MARCONI PENNSYLVANIA CLASSIC

September 23, 2001

Robert Allenby

ROBERT ALLENBY: That was great. You know, my mom and dad have been over here a few times, but I've never played all that well when they have been here. But it was nice to -- they have come over for five weeks, and it was nice to win when they are here. It's a great feeling. It's good.

ROBERT ALLENBY: No. No way. (Laughs). You know, the hardest thing is, and it might look easy, but you've got a three- or four-shot lead, a five-shot lead, you've got to hang on to it. You've got to keep it. I knew that it was going to get tight and tough the last six, seven holes. I think the birdies that I made, the putts -- I think it was 9, 10, 11; that was crucial. It was very important that I did -- that I holed those and made not so much easy birdies, but made some good birdies, and to keep me in good stead for the last six or seven holes. I knew that there was a lot of birdies out there, and I knew that every hole coming in, you know, was a birdie hole, and guys are obviously -- they are going to go for it, because they have got nothing to lose. They are so -- three, four, five shots behind, so they are just going to go at the flags and try to make some birdies. And I knew that I just had to keep doing that myself, but not make any silly mistakes. You know, I made one mistake pretty much, one bad mistake on 16. That was the only one I could not get out of.

ROBERT ALLENBY: You know -- pretty good.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, they were -- you know, they probably stand out better than the three birdies, because under those circumstances and the pressure and coming down the back nine -- you know. The tournament does not begin until the back nine. Doesn't matter if it's a major or a normal TOUR event. You've still got to go out there and play and keep hitting good shots. I thought I hit a pretty good tee shot down. Actually, on 12, I was unlucky because I thought I hit a pretty good shot. I was trying to hit to the right side and spin it with my wedge down towards the hole, and I think where I landed it, it hit the downslope and kicked it on. But I hit a good pitch, good little chip there and a good solid putt to make my par. 13, I thought I hit a pretty good drive and I felt the wind was off the left helping a little bit, and just smoked it. I just hit it too hard. Kevin had hit his, and he's pretty long, and he was still on the fairway and he was at the tree and mine was right of the tree, down the left side and mine ended up under this tree. I might have been a little pumped up after those birdies and the good par save at 12. But, you know, it was just a matter of -- the pitch that I had at 13 was a great pitch. I've been practicing that shot for the last six weeks and, you know, I had not had that shot all week, and then just funny enough, there it is and my caddy, Colin, says, "Well, this is what we've been practicing for the last six weeks. Let's just go stiff it." That's just a term, sorry.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I hit a great little pitch there and that was a good -- that just happened at the right time. Then 14 and 15, they were two holes that I knew that I had to get through and they were the two toughest holes out on the golf course, as far as if you've got pressure on. Obviously, 14 is over water, par 3, and I hit a great 5-iron there and I just hit it straight at it and came up a few feet short. I thought I hit a pretty good putt. Maybe just a little bit too firm. Then at 15, I hit a great 2-iron off the tee there. You always want to make sure you don't go left in the water. I hit a great -- I thought I hit a pretty good pitching wedge in there. I was right in between clubs and I went down one with the pitching wedge instead of the 9-iron, and I just hit it too hard and it created a lot of backspin. Didn't matter in the end because the putt was so good. I just hit it straight at it and it just went straight in. That was just perfect timing. Then I just -- I got a bit ahead 6 myself on the 16th tee. I was just thinking, "Come on, you know, let's just bomb it." I just got a little quick from the top and pulled it left in the bunker and I had no shot. But as it was, I hit a great iron in for my third shot to about seven or eight feet. I thought I hit a good putt, but I misread it. Made a good par at 17, and then 18 was just a matter of just staying dry. (Laughs). You know, you're always thinking all the way to the end, it doesn't matter how easy it may look to all you guys, but you've got to stand up there and you've got to commit to the shot. I hit my wedge into the last hole exactly where I wanted to hit it. I took everything out of play and I knew then it didn't matter if Rocco made his eagle putt or anything. All week, I've played pretty solid. That's the best tee-to-green that I've could say I've ever had. It's a great place to do it. It's a great golf course. You know, it's been a very enjoyable week. Lost a few hands of 500, but I'll get it back.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I feel terrible. (Laughter.) You know, I just -- I was waiting for this day, you know, to win over here, I guess in regulation. You know, it win by three shots is great. Normally, one shot is fine, but to win by three, with some of the company that was in the field this week. And Rocco, he's the home boy, and everyone's pulling for him. But not once did I let it bother me at all. I kept my composure and stayed -- I tried just to stay in the present and just keep hitting good shots. He was -- he probably was a little bit unlucky today. You know, it was a few putts that could have gone in for him, but, you know, that's just the way it is, I guess. You're obviously going to make them or you're going to miss them. I was fortunate enough that no one made a big charge, but at the same time, I think I played well enough to really take control of the tournament.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I saw he got to 16 (under). I was on the 12th green before after my chip and had not hit the putt in for par, and I looked over the board and I saw Larry was at 16, and I was at 19. So I knew it was -- anything could happen, especially 14 and 15. You know, they are two strong holes out here, and just two very important holes. But I think the birdie at -- or the par safe at 13 and then the birdie at 15.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, the whole time -- the whole time he was saying, "Oh, come on. You know, give us a chance. Give us a chance," like this. He was good fun to play with. The last two days have been a ball. He's a good guy and I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great player, and I was just happy to keep hitting good shots and just roll a few putts in every now and then.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, I said to Andrew Both on Thursday when I walked off, I said -- he asked me how I felt and all that about the day, and I just said, "Well, I just didn't have any concentration out there. My mind is still on what happened last Tuesday week," and I just said, "somehow, for me to go on this week, I've got to just get my concentration a little bit better and try and focus on what I'm actually here to do." And that's what I did, the last three days. I really did it very well, and hit a lot of great shots. I just really focused well the last three days.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Oh, I just wasn't even thinking of golf. I was just playing. Playing for the sake of playing and not -- I wasn't concentrating on what I was doing. I was pretty much just -- it was like a walk in the park. I didn't play that well on Thursday, and I was making 15-footers for par, and just to keep myself sort of going. But I never got any momentum going and I just -- I don't know, I just wasn't focusing on golf.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Probably both. Golf didn't seem important. And to tell you the truth, it still doesn't. When something like that happens -- has happened, how could anything be important. You know, it's a tough thing to see and to deal with, and I feel sorry for the people that were in New York City that day and I feel sorry for all of the lives that are lost. Especially those people on the airplanes. To think what they were going through the last five or ten minutes of their flight, I could only imagine.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I don't think I was guilty of being too upset. I don't think you ever say you're guilty, but, you know, I was, every day this week, I would finish my round, I would go back up to the room and turn on the TV and see what else had happened or see what was going on. CNN was on all the time, or whatever it may be. You know, that was pretty much the focus. The last -- I could say the last couple of days, you know, I've really turned my focus around onto my game and just -- I knew I had a great chance. I knew I was swinging it well coming into this tournament, and putting well, too. I just have to go out there and do it and just regain my focus and we're here to play a golf tournament. Obviously, we've got to move on with our lives. We all want to move on with our lives, but there's just certain things at the moment that just don't seem important. There's no doubt about it; this tournament was important to me. I'm over the moon that I won this tournament.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I probably would have just flicked it on another channel, but I would not have watched TV like I have in the last week or so. I don't think I have ever watched too much l so much TV. My wife says that I watch more but --

