a lot of hazards.  Obviously, Jack Nicklaus came in I hear and changed his own golf course.  The greens are a little bit more undulating than I remember back in the day and as I say, there are quite a few more hazards that’s in play.  It all depends on what the wind does.  If the wind comes, the golf course will play really tough.  It’s playing really fast.  But it’s quite scoreable in conditions like we had this morning.

Q.  You mentioned Tiaan Strauss, so I might ask you a rugby question if you don’t mind.  As a South African, what did it mean to you to see someone like Siya captain the team to win the World Cup and a follow up from that, is there anything that you can take from what the Springboks did that you can transfer into the President’s Cup team where you’re bringing together a bunch of players from around the world?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, what Siya has done is quite incredible.  I heard that he, the previous time that the Springboks won the World Cup in 2007, he was living in not a very nice comfortable house and it just shows you with hard work and to pick himself up from where he was and the way South Africa has changed, it’s just been incredible to see Siya’s rise through the ranks in rugby and in life in general.  Today he’s the hero of South Africa.  He’s in the same echelon or even higher than these previous two captains that won in John Smit and Francois Pienaar, so he’s an absolute icon back home in South Africa and somebody that we can really look up to and try and emulate.  For young kids it’s just an incredible story.

Then obviously what the Springboks have done was another great story.  They were the absolute underdogs going into the World Cup, they didn’t have a lot of form and somehow stood on the podium with the cup.  They had a good draw, they didn’t have to play New Zealand or Australia in the semis or quarters, but still they prevailed and then beat England in the final.  So, it was quite a comeback story.

Q.  When did you find out about Jason Day?

ERNIE ELS: On Friday morning my time in South Africa.  My phone was buzzing quite a bit and I eventually looked at it and saw there were three missed calls and two text messages from Jason, so he was quite frantic to get me and I called him back.  It was about three in the morning my time in South Africa.  He was in California and he gave me the news.

Q.  What did he say?  Can you tell us how that conversation went?

ERNIE ELS: He said he was prepping to come down here and he was in Palms Springs, California and just felt a huge tweak in his back and he said it was something that he’s felt before and it wasn’t going to be a short term solution to it, it was going to be a long term injury.  So, that was that.  He wanted to be here, badly, I know that.  We’ve had a lot of correspondence through the year.  We’ve had four or five team meetings, he was at each one, so he was totally invested to play and it’s unfortunate what happened.

Q.  How big a challenge is it to overcome what he would have brought to this team?

ERNIE ELS: Well, we’ve had some challenges in the past and this is one.  But, as I said before, we’ve got such an array of players that we can pick from, guys that are really on form, long term form and it’s unfortunate for Jason obviously, not to be able to play at home, but I’ve got a really great replacement in Ben An.  I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.  He played great at end of the season last year in Korea, Japan, at the Sanderson event he finished second or third.  So, he was really, really close.  It was a really nice call, for once, that I made to him, because the previous call was a very disappointing call.

Q.  You’ve been very strategic with the way you’ve tried to formulate your President’s Cup plan of attack.  Have you thought about who you want to face Tiger on Sunday, is it already on your mind?

ERNIE ELS: Not really, I’m really focused on the first couple of sessions.  We’ve got four sessions before we get to the singles.  There’s a lot of golf to be played.  I’ll analyse how the guys are playing and see who’s really got the look in the eye and then see accordingly how the guys are playing through the week.  There are a lot of guys who have put their hands up to want to play Tiger, but there’s going to be a lot of discussion before we get to the singles, so, not really.

Q.  Are there any partnerships that stand out in your mind like Cameron and Leish or any of the other guys?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, there are a couple of pairings that are kind of natural pairings, if you can call it that, but I’m looking at it in a different way, not just a personality way.  I’m looking at how the guys can really perform together.  So, stay tuned.

Q.  You said you’ve had a lot of guys put their hand up to play Tiger.  What does that tell you about your team and the players in the team?

ERNIE ELS:  It’s a very young team.  We’ve got a lot of young guys and then obviously we’ve got some experience in Adam and Louis and Leish and some of the guys – Hideki now, he’s played quite a few and then you’ve got some youngsters, really youngsters.  I mean 20 year olds and 21 year olds.  So, that’s refreshing.  These guys, they never competed against Tiger like some of the other guys have, like Scotty.  Scotty ran into Tiger quite a few times, so there are different ways you can look at how guys have played in the era of Tiger.  The youngsters look up at him, but they definitely want to have a piece of him.  So, we’ll see.  We’ll see who plays the best – maybe not the best, but who I think can really play against Tiger the best and get the best result.

Q.  Do you think that match up is as intimidating for guys now as it was 10 years ago?  Is it less intimidating now for them?

ERNIE ELS: Well, when you play in the singles, it depends on where the event is, where the standing is, the two teams are.  The pressure could be really high, depending on where that match up will be.  If it’s going to be a crucial time it will be a different player that’s going to play Tiger.  We’re going to really look at where that certain player is going to play Tiger.  I don’t want to have a guy feel overwhelmed.  I will not put a guy in there that’s going to feel overwhelmed.  So, I will go accordingly.  I’ll see who’s going to feel like he’s really got the best chance against him and I don’t think it’s the same kind of order like in the past, I think it’s a different kind of order.  It’s more of a, like he’s a celebrity kind of order and obviously, he’s very competitive, he’s won The Masters and won in Japan.  When he’s healthy, he can play at a very high level, but consistently, he’s not what he used to be and that’s just what age does.  But we’ll see when we get there.

Q.  Please ignore this if you’ve answered it.  Given your role next week, how does that change things this week in terms of will you be going home and being on the computer and checking out all of the scores from the Internationals and also the Americans?

ERNIE ELS:  I’ll be watching the Americans a little bit.  There could be something there, the way that the pairings were done for the first round.  It was interesting to see Tiger playing with Justin Thomas again.  It seems like he likes to play with Justin Thomas a lot, so there could be something there.  Then I’ll look at some of the other pairings.  There could be something there, more than with us.

My pairings is on my phone here and we’ve looked at quite a few different scenarios.  I’ve spoken to the players, some of the players already.  So, my thing is kind of set already, my plan is kind of set in motion already. So, it really doesn’t matter how the guys play this week, they’ve done their work, they’ve done the hard work of getting on the team.  They don’t really have to prove much to me anymore.  It will be nice if they play well, but we’ve done the long term form guide on all the players and I’m happy where they are.

Q.  Just a quick one.  I know you talked about focusing on the teams this week, but in the bigger picture, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think you could win and you’ve won The Open, you’ve won the US Open, you’ve won a Scottish Open, you won a Singapore Open.  What would it be like if you did get yourself in contention to win an Australian Open?

ERNIE ELS:  It will be just unreal, it will be a great feeling.  It will be wonderful to be in contention.   I really like the course.  As I say, I’ve played in Australia a lot, since the nineties, early nineties I played at The Vines in Western Australia, I’ve played in Melbourne, I’ve played up in Queensland, and I’ve won quite a few in Australia.  I’ve won, I think, four or five times in Australia but I’ve never been able to play a lot of Australian Opens like my countrymen have.  Bobby Locke has played a lot here and obviously Gary Player won seven Australian Opens, so they’ve had a lot of success. 

