THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 30, 2003

Robert Allenby

ROBERT ALLENBY: I wasn't forcing anything. I was just playing within myself and not trying to hit it too hard. You know, the conditions out there weren't easy, so it was just one of those days when you've just got to be patient. I didn't hit a lot -- I hit a lot of great shots but I didn't hit a lot of fantastic shots. Maybe towards the last six or seven holes because of the wind, it's quite tricky, quite tough. The last few holes are playing quite tough.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: You know, I started the day and wanted to get there and just play well, and that was pretty much my main goal today was just to get there and play well. I played well all week. Yesterday I made a triple at 13 and it sort of put me back from where I should have been. You know, it's just a little bit of lapse of concentration, but today I had full concentration out there and I played pretty much the best golf I could play today.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: I knew it was going to be. I hit it solid. It might have got up in the air a little bit. I probably should have tried to cut a little three quarter 7-iron in there to that hole. My natural shot is a draw and if I try and hit something too hard sometimes it can get up in the air and that's what happened on 17. I can honestly say it wasn't the easiest putt in the world, either.

17 and 18 are playing really tough today. That's the toughest you can possibly get them. I hit a great drive down the last with a driver. I hit 3-iron there as good as I could possibly ever hit it to about eight feet.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: Probably about 15, 20 feet of fringe.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: The lies are tight because it's the first cut. I guess in that situation you've got to look at the percentages. Your worst putt is going to be better than your worst chip. That was the way I was looking at it. I didn't want to be silly and I didn't want to be greedy at the same time. I know how tough it is out here and if I could walk away with par then I thought I'd be doing pretty well today.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: I'd say this is 100 times tougher, absolutely. Riviera, having that water on the left and I didn't have six inches of rough down the right, and it was cold and rainy, but it's still cold and very windy here, and this is a different tournament, too. This is the TPC and it's not the L.A. Open.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: No, I'd say it was probably one of my best rounds yet definitely, to shoot seven under on the last day of the TPC and give myself a chance, obviously I started the day a long way back, and I knew that I had to really pull out a pretty special round if I was going to have any chance at all. Even up to the last five or six holes I thought I didn't have a chance. I was thinking the leaders would just keep going ahead and ahead and I kind of put it in my mind that they'd get to 13 or 14 and that sort of eased my mind and I didn't try too hard, and then when I knocked it close at the last, that was definitely one I had to hole.

Q. Have you been in this position before where you were down so far of the leaders?

ROBERT ALLENBY: No, I haven't set a round this long for quite a while. I have a good two or three hours to go now. That's all right, plenty of time for a nice big lunch.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: I'll have lunch and just sit back and see what happens, just pray for a bit more wind. I'm not religious but I might be now.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: I haven't putted left-hand low for at least a year now. I've been conventional for at least a year now.

Q. Mark said that there were a couple times about 8, 9, 10 that you were a little shaky on the putter but then you made that putt on 11?

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, putting is a funny thing with me. When I get my confidence going I can hole a lot of putts and if I start thinking God, that was a terrible putt, I might miss it -- I'm one of the most streakiest putters out here and that's the way I've always been. I'm either going to make them or I'm going to miss them. I'm not the best putter in the world but when the pressure is on sometimes I hole a lot of putts.

Q. How many did you leave out there?

ROBERT ALLENBY: Maybe three, you know, three putts inside ten feet I left out there, and they weren't hard putts, just uphill, just didn't hit them hard enough.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: I really don't know. 65 seems -- I mean, I don't know. Maybe like shooting a 62 or a 61, maybe less. I don't know. I mean, I can tell you it ain't easy out there.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: You know, the thing is you feel it a lot here, but when you get on that back nine in between the trees around 13, 14 and beyond, it's not really until you get to 16, the second shot, and 17 and 18 that you really feel a lot of wind, and it's swirling in between the trees and that can make it a little bit tricky, as well. The last three holes -- maybe 16 is because it's just a short shot in if I you hit the fairway, but 17 and 18 are definitely the two toughest holes out there today.

Q. What did you do on 15?

ROBERT ALLENBY: I just hit it fat, plain, simple, fat.

Q. (Inaudible).

ROBERT ALLENBY: I really don't know. I mean, they've got so many holes to play and they can make so many more birdies that I really don't think so only because there's some pretty classy players up there. I know that -- this is the way I look at it: If I can handle it I'm sure they can, too. Obviously they're in a different situation now because I've already posted a score, but, you know, all I can do is just sit and wait and see what happens. I either win or I don't win. It's as simple as that.

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