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DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

March 4, 2005

Colin Montgomerie

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Q. Do you feel you're going in the right direction here?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I've got to. The prize money is incidental to be honest with you. It's the ranking points I'm here for and for most of the year to get as many points as possible. So every shot, every shot is a ranking point of some kind. I've got to try and negate the mistakes I suppose and try to get as many, many points as possible and that's the whole deal for the next six months.

Q. You were really on your mark today, what happened on 14?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I just pushed it. The ball was lying in between the first and second cut and then it came out a bit soft and a bit right. It just popped up in the air, really, and I made a mistake, but nice to get one back at the last. I liked that shot in there.

Q. After bogeying the 14th, then missing the green at 15 there was almost a sense that you had to was a mini-crisis coming on?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It was a major crisis. It was a major one. I pulled a 7-iron and I'm aiming left and it was a terrible shot, and a good up-and-down to be honest because that was quite deep. It's much deeper in there than TV would show, so that was a good up-and-down.

And so I got out of it at 5-under and that was my goal really to get to 7 when I saw the leaderboard and we'll see what happens on the weekend. I have to keep going and pressing and keep at it. If I don't win, well, I'll try to finish second. And if I don't finish second, I'll and finish third and get as many points as I possibly can.

Q. You said after Tiger Woods' tournament, you found something special, to not try and compete length-wise anymore, you were going back to what you used to do; is that still the case?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, definitely. I spent the last three years trying to hit the ball too hard and too fast, and I was playing someone else's game instead of my own game. And now I'm back to playing my own game and that seems to work. The last four tournaments, I've been in the Top-10 and hopefully this again. So things are happening. Things are going the right direction.

Q. Better ball-striking day for you today?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I hit more fairways, only six fairways out of 14 which was a disaster and managed to get around at 2-under. Today I hit more fairways and amazing how I can score when I hit fairways. I've always said that, and I did today; and therefore, the score is three less. Amazing how simple it is, but you have to start by hitting the fairway with the tee shot.

Q. Tell us about 14.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I just got between the first cut and second cut. You have to hook it off the tee there, as I've always tried to do throughout my career, and it just ran through the fairway and it was a bit soft under the ball and I made a mistake, one bogey. You can always have one bogey, with six birdies; you accept that and move on.

Q. Now you're 63rd in the World Rankings --

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Thank you for reminding me. I'm aiming for the Top-50. I've got to be in the Top-50 as I know before -- well, especially the first major but I'd like to try and play in the TPC as well and two major events. They take the Top-50, so I'm not in the Top-50 as yet but trying my hardest to get in there. I've moved up 20 spots already, so we need another 13 and we'll get there. So I have to try and do well here and I'm off the TCL Classic in China to try and do well again. Then we make a decision, we either go east to the TPC or we go west to Jakarta. God knows what my plans are, but that's my life, I suppose, on Tour. We take it as it comes

Q. Was it difficult out there today on a two-ball; was it a little slow for you?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, behind Haeggman it was, yeah. He's not the quickest in the world. The three-ball, it's amazing how every hole a two-ball plays every hole at least two or three minutes quicker than the three-ball does. And so we've got two or three minutes to hang around, somewhere, whether we hang around on the fairway or hang around on the green or on the tee; mostly it's the tee because we're a group behind. It does affect you in way but I was lucky I played with Richard Green, who is a super bloke, and we get on well and it was okay.

Q. You had 121 yards left in 1996 --

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: 221. I had about 221 to the front plus the pin, whatever it was. Yeah, that was 232, I believe, sort of all in. And I hit my driver, and today's technology it's amazing how it's come on with the ball technology and the club technology. I can do that same sort of distance now whether it was between a 3-iron or one of these rescue clubs, and it was amazing the distance and I'm the same person. I needed a driver back in '96 and now in 2005 I'm using a 3-iron. Amazing the difference in technology difference. As long as I hit it high enough, it will stop. Eagle putts as you know should never be short and this one was. Disappointed, but at the same time you accept the course.

End of FastScripts.

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