Australia has been such an unbelievable force in golf, with your tournaments you’ve had and how you’ve attracted great players to come and play on your great golf courses.  I’ve been fortunate enough to play down here, so it would be great to be able to be in contention.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Thank you ladies and gentlemen, thank you Ernie.  We’d like to see you in the week.

CAMERON SMITH

KATHIE SHEARER:  A great start to this year, 2019, a good year all round for you?

CAMERON SMITH:  Probably a little bit up and down, a little bit inconsistent, I guess.  My swing went a little bit technically and then my confidence kind of went with that.  We’ve been working on getting the technical side back to get that stuff back. But the last probably month and a half, two months has felt really good.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Who have you been working with?

CAMERON SMITH:  My coach, Grant Fields and a mental coach, Jonah Oliver.  They’re both based up in Queensland, so a lot of chats over the phone and Grant’s been over a fair few times as well this year.

KATHIE SHEARER:  You’ve said you’ve played about seven holes today, you’ve got the Pro-Am tomorrow.

CAMERON SMITH:  Yep.

KATHIE SHEARER:  What shape is your game in?

CAMERON SMITH:  Probably a little bit dusty actually. I flew in last week and just had a really quiet week up in Brisbane, just got to catch up with family and friends and do all that good stuff.  I had some renos in my backyard, so my dad and I laid some turf.  It was a bit of a weird week, but the game feels good, just needs a little bit of sharpening up.

Q.  When you say you need to sharpen up a little bit, can you do it in two days?  What are you going to be doing and how confident are you this week?

CAMERON SMITH:  Yeah, it doesn’t really take that much.  I went out there and played seven holes, did a little bit of work this morning with Grant and it was starting to feel really good at the end there.  Eighteen holes tomorrow, I’m sure it’ll be fine by tomorrow afternoon.  Maybe a little bit of work after tomorrow’s round and I should be good on Thursday.

Q.  I ask Marc this, it will be an issue for all the players this week who are playing next week as well. It’s 10 relentless days of pressure, two huge events.  How do you deal with it?  How do you prepare for it?  Have you given it any thought?  You’ve also got the added team element next week and many of them are here this week as well.  How is all that going to play out while you try to win an Open?

CAMERON SMITH:  It is going to be a big few weeks.  I was kind of prepared for it.  I know probably my practice will be less over the next two weeks because of the media commitments and the commitments outside of golf, they take a lot out of you, but I’m prepared and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Q.  What pushed you the most to pursue your career in golf, professional golf?

CAMERON SMITH:  I didn’t really have much else going for me, to be honest.  I did okay at school but all through high school all I wanted to do was play golf.  I couldn’t really pinpoint it.  I love playing golf and I’ve never really treated it as a job, but I know it is and I work hard at it and try and make myself better.  I don’t know really.  I’ve definitely got nothing to fall back on, that’s for sure.

Q.  I was reading Adam Scott was saying that he’d like Australian fans to really get behind the Internationals even more than in past events of the President’s Cup and maybe not, even if they love Tiger Woods, not cheer for him as much but get behind you guys.  Are you of the same thought?

CAMERON SMITH:  Yeah, absolutely.  I think we need that to maybe get in their heads a little bit.  Definitely on paper they’ve got a stronger team, but in saying that, I think we’ve got a really solid team.  All the guys can play some really good golf.  Everyone wants to be there and everyone’s desire to get the President’s Cup I think is really high.  I’m looking forward to it, I think it will be a great week.  But we definitely need that crowd on our side.  I know everyone’s really excited to have all the superstar Americans to come down, but we just need probably silence for them and a lot of cheer for us, I think.

Q.  Getting back to overseas, is a Major in your thoughts for next season?

CAMERON SMITH:  Yeah, I’ve performed relatively well in Majors throughout my career, so it’s something that I always look forward to.  I always enjoy the weeks.  I always try and treat them the same as any other tournament.  I don’t try and hype them up or do anything extra, I’m always just there to kind of do my thing and keep the routine going.  I think I’ve definitely got a little bit to go with my swing, like I was saying before, but I think hopefully in the next couple of years I can knock one off and hopefully get back up there.

Q.  Just on Rod’s question, the gentleman in front of me, how do you go from preparing for The Open as an individual player and then so quickly you’re part of a team, how is that preparation different and is the transition difficult?

CAMERON SMITH:  I don’t think it will be that difficult.  Preparation as a team is definitely different.  We’ll be playing probably some different games out on the course next week and stuff prior to the Tournament but I think Ernie’s done such a good job of getting us altogether and getting us all to know each other that the transition should all be really, really good.

Q.  You mentioned trying to treat a Major like a normal week, is it even harder to do that this week, catching up with your mates that you played junior golf with, like Jake and Mav and everything like that and then you’re obviously one of the bigger names as well.  Is it harder to make this a normal week than any other week of the year?

CAMERON SMITH:  Yeah, it probably is to be honest.  With the added commitments, everyone kind of wants a bit of a piece of you, which is fine, I love giving back.  But it is hard, but it’s part of the challenge and I’m always up for a challenge.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Terrific and thank you for coming in.  Hope we see you when the Tournament begins.  Hope we see you on Sunday, that would be good.

CAMERON SMITH:  Thank you.

PAUL CASEY

KATHIE SHEARER:  Paul, absolutely great to see you here again. You’ve come intermittently over many years.  I’ve sat beside you.  When was the first time that you came over? 

PAUL CASEY:  No idea.

KATHIE SHEARER:  NSW Open I think.

PAUL CASEY:  I won in 2003, but it was – I turned pro in 2000, so pro ‘01 or ’02 was my first visit as a professional.  Even though in ’99 I played in Lake Macquarie as an amateur.  That was a messy week, but it was good fun. Yeah, so it’s been 20 years of intermittently visiting Australia.  Good to be back.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Certainly good to have you.  Two wins this year, two marvellous wins this year and the year isn’t over.

PAUL CASEY:  Correct, I’ve got one last opportunity to make it three. This is a great Championship, as these guys know and you know.  It’s steeped in history.  You correct me, 1904 the first one?  Yeah, see, nailed it.  Niklaus has won five or six of them.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Gary Player seven.

PAUL CASEY:  Has he?

KATHIE SHEARER:  Yes.

PAUL CASEY:  Palmer.  Yeah, so this could have been considered and maybe should have been considered a fifth Major.  This would be a very cool one.

KATHIE SHEARER: The travel over, I was reading, and it is a long way, there’s no way to get here.  You come from the States, you live in Scottsdale still?

PAUL CASEY:  I do, Paradise Valley and I went from Dubai back to the States and then down here, so lots of time on an aeroplane in the last two weeks.  I feel surprisingly well actually.  I didn’t last week, I felt awful with jetlag, but I feel good.  It’s not easy but then I’m here to play well, I’m here to try and win.  I’m also here to have a good time and enjoy it.  I’ve just sampled the golf course, I love it.  Sydney’s a great city, I had a lovely dinner last night.  But yeah, I’m here to do a job and be professional.  So yeah, I might be tired, but I can muster energy for one more week.

