WGC ANDERSEN CONSULTING MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 22, 2000

Michael Campbell

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Obviously it's going to be good for me. I'm looking forward to it. You have to look at my fields I've beaten the last few months compared to Tiger's fields, it's not as strong. In hindsight, I look back and think what Tiger has done is phenomenal. I have a lot of respect as a player and a person for him. So relative to who you beat, you know. And obviously coming here has been good. My confidence is very high, I'm very focused, and obviously if I just keep on doing what I'm doing right now, tomorrow is going to be exciting.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It doesn't surprise me, no. I've been very hot. '99 on the European Tour I came close to winning so many times, but tried too hard in the last round. I've been here before, in '95, I played well in '95. I finished fifth on the Order of Merit, and obviously I knew that the ability was there. I knew that I was good enough to win a golf tournament, and finally I think breaking through in the Johnnie Walker, it was a huge step for me, for my confidence and my career. And beating Tiger at the Johnnie Walker in Taiwan in November, I think it was, was the kickstart to my career. I had a second win to my career after '95, because the injury I had in '96 put me back probably two or three years. And during those two or three years I wasn't confident in playing, but I got low, but I just hung in.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It started when I started seeing a coach of mine, his name is Jonathan Yarwood, about two and a half years ago, he's in Sarasota. He's been based there for five years, he's under David Lipper's wing. And Jonathan has changed my whole swing around to a point where it's very simple. And that leads onto more of a mental side now, my confidence as I said before is very high, because now I can visualize a shot more easily, because of him. I know my technique is better than it was two and a half years ago.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: That's why I went from the 6 PGA TOUR events to eight in a row. Actually it was Ernie Els in the start of the year. I was watching the playoff, and we have Tiger Woods, he wins 6 PGA tournaments in a row, I knew I was in 8 tournaments in a row, because I beat him in the Johnnie Walker. But obviously I respect Tiger as a player. Everybody does in this world. But tomorrow when I head towards that first tee, I'll be thinking about my first tee shot. It's going to be tough to spend a week away from my family, my son who is 18 months old. It's hard to walk out the door and leave home. I'll be making the most of it.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I was pretty much leading the whole -- the whole -- I was leading from the first round. And Tiger was about two or three shots behind me every time. So I knew he was there. But I just sort of used his presence to my advantage. All the expectations was for Tiger to win, the media, the public, everybody expected Tiger to win that week. So all the attention is on Tiger. And all I did was just played golf. And I just was lucky enough to win by about three or four shots.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: During the end of '95 I was invited to lots of tournaments around the world. I played in Japan, I played in Indonesia, in Spain, in England, Australia, New Zealand, 8 tournaments in a row, 7 different countries. And they weren't short trips, around the world practically. And my body was tired, I was in contention for those seven or eight tournaments, whatever. And my wrist broke down. It was a sign of my body saying "I can't handle this, all this pressure of playing." And just basically pounding all those golf balls. And I had strict instructions from a doctor to take six months off. I get invited to Augusta, thinking, "Hey, I can't turn that down." So I came back too early, and it made a difference to my wrist, which put me back another six months. So there goes a year and a half or so or 12 months. So through just not being patient, through being very eager to get there and playing Augusta, of course, my first time ever, and it did a lot of damage to me mentally, as well, as well as physically. So another year goes by, and I come across Jonathan Yarwood, he's sitting here right now, my coach. But the other question was back in 1840, Logan Campbell came over from Edinburg. He stopped in Asia, and eventually got to New Zealand. He married three or four wives. Back in those days it was allowed. And one of them was a Maori, M-a-o-r-i, and so he's my great -great -great-great-grandfather. And he was the mayor of Oakland. He's very well respected. And he's respected in New Zealand and Auckland. He gave land to the Maori people. And also there's a monument that's called One Tree Hill in Auckland, named after him. And that's it, really.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: The lowest point was in the French Open I think around June, July of '97, I shot 81, 80 something, I can't remember what it was. I went to my hotel room, sitting on my bed and going, "What can I do?" I couldn't even hit the golf ball, couldn't putt, couldn't chip. I was shanking my chips. I can always go have my Telecom job, I can always be a club pro somewhere around New Zealand, just take it easy and give lessons to amateurs and all that. But just the family around me, the support I've had from my wife, Julie, mom and dad, and all my friends and the group of people around me, the circle of people around me gave me so much support, morally, it was amazing. So I just thought to myself, "Come on, don't be stupid. You've done this -- you've beaten the best in the world before. There's no reason why you can't do it again." And basically my coach, Jonathan, steered me in the right direction, and here I am.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Almost every cut. I lost my card on the European card and Australasian card. In '97 I went to see Jonathan, and two weeks later -- I went to European Tour school and retained my card for '98, and all of a sudden it was a snowball effect after that.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I was very surprised, dropping 3 spots, after winning the Australian Masters, because it's regarded as a very high tournament in Australia. And the field wasn't that strong, obviously, but as I said before, at least I thought I'd probably drop to around the 50s, around there. But playing Tiger, I'm very excited about. But I think in a way, the way I'm playing right now I have a good chance of doing well. As I said, I'm here to win, not to make up the field. I believe the way I'm thinking, I'm in that zone and being focused, I have a very good chance.