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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2006

Tim Clark

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

BILLY MORRIS: Ladies and gentlemen, we're delighted to have Tim Clark with us this afternoon. Tim had a very fine 2 under par 70. This is his fifth Masters. He played once here as an amateur.

Tim, would you like to make an opening statement or do you just want to have a few questions.

TIM CLARK: I'll go to some questions I guess.

Q. Talk about today and how the course played. There was so much talk about how the added length would affect the round?

TIM CLARK: Obviously the benefit for us is that it started to firm up. I think for the medium to shorter hitters, we need those fairways to be firm and that's what they were today. It almost felt like the way it played a few years ago when Mike Weir won when it really was wet. It felt like it played the same sort of length. It wasn't a shock for me. I played only one practice round on Tuesday and that was it. That was the only time I went out on the course and I think that's been a good thing. You're hearing the guys say, look, how long this hole is, how long that hole is. Nothing you can do about it. So I just decided, play one round, come out here and see what I can do and try and enjoy it like I have every other year.

Q. Can you go through how you played No. 4, just how you were able to birdie it?

TIM CLARK: Yeah, we pretty much figured that's going to be at least a 5 wood or a 3 wood every day, and with no wind, it was a 5 wood again today and hit a great shot that sort of got to the top tier and probably made about a 25 footer there for birdie.

You know a lot of those holes that are longer, you're really just trying to hit to the right area of the green. I think that's what I did all day, really. Had a lot of sort of tap in pars. I was hitting the right spots on the greens and leaving myself easy pars.

Q. Why just one practice round?

TIM CLARK: Like I said, I didn't want to sort of wear myself out before the week started. We knew the course was going to play tough, so I didn't want to go out there and play too many rounds and get negative. Like I said, I wanted to still come out here and enjoy my golf and that's what I was able to do today. I came out with a positive frame of mind.

BILLY MORRIS: Why don't you tell us about the eagle on 15.

TIM CLARK: I didn't expect to sort of be able to get up there today. We had the right wind and I hit a perfect drive that sort of hugged the trees. I don't have a 3 iron in my bag but I have one of those hybrid 3 irons and hit that up in there to about, probably 12 feet, great shot. Left myself a pretty simple putt a little right to left and made the putt.

Q. How far did you hit the hybrid?

TIM CLARK: It pretty much goes the same as a 3 iron. It probably goes about five, seven yards further than my regular 3 iron. So I can just get it up in the air a little bit more.

Q. How far was the shot?

TIM CLARK: I had 200 to the hole exactly.

Q. Do you feel comfortable, more comfortable on this course each year that goes by?

TIM CLARK: Actually, I had 220, sorry.

Yeah, well, I don't know. I think the more you do play, the more you sort of find out where not to hit it, I think is the case. Obviously it's still very tough to hit it in the right spots. You still have to play good golf. The atmosphere, you get more and more comfortable the more you play. Certainly for first timers to come here, it's a bit much to handle, as it was for me when I came and played as an amateur. I was so enthralled by Augusta and The Masters, pretty much found the first timers here taking everything in and not worrying about how you're playing.

I think the more you play, the more you feel like you've got a chance to get yourself into contention.

Q. Which hole of the changes do you think is the most radical?

TIM CLARK: I guess you'd obviously have to say No. 4. But I've hit 3 and 4 irons in there anyway, so for me, it's not that huge of a difference. I'm very comfortable hitting a 5 wood out. I've kept a 5 wood in my bag for probably eight to ten years now. For me it's not that big of a change. But for the rest of the field, that's probably one that they would think.

Q. Do you feel you have to play more conservatively rather than being aggressive on this course?

TIM CLARK: I think that's kind of always been the case. I guess until Tiger came along and scored 20 however many under he shot. I think it's gone back to that now where, you know, being conservative is the way to go and hopefully pick a few holes where you are going to try and make birdies. Certainly the back nine, you've got the two par 5s and a couple of those holes. It's probably going back to the way it played several years ago.

Q. So it's more thinking now.

TIM CLARK: Certainly with your second shots. There's not much thought into the tee shots anymore. It's driver for me, everywhere, barring the third hole. Certainly you need to position your tee shots again. You need to be in the right side of the fairway. Today I thought I hit a pretty good drive on 11 but I was a little bit too far right and blocked it out and had to lay up. There's definitely the emphasis on hitting your drives where you want them to.

Q. Everyone says the course playing hard and fast brings medium length hitters into play. Do you feel that and do you use that as motivation?

TIM CLARK: Absolutely. If it was wet, I'd be hitting two more clubs iron wise into the greens, and then it would be really tough.

So the firmness of the fairways certainly brings the field a little bit closer and again, long hitters, their balls are going to be running off the fairway into the rough. So it certainly closes the gap.

Q. You almost sound pleasantly surprised that it played this way today.

TIM CLARK: I thought it would play firm. But like I said, I only played on Tuesday. I didn't even come out on Wednesday.

Yeah, I'm very pleased with how the course is playing. The greens are fair, too. They weren't overly hard, so shots were holding the green.

Q. Who was telling did you say that some people were telling you, that this hole was so tough?

TIM CLARK: Well, you hear the guys in the locker room.

Q. Nobody in particular?

TIM CLARK: No.

Q. General chatter in the locker room?

TIM CLARK: Just general chatter.

BILLY MORRIS: Gentlemen, thank you very much and Tim, good luck to you.

End of FastScripts.

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