JED MORGAN AND SU OH

Q.  Su, it’s been seven years since you won, how does that feel? Is it drought-breaking

SU OH:  I guess so. I felt like I’ve been playing a lot better since last year, probably my game wasn’t good enough. I’ve been struggling a lot with my long game, and I felt like I was hitting the ball better last year. Kind of putted solid the whole week. Maybe not the front nine today, but it definitely feels nice. Hopefully more to come.

 Q.  Jed, a pinch yourself moment?

JED MORGAN:  Yes. Absolutely. I’d never imagine this happening to be honest with you. Even last night, I’ve been feeling sick for like three days, especially after I was leading after two rounds. I thought ‘there’s no way back from there’. I tried to press as hard as I could and tried to keep pushing it.  It’s been amazing what’s happened.

Q.  Jed, just on that, congratulations first of all, but if somebody had said to you two months ago when you turned pro that you’d be the Australian PGA Champion, in all probability you’ll have your European status next year, you’ll get starts on the European Tour.  I think you’ve moved from something like 1500 to just outside the top 200 in the world.  Would you have had those people committed?

JED MORGAN:  No.  As I said, I wanted to just make the cut this week.  I know that’s a low kind of shot to shoot at, but it was all reality.  I felt a lot of pressure, especially on myself, obviously being a member here and having won the Australian Amateur here and stuff.  I missed a couple of Tour Schools in the US towards the end of my trip and come back a little bit with my tail between my legs.  I was just lucky I went to Tour School in April before the Aussie Tour and yeah, obviously the opportunities I got from that, plus playing this week, it’s just been pretty sick.

Q.  Just on today, did you take an attitude today that this is another Sunday game at Royal Queensland?  Were you able to try and convince yourself of that?

JED MORGAN:  No, I’m pretty sure before a Sunday game at Royal Queensland I don’t want to vomit.  So, it’s been difficult.  The last two days, I’m glad it’s over, whether I won or lost, I’m just glad it’s over because I’ve been in all sorts, for sure.  So, I’ve never had that type of emotion.  I’ve felt pressure for sure, I’m sure like Su’s felt it more than I have, she’s played in major championships and obviously has cemented her spot in the LPGA Tour, but I’ve never felt pressure like the way I felt it this week.  It was something.

I want to do it again.  Obviously, there’s a couple of things I’d do a bit different, just try not to feel that way, but you can’t help most of it.

Q.  Su, does winning feel the way you remember it did?

SU OH:  I think it was different.  When I won at RACV Royal Pines, I didn’t really go into the week trying to win, I just played.  It was like my first pro event and I ended up winning.  So, it was kind of like, oh, okay, but this week, when I decided to play, I really wanted to come and win and hopefully put my name on the Karrie Webb Cup.

So I think it made me be a bit more, you know, a bit of confidence in myself that I could get it done and it was a small field, but we had good players and it really came down to the last six, seven holes I think.  So, it’s nice to get it done.

Q.  That confidence level as well, it’s probably the first time you’ve ever been a favourite for a Tournament and then you go out and prove that and win.  What does that do for you for the rest of the year as you head over to the States and start playing the LPGA events?

SU OH:   I don’t think it would change a lot.  I would still try and do the same things, maybe a little bit more confident in myself, which is neat, yeah, but hopefully my game will be goon enough and the timing will be good and things will fall in the right place at the right time and there’ll be a US win hopefully.

Q.  Jed, just quickly, would you like them to put Jed or Jediah on the Cup?

JED MORGAN:  No, put Jediah.

Q.  Jed, not even Greg Norman won an event in Australia by that many shots, his name’s on the trophy, I guess firstly, are you playing with those names in the back of your mind this weekend – that’s the first part of my question.  Secondly, we heard Geoff Ogilvy say the way you were playing reminded him of a young Norman, so how does that make you feel?

JED MORGAN: Actually, I saw that article, my girlfriend read it to me and I just laughed.  I know Geoff fairly well now – pretty well anyway, I know his team decently enough as well and he’s a smart individual.  He just gets it, Geoff.  I think he’s back playing with guys that he doesn’t need to play with, he’s got his own – he’s sorted, he doesn’t need to play in any of these but he chooses to because he understands what type of growth I think the Australian Tour needs to have going forward and he’s a big part of that as well.  The PGA Tour of Oz obviously, yeah, I think they’ve all worked together and made a pretty decent tour, especially on the back of his name and the back of the Tour as well.  

So, yeah, I’m not playing with any type of names in the back of my head.  I think the best thing I’ve done this week is just be myself for the first time in a long time on the golf course and I was just glad that it was at home and I was able to do it in a manner that was pretty exciting for other people hopefully as well, and yeah, I can’t wait to do it many more times.

Q.  You said those nerves were there, was that the way you were geeing everyone up, was that a conscious effort?

JED MORGAN:  Yeah, I think, I just tried to give myself kind of what experience I think, because I just felt so many emotions, even on the 9th hole where I made a pretty short putt for birdie, I just yelled because I just needed to get it out of my system.  If I didn’t, I just would have been sick I reckon.

It’s a part of me.  I’ve got a background in contact sports I think, so coming to play golf is very different and being quiet all the time obviously is a – I guess I just try to embrace myself as an individual, yeah.

Q.  Su, today the lead was going back and forth between you and Grace, it was pretty close.  Did you know that or what were you–

SU OH:   No, I didn’t know that.

