What better way to defend a title by starting with a really low round. That’s what Kevin Na did on Day 1 of the Sony Open at the Waialea Country Club. Excerpts from an interview:
Tied your career low with 61, great way to open the tournament?
Kevin Na: I played unbelievably well. I did everything well and my iron play was amazing. My distance control has been great.
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You know, for playing a brand new ball, I’m doing pretty well controlling my distance. And I tell you what, I had a chance for a 59. I gave it all I could. I’m a little disappointed my putts didn’t fall, some of the good putts that I hit didn’t fall. But it’s still a good round.
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Talk about the relation today, no wind but the rough is up this year and a soft golf course.
Kevin Na: There was some wind in the middle of our round. It did come up a little bit, and then it died down again but the rough is definitely up. If you hit it in the rough, you’re going to catch fires. It’s going to be very difficult to get the distance right and hit the green. But if you’re playing well and if you’re driving the ball well, you’re going to have plenty of birdie chances.
If you’re not in the rough that much, how much does it matter. Is that the main difference? Anything different from the course last year and this year?
Kevin Na: I think the rough is up a little bit higher but the wind are a little it about down and the greens are a little softer. Now the greens can firm up as the week goes but it’s still early to say.
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I am there was one hole on the back nine where we had some sirens and a helicopter. Did you notice any of that?
Kevin Na: Well, yes and no. If I feel like there’s some distraction I’ll back off, and you should, but you know, what I felt like I was in the zone and I was pretty focused out there.
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A lot of times the afternoon here can be a disadvantage because of the wind but didn’t seem to be like that today.
Kevin Na: Well, yes, in the middle of our round, there was wind. There was ten-yard wind, into the wind, and ten-plus-yard helping. There was a little bit of wind and then it died off again.
And then you know, any time you play in the afternoon, the greens get a little bit beat up with the traffic, but with the new rule you can tap it down, so that helps. But you know, I’m very pleased how I played.
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We know that you can’t win the tournament on the first day; you can lose the tournament, but when you see Jim (Furyk) shoot what he shoots, does it give you a target up there?
Kevin Na: It was nice to see Jim shoot 61, what an incredible round and how good he is, still is, at age 52, is it? 51? That’s incredible. I hope someday to be that good when I’m 51. But yeah, it just shows you that it’s out there. I felt like, you know, a good round could be somewhere near that.
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What’s it last week making the transition from Tournament of Champions to this week?
Kevin Na: This is a great transition to such a flat golf course. We go from going up and down the hill to a flat golf course. This is great. If we had two hilly golf courses, I don’t know what I was going to do.
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