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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

September 29, 2007

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Ernie Els, Stuart Appleby, thanks for joining us this afternoon. Ernie, you more or less closed out the match along with Mike Weir on 16 with your 5-iron shot, great day, great afternoon for you. Stuart, you and Vijay got the job done this afternoon. Vijay made a great up-and-down on 18 and you got a point as well. Maybe quick opening comments from each one of you about your afternoon round, starting with Ernie.
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, we had a good day. Mike and myself, you know, we were 12-under when we finished at 16. So made a lot of birdies out there. Played against Lucas Glover and Charles Howell, and you know, Mike and myself, we shot 28 on the front and we were only 3-up because Lucas, he was hanging in there. He even birdied 10 and 11 on the back, took us back to 1-up. I birdied 12, went back to 2-up.
Then Mike made two great birdies on 14 and 15, and then obviously on 16, we were 3-up and I hit a good 5-iron in there. So that was the end of the match.
We had a lot of fun. Mike obviously is the local man. They were shouting, "Mike Weir for president." I don't know how they elect presidents or prime ministers here but I think he's in the running, because he has, I don't know, 45,000 fans out there. He played wonderful, very steady, played with him yesterday. I had a great time.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Stuart?
STUART APPLEBY: We played pretty good today. We probably didn't play anywhere near as good as we did yesterday against Furyk and Tiger. Yesterday we were I think 12-under after 14. But we got the job done. We had it turned at 3 and really just went a little bit -- petered out a little bit into the back nine, and they sort of made a bit of a run late. And Vijay had some good up-and-downs. I think we combined pretty well generally, just not as dynamic as the day before, so we squeezed it out down 18.
It was good for me to play the last few holes I guess, because I had not seen many of the last few holes the days previous. Good victory, and I seemed to struggle to find wins and at least I got a couple. If I can squeak a win out tomorrow that would be great, because I haven't had one yet, and obviously more than a few of us have to get wins tomorrow.

Q. They just announced that tomorrow it will be Mike Weir versus Tiger Woods tomorrow. A couple of days ago, some would have said that would have been a political choice for marque value but do you think as much as being a marquee value, do you think it's the right choice?
STUART APPLEBY: I think Mike has earned the right to represent us against the No. 1 player in the world and certainly in Canada, it's a bit of a Cinderella story. We have not put him there for token value. He's obviously a player that has got some form, found some form and showing form. Who do you put up against Tiger Woods? I guess there's a sentimental point to it and also a functional point. He's not a weak link and it's not lambs to the slaughter. Where is he in the matches? 4? That's a meaty part of the tee times to putt him.
We obviously have got some find some victories in very, very quickly.
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I agree with Stuart. I think Mike, the way he's played all week, he's basically earned his spot to play against the world No. 1.
Personally, I've played with him the last two days and I've seen the way he's playing. He's playing very solidly. If there's one player on our team that can really give Tiger a go, it will be Mike Weir. He's going to have all of Canada behind him tomorrow. I think it will be great for the tournament. I think it will be great for the fans, and for television, you know, to have him go against Tiger.
I mean, as Stuart says, we've got to find some wins early on and quickly, and try and turn this thing around. I mean, it's, you know, you're up against a very large mountain here. But I think that's a great match-up.

Q. For both of you, but Stuart, it's probably more reflective for you, but in the alternate-shot you've been on the end of a couple of lashings --
STUART APPLEBY: I wouldn't use the word lashings. Just beatings.
ERNIE ELS: Hammerings. Hammerings. (Laughter).
STUART APPLEBY: We were defeated.

Q. You were just defeated, yeah.
STUART APPLEBY: We were close.

Q. This morning's was close?
STUART APPLEBY: It should have been.

Q. But in terms of the way it's gone for you, for instance, which is reflective of the International Team, you know, two losses on that format, but two good, solid wins on the other format, and that's the way it is. How do you explain the discrepancy in why you've been so poor in one and good in the other?
STUART APPLEBY: If anyone was walked in here and given you a real valid reason why, I'd like to hear it, because I don't think any of the teams, of the 12 players, could turn around and say, well, this is why it happened.
Now, no doubt the alternate-shot is the most unusual format. It certainly is more cutthroat. There is no backing up.
That is our hurdle. That is our thing. That is definitely our hurdle to get over in the upcoming Cups, is to really get something going like the Americans have. Because we know what we have with four-ball. The game will become a lot easier and we will have less work to do come Sunday.
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I agree. But I think also, I think a bit of experience on American Team's side. You know, they play this format every year. They play the Ryder Cup; the foursomes have been their Achilles heal in the Ryder Cup, they have rectified it, I think part and parcel because they have played the Presidents Cup. They have used this event to get their formats in place, because it seemed like nobody could play with Tiger. Tiger's got two or three guys he can play with now.
Same goes to Phil and a lot of their veterans who play Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. I would say experience; you know, they do these things a lot more often. We do it once every two years. We might have to think of a plan of having more rounds leading up to the Presidents Cup, you know, with certain guys that make the team for certain, maybe we should play practice rounds together at local TOUR stops and start getting our pairings together.
But like Stuart also says, you know, we're world-class players. You throw players with other players and you think it's going to work, and obviously it has not quite worked out this week.

