What they said: Ryuji Imada

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MORE INTERVIEWS: OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup transcript archive

RYUJI IMADA: Last year, I lost in a playoff, and I played well, to the bitter end, but this year I came back and won and it was a great experience, time of my life.

Q. So will that help you with this World Cup?

RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, I've been playing pretty good all year, and I've been gearing towards this tournament, and to come out with Mr. Taniguchi as my partner, we shot 6-under today, not great, but we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot, so it was an okay round.

Q. The wind today, did the wind affect you?

RYUJI IMADA: A little bit. It was gusting here and there. It was really hard to judge the wind, the directions, and hard to pick the clubs, the right clubs. So it was a tough day. But all in all it was a good day.

Q. Is this your first time in the World Cup?

RYUJI IMADA: It is the first time for me. First time for both of us. So, it will be a great experience. We have been waiting for it.

Q. The World Cup is known as the golf Olympics; do you know that golf is applying to be in the Olympic Games in 2016?

RYUJI IMADA: Yeah, I think that would be a great thing. Golf is a worldwide sport. It's played everywhere. I think it's only right that golf will be an Olympic sport.

Q. So how will that impact on Japanese golf, do you think?

RYUJI IMADA: Oh, I think that would be great. The Olympics is the biggest event in sport, and to have golf as one of the events would only help grow golf in Japan, and I think the fans would love it.