KATHIE SHEARER:  And you played the 18 holes today?

PAUL CASEY:  No, I just played nine, the back nine.  I got a good feel, played with Rod Pampling, who knows this place well and has played this golf course very well.  Didn’t he shoot 61 here once?

KATHIE SHEARER:  61, yes.

PAUL CASEY:  So yeah, gleaned a little bit of information out of Rod’s brain. I really like what I saw.  I’ve seen it on TV but you never know with just seeing something on TV, until you see it in real life.  You hope, you cross your fingers that you like a golf course when you turn up and luckily, I instantly did, so I feel very good about it.  I’ll learn the rest of it tomorrow and it’s not going to be an issue.  I’ll feel prepared by Thursday when I tee off.

Q.  With all respect, because you seem to be getting better as you get older, is every tournament you come to more important to win than it was when you were 23, 24, because they’re not going to be there forever?

PAUL CASEY:  Yeah, I talked to a friend of mine – maybe he’s not a friend anymore – he just reminded me that maybe I’ve got 100 tournaments left in my career or something.  I’m like, that’s harsh, isn’t it? 

Yeah, so in a way, yes.  I know I’ve got a limited number of Majors, Major opportunities, yeah, limited number of events that I am going to have an opportunity to win.  I’m 42, realistically, maybe four, five great years, if I’m lucky.  It might be less.  Certainly I can play till I’m in my fifties, but at what level, I don’t know.  So, yeah, the clock’s ticking, which is why I said I’m obviously here to enjoy myself, but I’m here to try and win, otherwise I’m not going to get on the plane, and I’ve made a point of that now.  I don’t go anywhere anymore unless I’m trying to win.

Q.  That’s what I was getting at.  So, is it Florida where you broke back through a couple of years ago?

PAUL CASEY:  To be honest, it’s the last four, five years have been actually some really good golf.  What year are we – I’ve lost track of years – 2018, when I won Valspar was a pivotal moment, because it was nine years between victories on the PGA Tour.  I’ve had victories in Europe between then.  They put the other day that I was – Paul Casey ends his drought in Europe, hasn’t won since 2014 or ’15 or something on the European Tour, but they forget that I’ve actually not really been a member there for the last few years.  So, I’ve actually not played that many events.  So, I actually looked at it and went actually, I’ve won quite a lot in Europe considering the number of events I’ve played.  But it’s been, the uptick since ’14, ’15 onwards, has been really good and I’ve enjoyed it.  Sorry, I’m not sure what the question was.

Q.  I didn’t really get to fully ask it yet, but it looks like you’ve found a way to combine those two questions to keep winning now and win more frequently when you do play.  What is that secret?

PAUL CASEY:  I’m not sure my – I don’t think I’ve gotten better as a player in terms of my outright ability to hit golf shots or physically, nothing’s really changed.  I think I just eliminate mistakes better than I used to and so I’m hanging around more, I’ve got more opportunities for high finishes and therefore wins than I used to.  So, it’s more probably a better understanding of my golf game, more efficient.  It’s cheesy and corny, but it sort of rings true with me, I’m happy as a person and therefore play, win or lose, I’m more even keeled than I used to be, therefore again, that just provides more opportunities.

Q.  You’ve achieved a lot obviously in your career.  We’ve talked about winning.  Where would winning this week rank in all the things that you have won over the years?

PAUL CASEY:  I think it would rank quite highly based on the cache of the event, the history of the event.  It would also be pretty cool, you’ve got to check, I’m not sure I’ve played an Aussie Open.

KATHIE SHEARER:  I’m not sure that you have.

PAUL CASEY:  I’ve played lots of Aussie Masters and lots of other things.  So, this was – I don’t know why I don’t have an answer for you of why it’s not really been an event I’ve played before.  You know my schedule, I’d love to play international golf.  I respect that this is a standalone event, this is not co-sanctioned with multiple tours, which I like that.  Maybe that’s been a reason I’ve not been down before, but the fact that I’ve made a decision to come down here early in the year through Patrick and various other people, put it out there and sold this, and sold it very well. 

So, then to make that commitment and come down and then if I were to win this week would be incredibly satisfying.

Q.  Where would you rank it?

PAUL CASEY:  Where would I rank it?  Okay, let me ask you – ask that again, where would I rank it in terms of based on the tournaments that I’ve won or the meaning to me?

Q.  The ones you’ve won, where would you rank it?

PAUL CASEY:  Based on the Tournaments I’ve won in terms of cache, it would be one of the biggest ones, wouldn’t it, just based on history.  It’s pretty simple.  Winning the Porsche European Open this year and looking at the names on that trophy was pretty cool or Irish Open, names on that, pretty cool.  My golf history’s terrible.  I don’t know how those Championships are, certainly the European Open is not in comparison to this.  A WPGA Championship is now or an Irish Open, they’re not great names – great names, not that old an event.  This would probably be the most significant in terms of history.

So, where would it rank, to answer you, yeah, probably the best.  Sorry, that was a really long answer.  It’s like an interrogation and I cracked.

Q.  Talking about nostalgia, will you go back to NSW this year?  Are you into that sort of stuff or not?

PAUL CASEY:  I am into that stuff but there’s just no time. Yeah, I’m into that stuff but I tend not to do any of that stuff when I’m at Tournaments.  I think the time for that is down the road, bore my kids or something, one day drag them out here.  I went round here.  I’d love to go play that place, but with mates, because to be honest, it’s a great golf course but it just gives me fits, to actually have a score card in your hand and try and play that golf course is just like, it’s no fun.  With all the – what is that stuff around there, it’s like gauze or tea tree or whatever that stuff is, it’s awful.

KATHIE SHEARER:  It’s tea tree.

Q.  As someone who’s been coming here for 20 years, you look at the lessons to be learnt through golf in different parts of the world, like Links Golf.  What would you say the lessons to be learnt about Aussie golf are in terms of what you need to play well?

PAUL CASEY:  That’s a good question.  Partly the architecture of the golf course that’s down here and then the grass types and the set up you, firm and fast, I guess you’ve got a combination of great ball strikers, which actually rings true, if you look at most Australian professionals that I know through great pros through the years, great ball strikers, great swing control, great trajectory control with their irons, brilliant bunker players and short game.  I think of, obviously, he’s not here this week, but Jason Day’s great, one of the game’s best currently.

You need that.  You know, the golf courses dictate how you’re going to develop as a golfer and luckily, all those traits are applyable for them any golf around the world.  Again, why your players have been so successful around the world for so long.

But yeah, these courses just expose you if you don’t have those, but in the same regard, any player I believe can win this week, in terms of any style of golf, they don’t have to be long, they can be short, they can be long, but without question, if you have those attributes, then it’s going to be a massive advantage.

Q.  You’re in charge of the Global Golf Tour, congratulations.  Where would we be playing?  Would we be playing national opens in the series?  Would we be playing not so much in the United States?  Would we be–

PAUL CASEY:  You don’t have long enough for me to answer that fully.

