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BUICK OPEN

August 2, 2006

Vijay Singh

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

VIJAY SINGH: A lot of birdie opportunities and every time I come here, I've done well. I feel good going into tomorrow and you never know what's going to happen.

TODD BUDNICK: Talk about your game coming into this week. You missed the cut at the British opened, which ended your streak of seven consecutive Top 10s in majors. Where are we with your game.

VIJAY SINGH: Pretty good. I was disappointed missing the cut, but I did not play well. I just did not have a good feel that week anyway. I worked hard last week and worked on a lot of good, specific things and it's going good. So I'm happy with the way I'm playing. I'm happy with the way I'm putting and I think it's going to be good.

Q. Do you feel there are certain parts of your game that are better than other people's where you can be so dominant?

VIJAY SINGH: I putted really well last year and the year before. You've got to drive the ball you've got to take the golf course on and I think I've done that inaudible. If you hit a driver way down there, you can wedge in. You can make a lot more birdies in places going in with 9 irons than 7 irons. I think that's why I've done well here is I've never really done the easy way out; I've always played aggressive.

Q. In the Top 50 in the World Rankings, there's not a single American player under the age of 30. Do you think a lot of that has to do with the success that you and other international players have had, making it more of an international game so there are more good international players than there are coming out of the United States?

VIJAY SINGH: I don't know. I think you have the Senior Tour that once they reach 42, 43, they already slow down. A lot of American guys have been playing for a long, long time. A lot of American guys have been on Tour for over 20 years. The ones that reach the age of 45, they are kind of burned out. So they take three or four, five years off to recover and then play the senior tour. That's probably why they haven't really been that good after the age of 40, 41, 42. Through the years, there have been quite a few. Kenny Perry has been playing well, Tom Pernice has been playing well, Jay Haas, and Freddie Funk, as well.

Q. A friend of mine down in Detroit about an hour south of here who is a golf fan asked me if I was coming to see Vijay in the Buick Open and I said why, and he said he's going to win again.

VIJAY SINGH: I like the way he's thinking. I hope he's right. Like I said, I'm playing well and I hope I make it another win here.

Q. Can you compare winning a major to winning this tournament for the third time in a row? How important is it for you, can you compare it to winning a major?

VIJAY SINGH: There's no comparison. Majors are a different kettle of fish. Ask anybody who won this tournament three years ago, they wouldn't know. Ask anybody who won the British Open, they would know that. To take nothing away from this event, but it's not in the same category as the majors. You cannot compare them.

Q. This place is obviously a birdie fest. You guys make a lot of birdies. I don't think there's ever been a stretch where there were more birdies or more great golf than the final round of you and John Daly a few years ago. What do you remember about that stretch?

VIJAY SINGH: John played incredible golf the first six, seven holes and I was just trying to keep up. I don't know how many shots ahead I was, but the 7th hole we were all even and I made three birdies and he made six birdies and an eagle. You think about it when you're playing, you try to keep up. With this golf course, it's easy to make a lot of there's a lot of opportunity for birdies out there and eagles, especially the back nine, starting at the 12th hole, 13, 14, 15th. Even 10 is a very comfortable driving hole. Once you get it down there, you just have a wedge or sand wedge.

If you're putting well and driving the ball well, you're going to make a lot of birdies. And John always drives the ball pretty long and straight.

Q. Do you remember a stretch of golf like that that you were ever involved in, you and the other guy doing it was like birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie?

VIJAY SINGH: I don't think you get too many chances to do that. You can do it alone but with another person playing the same kind of golf, doesn't happen very often.

Q. How do you like Medinah two weeks from how, how does that fit your game?

VIJAY SINGH: When we were there in '98, '99 I'm going to go there next Tuesday and play. What I've heard, there's a lot of guys that played, it's lengthened and they have done a lot of different things to the bunkers. No, I'm looking forward to playing that again. I think I'm a better player now than when I played in '99.

It's my last chance to win a major this year, so I'm going to go out and sort out my game next week and play the golf course and know exactly what I need it work on. I think I'm going to arrive I normally arrive in a golf tournament on a major on a Monday. It's a long time to wait for Thursday.

Q. Do you think a course like this will help you prepare for a course like Medinah?

VIJAY SINGH: Well, you have to drive the ball very straight here. Any major you play in, you need to drive the ball very straight. This golf course, although you have a lot of birdie opportunities, if you don't drive it in the fairway, you're not going to make too many birdies. Again, you have to drive the ball in play.

Q. Is there any extra incentive trying to become the first three time champion in this event?

VIJAY SINGH: Well, I have never won a tournament three times in a row all my career. So the best incentive I have, my personal ego, I guess. But it would be nice to do it. I'm not, you know, going to go out there and just think about that. I'm going to go out there and try to win the golf tournament as best I can. So if it happens, it happens.

TODD BUDNICK: Thanks, Vijay.

End of FastScripts.

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