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It wouldn't have bothered me at all, really. The only thing is all I can control is my own destiny, not his. I'll be out there thinking about my golf game. And just he can think about his. He's obviously a naturally gifted player, and I've got a lot of respect for that. But the bottom line is that I'll be out there playing and give it my best shot. It's been -- spending a week away from my family is hard enough. You turn a negative to a positive, and at least for being away from my wife and family, I'll make the best of it.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yes, no question about it. He's streaks ahead of everybody else out here. I think the most important thing I do is go to that match tomorrow with a very positive attitude.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: No.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: He won last week.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I live in Richmond now, in England.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: In '95 for about three years. And I bought a place in '96 in Richmond, and I've been there the last three or four years.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Basically it's like -- it's like a band that goes around your wrist. And it's like -- it's called a sheath. And so when you move your wrist, your tendons go with that movement. Mine is ruptured right there (indicating), it still flicks out. It doesn't hurt, but basically it ruptured right there, which means every time I turn my wrist, it just flicks over the bone.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It was inflamed, a week before it actually happened. In Australia, I played two weeks there, and it's hard, hard ground. And I felt this little twinge in my wrist, and I thought nothing of it. And so I just persevered with it. And all of a sudden on the 5th or 4th hole on the New Zealand Open, I had this shot off the tee, actually, a driver, and I felt it was out of position on the way down, so I tried to, through my natural instinct, trying to correct it very quickly, and that's when it happened. It just popped. And I felt this sharp painful, painful sharp pain down my left arm. And I knew it wasn't good at all. And I thought my whole career was done. But now here I am. I'm back again.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah. But I feel I'm more of a complete player now. I used to be a very streaky putter, but now my putting is more consistent, as in better. My all- around game is better. The way I'm swinging right now was technically better than in '95.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: No, I went to an herbalist, and natural path and I tried acupuncture, which I thought -- I was a nonbeliever when I first went there, because I couldn't even hold a pen in my left hand, it was so painful. And after two sessions of acupuncture, I held this pen. It works. I'm a true believer in acupuncture now. I had a lot of advice from different types of areas, and mostly guys wanted to cut me up. I said, "No thank you. There's other ways we can do this." And just acupuncture helped me a lot. And just a lot of rehab on my wrist.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Last -- two weeks ago at the Australian Masters on the 7th hole my second shot, there's a tuft of grass, about this far from my ball (indicating), and I hit my second shot and it caught the grass, it was thick grass in Australia, and it caught my club, and it tweaked my wrist, and it was pretty -- not painful, but I could feel this pain again in the same area as my injury, for the rest of the day. So it's still quite weak. I'm just going to do a lot of strength stuff to it, very light weights in my wrist, just to strengthen it up. I'll never be a hundred percent. I'm just going to maintain some sort of rehab every day over the year, just to keep it going.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I never even thought about it. I haven't thought about tomorrow at all, really. Obviously -- I think the most important thing I can do is keep my feet on the ground and just turn up tomorrow, go through my routine, hit balls, get on the first tee and hit it. And I think -- if you start thinking about consequences, if you think about the future, too far ahead of yourself, you get into a lot of problems. But if I keep on doing what I'm doing, keeping my presence of mind I'll be fine.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Basically I think if you're worried about -- obviously Tiger is on the leaderboard, there's guys out there subconsciously going, "Oh, my God, he's coming again. Here he comes. Oh, he's past me. Oh, he's won." And those sorts of things. But that's where I think the guys waste energy. Obviously they're focused on their game for the first three and a half rounds, and they see Tiger's name up there, so the energy is lost. If you can just control your own mind and just focus on your own game. I know it's easy to say and hard to do.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Oh, yeah, I use certain techniques that I've been taught by this guy called Dallas Richardson that works on the PGA TOUR, and also the European Tour, works with all the guys, he's taught me a few games about that type of stuff. So basically block out the influences. Because Tiger's name on the board influences a lot of players, how they play. They get defensive. They get too aggressive. And what Dallas taught me in the last few months helped me. Don't ask me what it is.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: No, I didn't actually fight it off, I used these techniques to just make sure I focused and use all my energy on my own game and not his.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: You've got no chance of finding out.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It's like the Colin Montgomerie syndrome in Europe. Every time you see Monte's name, guys fall away. And obviously Monte is such a dominating force in Europe. And the guys just crumble, because once again, they go, "Here we go again. Monte is on the board. He's going to win again." They get so negative about their own ability, and they just give all that positive stuff to Monte. Same with Tiger. When you see Tiger's name on the board all the guys go, "There he goes."