Q.  I’d love to hear it.

PAUL CASEY:  You don’t have long enough.  It’s funny, my manager’s at the back of the room, he knows what I’m like.  He knows I sit with Monaghan and Pelley and these guys and Slumbers and Mike Davis on a regular basis and usually give them my two cents’ worth.  I’m fairly opiniated on that stuff.  It’s a complicated answer, in short, because yes, there’s the history of the game and relevance and then there’s also money as well and TV and media and everything else.  So, it’s a very complicated answer and a lot of thought, diligent thought that needs to go into answering that question.  I can’t give you an answer.

Q.  So, if I specify a specific question here – you’ve obviously read up on the Australian Open history and you appreciate what it is. Would you like to see it more prominent on a global calendar?

PAUL CASEY:  Yes.

Q.  As part of a bigger tour or just continue to stand alone?

PAUL CASEY:  You’re leading the witness.  This is dangerous in here, it’s like entrapment.  Yeah, are you giving me the get out, escape, pull the rip cord.  Go on, next question.

Q.  Will you be watching the President’s Cup next week?

PAUL CASEY:  Yes.

Q.  And who’s your vote to win?

PAUL CASEY:  You know, the mind obviously says the US.  You look at the strength of their team, even minus guys like Brooks.  My heart would dearly love – I’ve said it – I’d love the Internationals to win.  The great golf course they’re playing, I hope the fans become a factor that benefits an extra man for the International team.  I think the International team is fantastic, because I know all the players and world ranking position aside, I know that they’re very capable of giving the US a great run for their money.

The format itself makes it very difficult for me to genuinely – you have to kind of lean to the US just based on the format, because everybody plays, unlike the Ryder Cup where four guys sit out each session on Friday/Saturday for us.  It makes it easier to – it just makes it slightly easier for maybe the weaker team to work it.  So, I don’t know, I hope they win, the Internationals, I really do, or at least if it’s not, I hope it’s a hell of a match, because I’m a golf fan as well and you have to give hats off to the Americans.  The quality golf they played a couple of years ago in New York was brilliant, but you want it to be close.

KATHIE SHEARER: Okay ladies and gentlemen, thank you, thank you Paul for coming in.

MARC LEISHMAN

KATHIE SHEARER:  Really terrific to have you here.  It’s been a few years since you played The Open?

MARC LEISHMAN:  It has been, yeah, 2015.  Actually it was here, so yeah, happy to be back; love it here at The Australian, love Sydney, excited to be here again.

KATHIE SHEARER:  How would you rate your year.  You had a great start to the year, was it not what you claimed after your terrific start?

MARC LEISHMAN:  Probably a little disappointing.  Won early in the season in Malaysia and then I think I had four out of my first five events, I think I had four top 10s, and then I had a couple of decent events after that, but yeah, not what I was after.  I had a few back issues and got pneumonia during the play-offs and just little stuff.  It was disappointing but I think I’ll learn from it.  I think if you don’t learn from your bad finishes or your mistakes or whatever, you’re not going to get any better, so I think that’s hopefully a stepping stone and I’ll get better from what I learnt.

KATHIE SHEARER:  And you love this course?

MARC LEISHMAN:  Yeah, I really do.  I played it, I think this is my fourth Australian Open that I’ve played here.  Two before the redo.  I played in 2015; I played poorly but I really like the golf course.  It’s in probably the best condition that I’ve almost ever seen a golf course.  The layout’s good, the condition’s good, I mean it’s going to be a good week.

Q.  I don’t want to harp on your body shape, but you’ve actually dropped a fair bit of weight.  I was just wondering how much and whether it was actually a thing that you were trying to do?  My source tells me that after the British Open you thought you might need to lose a bit.  Are you doing anything different?  Is it a thing or has it just happened?

MARC LEISHMAN:  I don’t think it ever just happens, well not to me anyway.  No, I just wanted to change my eating habits a little bit. Like I said before, I’ve had a few back issues popping up.  I’ve lost, I think it’s eight kilos, so not a whole lot of weight, but a good eight kilos in a suitcase, carry that around all the time, it makes a difference.  So, it took a little bit of time to adjust, for my body to adjust golf-wise, but yeah, I feel better for it now.  I mean, I just try to cut out sugar and bread really, that’s about it, and cut down a little bit on the beer.  But that’s going to be easier said than done while I’m home in Australia, so yeah.  It was a conscious thing that I did and I’m glad I did it.

Q.  Two big weeks, two totally different forums, both very important to you, the International and the President’s Cup, how do you deal with that mentally as well as physically and is there going to be a cost to that extent?

MARC LEISHMAN:  Yeah, it is, I think managing time well, both weeks really is important and then switching on and off between shots, you know, not stressing about what might happen or might not happen.  That’s a bad habit for me or it has been in the past.  So, doing that will help just conserve energy.  I think that’s a big thing and maybe making sure I don’t swing at it too hard and do something that I don’t really need to.  Yeah, that’s probably the biggest thing, but just time management and I think that’s the biggest thing, where I can save energy and prepare.  But yeah, it is a big two weeks; two Tournaments that I really want to win.  Every Australian golfer wants to win the national Open and then I’ve been on three losing President’s Cup teams and I don’t really want it to be four.

Q.  In shedding eight kilograms was it, how many shirts and pair of trousers have you had to buy?

MARC LEISHMAN:  How many what?

Q.  How many pairs of pants and shirts?

MARC LEISHMAN: I had enough where I didn’t have to get rid of any.  I had enough – eight kilos is not that much on me, really.  Waist size might have gone down an inch maybe, so it’s not really a full pants size, shirts are a bit loser so it’s not a problem.  I’m sure I’ll take care of that in the next month or so.

Q.  One more question out of this field, you mentioned beers, really you started making your own beer, how did that come about and how good is the beer?

MARC LEISHMAN: It’s great.

Q.  Where is it?

MARC LEISHMAN:  So, we’ve got a full strength beer in America, Leishman Lager and we’ve had that for about three and a half years.  We’re bringing out a mid-strength beer in Australia.  It’s going to be coming out middle of December.  That’s also going to be called Leishman Lager but they’re two different products but both good products.  Good beer.  Like I said, mid-strength.  I’ve found that the Australian beers are a fair bit stronger than what a lot of the stuff in America is, so to have a mid-strength – I think more than half the beer market is mid-strength in Australia now.  We want to try and get into that market and hopefully we get a fair share of it.

Q.  Firstly, would you like a taster for that beer, I’m volunteering?  How do you rate your game at the moment and how do you rate your chances over the week?  Is there anything you need to work on as you go into this week?

MARC LEISHMAN:  I’ve been working pretty hard on my driving, I feel like that let me down a fair bit this year.  I spent some time with Denis, my coach Denis McDade in Florida last week.  I flew down to Florida to get some warm weather, worked out what was happening.  I feel like I’m driving it well but I need to make sure I drive it really well this week.  I think that’s a big key for me and then distance control with my irons.  I think that’s going to be important with the wind, if it gets up, not leave myself in any bad positions.  Putting’s always a big one.  You’re not going to win an Australian Open if you don’t putt well.

