FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 6th, 2015
NOTABLE QUOTES – MORNING DRIVE, TUESDAY, OCT. 6, 2015 (PRESIDENTS CUP WEEK)
Golf Channel Notable Quotes
Presidents Cup Week
Morning Drive
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, 7-9 a.m. ET
On the Presidents Cup
Charlie Rymer – “For the sake of this event, it needs to be competitive. It needs to be a little bit closer and I think that will help take this Presidents Cup to the next level.”
Damon Hack – “It needs a moment. The biggest moment in the Presidents cup is a tie in 2003. The second biggest moment is when Woody Austin fell on his face in the water. You need 1987, Muirfield Village, Europe going to the United States and beating to the U.S, for the first time on U.S. soil. You need a ‘War by the Shore’, 1991. You need a “I’m a big believer in fate,’ 1999. You need the comeback in Medinah in 2012. You need something memorable. 8-1-1 is not compelling.”
On potential U.S. pairings
John Cook – “You’ve got to have a combination of power and stability. That is how you put the pairings together. It takes a little bit of thought, but you have to have power and stability to make a team work.”
Todd Lewis – “It looks like the band is getting back together from the Ryder Cup. Jordan Spieth played with Patrick Reed today…In speaking with Patrick following his round, ‘It looks like we’re going to play together in fourball or best ball competition.’”
On Phil Mickelson
Lewis – “Phil feels a sense of gratitude for all of the players who rallied around him and went to Jay Haas and said, ‘Hey, Phil Mickelson will be great in our team room.’ He is going to be a strong leader as he always has been in these team competitions. He is going to try to pick players up if they are down, he is going to keep the team room loose and make sure that everybody is ready to go and energized.”
On whether cell phone camera clicks will be an issue this week (cell phones do not have a silence camera shutter feature in Korea)
Cook – “If it is a constant noise that’s fine. But this is golf, you don’t have that. It is not part of golf. I have an issue with it, I really do. I played over there for two years and it took some getting used to.”
Rymer – “You are going to have a phone go off in a key moment. It is going to create an issue. I’m really surprised. If that is the situation there, if you can’t silence the picture function on the phone, I’m surprised they are allowing the phones to come in. I really am.”
Rymer – “If you can’t keep the cell phones out of there making noises, play the tournament somewhere else. That’s how strongly I feel about it. People are coming out there to watch golf, and if it becomes an issue, that is going to affect the competition.”
Hack – “It is going to be thousands of sounds and it is not going to be in unison. You should check in the phones when you check in. You do it at the Masters, it is a pristine environment. That is why the players love it, for a number of reasons. That week is all about the players and making them comfortable. I think a lot of tournaments can take a cue.”
On Presidents Cup Captains Jay Haas and Nick Price
Cook – “Jay will have more intensity and more authority. He won’t delegate that much to his assistant captains. He has a quiet sense of humor but he also has a quiet intensity. He will bring that to the team room and the guys will totally respect that and understand that. Once he brings that relaxed attitude to the team room, things kind of slide in and become more fun.”
Rymer – “They are consummate professionals. Jay Haas has probably played more holes of golf on the PGA TOUR than anyone in the history of the PGA TOUR. Everyone has tremendous respect for both of these coaches. They have very different style. Nick swings fast, walks fast, talks fast, tells jokes fast, while Jay is a little bit slower, his humor is a little more back door, but you couldn’t act for two better gentlemen. The Presidents Cup is going to be a clean, well-fought competition.”
Cook – “He [Nick Price] is one of the funniest humans I have ever met. Very high intensity and he will bring that to the team room. The communication barrier also will be a lot easier for Nick to get across his sense of humor. I think this will bring this International team together, a lot stronger unit.”
On the International Team
Cook – “They want to get on the winning track. This is their year to make a statement. They need to start making statements and this might be their year.”
On Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea
Matt Ginella – “This golf course was built in a five, six year time-span where we saw Jack Nicklaus try to protect par by making wild undulations in those greens. The greens are going to get some of the conversation this week.”
-NBC Sports Group-