ROBERT ALLENBY: That's only when she goes to sleep. (Laughs).

ROBERT ALLENBY: Thursday night, we had a birthday party for my son and he was two years old on Thursday, and that pretty much -- you know, I've got a beautiful wife and I've got a beautiful son and that turned my focus around. My wife said, "You've just got to go out there and play golf. We're here, you might as well play golf." You know, it's a great feeling to have a son or a daughter, but especially on their birthdays, and it was a special day and it was a special night. It was a great feeling watching him open up all his presents, because dad I got to play with them as well. I make sure that I buy presents that I can play with, too. (Laughter.)

ROBERT ALLENBY: I know I can win a major. I know I've got it in me. I think I proved how good I can hit it. I know I can make my pair fair share of putts. Majors, there's four tournaments, there's only four of them. You've pretty much got to keep your emotions and keep everything in check for the whole week and just stay focused and try and stay as relaxed as possible during that week. You know, I feel that I did a pretty good job this week of doing stuff like that. So, you know, I can only work from this week and take it into, you know, upcoming tournaments and majors. But, you know, I know I'm good enough to win a major. Absolutely.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I'm not going to the World Cup, no. I turned the World Cup down last week -- this week. Yeah, this week, I think it was, a few days back. I don't go home for a long time, because the Tour finishes in November. I go home to Australia, November, December, and the Mercedes tournament is the first week of the year. So it's such a short time at home that -- and at the same time, I'm defending the Australian PGA the same week. So I felt obligated to go back and -- the Australian tour needs a lot of support. It needs a lot of help from the good players and I think that's the least I can do is good go back there and play there.

