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WGC CA CHAMPIONSHIP

March 25, 2007

Brett Wetterich

DORAL, FLORIDA

NELSON SILVERIO: Welcome, Brett. Thanks for coming in for a couple of minutes and spend some time with us. You battled it out today. Why don't you give us some general thoughts on your round.
BRETT WETTERICH: Started off slow. I made a terrible bogey on the first hole. Made a birdie coming back after that. But I just didn't do anything until the last few holes, and that's not good enough if you want to try to beat Tiger when he's got a four-shot lead.

Q. It seem like on the first hole, you got a bad break, you might not hit the green from two and then you had to drop the ball into what seemed like the worst spot.
BRETT WETTERICH: I didn't see what the lie looked like before, you know, whoever touched it or did anything, but it was definitely a lot better.

Q. Just talk about, a bad break to start the day, a bogey, two-shot swing and you have to deal with that on top of everything else.
BRETT WETTERICH: It was kind of a bad break I guess if you want to say. But I think it was more the 3-putt than anything. I still had a chance to make birdie. I had a good look at the green for my third shot, and just didn't hit all that great of a shot and hit a terrible first putt.

Q. Can you just talk about the experience of playing with a guy who is seemingly no matter what you throw at him, stays about this far ahead of everybody and just doesn't spit the bit.
BRETT WETTERICH: It's tough. He obviously knows how to win. He's won 50-something times.
I think the way to try to beat Tiger is you've got to put pressure on him and make him hit his shots that everyone is used to seeing. You can't let him stroll around the whole 18 holes with a four-shot, five-shot lead the whole time. You're just not going to win.

Q. On 18, is that where you're thinking, just try to put some pressure on him? You hit driver.
BRETT WETTERICH: You know, I didn't think it was going to even come down to being that close at the end. I just wanted to hit a good drive and get on that green and make par at the worst. As things unfolded, I really wanted to make the putt and it was just a terrible putt.

Q. What did you think of Tiger's strategy on 18?
BRETT WETTERICH: It's a good strategy. (Laughter) Obviously works. He's taken everything out of play.

Q. What was your read on the putt on 17?
BRETT WETTERICH: I was -- I was kind of confused, looked like it was going both ways from each side of the hole and ended up playing it kind of straight and I might have pulled it a little bit and just kind of went left of the hole.

Q. 18, that's a new hole location and everything. Was there anything just deceiving about it?
BRETT WETTERICH: Don't know. That's the first time I've played it. (Laughter)
You've just got to pick your target and make sure you get it over the water for your second shot, to me, just try to hit it right of the pin if you can. It was a good shot and I knew I had enough club and it was going straight at it.
You have to get it on the green and take your two putts to me, unless you're in there tight.

Q. Getting to within -- going onto 18, do you feel like you put pressure on Tiger?
BRETT WETTERICH: After my second shot, I do, maybe he still had to think about what he was doing after that. You know, he had to make sure he gets it on the green, and so he can get a 2-putt and get out of there.
So it was -- I had to put a little bit of pressure on him, I don't know. Maybe I didn't.

Q. When you see where his third shot ends up on the top of the green, you could not have known that Calc put it there --
BRETT WETTERICH: It wasn't a gimmie 2-putt for sure. He had to concentrate and take his time and cozy it down there to a couple of feet. Then I didn't do my job.

Q. I know you don't want any negative thoughts, but realistically, playing Tiger down four, how realistic were you thinking coming in today?
BRETT WETTERICH: To be honest, not a lot, and I'm not trying to take anything away from how I think or take anything away from my game, you know, because I know I'm good enough.
It's just when he's got a four-shot lead, he's not going to shoot 75. You're going to have to shoot 7-under to have a chance to, in, my mind, to beat him. That's what I was thinking and I got off to a terrible start. Really wasn't, you know, going to help me any.

Q. What are you most proud of, what you took away from today?
BRETT WETTERICH: More anything today, just kind of hanging in there. I made some really good pars, and I didn't get ahead of myself. I didn't get down after making a bogey and thinking, oh, this is it. I hung in there and came back and birdied either the next hole or the hole after that.
So I'm just going to take that away from it. And finishing second, you know, is not a bad thing. If you're not finishing first, second is the next best.

Q. On the 18th, when did it occur to you that, hey, maybe I can win?
BRETT WETTERICH: You know, I really didn't. I mean, to be honest I never thought I was going to win unless I holed that and then I might have a chance. But just getting on the green and making birdie, I didn't think I was going to win. It would have just looked closer on the scoreboard, that's it.

Q. Do you take any encouragement from the fact that you played him head-to-head today, and you played better than he did; you shot a better score, does it matter at all?
BRETT WETTERICH: Not really, because I didn't win. It's nice that I played well, you know, and didn't fall way back. I'll take that out of it.
But other than that, that's what I look for in myself. I didn't step on my toes.

Q. Is that a situation where you'll spend any time in the future maybe reflecting back on that round to see what could be learned or is it just, you've got to keep moving on?
BRETT WETTERICH: You've got to move on, but also, you're always going to learn something out of I think every round you play, no matter if you finish last or first or fifth. I think you can take something out of every round, and hopefully later down the road, I can pick something out of this round.

Q. I know it's early, but what did you learn by having a front row seat?
BRETT WETTERICH: Geez, I don't know. It would have been nice to see how he played when someone had pressure on him, to see if he fired at flags more or still kind of played the same way. It would have been nice to see that.
But I didn't get to see that part, and it just looked easy to him out there today. That's the only thing I can really say.
NELSON SILVERIO: Thanks, Brett.

End of FastScripts

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