Q&A Mark McNulty
Mark McNulty talks to the press at Woburn and keeps us up to date with his game...
Mark McNulty, a previous winner at Woburn is just returning to the form he is used to after a poor 2000 season so far. But with a few lessons from David Leadbetter, the 46-year-old Zimbabwean is turning his game around back to his best.
GOLFmagic caught up with him at Woburn to find out how he has been getting on with his new found swing and how he feels his chances are this week.
McNulty is currently one off the pace at The Victor Chandler British Masters thanks to two great rounds of 65, only Gary Orr leads him after a course record breaking 62 yesterday.
Q Have you ever shot two 65s and not led?
A “I don’t think I’ve ever shot 65, 65 on a course of this quality and been one behind. I am very happy to be one shot behind, because when you’ve shot a couple of scores like I have I am obviously delighted. When I started yesterday I had one goal in mind. David (Leadbetter) and I planned just to make the cut. Okay I’ve done a little better than make the cut, but that’s life. The golf course is playing the same today, a bit shorter, great nick and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Q Is the swing getting into the groove with each successive round?
A “I had a long chat with David last night and he watched it yesterday afternoon on TV and said it’s looking 80 per cent of what we want and when he says that, wow, I’ve done very well. He went back to Lake Nona today. It’s really all about segmenting it. If you take four segments, I was hoping by now to have done one segment and I’ve done three. I have one to complete the fourth segment and who knows? I’m not talking about winning. I might be fortunate enough to win on Sunday but I’ll be satisfied with finishing the last segment, so there’s going to be a lot of work ahead.”
Q Has he ever told you it’s 100%?
A “No, I think he might have told Nick Faldo or Nick Price 100% occasionally, but he’s never said that of it. My goal now is getting from 80 to 100%. I said to him last week I’m sick and tired of this. I’ve done it all before. We’ve been close to 100% in the past – let’s see if we can get there. I enjoy playing this Tour and in the under-50 bracket if you know what I mean. And who knows? I am continually asked the question – what am I going to do in three years time? I’ll wait and see when the time comes. If my quality of golf is improved to a point where I can go onto the Senior Tour and do extremely well – I’ve spoken to Tom Kite and a lot of the guys – it’s just like a mulligan, a mulligan in life! So that’s the last segment.”
Q What did you think of Gary Orr’s score?
A “I didn’t hear any scores until I walked down the first hole and I said to Andy (caddie): ‘Is that 13 or 15 under?’ He said 13 and I said 15 so I knew Gary had shot 62. I turned to Andy and said: ‘hats off to him, that’s a great score.’ It is a great score. There you go. I am sure that’s a course record here and it’s a truly great score. I would really like to say I’m not thinking what I might shoot over the weekend. I’m just going to concentrate on what I’m doing and that’s one shot at a time. That’s all I can do – each swing as it comes along. I had a couple of mistakes today but I promised myself that I wouldn’t complain about missed putts. I had one tee shot at the ninth I was indecisive about and one poor shot on the 13th. I was a little indecisive again.
Will I phone David tonight? Well he gets back to Orlando this afternoon so I will. I don’t speak to him a lot during tournaments. If we have worked on something dramatic I will, but he wouldn’t have watched it today so there’s not much point. Maybe I won’t. He will most probably see it tomorrow then I will call. I’m ring and tell him what I shot.”
Q Have you noticed the improvement in standards?
A “There are times on the European Tour when I look at it and I think the players are not performing like they should be performing. Then there are times when they are performing a helluva lot better than I think they should be performing. I don’t see this as a 15 under par after two rounds golf course. For me to shoot a pair of 65s is phenomenal. I can only say that it’s the aura of the best man in the world at the moment, what he’s creating, and everybody realises you can’t sit on your heels and accept a four under round. If you get to four under after 13 you’ve got to make another birdie, or you’ve got to just make the best quality shot you can next. Certainly when I first came on Tour in 1977 cuts were four or five over par. The cut margin has come down dramatically in recent years. The winning score seems to stay the same, but they bunch up much more which says that everybody is playing better and working harder and that’s what it’s all about.”
