When I realised I was going to be no-good as a footballer!! When I got between the ages of 13-15 I realised as a footballer I wasn’t good enough so my Granddad took me to one side and started me on golf. I got hooked straight away and was going straight from school to the course playing until it was dark when my Mum and Dad would pick me up. I am glad I got the opportunity to do the things that I did as an amateur and now as a professional.

 

Frustrating really. I would have really liked to have won a tournament this year; I had a few chances but always seemed to slip up on the Saturday which was very frustrating. Consistency wise, I only missed 7 cuts this year out of 30 tournaments that I played in, which I am really happy about and is a massive improvement over the last few years.

 

 

Well with the travel, flights, different time zones and various aspects like that make life on the tour very demanding. Unlike the US tour who stick to America on the European Tour we have to follow the weather which leads us all over the place. Tiger Woods was the main turning point really in players starting to get themselves fit you look at the top 10 golfers in the world and they are all now super fit. I now work with the same fitness coach as Lee Westwood and over the past 18months have worked really had on getting my fitness levels up to where they should be.

 

I do a combination of cardio and weights. Try to alternate doing one day on cardio and then the next on weights. Yeah it is diet related as well, which is not the best having to diet over Christmas but this is now my pre-season training time if you like.

 

Again I would have to say that Tiger has had a big effect on youngsters getting in to the game. So many youngsters look up to Tiger and what he has done in the game and with Nike being his main sponsor it pushed more kids to get involved as they seem the game in a different light. Its fantastic for the game that there is all of this talent coming though, you only have to look at what Rory McIlroy has achieved within the game in such a short space of time and how much more that he can do in the rest of his career.

 

Sponsors are a must really to help cover costs of things.

 

It was a massive start to win the Amateur Championship as it enabled me to play in the Masters as an amateur. It is what every young amateur dreams of really getting to play in the Masters, alongside playing in the Walker Cup and winning the British Amateur there is no bigger thrill than getting to play in the Masters. I was lucky enough to play alongside Mark O’Meara in the Masters which was a fantastic experience, he was very kind to me and was such a gentleman around the golf course even though I didn’t play particularly well but he was great with me, things like that you never forget.

 

Yes, she was my caddy for the tournament, it was a great experience for my Mum, it was really the perfect way to thank her for everything that she had done for me. She caddied in the British Amateur championships and the Walker Cup. During the Walker Cup she actually caddied all 5 rounds at Nairn and loved it, she carried a massive bag as well, so big that I have now turned it in to a bar stool. With August what people don’t realise is though the course looks flat on TV, its quite hilly and

undulating, so she did fantastically well for the rounds that I played.

 

When my Mum caddied for me it was more of someone to talk to and to keep me distracted from the pressure of what I was playing in. When you’re a professional it’s slightly different though. Before you get to the course your caddy will have walked the whole course checking yardages etc, they have your locker ready and waiting for you, they will also be ready and waiting to get going as soon as you get there. When you start your practice round he then will laser the course as you play. There is a lot to do when you are a caddy it is much more that just carrying a bad. I am incredibly fortunate that I have a great caddy and I had two great caddies before my current one so I have been very fortunate in that way.

 

No she just let me get on with it really; maybe if she had I would have done better.

 

They differ massively, in the sense that the greens are massive and very undulating. For example of some holes if the pin is back left at August you are hitting a 3 or 4 iron in and although you may hit the green you cant get it any where near the pin. When putting you are often in the situation where you are thinking I am going to have to leave myself with a 10 foot putt for a par! That is the massive difference from playing at the Masters to playing at other courses.

 

I keep getting shown the photo from the Walker Cup as I had hair in that photo! To play in front of 10,000 people was amazing. The 1999 team was a very special team and after the press started writing us off after the first day, Peter McAvoy came in to the players room and told us what the press where saying about us and to all of us that was the motivation to go out there the next day and win the Walker Cup.

 

With the Walker Cup team myself and the others came through the ranks playing team golf for England aged 16 and that engrained the team ethos in us. In the UK and Europe we love playing in the Ryder Cup and love to play against the Americans as it is such as massive achievement to get in to the team. All of the players in Europe are bonded really well together as we spend so much time together week in week out, so we all get on really well. The American tour is slightly different as they don’t mix as much as we do in Europe; we all stay in the same hotels as one another every week. In America they tend to get their own accommodation, they don’t go out for dinner together much or generally spend that much time together so they don’t really get the chance to bond.

 

The effect of Golf will be huge. People don’t realise how it will affect the tournament sponsors in America and also when he comes over to Europe, The British Open Dubai. There is a fear that sponsors will pull out of events due to Tiger not playing in any European tour events. The European Tour schedule is out but there are no prize funds announced yet due to the uncertainty with sponsors. He will be a major miss if he doesn’t come back.

 

Who knows hes got to get his private life in order and hopefully come back sooner rather than later for the game of Golf. The Ryder Cup is coming up and he missed the last one due to injury so we don’t want him to miss the Ryder Cup and with it being in Wales be a massive loss in terms of revenue to the tournament.

 

With out a doubt the best that has ever lived.

 

Yeah defiantly as I said this year has been frustrating for me I would have liked to have won sooner rather than later hard winning 1^st one but say its harder winning2nd if you leave it to long. Can still visualise playing those last four holes and especially 18^th and in fairness gong back to the caddies jobs, he did a fantastic job that day he gave me the club told me it was enough to get there and if it hadn’t of been for him I might not have won. For me on a personal level it changed my life.

 

Yeah defiantly I am not one for holidays I like to come home and enjoy time at home to relax. I have actually just moved house, I was in my last home for two years and probably spent no more than 15 – 16 weeks in the house it was a glorified hotel for me really. Now that I have a family I enjoy spending time at home, I have a beautiful little girl running round now and she is looking forward to Christmas, so I miss that sort of thing with being away so much

 

Being in the heat of the moment, playing in major tournaments and getting to play alongside great players

 

Packing and Unpacking!!

 

No not really in terms of televised events, but obviously I play in the Dunhill Links tournament and I am fortunate enough to be friends with Ronan Keating so we have played together for the last 4 years. Ronan loves to play golf so I am fortunate to be able to play alongside Ronan for the Dunhill Links. We see other celebrities there so it’s always a good tournament to be involved with.

 

I would have to say Birkdale. I played it last year and it is one of the best I have ever played, it’s a magnificent place to play and the atmosphere was fantastic as well, its always great to play in the Open, it is defiantly the greatest golf tournament in the world.

 

Yeah I have a fitness regime and started with my fitness coach December last year, I have worked hard this year to lose weight which isn’t easy with travelling so much and the foods you eat when you travel. It has made a massive change to my game, swing and everything, I don’t feel as tired especially in Asia with the humidity it’s a massive part of golf now and I think that 99% of golfer on tour do it.

 

With the first event of the 2010 season last week they will have noticed that the ball will fly further so caddies get metres book instead of a yardage book and work to metres, you have to change 145 yards which is a 9 iron to 145 metres big difference. When you play in Switzerland you sometimes get lucky, if its cold in the morning the flight won’t be much different, but then if it heats up in the afternoon being so high up in mountains the ball flys10% further at altitude.

 

Yeah I mean you know now is the perfect opportunity with xmas around ask for clubs for xmas get lessons of local pro over winter see if you like it and if you get the right advice and then go from there.

 

I have actually played it a couple of times me and a mate have been across and played it in September got a lovely day, the course was magnificent it’s a really long course played of back sticks fantastic, I wouldn’t want to play on bad day. The course designer has done a fantastic job with the course.

 

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