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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

October 7, 2015

Louis Oosthuizen

Songdo IBD, Incheon City, Korea

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I think we all just hope Charl gets a bit better so he's fine for Friday. I think we've got a really strong team tomorrow.

Q. How do your games complement each other, do you think?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: With Branden, you're always going to be very positive going out there. He's a great guy to play with. He's a good putter, he's a good ball-striker, and he'll be on my shoulders -- I'll be on his shoulders the whole time. He'll be pulling the team and he's just a great guy to be around with.

Q. Hamstring feeling good, all the injuries gone?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I feel the hamstring a little bit when I walk but it's not an issue. I get work on it in the mornings, afterwards, and it's a thing that's probably going to bug me for awhile still. But at least I know of it now and it's nothing to be a problem.

Q. How do you think this course sets up for match play, and are there any holes that you particularly like? Are there good strategy holes?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: It's going to be a good match-play course. I think the guys are going to really go at it, fire at the pins. You can see there's a few slopes on the greens, but you're going to leave yourself a few tricky putts if you're not careful. That's match play. You know you can be a bit more aggressive and there are some good holes out there.

Q. Changing the points, do you like that? Obviously it's a little bit good for you guys in a sense?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Absolutely. I think if we want it our way, we would have had it 28 points. We want to try to use the same competition as The Ryder Cup and then you could compare the two. The way it was, you couldn't compare the two competitions.

But I think it's going to be an exciting week. The US has got a really strong side. We need to bring our A Game.

Q. What do you say to the teammates who have less experience?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Well, to be honest with you, the guys are really positive, and really great so far. All our guys, or the bottom end of the team, is playing really good golf. Thongchai winning the other day, and Danny is playing great; so they are sort of pulling the rest of us into this event, and it's great to be around them. They are all great players. I think we are all very excited.

Q. What's the chemistry in the dressing room?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: We're having a lot of fun. You know, there's a lot of team spirit there, and yeah, everyone is having a great time. We had a lot of fun last night with the Korean barbeque and after that we were put on the Xbox, a bunch of us. It was good fun.

Q. Was there an interesting last course I heard about?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, the octopus.

Q. Was it moving?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I never saw that before and I jumped -- I nearly jumped a bit because I didn't expect it to be moving still. But it was all good.

Q. Looking forward to next year, what's your plan?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I mean, I still have quite a bit of golf left. I've got five events left after this one. So I've got three weeks off after this which will be nice. Spend a bit of time with the family before a big stretch at the end, and you know, early next year start again, new season.

Q. Do you think you're going to be in contention at the Masters next year?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I hope so. I think everyone hopes to be in contention there. You know, need to play well before that. Need to play well going into the week. I mean, there's a lot of great players now. You need to really be on your game.

Q. How do you feel about your game right now compared to, say, a couple years ago?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I was really, two, years ago, I came off injuries again coming into the week and didn't play a lot of golf before it.

I'm a bit more prepared this time. I'm playing okay. I'm obviously not 100 percent playing the way I want, but I feel really confident about this week. I've been hitting it well the last two days, so happy to be here.

Q. Do you like starting with foursomes instead of fourball?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: To me, I don't think it's going to matter. You've got to play two of each, so I think the foursomes, if I'm not mistaken, I think we've done better at the foursomes two years ago than we did in the better-ball. I think the foursomes is a really good start for us.

Q. Is there a reason you guys do maybe a bit better at the foursomes?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I think probably the last time we spent more time on the foursomes, focusing on that, and sort of forgot about the better-ball part of it.

So yeah, this time we're a bit more balanced, and I think we mixed it up a little bit, the combinations, and I think it's good.

Q. With new faces, new countries, new points, do you feel like it's a fresh start for the Internationals?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I think so. I think we need a good week. We need to win to get the tournament back on track, to get the whole Presidents Cup back on track and to make it a proper competition, and I think we are heading in the right direction, changing the points down from 34. We just need to go out and play well. The US has got one of the strongest teams again this year, and that's never easy against them. We know they are going to come out firing tomorrow and we need to be ready. We need to just toughen up and bring our game.

Q. Have you guys bonded around something -- is it winning for the sake of winning?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Everyone is very excited and very positive about this whole week. It's amazing, when you come together a week like this, it's like you've known each other for tens of years. It's like a proper team in the room and even though it's different languages and different things, different cultures, but we all like a proper team. It's just a great vibe and a great thing to be around.

Q. Were you at Fancourt in 2003?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No. I think I just turned pro then (laughs). I watched --

Q. '98?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No, I did at 2003 in Fancourt, it's not far from where I live, so I did on one of the days go and watch. Obviously Ernie and Tiger, that last deal, it was a great thing for our country and for the tournament. I think if we can get that again back in The Presidents Cup, it would be great.

Q. What's one thing Nick Price brings to the team?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I mean, he's more passionate about this Cup than anyone we know. I think he sees the big picture of it, and like he said, it's the best thing he's ever been involved with. I think a lot of us is getting the same feeling.

There's not enough team events in golf I feel, and to be part of a 12-man team playing for a trophy is very special. That's something you did as an amateur and that's something I miss; the camaraderie and everything around the Cup is brilliant and he definitely brings a lot to it.

Q. Do you have any afros or wigs this year?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No. That was because of a very bad haircut. Not that it's any better now (laughter). But no, I think -- no. Well, I might come up with something, but at the moment, no.

Q. Jason mentioned the last event, Sunday night party, he said even though you guys lost, you outdid the US team. What will the party be like if you guys win?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I don't know, ask us next Tuesday. I think a lot of flights will be missed and we'll have a great time.

Q. Any memorable moments from last Sunday? Cabrera put on the wig --
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, we had the wigs there, at one stage we had a few of the US players there. I don't know if you remember the fanatics, the guys that were out there. It was really a big night. We had to drag some of us away there because we still had -- I remember I was flying back home with Ernie at one o'clock in the morning, and how we got to the flight -- or how we got to the flight eventually, no one knows.

Q. Thoughts on your avatar that you have out there?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: It's strong. I'm never going to the gym again, if you look at that upper body. It's something different. I like the way they put the gap in the picture, so that's good.

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