From the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge to players’ reactions to the news of the passing of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, enjoy this edition of Quotes of the Week.
From the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge to players’ reactions to the news of the passing of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, enjoy this edition of Quotes of the Week.
“It’s sad for everyone who had gotten a chance to certainly not only meet him, but also be influenced by him. I had a chance to meet him with my father back in 1998. He invited us to his home. It was one of the (most) inspiring times that I’ve ever had in my life. It’s a sad day for many people around the world,” – Woods, reminiscing on the time he had the privilege of meeting South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, who passed away on Thursday, December 5, 2013.
“I knelt down and I kissed his feet and I said, ‘I have never kissed anybody’s feet in my life. I said, ‘I have so much admiration for you,’” – Player, recounting a moment he shared with South Africa’s Nelson Mandela while speaking at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
“There’s nothing I can really say. I don’t know why he would call me out. Obviously, he’s in a situation where he’s looking to better himself somehow, but there’s nothing there,” – Johnson, on Vijay Singh’s lawyer naming him (Johnson) in relation to players who have had an “actual or possible violation” of the PGA Tour’s anti-doping policy.
“You will always be in my heart Mr. Mandela,” – Woods, via his Twitter account after hearning the news of Nelson Mandela’s passing.
“I’m thrilled to be the Champions Tour Player of the Year. I figured I had a pretty good shot at it, but Bernhard (Langer) had a heck of a year too and you never know until the votes are counted. The fact that this award comes from a vote by my peers is a real honor and I am very proud to receive it,” – Perry, on being voted the Player of the Year on the Champions Tour for this past season.
“(If) Tiger would give open answers to questions – ‘real’ interviews, not just ‘nothing’ interviews… Journalists and broadcasters should not be mere cheerleaders. There’s too much of that in golf right now, to be honest. And not nearly enough untainted honesty. If correspondents do nothing more than claim how great everything is, any semblance of reality is lost,” – Ogilivy, in a column appearing in Golf World magazine on how he believes the Tiger Woods-Brandel Chamblee situation could have been avoided.
“Obviously, it was nice to win and it was nice to get a win before the end of the season. But I felt like my game the last couple of months has been on an upward trend and it’s been improving all the time. It was nice that some of the hard work and the practice that I have put in came to fruition last week. It was nice the way I won as well, battling with Adam [Scott] down the stretch, I guess, in his home country and hanging in there and being able to just sort of tip him on the last,” – McIlroy, on finally registering a win in 2013 at the Australian Open last week.
“I think it’s deeper now than it ever has been. There is more young talent. There are more guys winning golf tournaments for the first time. But if you look at the major championships, how long did we go from basically Phil winning [to] Phil winning? I mean, how many first time winners did we have during that stretch? It’s deeper. It’s more difficult to win events now, and it’s only going to get that way,” – Woods, on how competitive the PGA Tour has become since beginning his career.
''They were special times and the little time we had together was very special. He was just the most amazing person I have ever met,’' – Els, remembering his fellow South African, Nelson Mandela, and the moments they shared.
“Condolences to all on the passing of our beloved Father of the South African Nation, Nelson Mandela. Madiba we loved you. Rest in Peace,” – Player, via his Twitter account following the passing of Nelson Mandela.
“I talked to Tim at length about this, actually ironically enough, over the course of the year. He wanted to make a change a little bit sooner, but couldn’t quite get the wording how he needed to get the wording correctly. So he was on board with it long before. I think the ruling is such that there is that it certainly is going to help players, but certainly it’s not going to save all the players.” – Woods, discussing the USGA’s rule change, Decision 18/4, which seemed like a direct response to his incident at the BMW Championship this past September.