Q.  So was that good, that you didn’t know it or would you prefer to know?

SU OH:   I purposely didn’t look at the leaderboard.  I could have on 9 and a few other holes.  I saw my name at the top on 11, but I didn’t check the score and I obviously just heard that she was playing really well, and I knew Grace was going to play well.  She wasn’t going to just give it away, but I just prayed and hoped that my good golf is going to be good enough.  I felt like I gave it my all today and if it came up short, then that just means someone’s played better; it would have been Grace.  But yeah, I was glad I kind of got it done.  Coming down the stretch I had a little bit of luck, like 13, I mean, I hit a good putt, but you need a little bit of luck for that, and 12 was a really good save, so I really things just fell a little bit my way today.

Q.  After you won on the 18th, people came up to you and gave you hugs, that’s the sort of bond between everyone.

JED MORGAN: Yeah, Su’s obviously in a different position, she’s obviously away from home, doesn’t have quite the amount of support that I had.  Yeah, Hanno was big 10, just as much as mine, so it was sick.  The feeling of me is different to her.  I mean, I was obviously extremely stoked and she looked pretty stoked too.

SU OH:   Yeah, I was.

Q.  Jed, 9 shots is a huge lead to take into a final round but it’s not totally insurmountable.  How important was that birdie in the first few to settle the nerves?

JED MORGAN:  It was massive.  I said I wanted to get 25-under at the start of the day just to give myself to keep pushing towards something, but yeah, that was big.  I think it was a bigger even birdie the third.  That kind of cemented a lot of it.  Yeah, there were a couple of stages throughout the day I got a bit panicky I guess, made a couple of bogeys in the par 3s, but yeah, that was a nice way to start, especially to that pin.

Q.  For both of you, were you paying attention to what was happening in the other one’s event?  Su, were you watching what Jed was doing and knowing what he was doing and Jed, vice versa?

SU OH:   Yeah, I mean I say, ‘I wonder what it’s like to have a 9-shot lead into the last round?  It definitely would be better than having a 2-shot lead, surely?’  But having such a lead, I guess you can kind of, you don’t really know what to do and for me, I knew I had to play really well.

I think last year we spent a bit of time in Orlando House and Jed had a pretty tough finish to the end of the year, and I’m really happy that he was able to get it done and, you were a bit bummed about that.

JED MORGAN:  Yeah.

SU OH:  He was up at like 4 am and couldn’t even play a hole because it got rained out and ended up missing by a shot, so I felt really bad and I really felt bad because he was up so early and just couldn’t even play.

I think he really deserves it this week and hopefully he’ll kill it out there on the European Tour.

JED MORGAN: I guess that’s enough said.  We almost lived together I guess for a month or two.  There’s a special bond I think between Australian golfers that only gets stronger as you go overseas.  It’s funny, like the Golf Australia House is obviously provided by the funding that they give to both amateurs and professionals.  I’ve been lucky enough to obviously be with that program for five years now.  I’m forever indebted and grateful for everything and as I said, I think it’s a special bond between Australian golfers and just Australian people in general.  We’re huge fans to be Australian and yeah, it’s just awesome.  It was awesome to see her win as well.

Q.  Su, what do you think you might share with Karrie out of the Cup when you get to Florida?

SU OH:  I know we both like gin, Four Pillars, so maybe I’ll buy a bottle of that with me and I don’t feel crap on Sunday.  But she likes her wine.  She always does a really nice steak whenever we’re over.  I don’t know, it’s actually more like a pizza oven, so maybe she’ll put that in.  I’m sure we can mix something up in there, it’s pretty big, so we’ll all have a drink out of that.

Q.  Su, I wonder if you can describe just how well you felt you played this week?  Obviously, was it 10 or 11-under?

SU OH:  10.

Q.  10-under is a hell of a score around here anyway, but do you feel you were close to your peak the way you played this week?

SU OH:  I definitely played well.  I made quite a lot of mistakes as well though, around the greens.  I just don’t think I quite got used to the grain and how it really sits.  But I played better than I thought I would, to be honest.  I didn’t know if I was going to be ready so early in the year, but I just said, I’d been playing well at the end of the year, so hopefully that feeling’s still with me.

It’s always different when you’re under the pump.  Sunday feels so different to Thursday, but my swing felt better as the days went on.  I actually hit it very good Thursday, Friday, but played much better on the weekend.  I didn’t putt as well today, but still holed all the crucial putts that I had to hole. 

Yeah, I mean, I think I’m pretty happy with how I played and hopefully a little bit better as the year goes on.

Q.  Su, I just wanted to ask you a question.  I know you both spoke about the experience of playing together, but what do you think about the experience for those watching, the young girls watching, the impact that this Tournament has had on them, being able to watch the men and women play together?

SU OH:  Well hopefully more girls want to come out.  I saw quite a few out there today, which is really nice.  I think it’s kind of a men’s sport at clubs.  Hopefully we break that era a little bit.  I think it’s a great idea.  We need more tournaments like this, men and women playing together for separate trophy.  It’s a great atmosphere.  I think everyone that comes here likes it.

We just have a very different game.  Like Jed hits it so far, whereas we have maybe a little bit more accuracy, but just a different game and I really enjoyed playing with the guys.  Even Min Woo, his short game is so good and I was just trying to see how he played his bunker shots here and there and how Jed kept his cool out there.  

So yeah, plenty of things to learn and hopefully it’s vice versa and many more like this.

Q.  Jed, do you have anything to add to that question?

JED MORGAN: I agree with that in terms of I think it’s unique that you get to play the same week both the males and females.  I actually think going forward it attracts more, like a wider variety of people and viewers, and hopefully sponsorship, especially Australia, we need it.  I agree with everything she said.  I just think it’s a cool motive to move towards it, I think, for sure.

Q. Thanks very much to our two winners and congratulations and thanks for coming.