Q. When you face Tiger in the singles match four years ago, did you find out anything about that more difficult -- obviously you're playing the No. 1 player in the world, but was there anything about being at home that made it more difficult in your experience?
ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah, my record against Tiger is not that great.
STUART APPLEBY: Whose is?
ERNIE ELS: Especially match play.
STUART APPLEBY: Mike Weir's.
ERNIE ELS: I knew I was up against it. I had a good Presidents Cup in South Africa in front of my home fans. I think I had four wins there. So I was up for it, but you know, I wasn't good enough on the day.
But I think Mike, as I said, you know, he's playing so solid. He's not hitting a lot of bad shots, and that's what you've got to do against him; you've got to keep on playing your game and hopefully Mike's putts drop tomorrow and he can shoot something like 6- or 7-under and have a chance against Tiger.
I think it will be great. You know, what I've seen with the crowd, you know, I think he's really got a bit of an advantage there.

Q. Many would agree that this forum has not reflected the way the International Team has played -- does that make you feel more comfortable going into tomorrow?
STUART APPLEBY: Not really. It's all another day tomorrow. We can't just plan a group of players to potentially match-up their group of players, because we need -- we really need three to five horses out of the gate, quick. And we need ups and we need wins.
And then the rest, they can't rest on just because they have blocked three wins and stopped an automatic win; they have to run. So it is a full-on assault, and every player needs to find a way, whether it's overpowering win or 6, 7-under par needs to win, there's going to have to be those type of games. It's going to have to -- the dice is going to have to roll our way. We are going to have to pull some good numbers.
The odds are not in our favor. We know that, and it leaves us being more aggressive and more all over it. At the same time, we don't want them to get relaxed and think, well, we can just flop it across the line. We need to find three wins.
So we need to put pressure on early so make the rest think there's something going on up front.

Q. Just going back to the Weir/Woods match, how much of a factor is the crowd, does it become the 13th man on the team? And from what you've seen walking down the fairways, do they ever relent as far as cheering and calling out his name? Mike was out there high-fiving which he never does, usually.
ERNIE ELS: No, I think Mike's play, you know, with myself, if I can include myself there, we've really got the crowd enthused. You know, you make a couple of birdies, you win a couple of holes, and you get them up even more, especially if it's Mike Weir.
Yeah, I mean, especially today, I birdied the first hole and we got going. You know, when Mike started making birdies, it was like a rock concert, a lot of cheering going on.
Unfortunately we didn't do that early on in the week, but it is what it is. I think Mike's going to have fun tomorrow. If he can get through his first two or three holes, you know, even or maybe even sneak a win in there, I think Tiger will be in for a tough match.

Q. Just following up, in '98 and 2003, the whole team obviously had huge support from the crowds. Here, when you're not playing with Mike, does it feel really like a home game, or is it more like a neutral game? I was out there with Tiger yesterday and it seemed like he was getting more cheers --
STUART APPLEBY: Well, Tiger's match tomorrow, it will be probably the first time Tiger has ever had somebody else cheering above his level, because everyone is still a Tiger fan. This is going to be above. This is the first time it's all about Mike. It's always all about Tiger which is the thing. I have to say there's a very strong American presence cheer-wise. It is sometimes very difficult to tell if you're in Mike's group. You can certainly tell who has hit the shot, but there's some strong American support.
And look, it's a drive down the road to find tens of thousands of Americans. It's not like South Africa; it's not like Australia. This is just a driver's license and off you go.
ERNIE ELS: (Laughing).
STUART APPLEBY: It's very strong. Certainly the Canadians are weighted towards Mike. We'll see how faithful the Canadians are now.

Q. Ernie, I think you have Lucas Glover early, second or third match, and Stuart, you are going late against Charles Howell. Talk about those matches and where you are placed in the lineup.
ERNIE ELS: Am I second?

Q. Third.
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, well, it's like we said, you know, we need some wins, and Gary put his faith in me to try and get a win early on. We all need wins obviously, but we need them early on.
I played Lucas today and he never missed a shot, so I'm in for a very tough run tomorrow. But it is what it is. Whoever you play, you've got to try and beat whether it's Lucas or Charles Howell or whoever. It will be interesting.
STUART APPLEBY: Am I late? Yeah, so I'm the top of the pyramid, and if the boys up front don't hold their position, we all collapse.
So I guess we'll see what happens. I hope Charles doesn't play anything like he did at the start of the year, or I'll be in for a real, real tough match, more tough than I want.
I'm playing very well. I mean, if I can get going, it's going to be good, good old play. But I'll be focused on my game as much as I'm trying to keep an eye on the leaderboard or scoreboard.
It will be weird, we have to find our ways. We have to hit the flags, none of this I have to hit to 20 feet, unless it looks like the other guy is in trouble and is looking to make a 5. But I've seen looks like 5 turn into a par and you walk off with a halve. We'll see how we go.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Ernie, Stuart, thank you.

End of FastScripts

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