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WGC CA CHAMPIONSHIP

March 20, 2007

Charl Schwartzel

DORAL, FLORIDA

STEVEN FRANKLIN: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks Charl, for coming in this afternoon; welcome. Maybe just give us thoughts on your short practice round today, four holes.
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Thank you. At least I played 18 holes yesterday. Yesterday was -- I must say it was playing quite tough. It's the first time I've played it. Ricci (Roberts), Ernie's old caddie, is caddying for me. I was planning on playing nine holes this morning, but after two holes, Ricci picked up the umbrella and the rain started coming. I only played four holes.
I think the course is in very good condition, and if you're putting well, you can make a few birdies out there.
STEVEN FRANKLIN: And did you yesterday?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, I did. I made a few birdies. Obviously it's just a practice round. I think the course by Sunday is going to be completely different than what it was yesterday. I think the greens, which were already very fast, probably will get a little crusty and even faster than what they were on Monday. It was good, though.

Q. A couple questions. Were you also top three Order of Merit on the Sunshine Tour when you got into Harding Park a few years ago, San Francisco?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yes. That was the first year that I won the Order of Merit.

Q. And secondly, if you could just talk about your decision to stay away from the fine Mexican food at Tucson to do what you did, winning the Order of Merit, and what it meant for you in the long term.
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: It was a difficult decision for me. Obviously I wanted to play in my first Match Play. So I had to make a choice whether I'm going to see if I can win the Order of Merit in South Africa for the third time. I wanted to become the first South African to win it three times. I know Mark McNulty won it, but he is classified as a Zimbabwean.
I set myself a goal that I wanted to do it three times, and it was a bit tight coming into the last event, which fell the same week as the Match Play.
So I decided it was a goal that I wanted to achieve, so I decided to stay and I just said to myself, you know, if I continue playing like I am, I'll probably have a few more Match Plays to play in. But you don't get a chance to win the Order of Merit three times.

Q. And can you explain the tightness of the situation? I heard conflicting reports, were you leading going into the PGA that week, or did it have to do with the number of tournaments you had to play?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, I was leading by 150,000 Rand and the first prize of the tournament was 350,000. So there were three guys that could still win it and all three of those guys were playing well the previous week. So by the last round, Andrew McLardy, who was one of the contenders, was leading the tournament by two shots, and I saw one of my dreams slipping away a little bit. But fortunately for me, he didn't play too well the last round. I shot 65 and I finished third, which was enough for me to win it. If he finished second or if he won it, I would not have won the Order of Merit. So it was tight toward the end there.

Q. Did you make the decision on your own or did you speak to other players? How many people were involved in that decision-making process?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I spoke to a lot of guys. But everyone at the end says, "Well, it's all up to you." (Laughing) I spoke to Chubby Chandler; I spoke to him for a long time. I just weighed my options, what would be the best to do.
Obviously it was hard for me because I want to play in the Masters. At that stage, I'm lying 57th in the world, so if I went to the Match Play, I go through the first three rounds, that gets me into the Masters.
But like I said, there were a few complications to it, so I decided to stay and see if I could win it three times. Worked out well.

Q. You didn't speak to players like Ernie for his advice?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, I didn't speak to Ernie. I phoned Mark Bell, he's also with ISM and he looks after Ernie. And I phoned him once and Ernie was standing next to him and Ernie heard what was going on. He said I should go play the Match Play.

Q. You should have. You would have had Ernie in the first round and he never gets past the first round. (Laughter)
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I thought I'd give him a chance. (Laughter).

Q. What does your schedule look like for the next month, six weeks or so?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Well, it depends on what happens this week. If I get a good finish this week, I could still go get into the Masters. So if I get a Top-5 or Top-10, I might get close.
If I don't, then I'm going back to South Africa, and then I'll play two weeks in China and then back on to The European Tour. I think my next one out here would be the Memorial.

Q. Could you talk about, you're one of the guys that has to travel in the United States to play in the World Golf Championships, and they are all in the United States. What are your thoughts on that?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: That's a difficult one because for me, it's my first few tournaments. I guess I don't mind it but I've heard Ernie speaking and saying they are world events and they are all played in America.
So, I mean, for me personally, I don't mind. I get the opportunity to pick up experience playing here in America, which is where I want to start playing more golf in probably the next few years. At this stage, I don't mind.

