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THE PRESIDENTS CUP


September 30, 2007


Ernie Els

Nick O'Hern

Geoff Ogilvy

Gary Player

Vijay Singh

Mike Weir


MONTREAL, QUEBEC

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: At this time we'd like to welcome the International Team. Congratulations on a solid week. I know you're disappointed with the outcome but you all were great ambassadors for the game of golf, especially Mike Weir representing Canada very, very well. Maybe if we could start with some opening comments quickly from Captain Player.
GARY PLAYER: We'll make this as brief as possible. First of all I'd like to say in regards to my team, we can hang our heads very high or hold our heads very high today. At least we created a lot of excitement out there. I think, you know, it's hard to keep stats over three Presidents Cups, but I think that's the most singles or as many singles as we've ever won.
The matches were very close that we lost. It was a great day. It was a special event seeing Mike Weir win in front of his own people like that and beating the best player in the world, and we are grateful for the enthusiasm of the crowds.
And let me not forget to say thank you to the media because without the media this does not get across the world which is really accomplished so much. I'm proud of my team. They are a wonderful lot of young men and they are going to great heights and do a lot of things in the future and I'll be watching them and cheering them on.

Q. If you guys, the four of you Aussies, if you could just each briefly answer, if you could change something about the week or flip it around, what do you put your finger on in what would you like to -- obviously the foursomes but what would you like to flip around to try and win this thing?
GEOFF OGILVY: Win more matches. Play better. I mean, we just didn't win enough matches. There's no science behind it. You've just got to play better.
NICK O'HERN: I think our pairings were very good. You know, we just -- that 18th hole didn't treat us very kindly.
Yeah, as Geoff said, you know, maybe we didn't play to our full potential, but you know, we played some good golf. You've got to hand it to the U.S., they played very well. You know, it's a tough format. I mean, if you take the foursomes out of it, if we lose the foursomes 3-2 or 4-2, we almost won the Presidents Cup.
I think there should be four matches of four-ball next time. (Laughter).

Q. Mike, today you talked a lot about what it meant to you to represent Canada out there. Was there one moment or a zillion moments or however many out there where you really felt like your heart was in your throat or maybe you were fixing to lose it a little bit, choke up a little bit?
MIKE WEIR: No, actually I was calm today. I think we all can attest -- you know, when you're feeling good about your game, it makes you more calm compared to when you might be a little off, it makes you maybe a little more nervous.
But I felt good about my game today. I just kind of expected anything today. I just felt like I was just prepared for anything. Even though when I got up early on Tiger, not that I was hoping he would make a comeback, but I was just prepared for when that happened; so when it did happen, I didn't panic. I knew I was hitting the ball well. I felt like I hit some good shots. The wind fooled me just a little bit on a couple shots. I just didn't commit to a couple shots there.
But coming down the last few holes, I still felt good about my game, and so, I guess the long answer there is, no, I didn't feel anything jumping up in my throat.

Q. Ernie, you made it sound like you were really ready to go, to do the unbelievable when you showed up today. What did seeing Mike's early lead on Tiger do for you and some of the earlier matches, and then at what point did you kind of start losing hope?
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I was second match out. I was playing behind Rory. They were playing quite slow. So I could see -- (laughter) -- I could see exactly what was going on. Looked like he was in good control there.
As the day went on, obviously the big match was Tiger, and Mike. Yeah, absolutely. I saw Tiger -- excuse me, Mike, I think he birdied the second hole. I mean, I was on the fourth hole, so I could hear the roar and stuff, and watching the scoreboard all day.
It must have lifted the whole team, really. That's what we were looking for, and obviously we needed early matches. But again, as you said, you know, it was only going to be a miracle for us to win this thing. But I think the guys played really well today. As Gary mentioned, we're 7-5 in this session. We won both four-ball sessions. The only thing, we got trounced in the foursomes session.
So, you know, we were talking about, it's almost like a test match, a correct match. You have your sessions, and we just had two bad ones. They scored about a thousand runs against us in those two, if you know, take it into a correct match.
But I think we did okay today. The guys showed a lot of guts today and played well.

