August 1, 2021
Daniel Gavins
Northern Ireland
Galgorm Castle & Massereene Golf Club
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: You mentioned out there how it feels to be a European Tour winner.
DANIEL GAVINS: It just feels amazing. I don’t think it’s going to sink in for a while. Yeah, it’s just a dream come true really.
Q. It was a bit of a roller coaster at the end there. You spent a long time at the range. You were even at the clubhouse watching the TV. What was going through your mind as everything unfolded out on the golf course?
DANIEL GAVINS: To be honest I thought I was going to be a few shots short of winning, so to win, it’s just — I just can’t really believe it. I thought I was going to finish maybe second or third looking at the leaderboard going down the last, but yeah. Must be my week.
Q. As you mentioned, you started the day seven shots off. Did it even enter your mind that you would be sitting here as the winner of the ISPS Honda World Invitational?
DANIEL GAVINS: Not in the slightest, no. Kind of went into today playing each hole as it came and just tried to stay patient out there. A few birdies led to a few more, and yeah, here we go.
Q. You holed some incredible putts out there. Can you talk us through a couple of those putts and a couple moments where you really felt like you had it going on the golf course?
DANIEL GAVINS: Yeah, I mean, the first — it started on the par-3 when I holed a bunker shot for the birdie. It was a pretty tough bunker shot. I managed to hole that. Then the next hole rolled in like a 70-foot putt for birdie, which was a pretty tough hole. And then same on 13 and same on 16, I’ve rolled in 60 feet again on both of those holes, which was a bit of luck in there. But yeah. Unbelievable.
Q. I know you were talking about how you came close to not playing this week. What was the thinking behind that, and how close did you come to not even teeing it up?
DANIEL GAVINS: Yeah, it’s been a pretty long season so far on the Challenge Tour, so I was going to have a week off because there was obviously a week off for the Challenge Tour, and then go for the next kind of nine in a row on the Challenge Tour. But I came because one of my mates was going to caddie for me. So yeah, we just came and really — we treated it like a week to have some fun really. So yeah, that’s what we did. We came and had a little bit of fun, and yeah, here we are.
Q. Given the overwhelming emotions that you’re feeling from a win this week, it’s sometimes difficult to take a 30,000-foot view and put things into perspective, but can you speak about the format, having men and women playing together in this event. You shot 13-under; the winner there ends up shooting 16-under, so it appears like they acquitted themselves quite well.
DANIEL GAVINS: I mean, I think it’s great. I think it moves a lot quicker, so it kind of speeds play up. So I’m all for it. I’ve played it a few times now. We played an event in Australia where it was the same, and that went really well. So yeah, it’s really positive for golf, I think.
THE MODERATOR:
Daniel, thank you very much and congratulations then.
Interview Transcript by ASAP Sports