Masters Interview - Jimmy Walker

THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  We are delighted to have Jimmy Walker with us.  It's our pleasure to welcome here for his initial interview in this room.

            Jimmy has had one of the strongest starts of the 2014 season.  As you all know, he's picked up his first career win at the Fry's.com Open and he followed it up with victories in both the Sony Open in Hawaii and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro‑Am.  He is the second golfer in 44 years to win three tournaments before his Masters debut.

            Before we open it up for questions, would you please tell us how you feel about your game heading into your first Masters.

            JIMMY WALKER:  I feel pretty good.  We got moved into a new house that we have been building for quite a while, right before the San Antonio event, the Valero.  So I played Valero and I played Houston last week and had decent finishes at both and feel like everything is kind of right there where it needs to be.  A little tune‑up from Butch this week hopefully and we'll see what happens.

            Q.  You've been talked about as a guy who has the right kind of game for Augusta National; how do you feel about that, how your game suits this golf course and vice versa?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I think so.  I really like the way the golf course looks.  You get to certain places and golf courses feel better to your eye, feel better to your game, and this place definitely, I feel like it kind of suits my style of play.

            So I am excited to get out there and play, and on some golf courses you go to, you just don't get the vibe, tee shots don't look good, second shots don't look good.  But definitely this place, I do enjoy playing here.

            Q.  How familiar are you with it and when is the first time you were here?  What do you know about it?

            JIMMY WALKER:  Played here about three years ago twice.  I was back in December, this last December, played a couple more times and I was back here about 3 1/2 weeks ago and played a couple more times.

            But I think for anybody in their first time, this is a golf tournament that you've watched your whole career on TV, and it's probably one of the first places that you go and you play it for the first time but you felt like you've played it quite a few times just from all the tournaments you've watched and the shots; you get out into the fairway, you're like, oh, if I hit it up to the top left, it will feed to the top right.  So I feel like I've seen a lot of the golf course without playing it.

            Q.  Not since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 has a first‑timer won the Masters.  There's a pretty prominent rookie class; do you think it's out of the question that one of you guys could pull that off?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I don't see why not.  It is golf and you have to go out and execute and hit the shots, and you are playing a golf course that everybody talks that you need a lot of local knowledge, and I think that all these guys out here, they know what they are doing when they go to the golf course.  They know how to prepare.  They know what they are doing.  Obviously I think they are good at what they do, so going out and picking a golf course apart ‑‑ and then it's about getting it out of your head that this is what it is; it's the Masters, it's a major.  You go out and you play golf and execute and hit your shots.

            I don't think it's out of the question.  I'm here to play well.  And I'm here to have a chance ‑‑ I want to win and I think everybody here wants to do that, so why couldn't a rookie win again.

            Q.  You're not as young as some of these guys.  Do you feel like a rookie when you come here, and what was the occasion three years ago that brought you here?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I was here with a member.  It was actually very cool.  We got to bring my dad.  My father‑in‑law got to go, too.  It was neat.  We got to stay on property and had dinner and played the par 3 and all of that.

            I don't feel like a rookie.  I feel like I'm a pretty seasoned veteran.  I've been doing this a long time.  It is a new golf tournament for me, but I've been doing this a long time.

            Q.  Speaking to Tom Watson about you and your game and whatnot, he talked about the putt you made at Pebble Beach, the 5‑footer, and what he thought that meant, or what that said about you.  Would you talk us through the first putt on 18 green and then the one that you had to make to avoid the playoff?

            JIMMY WALKER:  The first putt I had on 18, I knew it was fast and downhill but I seemed to have had a speed issue on the last three, four, five, six greens.  I knew it was fast and I knew I needed to get it past the hole.  The putt was a lot quicker than I wanted it to be, obviously, and I ran it by a little too far.  I watched it go by and saw what it did, and I've had that putt before.  I didn't give it ‑‑ I didn't give the second one too much thought.  I knew it was a rightcenter putt and it would probably break a little left, and you know, hopefully that's what it would do.  So I got back there and I picked my line and got in there and said, keep your head down, knock it in and that's what happened.

            Q.  From the times that you have played here, what's your favorite hole?  Do you have a hole that you look at and say to yourself, this is Augusta National?

