After his maiden European Tour victory at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, Eddie Pepperell faced the world’s press at Doha Golf Club.
Here is what he had to say.
Many congratulations, how does it feel to be the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters champion?
Good. Relief I guess, first win and all that. I’m as pleased as I can be.
You’ve been out on Tour a few years. Did you ever think that it would take this long for someone of your talent?
I didn’t really have any expectations to be honest of how long it might or might not take. Obviously I had some good opportunities to win in 2014 and 2015 and then ’16 was a bit more of a struggle. I had some chances, I wouldn’t say I had a lot of very great chances like I’ve had today so to actually go out there and win today, going into the final round with a lead as well, that’s great. It could have gone the other way quite easily so to answer your question, I didn’t really have any expectations.
For somebody who had never won before it seemed like it was a perfect game-plan executed perfectly, certainly for that front nine.
I didn’t feel totally comfortable with my swing so that forced me to play a little bit more conservatively on certain holes with certain pin positions. My course management was very good, (caddie) Mick (Mick Dorran) was fantastic on that front and I had to just play to my strengths today which I felt were my wedge play and my putting. The rest didn’t feel quite in the same spot where I’ve been the last few days. That was a bit of an ugly win and I’m quite proud of that.
Oli put in a big charge there at the end, were there any nerves setting in at any point?
There wasn’t any nerves, none more so than the first tee-shot. You never feel like you do on a Thursday afternoon on a Sunday when you’re in contention, things are different so you do feel different. But not at any point during the round today did I feel different. I was confident, I felt like I was going to win this golf tournament, I felt like I was doing enough good things and that it was a case of me going on and playing smart and I did that. I didn’t even play my best but that goes to show that sometimes you don’t have to play the best and just manage the game and your mentality as best you can.
Would you say describe this as a breakthrough win or is it too early to say that?
I think this is just another good performance but with a win. I’ve had a lot of good performances, in the back end of last year, where I didn’t win but they were good performances. Sometimes the margins are so fine between second, and third and a win. It’s tough to win out here but it’s also tough to be consistently a top-ten or top-five player out here. By and large I’ve achieved that quite well in my career, I’ve just never managed to win.
Now that you’ve won, will you get a sponsor for your hat?
How much money have you got? A fiver and it’s yours!
Eddie, going forward – it sounds like you’re not the kind of person who changes your goals too much – but do you reassess things now going into the rest of the season?
No, I mean I think it’s probably going to mean I’ll get a better TV draw on Thursdays and Fridays. But it doesn’t really mean too much in that sense, nothing has changed really – it’s just that I’m now a winner and that will lead to certain things. We’ll see though, I’m looking forward to the summer a lot. I’m going to be playing the Rolex Series events on courses where I feel like my game is most suited and there are a few of those events where I would certainly to contend. I guess now I’ve won one tournament I wouldn’t be afraid to win again, I’m definitely looking forward to hopefully doing that.
In terms of your career journey, going back to 2016 which obviously wasn’t a great end of season for you, could you even imagine that you would be in this situation so quickly off the back of that?
Yeah, I knew I was a talented golfer and you don’t become a bad golfer overnight or in the space of three months. I know I have got some ability but for me it’s about unlocking that and working with the right people and working on the right things. I’ve done that clearly in the last 18 months and been rewarded for it. There’s every chance I could make another bad decision in six months’ time and fall off the face of the earth, that’s just the nature of golf and that’s just how difficult it is.
Commercial Bank Qatar Masters champion Eddie Pepperell (fourth from right) of England poses with the Mother of Pearl winner’s trophy in the presence of Commercial Bank managing director Omar Hussain Ibrahim Alfardan (fifth from right), Group CEO Joseph Abraham (fourth from left), Qatar Golf Association president Hassan al-Naimi (third from right) and other officials at the Doha Golf Club yesterday. PICTURE: Jayaram
