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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2006

Trevor Immelman

IRVING, TEXAS

TODD BUDNICK: We thank the runner up Trevor Immelman for joining us today. Trevor, two really great weeks of golf, and just a little bit short both times. Talk first about how good the weeks were for you.

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, I think well, I know they were two great weeks. You know, I think I'm playing the best golf of my career so far. You know, I think I've got to just keep plugging away and doing what I'm doing and eliminate a few of those errors and hopefully pick up a couple trophies along the way.

Q. Walk us through 18. That was a great up and down. It wasn't what you wanted out of there, but the up and down was. Just take us through 18.

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, I believe I had a few shot lead at one point, and then 10 was a two shot swing, and I was just hanging in there, felt like I was hitting the ball well and just not really holing any putts. So I was just kind of waiting.

I felt like maybe I could do something on 18 like what happened to me last week, and I decided to take a drive off the tee. I felt really comfortable. I was just going to try and draw it down the angle of the fairway.

All day I've just been a little bit late on my tee shots and kind of left them out to the right a little bit, so tried to wait a little longer. Hit the best drive of the day for me, drew too much against the breeze and ended up going in the water.

So at that point I knew my chances were pretty slim. But I managed to gather myself and hit an 8 iron in there. I was really proud of myself for holing that putt. There was still some pressure there, and you would rather finish 2nd on your own than tied 2nd. I was really happy with rolling that one in the center.

Q. The tee ball at 18, it looked like it was maybe a yard or two from being up top before it hit the slope and went down. Did you think it was borderline, or how nervous were you when it was in the air?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: When I hit it, I thought it was perfect because with my driver I really don't draw the ball too much. A draw for me with a driver is only a couple yards. When I hit it, it was a couple yards inside the fairway, and I thought, oh, this will be good because the breeze is off the left, and it kept turning. When it was three quarters of the way there, I knew it was going to land on that bank, and so that was kind of surprising because, like I said, it felt like a good swing.

Q. Was the wind going toward the water?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: No, the wind was coming off the water towards the 1st hole.

Q. What about the tee shot on 15? You were in pretty good shape there then got the tee shot out of the trees on the right.

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, that was kind of weird. Like I said, I felt really comfortable with my swing all week, more so than last week. Like I said, I think I just opened up a little too quick there for most of the day with my driver and my 3 wood and just left it a little bit out to the right.

Obviously the ball hit the tree and took a pretty severe bounce to the right. I don't think it was as bad of a shot as what the end result was. But nevertheless, you shouldn't really be missing the fairway at that point if you're really wanting to have a shot at it.

Q. You said earlier this week that after last week there was nothing to feel negative about. Is that kind of the same way you feel this week?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Absolutely. Like I said, I'm playing the best golf of my life. You know, I'm 26 years old, and I'm going to have hundreds of golf tournaments to play still, so I think for me it's just a case of trying to build on these last few achievements and hopefully close one out eventually.

Q. What do you think you need to do differently from this week and last week to take it to the win?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, I think if I could have combined the two Sundays, last week I hit the ball awful and putted probably the best I've putted under pressure, and this week today I felt like I hit the ball easily good enough to do the job but didn't really none of my putts looked like they were going to go in today. They were just too tentative. I really struggled with the speed.

If I could have hit the ball like today and putted like last Sunday, I think that would have been good enough. For me it's just trying to put that puzzle together, and I think I'll be there.

Q. What do you think of Brett Wetterich? Have you seen him before?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, I played with him last year at this tournament. At first glance you know he's going to hit the ball a mile. He's got shoulders the size of this room. You know, that's kind of just the way he plays. He bombs it out there, and he hit the ball really straight and solid today. He plays kind of a control fade and he was never really in trouble.

All credit to him. He went mad at the last hole there, hit two great shots, and by that time I was out of it, and he knew he could just roll it down there. He played a really solid round today.

Q. Was there much conversation between the three of you during the round?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: There was quite a bit of conversation between Adam and I. I mean, the two of us know each other so well; we're more like brothers than adversaries. We were chatting all day long. We're going to hook up next week in London. We see each other off the golf course all the time.

I didn't think there was as much conversation between Brett and I. We did have the odd word, and "good shot" and all that sort of thing, but I think we were kind of sticking to our games.

Q. You're playing Wentworth in two weeks' time. What are your experiences there? Have you had a good record there?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Actually lost in a playoff fancy that (laughter). I lost in a playoff in 2003 against Ignacio Garrido. I like the course. I know Ernie has just made changes to 17 out of the 18 holes, made it longer and put more bunkering in, so I think it's going to be different for all of us.

I love going back to the UK to play, and obviously that's the European Tour's flagship event, so we all try and get back and play that one. I'm looking forward to it. Like I said, I've had a few nice results there, and hopefully I can keep this form somehow next week without playing and then have a good week there.

Q. What do you credit this form to the last couple weeks of raising your game up?

TREVOR IMMELMAN: I think it's always been there. I mean, I don't mean to sound arrogant at all. I think it's kind of been there. I think I have started to believe in myself a little bit more. Once the ball got rolling and I showed myself, hey I think the Saturday of last week when I played with Stuart Appleby and Vijay and I shot 66 and I felt like I played well under extreme pressure, I think that kind of cemented the fact that I'm where I want to be, and I think my confidence grew a little bit more, and it carried over into this week.

To answer your question, I think it's always been there, I think it's just been a matter of me just making myself believe that it's there and just trust it.

Q. What kind of thoughts were going through your mind when you made the turn? You were playing pretty well, Adam was starting to struggle, Brett hadn't gotten things going, and it was looking like a pretty good day for you.

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Same thoughts I always have. I was just trying to play one shot at a time. Obviously from last week I knew things could change in a heartbeat, so I was trying to hit solid shots.

The 10th hole, like I said, I just left my tee shot out to the right and was struggling for par from there. All in all, I felt like I hit the ball well enough I was just trying to do the same things as what I did the rest of the week, just hit solid shots and hopefully make a few putts, but unfortunately the putts didn't find their way to the bottom of the cup.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's just go through the round if you could. Bogey on 3.

TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, that hole has kind of been my nemesis this week because I felt like I've had great tee shots there and every time it hits in the fairway and kicks left to go in the rough. I didn't have a good lie and kind of chopped a 7 iron near the green and didn't get that up and down, so that was not a good one.

6, I hit a great drive and a little pitching wedge to a couple feet, so I made a birdie there.

7, hit the best drive of the day and a 6 iron to about eight feet, and once again, that's a putt you'd like to hole for eagle and I kind of dribbled it up there, so that's not great, but it was a birdie.

10, I left my drive out to the right, hit an 8 iron into the front greenside bunker and had a 40 yard bunker shot, splashed it out to 20 feet and actually rimmed the putt out, so that was a little disappointing.

12, again, I left my tee shot out to the right, hit quite a good recovery shot onto the green, and once again, my speed was really bad, left it ten feet short, so that was a three putt.

Next hole, great 9 iron over the flag to about five feet, made birdie.

15, again, hit my tee shot to the right. I'm starting to see something here. Hit actually a great recovery shot there to a pretty good position, didn't hit a very good chip and missed the putt.

Next hole, I hit a great drive and a great 4 iron to about 20 feet, and that was one of my better putts of the day, misread it.

Then 18, we all know that.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Trevor.

End of FastScripts.

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