OCTOBER 16 — I love Japan and I love being here. I’ve been coming over here a lot over the years and my grandparents live in Tokyo and I have uncles, aunts and cousins from my...
OCTOBER 16 — I love Japan and I love being here. I’ve been coming over here a lot over the years and my grandparents live in Tokyo and I have uncles, aunts and cousins from my mum’s side of the family living here as well. I’ve made a lot of visits and I’ve always enjoyed the culture, the people and the food. The people are so proud here, they have a lot of pride, and I respect that a lot. It’s a very special place which I hold very dear to myself and my whole family.
As many of you know, I’m the only natural-born American in my family, having been born in the United States. My dad, Stefan, is half French, half German, born in Stuttgart while my brother Nico was born in Stuttgart. My mom Ping Yi, was born in Chinese Taipei and grew up in Japan from the age of two. Hence, we have family in both Chinese Taipei and Japan. And then my wife Maya’s mom is also Japanese. I’m just a mix of all kinds of things.
The course is very hard. There are probably five par-4s out here that are very difficult and if you can kind of go through those holes maybe close to level par for the week and you play the rest of the golf course as you’re supposed to play it, you’re going to have a pretty good chance. The greens are slopier than I first anticipated and during one of my first few practice rounds, I putted it off like three or four greens, which was a little shocking.