Q. At your age, could you talk about the influence of Gary Player; are you too young to have been influenced by him, or is he such an icon that you have?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: He was before me.

Q. Way before you.
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: He was playing way before me. The guy I looked up to the most was Ernie. I studied a lot of his tapes, his swing. My dad used to play golf with Ernie, so I got to meet him quite often, and also Nick Price. Those are the two guys who probably are the biggest influences in my life from a pro golfer's point of view.

Q. What does someone like Gary mean to someone so young such as you?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: He's probably looked at as everyone's hero in South Africa that plays golf. If I could just do half of what he did --

Q. Sit-ups or winning tournaments? (Laughter)
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Just the person that he is. He makes you feel very welcome and he makes everyone around so interested in what he does. If you just get half of what -- a little bit of what, and even in interviews, things that he says in interviews, it's quite inspiring.

Q. Has he ever given you any advice personally?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I played with him at the Nelson Mandela Invitational three years ago, and he just encouraged me. He said, "Real good swing, just keep going." That sort of stuff.

Q. You're one of nine South Africans in this field. Can you talk about why there are so many quality golfers coming out of your country?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: South African golf is becoming much better. A lot of players, a lot of young players coming out, which the last -- three weeks ago, a guy called Anton Haig won the Johnnie Walker, 20 years old. I don't actually know why so many players are coming out of South Africa. We do have very good golf courses down in South Africa.

Q. Can you talk about how you got started? You said your father played.
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, my father introduced me to the game. He used to be a good amateur, played with Ernie Els, Nick Price, he was only professional for two years, and he sort of taught me until up about two years ago. He said I need to get someone out here because he can't look after me anymore.
So he introduced me to it. I started out playing a lot of junior tournaments, playing junior tournaments in America, played in San Diego, played a lot of amateur events and then toured professional when I was 18 years old.

Q. There's a long tradition of rivalry between South Africa and Australia in sports like cricket and rugby. Do you find a friendly rivalry between you guys and the Aussie guys when you play The European Tour and the PGA TOUR?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: We definitely do, especially when the rugby or cricket is on, we're always walking past each other and giving a comment on what happened. Like you said it's a friendly rivalry that's going on.

Q. But in terms of doing well as golfers, is there much of a rivalry between the South African boys and the Aussie fellows?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, I wouldn't say that.

Q. When you heard this event would be at Doral, what did that mean to you? What did the name Doral mean to you before you came over?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Doral, I had always heard about the name, I watched the tournament on TV. My first impression, I thought there was a lot more water on the golf course. People said to me -- they call it the Blue Monster. So I had this thing of all 18 holes have got water on it. (Laughter).
Yesterday I went out and I was -- I wasn't disappointed but I was looking for all the water on the golf course.

Q. Just curious, long-term goals, is it to play full time over here, a little Europe, a little here?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I would like to play both schedules. My goal is to get into the Top-50 and then get on to the PGA TOUR that way. I don't want to go through TOUR school. I'm close now, so if I could just have a few good events, I could probably get into the Top-50 and play as many events as I want.
I would like to start playing more often in America. I mean, it's more the way we play golf in South Africa, the way you guys play here.

Q. Ricci was at Harding Park I remember; when did you pick him up full time, or is it full time?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Well, him and Ernie split up now, two months ago. So he's been sitting around for -- I think he said his last tournament was in September that he caddied. So I said, you know, me and my guy split up at the end of the year. I said, "Well, if you're interested, would you come and work for me," and he said yeah. So I'm quite excited about it.

Q. I was going to say, as a South African, Presidents Cup a few years ago there, did you make it a pointing to over?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: And watch?

Q. To go over and watch?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I wasn't in South Africa at that time. But I wanted to go and watch. It's down at a course where I'm on holiday every year, so I would love to go down and watch. I think I was in Asia or somewhere at the time.

Q. What do you know about Charlie Hoffman?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Not much; that he's got long hair. (Laughter).

Q. What about Mark Wilson?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, I don't know Mark Wilson.

Q. Would you recognize him if he walked in the room?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I would recognize Charlie Hoffman. (Laughter) I wouldn't recognize Mark Wilson.
I know who Charlie Hoffman is.
STEVEN FRANKLIN: Thank you very much. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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