FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, February 28th, 2016
NOTABLE QUOTES: THE HONDA CLASSIC, SUNDAY’S FINAL ROUND (JACK NICKLAUS QUOTES FROM BROADCAST BOOTH INTERVIEW INCLUDED)
NBC Notable Quotes
The Honda Classic
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, Final Round
PGA National Resort & Spa (Champion Course)
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
On Adam Scott, 2016 Honda Classic Champion at 9-under par (even-par 70 on Sunday)
Johnny Miller – “His game, he has been working hard on his putting and from tee to green. It is paying off. He is getting ready to have a big year this year.”
Miller – “We talk about the Big 4 young guys and he is probably saying, ‘Hey, what about me?’”
Miller – “You can see the relief.”
David Feherty – “I’ve just confirmed a rumor. There is a rumor that Adam had sent his long putter back to the R&A with a short note. Confirmed.”
Gary Koch – “If Adam Scott continues to putt anywhere near the way we saw him this week, I think he is in for a really big year.”
Miller – “You got to hand it to him, it is hard to go from this kind of style [anchored putter] to a regular style.”
Adam Scott speaking with NBC’s Steve Sands following his victory
Adam Scott – “I hit a lot of good putts, not as many went in as yesterday. But this is a tough track. It is hard to get it close all the time. I played exceptional yesterday so I had to reel in my expectations today, the pressure of Sunday. I got off to a good start, made one on the first and that definitely relaxed me. I hit a lot of good putts. Some didn’t go in, fortunately it was enough in the end.”
Scott – “My game is coming to a really good spot, the back end of last year and now starting out this year. We’ve been working hard to get it there because it was slipping a little bit. It was a bit loose last year. The consistency wasn’t there. I’ve made some nice progress in all areas, especially on the greens and it paid off this week.”
On Sergio Garcia, runner-up at 8-under par (1-over par 71 on Sunday)
Miller – “He just didn’t have it. The pressure got him, let’s face it. That’s what it was.”
Miller – “Just not hitting the same shots he hit Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”
Miller – “He really had to work hard for that 71…This is his 15th runner-up finish in his career against just eight wins and no majors. He has had a lot of chance to win majors. He just hasn’t been really good at finishing off tournaments. Even though he is a great player, that one intangible, of learning how to win when you’ve got a shot at it.”
Sergio Garcia talking to NBC’s Steve Sands following his round
Sergio Garcia – “It was tough. Really difficult golf course. He deserved it. I’m proud with the way I hung in there. Obviously I don’t feel like my swing is near anywhere where I want it to be, but I scored nicely. Putting well and chipped quite well. He played great. He played better than me at the end of the day. So it is as simple as that.”
Garcia – “Obviously there are a lot of positives. I fought hard. I felt like I stayed quite calm. It’s tough, it’s never easy. But I gave it my all. Unfortunately a couple of bad shots on a couple of difficult holes and I wasn’t good enough.”
On Scott and Garcia’s bogeys on 16
Miller – “The Bear Trap is wearing them out.”
Koch – “These holes will get your attention.”
On Blayne Barber, T3 at 5-under par (even par 70 on Sunday)
Miller – “He seems to be sort of a smart player even though his scoring average is 72+. He is having a good week this week.”
On Justin Thomas, T3 at 5-under par (1-under par 69 on Sunday)
Miller – “Four rounds in the 60s on this course is very good.”
On Graeme McDowell, fifth place at 4-under par (1-under par 69 on Sunday)
Miller – “About six months ago he decided he needed to work harder on his game and it is paying off. He is reaping the fruits of hard labor, so to speak.”
On Rickie Fowler, T6 at 3-under par (1-over par 71 on Sunday)
Miller – “For some reason his iron game has fallen apart the last two rounds.”
Miller – “He just started hitting some really poor iron shots. I’m sure he is going to go get a lesson or go get on the phone and ask for a lesson.”
On the Champion Course at PGA National
Peter Jacobsen – “The Bear Trap just continues to impress and scare the players as they play. The Honda Classic plays like a major. The course is hard but it is a fair test. It keeps you off balance all day. There really is no letup.”
Jack Nicklaus with NBC’s Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller in the Broadcast Booth
On the Bear Trap
Nicklaus – “That it why those things become famous, I suppose. All of a sudden you’ve got guys playing along and then all of a sudden, boom, there it goes, in the water. It’s too bad. We didn’t design it to do that. Just little short holes that just turn up playing difficult.”
On the Ryder Cup dinner earlier in the week and what he said to the players
Nicklaus – “They were there the other night and I told them, ‘Guys, you’ve got four majors ahead of you. And I said, ‘Just think about how you are going to prepare for the four majors. You want to go ahead of time, you want to get the golf course in your mind, you want to get the problems out of the way. You want to be all ready before you play. Think about that when you go to the Ryder Cup. Treat it the same way as you would because you have a lot of golf in front of you before you get there, and you’ve got a lot of golf in front of you before you make the team.’”
Nicklaus – “We had a nice evening. The guys asked me a lot of questions. We had a little bit of fun, we played jokes on each other a little bit, with how we played and what we did. The whole idea was to have a little bonding between the guys. Make sure they understood that we want to support them and encourage them. We haven’t won the Ryder Cup enough lately. I just feel like it comes in cycles. Right now, the Europeans are quite good. We have a lot of very good players over there, and we just have to play a little bit better. I don’t think there is any real magic in it. To bond together and to be a little bit closer together is a very good thing.”
On Rickie Fowler
Nicklaus – “We had him over and he was playing at 7:35 the next morning, and he was virtually the last one to leave. I said, ‘Rickie, you’ve got to get home.’ He said, ‘Well, I’m doing fine, I’ll be alright.’ Of course, he only shot 66 the next day, so he did ok.”
On the ‘86 Masters and the 16th hole
Nicklaus – “I hit my shot, and it was the cockiest remark I’ve ever made. I hit the shot, looked at it, and I knew it in the air and I knew it was just perfect. Jackie said, ‘Be right, be right.’ And I said, ‘It is.’ What a horrible remark to make if the wind had gotten it or anything else, how bad I would have felt. But it turned out alright.”
On the Champion Course at PGA National
Nicklaus – “You’ve just got to have a little patience to play this golf course. It’s a golf course that you want to make par, par, par, par and give yourself a chance for a birdie and take advantage when you can. Obviously you don’t want to make any mistakes. Mistakes are usually more than a bogey on this golf course.”
On the 30-year anniversary of his victory at the 1986 Masters and the stories he hears
Nicklaus – “It’s amazing. It happens to me 10 times a week. I meet somebody and they say, ‘Oh the ‘86 Masters, I was in the grocery store and I ended up being in the grocery store for an hour watching.’”
Nicklaus – “It is amazing. I was going about doing what I needed to do. I didn’t think I was going to be doing too much and I hadn’t been preparing that well for that week. But I got in contention that last day, and I got a little bit more in contention when I birdied 9, 10 and 11. All of a sudden I said, ‘Hmm, maybe, maybe.’ So it just happened and it was great to have Jackie there, and great to have my mother and my sister there who hadn’t been there since ‘59. Why they picked ‘86 I don’t know, but they did.”
On the Bear Trap and Adam Scott’s third round quadruple bogey 7 at 15
Nicklaus – “What a great round, 66 with a quad. Unbelievable. When that happens to Adam, Sergio made par on the hole so he picks up four shots. This has been what’s happened with the Bear Trap, it has come down to the end. You know that you can absolutely blow yourself out of the golf tournament or get back in the tournament, that the tournament is never over until you get through that little segment of holes.”
-NBC Sports Group-
