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MERCEDES-BENZ CHAMPIONSHIP

January 5, 2007

Trevor Immelman

KAPALUA, HAWAII

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Trevor Immelman after a second round, 5-under 68 here at the 2007 Mercedes-Benz Championship. A little bit different day than yesterday with the wind conditions. Of course you had to start with a little rain, but turned out to be a pretty nice day.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Obviously, you know, it's always a good day when you're able to go out there and walk around and play the game you love. But there's no doubt about it; it was rainy, and the wind was blowing as strong as yesterday, there's no doubt about that.
You know, I was playing 50 yards extra into the breeze. I felt it died a little bit when I was walking down the 18th fairway. So hopefully that will be what we'll have over the weekend and it will calm down and we'll get some nice, sunny weather.
TODD BUDNICK: Talk about what got you going today on the course.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I got off to a pretty solid start. I birdied the par 5 4th and 5th. Then I had a nice birdie on about 7. 7 I had a nice second shot in there and made about a 5-footer for birdie.
Then 8, I didn't quite hit my tee shot as well, and 3-putted from about 40 feet.
Nice birdie on 9.
11, I hit one of my best shots of the day to a couple feet and made birdie there.
16, I hit it to about five feet behind the hole. That was quite a nice putt because I felt like if I missed it, it would probably role five or six feet by, it's so fast down there.
18, just missed the green and got up-and-down.
So, I was really happy with my consistency today and that was the key to my good scoring.

Q. Do you normally play well in weather like this?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, that's tough to say. I grew up in Cape Town, which is a coastal region, and it's normally very windy, especially during the summers, it will be hot and windy. So I grew up playing in a lot of wind.
Obviously I did my time there in Europe and got to experience a lot of sort of weather we've experienced the first two days. Whether I'm good in it or not, I don't know, but I'm fairly used to it.

Q. In Cape Town, it's hot and drier; it's a little more humid here.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: It's definitely a little more humid here, but with the moisture, we've had a bit of rain; it probably has not been quite as hot as what it could be. But yeah, it is definitely a drier heat down in Cape Town in the summers.

Q. Having discovered the course, how do you like the Plantation?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, I think it's an extremely interesting golf course. I think the designer has done an incredible job with the amount of slope we have here in this area.
So they obviously had to, you know, really use their imaginations real well to try and put together a golf course of this stature.
So, you know, I think the designers have done an incredible job with the piece of land they have. And obviously, you know, the views are second to none. Once you get out there, obviously it's been so difficult for us the first two days, you know, probably didn't even know where the ocean was when I was out on the golf course because you're just kind of nose to the grindstone and try to get the ball in the hole as soon as you can.
But, you know, obviously it's a pretty breathtaking place. First time I've been here.

Q. You haven't seen any whales yet?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I saw one, what I think was one, a couple days ago splashing around out there.

Q. Did you feel like yesterday was as consistent except for the one hiccup?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, absolutely. Yesterday obviously just the one bad drive there on 16. So today I was happy to get that drive away and put that one in the fairway. Then I managed to make a birdie, which was even more of a bonus.
Yeah, I think the rhythm of my swing has really been the key to my play in the very windy conditions. So, you know, hopefully over the weekend I can just maintain that same rhythm and keep hitting some solid shots.

Q. Would you rather see the weather the same, or would you rather see it get a little better, after playing two rounds in these kind of conditions, the adjustment?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, it really doesn't matter to me. It's something that I have no control over. So it would be pointless for me to waste energy on worrying or thinking about that. So what will be, will be.

Q. Would you talk a little bit about what kind of expectations you've put on yourself for this year after having such a great year last year?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, I think something I did well last year was that I didn't expect too much. You know, so I'm going to try to keep that same attitude going this year.
I'm naturally a pretty hard worker. I like to practise a lot and put a lot of work into my game on and off the course. So, you know, I want to try to continue to do that, and then once I get to the tournaments, just try and play with as much freedom as possible.
So I think as soon as you say to yourself, okay, I really want to finish in the Top-10, or I really want to win this week, then you start putting pressure on yourself and I don't think you can play with as much freedom.
That's the goal for me is to continue working on my game and when I get to tournaments, just really try to let all that hard work come out without me getting in the way of myself.

Q. Did you work real hard on the time off?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, I didn't really have any time off. I played The TOUR Championship, I played the Shark Shootout, I played the ADT Skills Challenge, and I went to South Africa and I played a charity event for Nelson Mandela. I played the Nedbank Challenge, and I played the South African Open, so I had a grand total of ten days off before coming here.

Q. Do you think that's part of the reason you're here now?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Here now as in playing well?

Q. As in leading, yeah.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Maybe. I would like to have some more time off. I felt like I had such a great year last year on the golf course and off the golf course in my personal life. I think that my wife and I would have enjoyed to have a little bit more time off to sit back and relax and enjoy South Africa. But as it were, we were fairly busy. You know, that's just the way it is. We just try and enjoy everything we do.

Q. When you play in such extreme conditions, it helps to not have not touched a club for a month, doesn't it? Some of these guys have hardly played in two months.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, sure. I think the main thing out there is just try to hit the ball solidly. In those sort of extreme conditions, you're going to hit some shots that you're not used to seeing, just because you can barely stand up at certain times.
So you've just got to try to hit the ball solidly, and the main thing is to not beat yourself up, because obviously it's so difficult, it's rainy, windy. You've just got to hang in there and try to save as many shots as you can.
TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Trevor. Good luck this weekend.

End of FastScripts

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