WGC ANDERSEN CONSULTING MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 26, 1999

John Huston

JOHN HUSTON: Well, this morning I was very fortunate to get through that match. I was 3-down with 5 to go, and made just enough good swings to come back in that match and win 1-up on the last hole. And this afternoon I played really well. And I think I kept the heat on Jose most of the day. And I got up 3-up after four and he got back within one; and then I birdied 9 and 10 to go back 3-up. Then I had some pretty good chances to make it 4 or 5. Didn't make those. You are never comfortable with a guy like that that is that good of a putter. But fortunately, I was able to hang on.

JOHN HUSTON: He started out the round hitting it in the rough, and then I would say the last 13 or 14 holes I think he probably hit every fairway.

JOHN HUSTON: Well, you know, I think that the way those guys played over there had a lot to do with it. I don't feel like I played that poorly over there. There was only one individual match which I lost and Shigeki played really well the day that I played him. Certainly, you know, I would have liked to have played better over there to give me that the confidence coming into this tournament, but, you know, you play each guy each day. You might not play so well, but you still have a chance to win. Fortunately I have played pretty well. This morning I struggled a lot the first 12 holes, and was lucky to only be 3-down, and fortunately was able to come back and win.

JOHN HUSTON: Yeah, I think that if you are playing well, you are going to do well in Match Play. If you are hitting the fairways, hitting the greens, you always got the pressure on the other guy, then you are going to do well.

JOHN HUSTON: I kept thinking on that stretch, 12, 13, 14, I've got to win this hole, just to get one back, to get you know, to where at least going to look like I am going to play all of the holes. Fortunately, I hit it really close at 14, and then Patrik hit it in the rough and kind of gave me No. 15. Although, I had a pretty good chance at birdie. But then all of a sudden the momentum kind of shifted and to get to the last hole 1-up, I was elated.

JOHN HUSTON: No. At that point, I was just trying to win one hole to get back to have a chance.

JOHN HUSTON: 3-down, hit it close at 14; and so I went back to 2-down. Then at 15, he hit it in the rough and made bogey and gave me my putt for birdie; so I was back to 1-down. And then sort of the same thing at 16. He hit it in the rough and hit it in the rough again and his -- he was outside of me putting for par and missed his; so he gave me my putt again. Then 17, I hit it about four feet and made birdie. And all of a sudden, I am 1-up playing the last hole and I made a nice par-putt on the last hole.

JOHN HUSTON: About twelve feet.

JOHN HUSTON: About eight feet at 15 and probably 15 feet at 16.

JOHN HUSTON: Yeah, but, you know, pretty much I have already made a lot of money; so, I mean -- but, I don't think that anybody that is left is really thinking about the money. Certainly, the money is nice, but I think the guys that are left have played long enough and they are not going to -- none of us are really concerned with the money. Just let it take care of itself.

JOHN HUSTON: Yeah, certainly I think that probably playing just having it over here favors the American players, but until this last round, there was a lot of foreign players left. But certainly, I am sure that if it was in Europe or something, it would be a different story.

JOHN HUSTON: Yeah, more mentally draining than physically, I would say.

JOHN HUSTON: No, I don't think so. I think that when you have the opportunity to win. The tournament is far from over; so I don't think anybody is ready to let-down yet.

JOHN HUSTON: Everybody is close, and especially on a day-to-day basis. Certainly the better players are going to make less mistakes over a 72-hole tournament, and they are -- when they are on their game they are going to rise to the top, but when you go match-to-match, anybody is susceptible to lose, and I think we have seen that. I mean, there is no telling -- there might be somebody who is out of the tournament that can be 20-under for the week, you know.

JOHN HUSTON: I don't care. I do not care at all. I really don't. May very well be true, but I don't think any of us -- I don't think there is anybody left that -- there is nobody that was here this week that was not a good player, so -- but I know everybody wanted to see David and of Tiger play in the finals, but that is tough to do.

JOHN HUSTON: No, it doesn't. We play -- most of the time we play so slow that I have pretty much gotten used to it. I didn't really notice that he played that slow today.

JOHN HUSTON: No, not really. We were just, you know, for whatever reason we got behind, but I didn't notice that he played all that slow. But I have kind of gotten used to it, everybody plays pretty slow now.