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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 1, 2007

Stuart Appleby

HUMBLE, TEXAS

Q. Talk about your emotions on the 18th hole.
STUART APPLEBY: Great finishing hole. Probably tougher this year than previously years. Very, very wet; very, very long; and a great pin position. So certainly a climatic hole, and, you know, had to sort of force the issue, unfortunately.
I left myself too much to sort of do, and I was thinking par, definitely down the last, thinking Scotty would make a bogey and do a flip side. Hit it in the drink. He holed a fantastic putt. He certainly played the best of us today and deserved a champion. Another Aussie for a Houston win.

Q. Can you talk about the second shot, the lie?
STUART APPLEBY: The lie was decent. Difficult shot, very difficult. Didn't want to leave it too far right, you're left with a nightmare putt. Certainly don't want to get cute with it. I thought I could do it, I've done it. Just it was difficult. It was up there for high and I wanted to execute. I knew what I had to do. It's just a matter you got to do it, and I didn't get to do it, but that wasn't really the issue for the week for me. I'm not worried about that shot. I basically hit the ball great all week.

Q. Stuart, when you birdied 17, you're like, "Okay, some more Houston magic"?
STUART APPLEBY: I knew I had to do probably at least one, maybe two birdies the last two holes. I had to be thinking par or better on 18. But you don't want -- I had a lot of things up my sleeve last year, not this year but this type of tournament that turned out to be was a real shooting match because the greens were good and soft. It was just who was going to putt the best. He played fantastic.

Q. You seemed to be back even. How do you shake it off so quick.
STUART APPLEBY: It's golf. I mean, I've got hundred and hundreds of tournaments. You got to understand what you do with good weeks and bad weeks, and sometimes bad weeks are better than good weeks, you can really learn a lot more. But I like the way I hit the ball. I hit the ball fantastic down the middle, well controlled, swinging it good. I just got to putt better.
I was never really comfortable -- last year I was so comfortable. I dreamed of being that comfortable. I'll get like that again and make a bunch of birdies.

Q. How do you feel heading into Augusta?
STUART APPLEBY: I want to get there and get set for that and work on some putting drills and tighten up my putting, get into it.

Q. You have next week to concentrate on?
STUART APPLEBY: No, I'm ready to go. I'll go in, have a shower, get on the plane, two seconds of thinking about the week, and just go to Monday and prepare.

Q. You won't think any of that once you get there?
STUART APPLEBY: Just move on. Half the time I can't tell you what hotel I stayed in the week before.

Q. You already answered this, but how close are you and Adam?
STUART APPLEBY: We're good friends. All Australians are good friends. We -- Adam has come certainly from Europe in his golfing career. I came from Australia. We're really -- I met Adam when he was a star at 15, 16, and absolutely world beater. I didn't know who he was until years later. All Australians are pretty good buddies. We have to travel a long way to get here. This is the ultimate stage to play on. He's a great guy, Scotty. He's a really good man.

Q. You finished second to another Aussie. Makes it a little easier?
STUART APPLEBY: Marginally.

Q. Was it more fun to go head to head with a friend or harder?
STUART APPLEBY: I don't -- I haven't got an impression whether it is or isn't harder. I don't know. The course was easy this week, played a lot easier in the end. That's always your biggest opponent, what you're doing to the course and yourself.
You're the biggest opponent more than anybody else because you're the one -- you're driving the bus, you know?

End of FastScripts

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