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WGC CA CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 22, 2007Jose Maria OlazabalDORAL, FLORIDA NELSON SILVERIO: Thanks for coming in for a couple of minutes. Robert was talking about the conditions; why don't you give us your thoughts. JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Yeah, it was tough, the wind was blowing pretty hard. Most of the holes you had the wind across and it made it really difficult. Also on the greens, to be honest, it was hard to get the pace right. It was affecting the ball a little bit. It was a tough day out there, yes. Q. You've had a great deal of success at Augusta National. Does this tournament now in this cycle help you or hurt you in preparation for the Masters? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: It's pretty much the same as before. I've always played a couple or a few weeks before the Masters, so it's not going to change that. Q. Will you play next week then? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Yeah. Q. You said you had difficulty getting pace on the greens, but you did have four birdies in a row; is that putting or was that -- JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: A couple of them were really close. I didn't make any long putts to be honest. The longest must have been like 12 feet or something like that. Q. Can you compare how this course normally plays to how it played today? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Oh, today it played difficult, to be honest. I think the rain softened the greens a bit and that made it, you know, somehow a little bit easier on the greens to stop the ball. But, you know, if the wind blows like this and we don't get any rain, it's going to be a monster course. Q. Was it the hardest thing trying to pick the right club? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Oh, yeah, we had a hard time getting the right clubs. Sometimes we would hit like three clubs more than the yardage we had. Some other times you had the opposite. So it was tough. Yeah, it was difficult to judge the distance and the club. Q. Which conditions might be tougher for you, wind blowing but softer greens, or less wind but with the greens really firm? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Well, the toughest would be wind with firm greens. (Laughter) That would be the toughest. I don't know, it depend on the pin positions. Obviously, you know, as soon as the pins get harder, it's going to be more difficult, that's for sure. Q. Do you consider yourself a player who tends to play well in severe conditions? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: I've had my good days and my bad days like everybody else I think. (Laughing) Q. So if the wind blows severely, you don't see that favoring you then? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Not really. I think when you have the best players in the world playing here, they have proven that they can play in any conditions. I think all of them are well capable of playing in windy conditions without a question. It's just putting a good swing and a good stroke as often as possible. Q. Henrik was saying that he thinks the fact that a lot of Europeans play conditions like this more often might help them; do you agree with that? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Well, to tell you the truth, I've played here for a few years, and you have your weeks where the wind really blows around here, too. You know, you also get firmer greens than we do in Europe. So I think that doesn't favor the Europeans. If you look all year-round, a couple of weeks ago at home, it was blowing really hard. I think the American players or the U.S. players are well used to playing in windy conditions. Q. If you look at the leaderboard, there's a real emphasis on the world in the World Golf Championships; hardly any Americans are up there. Does that say something about the way conditions are today or what does it say about the state of the game in the world in general, world players? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: I don't think it says anything particular today. We will see who is on the leader board on Sunday around 6 o'clock and that will tell you more about it. I think the game worldwide, it is improving. I think we do have more players from all around the world that can play really good golf, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Europeans and now even Asia, we have a few Chinese guys that can play well. I think, you know, the level is raising and that's why you see more and more foreigners playing here in the States because they have the game to play here. Q. Were you surprised they did lift, clean and place today? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Not really. When I hit a few fairways today, there was a little bit of the mud on the ball and some of the fairways were a little wet, yes. Q. When you are in Europe, do you play lift, clean and place as often as here in the conditions? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Well, it depends on the condition of the course. Sometimes we've played under quite a lot of rain, but the golf course handles the water really well and there's no mud on the ball so you can play it but most of the time you have to. Q. Does one tour seem to do it more often than others? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Not really. I don't find that. Q. Were you having to take off rain gear and put it on -- JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Quite a lot. Q. Can I ask you how many times -- JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: No, no, I was having hard of a enough job just trying to hit the ball straight. (Laughter) Q. The few times that you won the Masters, did you do anything different with preparation coming in? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: Not really. Q. Just played the course? JOSE MARIA OLAZÁBAL: The course is there, it's the same every year, you know what you're going to have to be facing and just try to prepare yourself the best way possible. But I haven't changed my approach to the tournament. NELSON SILVERIO: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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