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HSBC WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

September 16, 2005

Michael Campbell

SURREY, ENGLAND

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It was a bit of a strange day today after I got off to a fast start and all of a sudden he came back strong at me once again and I was 4 down after 18 holes. It was such a long day, I can't remember what happened. I don't remember after 18 holes oh, I came back, I birdied I think some holes somewhere. (Laughter).

Q. You birdied 3 and he birdied 4.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: There you go. I 3 putted the next hole didn't I?

Q. And he birdied 8.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I knew I had to make a bit of a run, and then a few times making a few bogeys coming home. It wasn't my best performance scoring wise but it was good enough to win. It was pretty ugly out there. But I know that for me win tomorrow, I need to bring my A Game to play against Goosey. The Goose is obviously in good form right now, but tomorrow is obviously a different day, another day, and hopefully I'm good enough to play well tomorrow and do the job.

Q. Retief has only played 54 holes

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Well, I'm pretty fit, I've been going to the gym the last six, seven years, quite frequently, so I'll be ready tomorrow. A nice little rest tonight and just put my feet up and relax a little bit with the kids and come out firing tomorrow.

I know that I've got to be on my game tomorrow to have a chance. Today there was a lot of opportunities, a lot of times where I lost concentration and made some errors, a lot of 3 putts out there. I think I've had like probably six or seven already in the last four rounds. So it's one of the aspects of my game this week that's been quite poor. My weight on my putts has been quite average for should reason.

It seems that the practice putting green is slower than the actual course. But tomorrow morning, I'll get out there and get used to the speed of the greens and hopefully do a little bit better.

Q. What do you do to keep your concentration?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Just convince yourself that you're good enough. A lot of self talk. As I said before, I played quite averagely today and just a matter of convincing yourself that you're good enough to win and that's what I did a lot today, just a lot of affirmations, talking to myself, a lot of self talk and just reaffirm my status that I can play this game.

Q. Do you remind yourself that you're the U.S. Open Champion?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I actually use that sentence quite a bit, actually. I'm the U.S. Open Champion; I'm good enough to win this match. If you constantly because the thoughts create the future, and if you have positive thoughts all the time, it's going to create a better future than if I only had negative thoughts all the time.

Q. At what stage do you really think that, hey, I can actually take this guy?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Well, I actually thought on the last hole that I actually thought Elkie was in the water or the trees, but it was inches from being in the hazard. So I didn't actually know he was okay, even par playing the last hole. I had two good shots on the green, so I put pressure on Elkie there. I mean, it's amazing, the format of match play, it can change so quickly, very, very quickly; it can change three or four times in the space of a hole. It was an advantage to me and an advantage to me and then advantage to Elkie and then advantage to me. He holed a great putt on 18 there from seven, eight feet, I think it was and I just scrambled for par.

Q. The fact that the matches are 36 holes, do you ever think that there is just so long to go?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It's a long slog. It's a long way to go. You've got basically seven and a half hours of concentration out there and you can't lapse, just through, well, laziness, being tired out there sometimes. You're over a ball and you don't know what you're doing sometimes, and it's very common to most players this week. You'll see some great shots, and you'll see some poor shots the next hole, and it's just one of those things where you've just got to focus for those seven hours quite intensely, especially for me tomorrow. I've got to bring up my A Game tomorrow to have a chance.

Q. Inaudible?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, that's a prime example right there how, once again, it can change. It was advantage Elkie was in the rough there off the tee and then hit on the green, or just short of the green. And I had a great shot to about 20 feet away, and so now I had an advantage on that same hole. All of a sudden he hit it three feet short for his putt, or past the hole for his putt, so it's advantage to me again. I hit further past my first putt, so it's advantage back to Elkie. So it's just one of those things where the momentum can change very quickly.

And once again, the weight of my putts, the weight of my putts this week has been diabolical. I think I'm getting too aggressive with most of my putts, and instead of trying to lag them down there to, you know, gimmie range, I'm trying to hole the putt. That's not really the right thing I think to do in match play.

Q. The winner of you and Goose could decide the Order of Merit couldn't it?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Well, I think I let that play on my mind too much this week as well. I think that's why it's been hot and cold, my form this week, because I've been thinking about the Order of Merit this week and not the job at hand, and that's playing golf. Your mind wanders too far ahead of yourself sometimes and I still do it. It's human nature, and I still get the thoughts of trying to win the Order of Merit, whereas I should be concentrating on the shot at hand rather than what's going to happen three months down the track.

Q. When you are not concentrating, are you thinking about the Order of Merit?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I was thinking about packing my bags and going home, getting a train an hour and a half away. That came across probably times today. I quickly just through the towel and said, come on, let's hole this putt.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thank you, Michael.

End of FastScripts.

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