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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPFebruary 21, 2007Stephen AmesTUCSON, ARIZONA JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Stephen, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Nice win, 8 and 7 over Robert Karlsson. A lot of birdies out there. You must have played really well. STEPHEN AMES: I did. I hit some good shots. Geez, the second hole was conceded but I actually had a foot and a half for birdie there, too. I didn't know I had won actually. I was going to the 12th tee (laughter). My caddie told me, "You just beat him." I go, "I did?" I guess I was pretty much in the zone. Q. Are you going to call your dad tonight? STEPHEN AMES: I am, yeah (smiling). Q. How does it feel to see how the other half lives, I guess? STEPHEN AMES: It's just nice to get through the first round. I actually just called my wife. She goes, Oh, how did you do? I said, "Finished." She said, "You're done?" "Yeah, I played 11 holes." She goes, "And?" I go, "I won't be coming home tonight." It's nice to be out of Carlsbad (laughter). I saw the ball going in the hole for a change rather than bouncing. Q. Are you not well this week? You sound terrible and look even worse. STEPHEN AMES: Thank you (laughter). Q. Just sinus? STEPHEN AMES: Terrible, yeah. I've picked up a cold from last week. Hanging out with the kids over the weekend. They ran me down. Q. Sounds like a silly question, but is it affecting you at all? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah, my appetite is gone. I was in bed at 7:00 o'clock last night, got up at 6:30. Yeah, I haven't felt well this week at all, very weak. Q. Does that help you at all when you're playing, just stop thinking about other things -- STEPHEN AMES: Stop thinking about it and just play golf. Can't do anything about it. Sneezing every other shot, among other things coming out. Q. Hard to say there's a pivotal moment at 7, but was there something early on that really got you going or you could tell it was a -- STEPHEN AMES: I didn't know what to expect because of the way I felt. I went through my normal routine, see a shot, hit a shot kind of thing. The first hole I hit the green in two. I had like 20 feet and two-putted. He missed like an eight-footer. I had somebody that was opening a water cooler, and it was like squeak, squeak in the middle of his putting stroke. I said, "That's unfortunate." He said, "Yeah, for you." Then he hooked his tee shot on 2 way left to make 5, but I already had a foot and a half for birdie there, so that was conceded. So just kept on going. He hit some good shots, and I just -- I had six birdies in 11 holes. I mean, I played well. Every time, like the 11th hole, I missed it just left pin high and I chipped it in, and he had three feet, four feet and missed that. Q. That was 11? STEPHEN AMES: That was 11, yeah. I chipped in and he had like a three-footer and he missed it. Q. Did you empathize with him at all, given you were in the same boat last year? STEPHEN AMES: I did, I did, yeah. Well, as the day went on we chitchatted. We talked about the families and how old his kids were, where he was living and stuff like that, because we used to play the European Tour together. It was a relaxing, comfortable day. Q. Tiger didn't chitchat family last year when -- STEPHEN AMES: No comment. Q. You said you didn't know what to expect. Could you compare where your game is right now compared to this point last year? STEPHEN AMES: The same (laughter). I didn't have much of a game last year. I've changed my swing a bit. I'm getting used to it still where it doesn't feel as it did last year. This year it feels a little bit different. Funny enough, the practice rounds today, I think I gained 40 yards. I don't know where it came from. Yesterday I hit 6-iron in the practice round; today I hit flip sand wedge. Wait a minute, something is wrong here. A lot of holes became very short. The competition kind of spurred me on, I guess. It was nice. It's like playing a different golf course. Q. Who do you have tomorrow? STEPHEN AMES: I hope Vijay. It's going to be Vijay. Q. You hope Vijay? STEPHEN AMES: Yeah. He gives me so much crap. I'm looking forward to that (laughter). Q. What kind of stuff does he give you? STEPHEN AMES: He gives me a hard time, just typical. Similar personalities. Q. You don't give it to anybody, do you? STEPHEN AMES: No, not at all (laughter). JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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