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JOHNNIE WALKER CLASSIC

February 9, 2006

Richard Green

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

GORDON SIMPSON: First things first, 6-under, 66, you must be pleased.

RICHARD GREEN: I think so, yeah, I woke up this morning and it was a little bit windy but I went out there and started very well. Birdied the first three holes, which obviously on the back nine, 10, 11, 12 and that pretty much kick-started the round. Four rounds in the 60s last week was impressive, and I don't know exactly what form the other guys are doing, but I feel like the level of golf that I'm playing should be thereabouts for the weekend, that's for sure.

Q. How was it with the wind gusting?

RICHARD GREEN: It was up and down. It was gusting here and there. You know, it was pretty steady for me most of the time. But then obviously there's little gusts here and there and just have to be careful of those gusts on certain shots. And fortunately I only got caught on one, which was probably my seventh hole, the par 3. I knocked the ball right and made a bogey there; unfortunate. But that's the game, isn't it.

Q. You said yesterday that playing with Tiger and Ernie last week you took some confidence, how much confidence can you take --

RICHARD GREEN: Well, you know, playing before you sort of do something like that with those guys and actually put them under pressure, you sort of don't think you're ever going to put them under pressure because they are such good players. Ernie, he's No. 5 in the world at the moment but feels like No. 2 in the world really, and, Tiger No. 1 in the world, you just don't think you're going to rattle them at all. I noticed that I did that on Sunday last week, and that kind of gives you loads of confidence. And it's given me a lot of belief that I can compete with the guys. There's no good reason that I can't win and beat those guys. That's how I'm feeling.

Q. Do you feel you should have had that belief in 1997?

RICHARD GREEN: Yeah, definitely, I should have had a lot more belief. Generally it's been something I've been able to gather a lot of in my 30s. I struggled with belief in my own ability for quite a long time and it's starting to come to fruit now.

Q. More of the same tomorrow?

RICHARD GREEN: Pretty much exactly the same way. I've played a lot of golf tournaments before, and this is the first day, so a long way to go.

I know basically what I'll try to achieve mentally every day. Tomorrow is a different job again, and then obviously Saturday another job. And I've just got to stick in the present and keep in the moment and keep it one shot at a time and that's just the way to do it. Golf is all about staying in the moment and I think if I do that all week, I'll be close.

Q. Are you comfortable with that score? There seems there can be some bogeys out there?

RICHARD GREEN: There's going to be bogeys on the course, the greens are difficult and the slopes are difficult on the front nine. You're going to get a bad kick here and there when you hit a good shot, it's just one of those things. The way the greens are and the run-offs, it's difficult to chip the ball back on the green, you have to be so precise. There's going to be bogeys. But hopefully for the rest of the week I can kind of limit those.

Q. Had you thought about the US Tour School?

RICHARD GREEN: I've never gone to the U.S. Q-School. Was playing in Dubai one year and was going to go but backed out of that and pretty much committed to playing on The European Tour. I've set up my lifestyle on The European Tour now, and I think at this stage of my career, it's very difficult to uproot that whole lifestyle and change. A lot of my life revolves around my family, and I think once my little girl goes to school in Australia permanently, I'll be a little bit more free are to probably play a little bit more in America and choose to do that.

But at this stage, I'm very happy with where I'm playing on The European Tour. I think it's a great tour and there's a lot of great players and you can certainly get large amount of golf playing on The European Tour, that's for sure.

Q. Do you expect to play more in the US?

RICHARD GREEN: Well, I think that I will play a lot of tournaments there in the next five to ten years. I believe that the level of golf that I've been playing in Europe, that will give me the opportunity to play in America. You know, the better you play, it's going to drag you there. That's what it sort of did to me last year in 2004, and I sort of played 11 events there last year.

But I think, you know, the amount of players commit to one tour and play the Tour, so whether I get an opportunity to play in America the next few years or whether I make the decision to commit over there, we'll see. But at this stage, I'm sort of happy playing on The European Tour and giving myself an opportunity to play in majors. I think that the level of golf that I can play in Europe, I can do that year-in and year-out.

Q. When are you likely to be back in Australia full time when your daughter goes to school?

RICHARD GREEN: Probably next year, actually. Probably next year. That will free my time up and obviously I don't need to be so committed to one place. I'm based in London on The European Tour and obviously once they are back here, I can go anywhere in the world pretty much. So hopefully I'll just give myself the opportunity to do that.

GORDON SIMPSON: Thank you very much, Richard. Well played again.

End of FastScripts.

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