Q.  I know you’re probably in Tournament mode, but I wanted to ask you about golf broadly.  This week there’s the All Abilities Championship happening as well.  I know you’ve travelled everywhere, go to so many countries and tournaments.  What does it mean as an Aussie coming back to play at home and seeing this kind of thing going on in Australian Golf, sort of embracing everyone?

MARC LEISHMAN:  Yeah, I think it’s awesome.  I remember at the World Cup last year at Metropolitan, there was a similar event.  I’m not sure if it was the same event, but it was a similar event and I think it’s amazing.  Being able to interact with those guys and girls and how good their golf games are, it’s really impressive.  Like I say, it’s great.  I’d like to take any opportunity I can to learn.  The talent that they have is pretty impressive and it’s great that they’re going to be out here playing amongst us, I believe.  I’m excited to see some of them play again, watch them on the range.  I’m sure they’ll have a great time.  It’s a good opportunity and I think it’s great what Golf Australia have done.

Q.  How far do you think golf has to go to be fully inclusive, even men v women?

MARC LEISHMAN:  I mean, I think it’s got a long way to go but I think they’re quite different products, not in good or bad ways, I just think they’re very different.  I mean, it’s got a fair way to go, but I think they’re doing a lot of things to go in the right direction.

Q.  You talked about your desire to win at home, in reflecting back on what’s happened in the past to you in The Open and other Australian Tournaments, have you come across anything that strikes you that you did wrong?  Do you think that you chased too hard almost or what exactly has it been do you think?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I think over the last couple of years I’ve done a better job of it.  I’ve had chances the last two years to win tournaments in Australia.  I think before say, 2015, 2016, I think I was either going too hard or relaxing too much, I didn’t have that balance.  So, I think now I treat most events pretty evenly, whether it’s the Bays of Limitation or The Masters or The Australian Open or whatever it might be. I try and prepare as well as I can to win that event and that’s what I’m doing this week, preparing as well as I can to try and win it.  You don’t want to put any event on a pedestal, but it’s hard not to put these big Australian events on a pedestal, like Majors as well, you want to try a little bit harder but sometimes that’s not very good for your golf game, so you’ve got to work out how to do what’s best for you.

Q.  Do you get experience from when you do the WPC into a Major, is that overreaching to say the least, a field like that, a big event to big event?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it is close, to that. You said WGC and the Major?

Q.  Greg Stone into the PGA, you guys don’t usually do that, but you had experience doing that before.

MARC LEISHMAN:  It’s definitely similar to that, because I mean, I don’t know if there are two events that I want to win more than this event and the President’s Cup.  Like I said, I’ve played this a lot of times and never won it and I’ve played the President’s Cup, three, soon to be four times and haven’t won that.  So, I’ve just got to play good, do what I can to play well, because I know that I’m not going to win this week if I don’t play well and certainly we’re not going to win as a team next week if we don’t play well as a team. 

To have two weeks in a row where you really want your game peaking for the whole time is a little different, but like I said, every event you want to try and win.  I know you’re not going to win every event but this is a little bit unique in that respect.

Q.  You’re owning up like a typical Aussie, you’ve done great things.  When you come back, do you feel at all like the big guy in the room out there?  Do people treat you higher on the pedestal?  Can you feel that?  I know you don’t react that, but can you feel that?

MARC LEISHMAN:  Not really, I mean, we’re just all out there trying to do a job.  Early in the week you’re trying to prepare for a tournament, Thursday, Friday you’re trying to get into a good position to win the Tournament and then hopefully you’re on the range late Sunday.  That’s what you want to do, try and be that last bloke off the range Sunday.  No, I don’t think I get treated any differently to what I have in the past.

Q.  You think you might have an aura down the stretch against someone with less experience?

MARC LEISHMAN:  I mean, it’s a great field this week, but maybe, I don’t know, I don’t like to think of it as that, because I mean, I’ve played against better players and beaten them and I’ve played against so-called players that may not have the name that I do and they’ve beaten me, so I feel like, I try and not think like that.  You’ve got to try and get the ball in the hole quicker than everyone else.

Q.  There’s a real buzz about the field and rightly so this week.  The best Australian Open field we’ve had for some time, does that add a little bit of extra spice?  If you were going to win an Australian Open, would this be a good one to win?

MARC LEISHMAN:  I mean, they’re all good ones to win, but yeah, this is a great field.  Maybe that’s a good thing for me because it takes the spotlight off me a little bit and puts it on the other guys, because we’ve got a great Australian contingent and a great international contingent. It’s a great field all around.  Every Australian Open has great players.  Like I said, you’ve just got to do what you can to play well and hope you do, because at the end of the day it’s golf.  It can be a funny game.  I mean, you think you’ve got it one day and nothing can go wrong and then the next day you think you’re never ever going to break par again.  So, yeah, great field, it’s just awesome for the Tournament.  I’m so happy for the Tournament that they’ve got a field like this.

KATHIE SHEARER: Thank you ladies and gentlemen.  Thank you Marc for coming in.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN

KATHIE SHEARER: Thank you for coming in today.  Have you ever played The Australian

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  No, I’ve only been to Perth twice in the realm of Australia.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Oh my goodness.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Yeah, can’t believe it, but first time in Sydney.

KATHIE SHEARER:  How many holes did you get to play today?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Zero.

KATHIE SHEARER:  Zero?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I’ve only arrived at midnight so just getting a little bit of practice in today but tomorrow will be my first time on the golf course.

KATHIE SHEARER:  How is your game?  You had a great start to the year, would that be fair enough to say?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Yeah, game feels good, so I just need to get a little bit of play in this week and patch up a few things in the game to get it ready for next week.

KATHIE SHEARER:  What is the strongest part of your game at the moment?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I would say my putting has been really good lately and normally that’s a place that I struggle with a little bit. It’s been a lot better than what the rest of my game was in the last few months.

Q.  I’m going to ask all of the players this, two huge weeks back to back.  I know you’re part of a travelling circus weekly on the PGA Tour, to come to the other side of the world, have to learn a new golf course, it’s Tuesday, you’ve never seen it, how do you manage all of that and still try to maintain both the energy and the golf game to play well?  It’s going to be 10 days of pretty relentless pressure.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I think we’ve been doing it for so long you get used to it quickly.  That first day or two with the jetlag is always not great, but quickly your body adapts to it.  I think these days, if your caddy does a good job just by walking the golf course and looking at a few things and go out and play one practice round, that’s more than you really need.  Just a lot of times it’s better not knowing where all the trouble is on the golf course and just go out and play.

But, yeah, I’m looking forward to the week.  First time here, I’ve got the family here, so I’ll just take it very chilled this week, get the game as sharp as possible for next week.  I know we’ve got a big task as a team next week.

Q.  Is it true that you used to travel with your own mattress?  Do you still do that and is it here this week and how are you getting it to Melbourne next week?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  That would be fun to try and get it here.  No, I used to, a long time ago.  Three years ago I used to travel with a mattress when I still had some back issues.  I’m all good now, no problems, I’ve sorted everything out.  Yeah, it was a fun year, to try and organise all the logistics and stuff to do that, but I mean, luckily, that’s all downhill.