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Basically if you go out and play your own game and see what happens. I'm the type of person that's easygoing, and go out and play and have fun. The most important thing I'll do tomorrow is go out and have fun. Obviously it's going to be a lot of media hype about -- the most common thing we have is we're the same color. We're sponsored by the same brand, wear the same golf shoes, wear the same socks, different clothes.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Obviously once you've been through the hard times you really appreciate the good times more. And I believe there's a reason why things happen. And I can't understand why it happened to me in '95, but now I do. I'm more of a complete person, complete as in a family man now. Very happily married for my wife, Julie. And Thomas is 18 months old. He has put golf in perspective, it's put life in perspective. He loves me whether I lose tomorrow or win tomorrow. And I miss him. It's hard to be away from my family now. He's an inspiration to me. He was born in August of '98, and ever since then my whole golf game has turned around. Because obviously I can't play this game for the rest of my life. Whether it's ten years' time or 20 years' time down the track, I have to have different avenues to generate some sort of income. And that means -- I think I've got another 15 years of good playing ability left.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I'm playing in Australia next week. I've won 920,000 Australian dollars, and if I win next week, the Tour Championships, I'll be the first person ever to make a million dollars. So my goal right now is to go back home next week and play The Tour Championship and break a million dollars. And also I love to play over here full-time. I think my game has improved about two or three levels in the last probably three or four months, but I think for me to go even further, I've got to compete against these guys on a more regular basis on the PGA TOUR. But I'm very comfortable in Europe, I have a nice house and nice friends around me. And I've got a few goals to achieve in Europe yet before I come over and play fulltime over here.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: My wife is here, actually.

? MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yes.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Richmond, also Australia, two places. I spend six months of the year there, and six months in Australia.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It's been unbelievable. Greg Norman gave me a wonderful compliment, accolade. He said, "Michael, you're back where you should be." That was nice of Greg saying that. And also the feeling I'm getting like at practice this morning and yesterday and last night for dinner, and all the guys come up, Tim Herron and Nick Price and Justin Leonard and Colin Montgomerie, and Mark O'Meara and the list goes on, Ernie Els, and they said, "Well done, welcome back." And it's nice to have that respect from your fellow peers. The respect that it was there all the time, but finally it's come back after three years of absence.

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