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HSBC WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

September 15, 2005

Mark Hensby

SURREY, ENGLAND

GORDON SIMPSON: Mark, very well played today. Everyone knows Monty's track record around Wentworth, but you managed to knock him down today.

MARK HENSBY: Yeah, it was obviously, being 3 down after 18, things weren't looking too good. He didn't get off to a great start on the second 18 and I kind of took advantage of it.

GORDON SIMPSON: How are your own feelings on the West Course? It's regarded as his home patch here.

MARK HENSBY: When I got here and found out I was playing Colin, I didn't think much of it until I went to the dinner that night and saw his name on every board in there. I sat down and I said to Fanny, "Does he like this course?"

She said, "Oh, yeah, we're going to have a hard match." He's a hell of a player. He really hit a lot of nice putts this morning and this afternoon and from decent distances that lipped out. You can see why he's so good. I've never played with him, and never played against him obviously, but I can see why he's done so well around here especially.

GORDON SIMPSON: You shouldn't be so modest because clearly you did something right today. What was the key to it from your perspective?

MARK HENSBY: I played so poorly this morning. And then this afternoon, I just really hung in there. I made some nice putts at the right times, and that definitely kind of got the momentum going my way, and then I just didn't waver. Once I got 1 up, I really didn't give him a break.

Q. Do you like the match play format?

MARK HENSBY: Yeah, I've always played pretty well in match play. I enjoy it. It's definitely a different game. As I said this morning, if we were playing straight play, Monty probably would have beat me by a few more. It's definitely a different game.

I enjoy it. I played it a lot as a kid, match play. So, yeah, I really enjoy it.

Q. When did you get Fanny on the bag?

MARK HENSBY: Last year in Korea, I saw her caddying for Nick. And I said I was going to play in Scandinavia and knew she was from there and asked her if she would work for me that week and that's kind of how hooked up.

GORDON SIMPSON: It's been a highly profitable partnership.

MARK HENSBY: She's such a great caddie and a good person, and with all of that experience that she had with Nick, she says the right things at the right time. It's been really a good match for us so far.

Q. Did she help you with the greens?

MARK HENSBY: Not really. A couple of times I asked her, because there's a lot of tricky little putts down here that you don't really notice the downhill. When I wasn't sure, we did a lot of work in the practice round and I have a pretty good memory for greens. So once in a while when I got confused I just asked her, is it up, down and she kind of let me know.

Q. What do you think the turning point was in the match for you?

MARK HENSBY: I would think, he missed the putt on 9 for par. That probably would have kept him at I think well, it got him to 1 up, and he missed that and then I birdied 10. So I think around there was probably the turning point where I felt like, right, I've got a chance, and that was about it.

Q. A great up and down on 15?

MARK HENSBY: On 15, yeah, I was, there's no doubt. I was surprised he actually left his putt short. That was probably a changing point, too. I mean, that kept me 1 up, so yeah.

Q. Did you watch him get a couple of rulings?

MARK HENSBY: No, I was more interested in what I was doing. That's the thing in match play, you can't control what the other guy is going to do. You can only control what you're going to do.

GORDON SIMPSON: What about tomorrow, No. 1 seed and No. 5 in the world.

MARK HENSBY: Yeah, Retief is playing great now and everybody knows it. For me to beat him, obviously I have to play great. He's not going to just he's not going to fold up.

You know, if I play well, I'll give him a match, but if not, I won't have a chance.

GORDON SIMPSON: Mark, a great start today, well played. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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