ROBERT ALLENBY: That was a consideration, as well. But I think at this time, for that tournament, I would prefer to be home and home in my home country playing there, rather than going to Japan. Nothing about Japan, but obviously, I had to make a choice between the two. But I thought make the Australian PGA was the right thing to do, because it was -- I was the defending champion.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, I already know. The team has already been picked. Aaron Baddeley was always the first one, because in Australia, they do it differently to America. America they pick your top World Ranking player and then he picks his partner. In Australia, it's the Australian Order of Merit winner, and then the top World Ranking player, which was myself and Aaron. And I believe it's Adam Scott is going to be the second one.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, they are definitely not old enough to shave, those two. (Laughs). Although, it will be good. I think they will bring a lot of character, to the tournament, anyway, because they are so young and there will be a lot of people out there watch them play. Two good golfers.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, I guess the obvious reason is I didn't win in a playoff. (Laughs). It's nice to win a tournament in good fashion and to win with good scores and to finish the last day off, and I think that's what I did today. I really -- I think I played pretty well today, under the pressure that was on me. It's hard when you've got a lead and the -- a three-shot lead and you've got guys behind you knowing that they could shoot 4- or 5-under or and I could shoot 1-over par and still lose. So I knew that I had to go out there and play, and I was just trying to play smart, aggressive golf. It's a good feeling to win by a few shots.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah. A win is a win. You take it anyway you can. It doesn't matter if you win in a playoff -- but I think for me, for me to go on and keep winning and winning, this was the right thing for me. To win with a lead for the last three days is -- I haven't done that for a while, and it's a great feeling, believe me.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I can't remember. (Laughs) I think my last six tournaments -- apart from PGA last year that I won in Australia, my last six tournaments have been -- or five out of six have been playoffs.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Other weeks have been close, but I think this is a long way above all the rest of them. This is, by far, the best I've consistently, shot after shot, just peckering the flag every time. I didn't miss a lot of fairways. I might have missed a couple today, but I didn't miss a lot of fairways. My driving was great all week. I holed my fair share of putts. I actually, I said to Colin, my caddy on 10, I said, "I actually don't want to hit this one too close. I would like to have a bit further away and try and make a 20-footer, because I'm getting scared that I keep knocking ot to about five or six feet and I'm going to keep missing a few." I said, "I'm going to stick is it out there a bit more." And fair enough, I holed a 30-footer for birdie.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I did. Yes. It was an Australian barbecue put on by the Australian Prime Minister.

ROBERT ALLENBY: John Howard. And I was fortunate enough to get an invite to it. There was a few other Aussies that got an invite, sportsmen, but didn't turn up, or knocked it down. I thought it was a great honor and a great opportunity for me to go, and meet our Prime Minister. Actually, I didn't know that your Vice President and that were going to be there. I had no idea. I walked in there and walked up the driveway at the ambassador's house and just went, "Wow." It was great.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I got to talk to the Prime Minister tore about 40 minutes which was a great opportunity for my wife, sandy and myself. It was great. We got to meet his family. Actually, I meant to be taking his son out to golf in a couple of weeks, but I have to send him an e-mail to say that I won't be able to because I turned down the World Match Play (European Tour). He's working and living in London, his son.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I was supposed to go to the Match Play and play, and I was going to take him out and play some golf around Sunningdale and Wentworth.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I think I was the only sportsman that was there.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Confidence. I'm a very -- the biggest part of my game is my confidence. If I can keep my confidence or get my confidence and believe in myself, I feel like I can do anything. That's why I keep sake that I could quite easily win a major. If I get my confidence going on the right week, something like today or this week can happen pretty easily. You know, I just pretty much all week this week, I was -- I just got the yardage, I looked at the flag, picked out my shot and hit it, and it was as simple as that. I try to keep it as simple as possible. My swing felt great all week. It's been feeling good for the last few weeks, really. But just -- it's just confidence. You know, it doesn't matter who you are. You've got to have confidence to win golf tournaments, and there's no doubt about it; the four tournaments that I've won over here, I've had great confidence that week and belief in my ability. Sometimes you've got to get out of your own way, and that's all I tried to do today was just step aside and just let me go.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Birdie at 3. I blocked my tee shot. I just chipped it down the fairway. I think I hit a sand iron to about 15 feet and made the putt. 6, was the par 5. I knocked it on for two, with a 2-iron and 2-putted from about 30, 40 feet. 8, I hit 4-iron. I pulled it left, into the bunker. Hit a great bunker shot. I had just come off the previous hole missing like a 5-, 6-footer for birdie and I continued on, on the next hole, missing another 3- or 4-footer. Then the birdie at 9, I hit 7-iron in to about four feet. I hit 8-iron into 10 to about 30 feet. 11, I hit 3-wood on the green for two. That was the first time all week I've been able to go for it.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I probably had about 280.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah.

ROBERT ALLENBY: I hit a 3-wood. It was downhill a lot and downwind.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Smoked it. 25 feet.

ROBERT ALLENBY: Oh, really?

ROBERT ALLENBY: 15 was 2-iron, pitching wedge and that was about a 40-footer. Then 16, I just pulled my tee shot left into the bunker. I had no shot. All I could do was flush it out with a sand iron and I hit 8-iron -- it was like about seven or eight feet and missed the putt. Made a good up-and-down on 17. Parred 18.