|
Feb. 25, 2009
Transcript by ASASP Sports
Q. Is this your first time down here?
BILLY ANDRADE: It is, yeah.
Q. Not just playing the event, but to come to the course at all?
BILLY ANDRADE: Absolutely. First time.
Q. What you do you think?
BILLY ANDRADE: Oh, it's spectacular. Spectacular place. The golf course is very, very good. I think, you know, TOUR players, the number one thing, is what kind of a golf course do you have to play? Does it fit your eye? Is it -- what about it?
This place here, Greg Norman did a fantastic job. It's a very challenging course with the wind blowing. It just makes for great drama. I think this tournament is just going probably get more and more popular because of the fact that the facilities and the golf course is so strong.
Q. Yeah, it's kind of the two. When you say facilities, I presume you mean the resort.
BILLY ANDRADE: Oh, yeah. The resort here is breath-taking. It's fabulous. It's got a great feel about it. I don't have my family here, but I really wish my family was here so we could take advantage of everything about it.
But this is a beautiful place. I heard about it and heard guys talk about to the last couple years, and that's the reason why I came down.
Q. How much buzz is this thing building? I've been fortunate to cover each of the first two years. The first year there were a lot of people who said people were worried about going through customs. Just the whole idea of it in the first place wasn't big. Last year they heard it was a pretty good place for wives and families. From your end, what do you hear?
BILLY ANDRADE: Well, just look at the field this year versus the last couple. Look at the field here versus some of the tournaments we've already played this year on the TOUR. You can look at statistics and see there's a lot of great players here. They're here because of hearing about it from others, and the fact that this is a beautiful place to come.
So those combinations are the reasons why tournaments like this will continue, I think, to get bigger and better.
Q. Even by pro golfer's standards, this is still a nice place?
BILLY ANDRADE: Oh, my gosh. This is very, very nice. We're pretty spoiled and go to some beautiful places, but this ranks right up there with any resorts that we go to.
Q. Really? Even Hawaii, Florida? There are so many. Every time you turn on the TV it's one gorgeous place after another.
BILLY ANDRADE: Right. But this is an all-inclusive place. You don't have to leave here if you don't want to. That's what's so a neat about. They got all the amenities you want. It's just a fantastic place.
Q. The fact that it's opposite the Match Play, it obviously hurts the field, but do you think it's growing as, Hey, it's not a bad consolation prize?
BILLY ANDRADE: Well, it hurts the field. But then again, if you go and look at a couple tournaments we've already played this year, they had no opposite tournaments. This tournament has got more players and a stronger field than a couple tournaments this year that, you know, haven't had an opposite.
What does that tell you? That that tells you that players want to come here and play. They know the golf course is strong. It's a good course. It's fun to play. That's why we're all here.
Q. Have you played just today, or did you play yesterday?
BILLY ANDRADE: I played nine holes on Monday and then played all day yesterday.
Q. So has the wind been different? Everybody says it's a different course depending which way the wind is blowing, or how strong.
BILLY ANDRADE: Yesterday they had a little front come through and it rained a little bit. I guess the prevailing wind wasn't there. It was an opposite,so...
I think this is kind of the feeling when we say it's usually down on 18 coming out of the right. So, you know, we'll see.
Q. Do you get a since of different challenges?
BILLY ANDRADE: Oh, yeah. It's tight. You got to hit the ball pretty straight off the tee. There are some areas where you have to make sure you hit it in the right spots and give yourself the best chance to make birdies from there.
Q. Did you poke your head into the little cavern on the first hole?
BILLY ANDRADE: Oh, yeah, yeah. I went down. I didn't go all the way in it. I just went down and took a peek. Ziggy kind of went down under there, and I --
Q. Got a little squeamish?
BILLY ANDRADE: I did. I don't want anything to fall.
Q. Well, the secret is -- and I haven't done this, I heard it from others -- if you go all the way through it it comes out right behind the second green, right between the second green and the third tee box.
BILLY ANDRADE: Well, you know, there's alligators and snakes and stuff like that, and I don't want to meet any of those guys.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
| 
