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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 21, 2007

Trevor Immelman

TUCSON, ARIZONA

LAURA NEAL: Congrats, and thanks for coming in. Maybe just talk about it's a nice way to start, 6 and 5 victory right out of the gate.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, thanks. Obviously I was hoping to get off to a good start. You know, only mistake I made today is I hit two good shots down the first and then three-putted and ended up losing the first hole.
But after that, managed to play some solid golf and not make any too drastic of mistakes after that. So pretty much just stayed in the game and kept putting pressure on him.

Q. Even though it's a blow-out essentially, we talk about seven, getting a halve there and just getting things on your side?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, that was a pretty ugly hole for me. I was trying to hit a really hard draw with a 3-wood to try and run it up onto the green, and I was a little late on that one. I actually didn't get too bad of a break but just hit that little pitch and run too hard and run through, and I hit an awful chip shot.
Unfortunately Thomas missed that putt and then I managed to roll in about a ten-footer to halve. So that definitely kept things going in my favor and kept the momentum going there.

Q. Were both 7 and 12 holes that you were trying to drive the green?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, for sure. 7, the ball was going surprisingly far this morning even though it was cold to start. The course really didn't play very long at all. So 7 you could get up with a 3-wood if you just hit it on the right line.
And then 12, if you strike it properly and get the right bounce, you can get up there, too. I was just short there. Those are two holes that you'd definitely like to take advantage of. I didn't take advantage of either, but I got away with it today.

Q. You hit driver on 12?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Driver on 12, yeah.

Q. Some of the guys were saying there's some funny reads out here on these greens, putts that look like they're going to break one way and break the other. Any of that going on out there today?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I haven't found any of those yet (smiling).

Q. So it's doing what it looks like so far?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, yeah, it did. It did today, yeah. I didn't see anything crazy out there.

Q. When Thomas or whoever you're playing starts hitting it maybe just a little bit squirrelly, do you recognize that, and does it change the way you play at all?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, you recognize it, and match play, I'm definitely playing the guy, for sure. So what he does is dictating pretty much the shot that I'm trying to hit.
So yeah, I knew Thomas wasn't on his game, and I knew that I just had to keep hitting solid shots and keep myself in play and not make any stupid mistakes. That way if he was going to win a hole he was going to have to hit a really good shot and make a birdie.
So yeah, I was just trying to play solid, and obviously once I built a pretty big lead I was making sure I wasn't going to short-side myself. Some of these pins were cut pretty close to the edges and there's big falloffs if you miss on the wrong side, so I really was just playing 30 feet out of the side and hoping for the best from there.

Q. You were the last one to beat Tiger on the PGA TOUR. What did that win do for your confidence?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, at the time it was fantastic, but it was so long ago that it's all worn off (laughing). You know, obviously that was a major steppingstone for me to play in a tournament of that magnitude and play against such a great field and come down the stretch there with Tiger. It was fantastic for me to win that event.
But like I said, there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. I have a seven month old child now, so life has changed slightly. So I need to start knuckling down and play some good golf here again and start building some of that confidence back.

Q. Is this a relatively comfortable opening round that you would have wanted, or would you have rather been pushed all the way to test yourself?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: No, as comfortable as it can be would be fantastic for the rest of the week, thank you (laughing).

Q. It's early days, but how do you evaluate your season so far? Good start in Hawaii, but perhaps not building on that?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Absolutely. You know, I played a lot of golf towards the end of last year after the TOUR Championship. Played a couple things here in the States and then went back to South Africa and played three events. I managed to have six days of off-season before flying to Hawaii, so I kind of just kept going there.
You know, I put a lot of effort into that first week of Mercedes, and I think the batteries were totally flat after that. You know, I felt it coming at Sony, so my game has kind of tailed off a little bit since then. I haven't played too much, to be honest with you.
But the last couple of weeks I've put a lot of work into it, just trying to recreate some feelings that I had last year when I felt like I was playing really well. You know, so like I said, I'll just keep working hard and putting a lot of time in and get back to where I was last year.

Q. What did you think of Charl Schwartzel's decision?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: It's an interesting one, but I guess once he wins the South African Order of Merit this week, he will get into the British Open, the Bridgestone, the one in Doral, the old American Express, CA Championship I guess it is, and so as well as the Million Dollar down in South Africa, which is a massive event for us South Africans.
So it was obviously a tricky situation for him, but he felt like if he was going to give up this one he was going to gain four other big ones, so I can kind of understand it.
LAURA NEAL: Trevor, thanks.

Q. Your plans for the immediate next couple of months? Are you spending more time on the U.S. Tour or the European?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I'll be playing mainly on the U.S. Tour. I'm going to have a week off next week and go and put some more work in, and then I'll be playing three events in Florida and then a week off before Augusta. So I'm actually playing quite a bit in the next two or three months, so I'm hoping to get things going and get some good momentum going my way.

End of FastScripts

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