Q.  Not to take you away from this week, but can you believe that next week you’re the only South African in that team and losing Gracie, how do you think you’ll adjust to that, because obviously you were such an easy pairing to have?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Yeah, I mean, it will be strange being the only South African in the team.  I’ve been with Leish and Scotty in all the other teams that I’ve played in, so they feel just as close as what the South Africans would feel to me.  But yeah, it was unfortunate that Gracie couldn’t make it.  I know he was trying really hard at the end there and pushing and pushing, but the other guys just played so well.  Ernie, I think he wanted to pick Gracie, but he couldn’t because the other guys were just playing too good a golf and Branden understands that.  Hopefully, in two years’ time when we play again, we have a few more South Africans in the team.

Q.  Just to follow up, Ernie keeps talking about how well he knows Royal Melbourne and how he’s amazing there and he has the blueprint.  How much, if any, has he imparted on you guys so far and if not, what do you expect, I guess, broadly, that will be and will it change your approach?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I think we’ll have a few chats this week.  I know Ernie will sit with us quite a bit early next week and talk about a few things on the golf course.  I think Ernie and Scotty are two people you’re definitely going to listen to around that golf course.  They’ve got a great record, especially Ernie around the track.  They’ve sort of figured out how to play that golf course.  I’ve only seen pictures, I’ve never played there.  I’ll definitely be listening to them quite a bit and figuring out what the best way is to play the golf course.

Q.  The Aussies guys we were talking to a little bit earlier, they say they’re just desperate to beat the Americans this time.  Do you feel the same and are you guys in a WhatsApp group or something, getting fired up or is it maybe playing for Ernie that will get you the win?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I think we all sort of feel Royal Melbourne is the place we’ve got probably the best shot.  We’ve got a team that’s really in form.  We’ve got a young side coming through.  I think having an Aussie crowd behind us, playing Royal Melbourne especially, I think it will be the best home course advantage we can have. 

So, I think we’ve got to rely a lot on that and then just go out and play and not really think too much about anything else.  I mean, two years ago, we absolutely faced a brick wall with a massively strong American side and didn’t stand much of a chance.  I think this year things are going to be slightly different.

Q.  Just coming back to this week and the Australian Open, Gary Player, obviously on the Cup a lot, the Stonehaven Cup.  Do you have expectations that you can win that?  Is this a Tournament that you looked at before and thought, okay, Gary’s won that, I’d like to?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Honestly, no.  It’s never been, scheduling-wise, it’s never been in my schedule.  It’s always been up against a South African events or it’s the time of the year that I don’t play much golf, but knowing I was coming here and I knew he’s the player who won it before and I just heard he won it seven times, I didn’t know that.  It will be a massive Tour to put my name alongside him on the trophy.  Any event I tee off, you try and win it.  I know I’m saying I’m trying to get the game sharp for next week, that doesn’t I’ll go out and just try stupid things.  But you’ll definitely try and just sharpen those edges  where you need to improve.

I’m ready to tee it up and see what the golf course is like and just try and win the trophy.

Q.  As a very global player, would you like to see events like the Australian Open and the South African Open have a more permanent spot on the schedule and be part of a global tour?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I mean, it’ll be great.  Any Open of a country, it’s a massive event for that country.   For the Australian guys this week, I can sort of – what South African Open meant to me, winning that was one of the highlights of my career and I can just imagine it’s the same feeling for Adam and for Cam and Leish and everyone playing here this week.  So, it’ll be sad in the future to see those events against each other on the schedule.  You would rather have them separate where guys can play all of them, if they can, if it goes into a schedule.

Yeah, it’s unfortunate that Open, like SA Open, Aussie Open and just an Open of a country is always pushed to the side and doesn’t get a good spot on schedules.

Q.  I’m going from a Ryder Cup angle.  You play in the European Tour a lot, you know guys like Rosie and Poults and Rory and GMac and Pawdrick.  Do you find yourself watching the European Ryder Cup team?  Are you impressed when they do win and do you sort of also sometimes ask yourself how can we translate that into the President’s Cup or is the President’s Cup a completely different animal?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I think President’s Cup is very unique with completely different, 12 different players or not just different players, different countries and different cultures.  It’s a very unique set up, the President’s Cup.  Everyone always says that we don’t have team spirit or don’t have enough.  I can promise you, when Thursday comes, we’re like 12 brothers in that team.  We’ve bonded, we’re ready to go, we want to win, we’ve got the same energy and just want to get the tournament done.  By the end of the week you’re sort of sad, you want it to last another week or two.

Watching the Ryder Cup always is phenomenal to see those boys, how they come together.  I think the history with the Ryder Cup, there is a lot more in there, and that’s why you always see the guys a little bit more pumped and we need that.  We need that in the President’s Cup.  I think the only way to get that is if Internationals win.  We need to get our name on the trophy again and show the Americans we’re here to play.  We’re here to win the trophy, to win the Cup and not just show up to just have a good week.

KATHIE SHEARER: Thank you so much, thank you for coming in.

STEPHEN PITT

MARK HAYES:  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 104th Emirates Australian Open.  Just as always in the media centre.  Without any further ado, I’d like to welcome Golf Australia Chief Executive, Stephen Pitt to the lectern here, to make welcome everyone to the Tournament.  Stephen before you address questions from the floor, can I ask you, there’s obviously a lot of smoke out there, is that something that you guys have taken into consideration?

STEPHEN PITT:  Thank you Mark.  Firstly, our sort of issues with smoke at a golf tournament pale into insignificance to the things that homeowners and people, property owners and people right round the country have dealt with.  So, we’re very aware of that fact and all our sympathies and thoughts go to them, because that’s the real issue.

For us this week, it has been a little bit different, the first couple of days.  It’s not something we’ve really had to give consideration to before. We’ve had storms, rain and hail, heat and cold and all those sorts of things are your typical golf tournament issues, but this one is new.  We have been in constant contact, particularly with the Bureau of Meteorology.  The outlook is really optimistic.  At the moment, I believe we’re having a westerly wind and that’s the worst wind we can get in terms of the smoke.  That is due to change later this evening.  There are southerlies and then potentially a north easterly that will come in and they will clear the air, which I think is not just good news for us, but also good news for the people of Sydney and surrounding areas.  I think that is really positive, but it’s a situation we will continue to monitor.

MARK HAYES:  I know you want to make some other opening remarks and then we’ll open the floor to questions after that.

STEPHEN PITT:  We’re really excited to be here this year for the 10th Emirates Australian Open.  We’ve got a terrific field this week.  We’re in the second year of the All Abilities Championship presented by ISPS Handa, which is just a wonderful initiative.  We were so pleased with how it went last year and it’s become a really important event very quickly, and the field for that event is also really strong.

I think on both fronts we’re going to have a great week of golf and kicking off what’s going to be a terrific summer of golf in Australia, and that’s really important for the game, to help grow the game and put some drivers back into grassroots golf, and hopefully get a golf club in the hands of more people around the country.

MARK HAYES:  We’ll open the floor up to questions.

Q.  Steve, obviously there’s a multitude of issues that face the game – apart from the one of growing of the game and getting clubs into kids’ hands.  Professional tournaments have some role to play there, beyond that, what does Golf Australia have to help pay back?

