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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 24, 2005

Ian Poulter

CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA

SCOTT CROCKETT: Ian, thanks very much for coming in. Congratulations on the good win. You were looking at the scores, Jim was 4 under. It makes the win even better.

IAN POULTER: Obviously last night I was just trying to get my head around the game today. And when you play U.S. Open champion like Jim, you know you can't miss a fairway, you know you can't miss a green. And my golf was flawless pretty much. I was just really happy to get in front and stay in front because even when I was 3 up, Jim came back and holed a 30 footer on 16 and it was it was tough going. But I played great; 7 under par is quite nice.

SCOTT CROCKETT: That must be how you envisioned it last night.

IAN POULTER: The key thing was to go out and drive it in the fairway. Because Jim always drives it in the fairway, the last thing you want to be doing is chuck it out of the rough and give it to him. I was hoping to just play.

Q. How did you feel going into it? You hadn't had much of a chance to find out really?

IAN POULTER: Not really. I practiced well the last couple of days down at Taylor Made, and that was quite pleasing to be able to go down there and do some good work down there, because it's been pretty wet and difficult to practice properly. So I just got my head down away from the golf course and stuck to my game plan. It went really, really well.

Q. How was the indoor facility?

IAN POULTER: The indoor facility, yeah, and they've got the practice ground down there.

Q. How much better were the conditions today than yesterday?

IAN POULTER: A lot better. I mean the course has held up unbelievably well, considering how much rain has dropped in this place for five or six days leading up to it. It did the same last year, drained very, very quickly and dried up. As long as the weather stays there's another five hours drying, and if they get a little breeze out there, which has just picked up now, that will help dry the course, as well. It was playable out there, and obviously you are taking some casual water relief and moving it five, six, seven yards, but that was absolutely fine.

Q. Is it a case of the bigger the opponent, the better focus you've got to have?

IAN POULTER: Yeah, I guess. You've got to focus hard on every single match. But when you know your opponent is not going to miss many fairways, then you are under a bit more pressure before you go out and play.

You can't look too far forward in this game. And even being 2 or 3 up, your mind just flickers quickly, and you want to get the win in as quick as you can, and then you have to concentrate and get back down to work. But the tougher the opponent, obviously the better the concentration is.

Q. You said you had a game plan. What was it?

IAN POULTER: Drop it in the fairway, just hit the fairways. They've moved a few of the tee boxes up there today, and they needed to on certain holes, but as I said, Jim always hits it in the fairway. He rarely makes a mistake off the tee, and he putts it well, as well.

So I pretty much went toward the flag all day long and I made it really, really difficult for him out there today. The key part of the round, I guess, was he birdied 9. I missed about a 15 footer, I guess. We're going up 10, poor second shot into 10, and I came up short right of the bunker. Jim hit it to 15. I holed my bunker shot, he misses his putt, it goes from 1 up to 2 up, where Jim was probably thinking, what a great chance to get it back all square. So every time that he thought there was a little bit of an opportunity, I pretty much slammed the door shut.

Q. In this match play format, is it pretty much accurate to say that you just don't want to give the guy give away anything?

IAN POULTER: You can't give anything away, especially not to Jim Furyk, and that's obviously part of my game plan today, just make sure if he's going to win a hole he has to win it properly. And try not to make any bogeys, because that's a very easy way to give holes away.

Q. Is that your bet competitive round of the year?

IAN POULTER: It's possible. I played fantastic out there today, tee to green. He tore the flag out, I hit some great putts that never went in, and I shot 7 under par through 17 holes. So I think anybody in the field would take that score right now. And I think 4 under par, Jim Furyk would probably beat 70 percent of the field, I think.

Q. Do you know who you play tomorrow?

IAN POULTER: No, I was just walking in when Joakim Haeggman was playing Appleby.

Q. Those were extra holes.

IAN POULTER: Those were extra holes, okay.

Q. Help me out here, I'm new to this a little bit. Do the European players play more match play than the Americans?

IAN POULTER: No more.

Q. No more?

IAN POULTER: No more.

Q. How come you guys are so successful at it?

IAN POULTER: That's a wonderful question.

Q. You play more growing up?

IAN POULTER: I haven't. I certainly haven't played more. No, my first match play was probably Seve Trophy.

Q. Amateurs play more?

IAN POULTER: Amateurs generally do.

Q. Luck of the draw maybe, or what?

IAN POULTER: Who knows. We can't give our secrets away (laughter).

Q. You know how to play the golf course?

IAN POULTER: I feel comfortable on the golf course, I've got my lines off the tees and I'm comfortable out there, which is great, really. It's nice to have that one out of the way.

Q. Are you going to practice at Taylor Made today or here?

IAN POULTER: I might pop down there. I put on a couple of wristbands; one says "Believe" and the other one says "Impossible is Nothing". I sort of read them on every single hole. I knew it was a tough day, so it's always good to look at stuff like that.

End of FastScripts.

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