TRANSCRIPT | Paul Casey, 2019 Emirates Australian Open, Round 2 - PGA of Australia

TRANSCRIPT | Paul Casey, 2019 Emirates Australian Open, Round 2


Paul Casey, 2019 Emirates Australian Open, Round 2

Q.  Paul, did you feel in the zone today?

PAUL CASEY:  I guess the last sort of four really.  What did I birdie, the last four?  Yeah, the last four was nice.  I’ve not been able to get it close to any flag for about a day and a half and then suddenly the back nine for me, the front nine, the last half a dozen holes, suddenly some really good birdie opportunities.  I don’t know if it was fully in the zone but it was really nice stuff and it felt really good, so suddenly from a case of sort of bumbling around, just a couple under par, challenging for lead, probably in the lead right now; so good stuff.

Q. Do you feel the competitive juices flowing once you got going and can you explain how you flick a switch?

PAUL CASEY:  The juices are always there.  As I said earlier in the week, I didn’t come down here for a jolly.  The weather’s perfect in Arizona right now where I live, so it would be very easy to be back home.  I came down here to – I’ve never played an Aussie Open before and I’d love to win it.  Two victories this year, I’d love to have a third and that would be on three different tours, which would be pretty cool.  I don’t think I’ve done that before.  I’m not here to make up the numbers, I’m here to try and win.

Q.  You hold the lead now, after playing yesterday afternoon, do you think your lead will hold?

PAUL CASEY:  If the wind picks up, yes, but to be honest, I don’t really care.  It doesn’t matter whether I’m in the lead at the end of today, it’s whether I’m in the lead at the end of Sunday.  It’s just nice to stretch that out a little bit.  I saw Tringale was I think 8, is that right?  But there are a lot of guys capable of shooting great numbers.  We’ve got a great field here this week. As we saw with even young guys like Kevin Yu, who was shooting 6-under yesterday; a lot of guys don’t even know who he is.  So, there’s a lot of talent.  As I said, happy with the way I played.  If I continue to play the way I did today, then I’ll be very happy and I’ll give myself a great chance of winning this thing.

Q.  I might be misquoting you slightly from yesterday, but I think you said yesterday the definition of insanity was doing the same thing.

PAUL CASEY:  Yeah, expecting a different result.

Q.  Was that a victory for insanity today?

PAUL CASEY:  Yes, insanity won today, because I didn’t really change anything.  The strategy stayed the same, continued to hit very similar tee shots to the tee shots I hit yesterday.  Still stuck in the bunker on the right on five; it always seems the same, but the outcome was different.  But that could be something as simple as I said yesterday, there are variables that do change, such as pin positions, and that was the case a little bit today.  I think that the final stretch, the 8th hole here, which is a very difficult hole, suddenly perfect number, perfect pin position to use that slope.  Closest approach shot I’ve hit all week – no, that’s not true, because I hit one yesterday closer on the par 5, but things just click and I’m not going to change.  Hopefully the outcome won’t change from today.  It’s mad, isn’t it?  It’s madness.


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