STEPHEN PITT: Professional tournaments do play a role but they’re a small component of it.  I think in Australia we’ve actually had a really strong correlation between success at the highest level and strength at grassroots.  It goes right back to Greg Norman.  We can chart the growth of Australian golf on the back of his success over a period of time and more recently with Karrie and Minjee and the girls and Adam and Jason probably winning Majors in the guys.

But beyond that, as I said, it’s only one component.  For us the program is designed to get clubs in the hands of kids, of women and girls, of new golfers, is really important.  For us, the My Golf program that’s a joint venture program with the PGA is a really important program and it’s in six years of being a PGA/GA joint venture.

The numbers have grown from about 4,000 kids to nearly 30,000 and I think that’s a really strong growth over a period of time.  I always had a view if we could get to 30,000, then you’ve actually got something meaningful that is a really good platform to grow the game into the future.

We will launch this summer Get Into Golf, which is a program designed to connect people of all ages with the game of golf and we’ve got some pretty ambitious targets within that as well.  We’re looking to try to get about 10,000 people in the first year hooked in through that program and then to grow it from there. 

We’re running some programs through government called Better Ageing and that’s a really important program.  If you think about Australians living longer and trying to stay healthy and active longer, I think golf is an amazing vehicle to help achieve that.

So, look, they’re the main things.  Beyond that, we’ve been fortunate that we’ve had so many great players and great players performing well in recent times, in both the women’s and men’s games, and I think that holds us in good stead, and they’ve been wonderful ambassadors not just for golf, but also for Australia.

So, I think those components leave us well positioned.

Q.  Obviously, the next step after you put a club into the kids’ hands is having somewhere to play.  We’ve got issues with public golf courses and public courses closing, clubs have their own issues to deal with.  Is it the responsibility of Golf Australia and if it is, what sort of plans might you have to ensure that there are public access courses available for those who want to enjoy the game at all levels?

STEPHEN PITT: I think we’ve got to do a better job of bringing public access facilities into the fold and there’s been a fair bit of work done on that.  But that’s one component of it.  I think the bigger piece of work is working with our own clubs, making sure that they’re more accessible to children and also women and girls beyond that.

We’re running a program called Vision 2025 and it’s designed to make golf more attractive to women and girls and to really make some material change by the year 2025. 

So, for us, I think clubs have come a long way in terms of being more accessible.  If you went back 20 years, juniors were just ignored within golf clubs.  Now there’s probably some clubs out there that still aren’t doing a very good job in that area, but there are a lot of clubs that have changed significantly and they’ve got a much better longer term view on their role of growing golf in this country.  So, I think we’ve got to continue to drive that outcome and I think that, in concert with probably offering a more co-ordinated service to facilities and not just courses, but driving ranges I think are really important within growing the game.  Even putt putt and things like Top Golf and those sorts of things, all make up the mosaic of what golf is and I think they’re all really important.  So, we’ve got to do more to build those relationships too.

Q.  Just following on from that, there is more than a million golfers in Australia but it seems like the big problem is converting them into golf club members.  What’s the feedback that you get working with clubs as to why it’s such a trickle effect through becoming a member?

STEPHEN PITT: I think you’ve got to be realistic and look at the big picture of Australian sport and what we’re experiencing within golf is what’s happening across Australian sports.  Membership across organised sport in this country is under pressure and is declining, and what’s happening, there’s an emergence of less structured sporting options.

I think in terms of golf, you’ve got to be able to adapt to that.  I actually think golf has done a pretty reasonable job in that space.  We may be slow at it sometimes, but if look at your typical semi-private club 20 years ago, their revenue model was probably something like 80 per cent member, 20 per cent non-member.  Now, for that same club, it’s probably 50/50 or even 40/60.  So, clubs have adapted their business model.

From our perspective, we’ll always be trying to get golf club members because we think that is the ultimate, because they’re the rusted on people that have made a really tangible commitment to the club and to the game, so we always think there’s value in actually doing that.  But you just can’t ignore the casual players out there who may never be a member of a golf club but have a love for the game.

So, one of the things that we’re doing in the next 12 months is building our capability to talk to casual players and we’ve got targets of growing that by 50,000 within the next six months.  I think as an organisation, we’ve got to be able to communicate with them, engage with casual golfers, even though some of them may never be club members or certainly have a period where club membership doesn’t appeal to them.

Q.  Stephen, we’re only a few weeks away from a new decade, but when you look back on the last decade, what sort of stands out in terms of impact on Australian golf and when you look at say, a golfer of the decade, does Adam Scott stand alone in terms of his past history?

STEPHEN PITT: That’s a great question.  Let me think about the first part of it first.  Bernie, look to me, probably the best thing we’ve done is My Golf.  I know it’s still growing and it’s still got a fair way to go.  It’s not rivalling Auskick at this point, but if you look 10 years ago, that space was really fragmented.  The PGA were running their own program, we were running something different.  So, to bring the organisations together and to do something around junior golf to me is really important.

I think as we grow that, as it gets over 30,000, hopefully towards 50,000 kids, you’ve got a really strong platform to grow the game in the future.

The golfer of the decade, that’s a really tough question.  I think Australians will never forget what Adam Scott did at the Masters, that had been such an area of heart ache and near misses for us and I think that was such an important moment in Australian golf and to get to world number 1.  I think he’s certainly right up there.

I think the other one, although she hasn’t won a Major, if you look at what Minjee’s done in the amateur space and then turning into the professional world, she’s been just so dominating.  They’d probably be the two that I think.

If you went the decade before, it would be a lot easier, because we’d all agree on, probably Karrie, but the last decade, probably Adam and Minjee would be the two that probably edge the others.

Q.  Have you had any word back from the sneaky greenkeepers yet on how the course is going to be set up and do you accept some pretty serious scores out there, and what’s the condition of the course?

STEPHEN PITT: The condition’s really, really good.  I’d pay acknowledgment to the course and the course staff, because they’ve had really tough conditions as anyone that lives in New South Wales would know.  It’s been pretty bad conditions for presenting a golf course in.  Our people were up here – well, they’ve been up here a lot – but even a couple of weeks ago, the view was it’s going to be absolutely perfect.

We’re very happy with how the golf course has been presented.  I think The Australian is always a really fair test.  There’s not some of the dangers that you can get in terms of set up that you can get elsewhere.  It’s not as exposed say, as NSW or even The Lakes, where we’ve had a few challenges with wind.

So, I think we should get a really good event.  If you think back here, you know, this golf course can play really tough.  The round that stands out to me is probably Jordan Spieth in 2014, his 63 in that final round, when Rory said, “I could have played the golf course a hundred times and not shot that.” 

So, it can be set up really, really tough but I think the great thing about the golf course is it’s tough but still fair.  If you play well, you can score well here.

Q.  One of the things I was getting at earlier in terms of public golf, we’ve lost Hudson Park here in Sydney and Victoria Park.  What are the feelings of the response from Golf Australia in that space and what might be able to become?  Is it time to get proactive in approaching councils about the facilities they have and making sure that they’re sustainable?

