WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 28, 2003

Peter Lonard

PETER LONARD: It makes you think differently over shots that just normally you are on automatic pilot. You take into account what your man is doing. I thought we played reasonably well. Robert missed a couple of putts near the end there which sort of shafted him, but I suppose that's the name of the game, isn't it?

Q. He must have been doing fairly well?

PETER LONARD: Reasonably, like Robert. Well, he's from Victoria, which is a thousand kilometers away, so I don't know him that well. But he played alot of amateur golf, and I never played any amateur golf, so we come from different sides of the track as far as golf breeding goes, but I've seen him all around the world. He was in Europe when I first went to Europe. He's a great guy. He was unlucky today.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PETER LONARD: He missed a couple of putts coming in, like 7, 8 and 9. We both got on the green, similar distances, probably 20 feet. He ran it about four feet past and then missed it coming back. I was one up, so he had to make a birdie, chipped it to four feet and obviously misread it or something.

Q. (Inaudible.) What has gone well, what have you done?

PETER LONARD: I've done everything to the best of my ability, but I think when I've had to do something I've done it, which I think probably, now I think that's probably my strength, rather than my weakness. I think if I have to do something, normally I do it. When I say I get confused, I'm getting confused -- like

I say, when I was a couple up and had a couple of putts to sort of go four -- three and four up and I didn't know what to do. My brain was going a hundred miles an hour and it was just hopeless. I suppose that style of play suits me a little bit, when you have to do it. So I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can do it again tomorrow.

Q. When you say "When I have to do it, I do it." What does that say about you as a player?

PETER LONARD: Well, as a player I don't think I make alot of mistakes. I don't rack up big numbers, which I didn't think was going to be very useful in this sort of thing. I thought pars might not be worth it, on this style of course. I think pars are valuable. The rough is thick and the fairways are relatively thin and you've just got to plod your way around. I sort of like -- the part I like about the game is actually if the guy hits it to five feet and you've got to hit one close and you've got to make birdie, I enjoy that, I think that's the enjoyable part of the game. That's probably my strength, I suppose.

Q. You're well-suited to match play, then?

PETER LONARD: Well, yes, this is my fourth game, fourth match play game, but so far it's all right.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PETER LONARD: I played three or four junior pennants matches when I was about 14, because I didn't play amateur golf at all. And then I played the Australian match play once, ten years ago, that's it. I never played match play, don't know the rules. All I know is I have to beat the bloke I'm playing with.

Q. Somebody was telling us about your background last night and how close you came to not (inaudible.)

PETER LONARD: Yeah, that pretty much put an end to golf, from '93, '94, '95 I took a club pro job. I worked as a club pro, obviously I recovered. I finished second in one of the co-sanctioned events with Europe. Then I joined the European Tour and went back to Europe. I quit my job, sort of fiddled around there for a few years. One of my mates, Paul Gow, who plays over here, said I should have been coming over here for ages. So I thought, last year, I'm getting pretty old, so if I'm going to go, I better go now. Here we are. And I'm still here.

Q. Was last year as good as you could have hoped for?

PETER LONARD: Yeah. I don't think I'm one of these guys that's going to rip every course apart, week in, week out, but I think I'm the sort of person that's going to be pretty consistent. Now if I get into contention, or if I can get myself into a position where I'm in contention on a regular basis, I'm going to sneak through and win a couple, that's my sort of game. Might not be exciting, but --.

Q. Did you surprise yourself last year?

PETER LONARD: Not hardly. I didn't really expect to make cuts, but I thought I'd do good enough to keep my card. Obviously I made a few cuts early and made the cut at Doral. That's a comfort zone, there's a really fine line, and as soon as you feel comfortable, you can pretty much do anything, I think. Once I got the money out of the way at Doral, that's the most important thing, to keep your card. It was game on. I couldn't wait to get in every week.

Q. Was it a strange experience coming over here at all?

PETER LONARD: I think it's just a bigger experience. A big circus that moves from town to town. The sheer volume of everything. Not only the golf, but traffic, everything. Everywhere you go there's people. It's a little different. Most of the Tour in Europe stays at the same hotel during the week. You come out here, once you leave the course you barely see another pro outside the course during the week. Sheer volume. That was different. The golf courses were similar to Australia and that benefitted me.

Q. Did you miss the lifestyle staying the hotels with the other guys?

PETER LONARD: It was definitely different. It's just totally different. It took longer to get to know the guys. Whereas in Europe, once you're in, you either get to know them in the first month or you never know them. So it was a little different.

End of FastScripts....