            JIMMY WALKER:  The second shot on 15 is pretty cool.  You can knock it down there and have a look at it.  It's just ‑‑ there's nothing hidden.  It's all right out there in front of you.  It just looks like you're hitting it onto kind of an island, really.  It's a cool shot.  It's one that you've got to stand up there and hit a good shot.  It's a lot of fun.

            I think, to me, you've seen a lot of really cool shots there over the years of guys hitting really good shots, good quality shots, chances at eagles.  It's an exciting hole, so I think that to me is Augusta.

            Q.  Did you hit a quality shot?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I've hit a couple in there.

            Q.  After you won Fry's, did you make it here any time before you first arrived a few weeks ago preparation‑wise?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I was here in December and played a couple times.

            Q.  There seems to be a feeling of a significant haircut amongst the pine trees because of the ice storm.  Have you noticed besides the obvious of 17, any thinning?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I did.  I was here a few weeks ago and they had a lot of guys up in the trees, a lot of chain saws going on and so there was still a lot of cleanup.  I know they got hit pretty bad.

            I haven't played here a ton, so I kind of maybe got the feeling you could kind of see down through the golf course a little bit better than you used to be able to.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but you can definitely kind of see down through the golf course a little better, and maybe that makes it a little more exciting.

            Q.  Intimidating?

            JIMMY WALKER:  Nah.

            Q.  Nothing intimidates you?

            JIMMY WALKER:  Not even you.

            Q.  What are your thoughts on why are there so many first‑timers?  Why have so many guys earned their way in for the first time?

            THE MODERATOR:  I think we have 24 rookies.

            JIMMY WALKER:  I think that guys seem to be getting better, younger.  I'm not younger but I've just finally made my way here.  Guys are getting better, younger, and guys are winning earlier in their careers, I guess, and guys are playing better, getting into the Top‑50 in the world.

            I think guys ‑‑ I don't know, it's hard to really say.  I've never really thought about that.

            But as far as me, my first one, I'm laying in bed last night and just kind of chomping at it and I get out today and Butch is like, you've got to, this is a long week, it's Monday.  Just hit some balls and get out of here and we'll play 18 tomorrow, nine Wednesday, and keep it as normal as possible.

            Q.  How much has your life changed on the back of the three wins?  Are you recognized away from the golf course a lot more now?

            JIMMY WALKER:  At home I am a little bit more.  It's just kind of odd, I was in a parking lot the other day at home and I was coming out of the grocery store and this guy rolls down his window and starts yelling at me, "Way to go."

            That's changed a little bit.  On the golf course you can hear it more, too.  It seems like people root for me more now and that type of thing, so as far as life‑changing, life has not changed, I don't think.  I haven't gone out and bought any expensive cars or anything crazy like that.  Everything stayed pretty normal.

            Q.  In terms of your recent form, what do you make of yourself performing under heavy pressure and how will that help you this week?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I think we have all seen, the last three, four, five, events, winning is tough.  I've been in position to win and it's taken me a long time to do it.  Winning's hard and figuring out a way to get it done does teach you a lot about yourself.  I feel like each win had something a little different to it, different things to take away from it.

            So I think you've got to sit back and reflect on everything that happened and what you learned from each experience.

            Q.  I'm curious, have you been in the merchandise store yet and have you bought anything?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I have not been in yet.  I just got here this morning.  I got some practice in.  But when I was here in December, I bought quite a bit of stuff for some friends out at the pro shop, so that was cool.  But I haven't been in the merchandise tent.  I know my wife wants to go pretty bad.

            Q.  Did you buy anything from the PGA Championship or U.S. Open?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I always like tee shirts.  I like buying tee shirts from everywhere I go.  It doesn't matter what event it is.  If they've got a tee shirt or maybe a Tervis tumbler with the logo emblazed in the glass, that's always fun.  Just a little memento.

            Q.  Every tournament?

            JIMMY WALKER:  Pretty much, yeah.

            Q.  Do you have a Zurich Classic one?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I do.

            Q.  A bit of a change.  I wanted to ask you about your hobby, astrophotography, what got you into it and what drives you to do it?

            JIMMY WALKER:  What got me into it was just buying a telescope for the backyard and not being able to see a ton of stuff.  Then I started reading and learning on how you would get into attaching cameras and stuff to a telescope.