STEPHEN PITT: Okay, yes, I’m with you, Rod.  Yes, I do think we need to be, proactive is the word I would agree with and we’ve actually invested in this area.  It’s one of the benefits of the One Golf process that we’re going through.  We’ve put some resources into this area.

We’ve been, I think a bit reactive in this space and if you think about golf courses around the country, particularly in Sydney, there’s some that are under challenge, and for us, the thing we want to do is actually help clubs before those challenges arise.  From our perspective, we’re always going to have challenges.  We have 1,500 golf clubs.  I think that makes us the third most golf courses per capita in the world.  Scotland is one and I think England is two, so we’re right there.

It means that from time to time, when you’ve got so many golf clubs per capita, you’ll have areas where there may be a glut of golf clubs and the market makes it hard for them to succeed, particularly if costs arising.

So, from our perspective, it’s how do you help clubs before they get in those situations?  How do we stand up to councils and tell councils about the great things that golf does?  Environmentally, I think we’ve become a terrific sport in terms of how we handle environmental issues.  Sustainability of golf courses, the flora and fauna now that are on golf courses often are much better than what’s available in parklands.  I think just the health and wellbeing aspect for people, keeping people active and mentally and socially engaged late into their lives is really critical. 

So, it’s how we work with councils till they understand that message and understand all the good things that golf does, rather than focusing on some of the bad things.  So, I do think we’ve got a role to play in that space.

I think ultimately we probably need to communicate well with our members, our 400,000 club members about their role in doing this.  The two messages I would like to really start delivering to our club members – one is to share the game more and let’s bring more people into this great game of ours because it makes people’s lives better.  Secondly, let’s show governments and councils that we’re passionate about our golf and engaged with our golf and that we want golf to be treated well by governments and we want governments to partner with golf.

Q.  How much of a concern, if any, is the declining win percentage on the PGA Tour for Australians and membership rate as well?  The next level has not kept up with past numbers.

STEPHEN PITT: I guess you always look at those sorts of things.  From our perspective, the main metric we look at is transition rates and what Australians are doing in terms of how they transition from amateur golf to professional golf.  Right now the rookie program, and Brad James can talk about this more in depth, the transition rates are pretty good, we’re ahead of the curve and that’s the whole purpose of the rookie program, to safeguard athlete transition and to make sure players don’t go backwards or don’t stunt their development through sort of negative practices.

But, having said that, I think there are still probably some areas we’d like to see improvement.  There have been some players that we thought would probably be further along the line than what they currently are, so that’s always something that our coaches look at internally.  Are there things that we can do better in this space?

The US Tour for us will always be critical because it’s the biggest, most prosperous tour in the world.  I think having said that, we feel like we do have a good crop of young players coming through and we’ve had some good success.  Now it’s just making sure that they’re going to take the next step and get – for us the top 100 in the world is really critical.  That’s where, if you look at the data, that’s where Major winners generally come from. The more players you have in that top 100, the better off you are for a range of reasons.

So, for us, that’s always the ultimate target and if you look at the last say, 10 or 15 years, there’s been times where we’ve had more players, both men and women, in those top echelons.  Right now I think we’ve sort of got three in the top 50, both men and women, which is pretty good, but we’d obviously like more.

Q.  Geographically, what’s the future of this Championship looking like beyond the current arrangement with the NSW Government?

STEPHEN PITT:  We still, I guess, have the luxury of having the arrangement with NSW Government till 2023, including that Championship.  The deal we’ve structured the last time around, I think was an excellent deal, in that it just gave us a little bit more flexibility.  So, for the first time since 2006 it will be held somewhere else in Australia, so down at Kingston Heath next year.  Not that Sydney hasn’t been a wonderful home – it’s been an incredible 13 years here in Sydney.

Then we’re in Victorian Golf Club in 2022.  Beyond that, there’s a bit of water to go under the bridge before we’re in a place where we can start working past 2023.  As I said, we have a wonderful relationship with the NSW Government. 

If you had your utopia, you’d like to see it move somewhat.  I think a long term anchor tenant and then having the ability to move it too, a little bit like we’ve done in this current arrangement; take some pressure off the courses in that anchor state and also, I guess, to showcase it around.

We look at the Open Championship in the US Open, the way they move those events around and there’s obviously some real value in doing that.  But, our ultimate aim is to make sure the Tournament is healthy and prosperous and coming from a really strong base, and that’s our first priority.

Q.  Is that realistic though, what you’re mentioning about potentially having a base but then touching on a [inaudible]

STEPHEN PITT:  I think possibly.  Contractually there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of how we handle that process and obviously a lot of respect with the NSW Government in terms of the partnership that we’ve had over a long period of time.  But I think it is potentially possible.  It’s not always easy, and even this time around, to actually achieve the eight years wasn’t an easy process, but we have done it, so I’m really happy about that.  I think it’s a good result for the Championship.

It’s not easy, but I think it’s probably more realistic now than it was say, 10 or 15 years ago where it was a lot more cut throat.  I think governments are a little bit more happy to work co-operatively on something like this.

Q.  In an upcoming interview that you published Keith Pelley says he would have loved the Australian Open to be part of the European Tour schedule but there are stumbling blocks, not from him but elsewhere.  Do you want the Australian Open to be part of the European Tour?

STEPHEN PITT: I would say we’re definitely open to that prospect.  We couldn’t have done it, for example, last year. We clashed with Dubai.  So, dates become a major issue in terms of the Tour sanctioning as well.

From our perspective, the key thing in driving the Tournament is players.  We think that that’s held the Tournament in good stead over the last 10 years.  We’ve had a great list of players who’ve played the Tournament, won the Tournament. 

So, Tour sanctioning, the thing we’re looking for as a Tour partner that can help deliver the best players in the world.  The European Tour certainly does have some good players on it.  I think it’s obviously been part of the Vic Open, which is something that Golf Australia runs now on behalf of Golf Victoria, it’s been part of the PGA.  So, I think it’s a possibility, but I couldn’t make a commitment at this point.

Q.  Do you think it would further benefit the value of the Tournament if one of the young players that’s out here today, out here this week, it was a European Tour event, they’ve got something else to play for rather than – no disrespect to the Australian Open, but it gives them some sort of future, whereas if they win this week, they get the trophy and the cheque, if they win in two weeks’ time at the PGA, next year’s all sewn up and they’ve got somewhere to play.

STEPHEN PITT: I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that.  The example I’d use is Cam Davis.  There’s a nice graph that I’ll show you of Cam Davis’ world ranking and there’s a line where it drops like that, and that’s when he won the Australian Open.  But the opportunities that winning the Australian Open created for him were pretty immense.

So, it’s not as black and white as you get a ticket onto the European Tour and you’re all set.  Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t quite deliver what players hope.  But on the flipside, if you look at Cam Davis and he’s the perfect example, winning this Tournament opens up an enormous number of doors and does give you some opportunity to pursue.

So, it’s not quite as simple as that, I’d say.

MARK HAYES: Thank you very much Steve for your time, we appreciate it and thank the ladies and gentlemen.  We’ll have Marc Leishman and Cam Smith very soon.  Thank you very much.