            Then I just, with my personality to want to be good at something, I just took it to a whole other level and learned a lot, read a lot, practiced a lot.  And it's evolved to me moving all my stuff out to New Mexico where it sits on top a mountain and fires away every night.  It was working last night.

            Q.  You came out at about the same time, I think, as Jason Dufner, when you both turned pro, and a lot like him, just took a long time to start winning out here.  Do you take a lot of inspiration from the success he's had, once it clicked for him, and do you feel like maybe your career trajectory will do the same?

            JIMMY WALKER:  Guys have different career paths and like you said, trajectories.  It wasn't like if Jason can do it, I can do it kind of a thing.  It's nice to see guys out here that keep grinding and working and haven't had a ton of success have it come to them through hard work.  That's how I kind of see that with some of the guys and maybe what you call late bloomers or whatever.  So it's nice to see that for sure.

            Q.  What's the coolest thing you've photographed or seen out there in the great beyond?

            JIMMY WALKER:  You know, everything that you ‑‑ pretty much everything's been photographed with the exception of some littler stuff, but most of the stuff everybody's photographed.  For me it was looking at it and trying to present it in a way that really had not been seen before as far as style or how I think it should look or how it does look.  So I take ‑‑ I go shoot targets that have been shot before, and all I'm doing is taking pretty pictures is what I'm doing, but it's difficult and tough to do.  I'll see an object and think, wow, that looks like fun, I'm going to go take a shot at that one and see if I can do better than what I think is ‑‑ what I would consider the best shot of it out there and to see if I can improve on it, make it better, or not even do it justice.

            Q.  Have you succeeded in that?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I think I've done some pretty good stuff.  I have some stuff I haven't put out just because I don't feel like I've quite gotten it right.  So it is art and if I don't like it, I won't put it out.  I'm still sitting on a couple, three or four or five pictures that I've never put out just because I don't like them or I don't like the way they have come out.  I keep tweaking them and working on them, trying to get it where I like it.

            Q.  When Butch told to you keep it as normal as possible this week, that would seem like an easy instruction to follow.  Was it actually harder than you let on?  You seem like you have a fairly even keel about things?

            JIMMY WALKER:  It's actually pretty nice having the break today because I was going out and we had a pretty good work session this morning, dialing up a few little things with a little bit of alignment stuff.  But it's kind of nice, these guys have done an amazing job with the bus this week, the RV.  They have gone way above what they needed to do for us.  I mean, I'm walking in every day and it's pretty nice.

            So the rain delay, it's fine, and I was just back over there and I was actually getting ready to feed the boys and I was working on a picture, actually.

            Q.  Does your heart race when you're on the golf course, and what makes it do if it does?

            JIMMY WALKER:  Does my heart race on the golf course?  It was racing last night when I was laying in bed.  I said, man, it's just right across the street.  It really is; I'm kind of ready to go.

            I think we all get the first tee jitters and we get nervous and I do get nervous before I go play golf, and it's a good nervous.  It's not like, oh, gosh, something bad is going to happen nervous.  It's excitement.  I think if you don't have that anymore, you need to go do something else.

            Yeah, there's certain golf shots, or, heck, Redstone last week, No. 4, 5 and 6, that's some of the toughest golf we play all year, those three holes.  You step up there on 5, and, yeah, my heart starts pumping because it's one of the hardest shots we hit all year.

            Q.  Was your heart racing on the putt at Pebble?

            JIMMY WALKER:  I was pretty calm.

            Q.  That was for the win?

            JIMMY WALKER:  Yeah, it's bizarre.  I think you have a harder time coming down to make a cut than having a chance to win.  Because if you have a chance to win and you have that putt on the last hole, you're doing a lot of things really well, for the whole week.  I think you're hitting it good, you're putting it good.  If you have a chance to win out here on the last hole, you've done a lot of really good things that week and you're pretty much firing on everything you've got.

            I remember after I won Fry's and I came down to, it was Vegas the next week and I birdied three out of the last four holes to make the cut in Vegas and I'm standing out there on the fairway or on the tee on 18 at Vegas and I hit just a killer 3‑wood down there, and I'm walking down there and I'm telling my caddie, I'm more nervous right now than I was last week trying to win the golf tournament, kind of a deal.