Q. Mike, congratulations on your win today. When your ball went in the water on that particular hole, what were you thinking? Were you hoping not to do a repeat of Woody?
MIKE WEIR: Well, yeah, on 15, you're referring to -- I don't know how far Woody's ball was down but my ball, I could see the top of the ball. I thought I could get it out. I knew maybe I could get it on the green and have a putt for par and come flying out of there. It wasn't as deep in the water as Woody, and maybe I'm a little more athletic than Woody. (Laughter) I didn't lose my balance in there, so that was good.
ERNIE ELS: Well, you ski, don't you.

Q. Vijay, you've played more of these than anyone else; how does it feel far as a disappointment compared to the other ones, because obviously it's a kick in the you guts when you lose.
VIJAY SINGH: I've got more of these than anybody else out here. (Holding up team consolation medal).
I suggested Tuesdays from now on we should play foursomes in practice rounds on Tour to get used to what we are doing. We had a great team on paper. We are just much stronger than the American Team but we just didn't have it in the foursomes. I don't know why. We had great combinations, but we just didn't do it.
You know, going out today, I was telling Gary, I think he gave one of the most inspirational speeches that I've ever heard. It worked for a lot of us, but not -- some of us, it didn't kind of work. I think we had everything going, but we just were too far behind.
It's disappointing not to win, but you know, we'd like to do it the next time. Hopefully I'm in the team in two year's time, and maybe we can do it in San Francisco. I think that's our goal, and hopefully Gary is our captain again and we can do it for him again.

Q. Just for Vijay again, as well. I wonder, the internationals are now 5-1-1 since it started, and you look at the lineup and it should be better than the Americans, really, now. Is there a reason -- some people say, well, it's still in North America, even though we are in Canada; is that a reason?
VIJAY SINGH: I think they are very comfortable with us. We play on the U.S. Tour. Most of our friends are Americans. You know, the guys on the other side, we go out, we play practice rounds with the guys. So they are very comfortable with what we do.
You know, when they play against the European side, they don't even know half the side, how they play, how they interact.
So I think that's the main reason I think. Our game, when we play our best, it's better than theirs, most of theirs, anyway. I don't know, I cannot pick it out. I cannot point a finger on what's going on, but I think they are just very comfortable with our presence.
ERNIE ELS: The two that we did well in, was way south, you know. One was in Australia and the other one was in South Africa. You know, you've got to read something into that. We're the International Team. You know, we spoke about it a little bit this week maybe. It's come this far; maybe we should have a bit more say in where our home matches will go to. You know, maybe that helps.
VIJAY SINGH: I think South Africa and Australia would be the best place. We have more players from Australia and South Africa, so I think the next Ryder Cup -- I mean, Presidents Cup, should be away from America, should be either in Australia or South Africa.
And Gary's going to set up the golf course. (Laughter).

Q. For Gary and for Mike, how big of a winner was the golf course this week?
GARY PLAYER: The greens superintendent, and obviously the work that is put into an event like this over years, is much appreciated by everybody. I think we were blessed with the weather we had this week when you think of the weather we could have had. And I think the greens superintendent and his staff did a great job.
I, too, feel like the other players feel, and I mentioned this at the ceremonies tonight; I think we should be doing something different than the Ryder Cup than just playing in two particular areas or countries. This is the Presidents Cup, and it's such a different format entirely, and we should be going into places that are really going to promote golf, which in turn, I think one of the things we've got to think about is getting the youth to play golf around the world. And we've got to think of the manufacturers who are making clubs for everybody to play. This is a very important aspect of the game.
I think we should be going into China. I think we should be going into India, and I think we should be going into Eastern Europe. I really think that would be my great dream to see that.
Another thing somebody would like to see, the captains, and there are requests in the other sports to the USGA and the R&A and the USGA are agreeing and the R&A are not. Ernie wanted to find out some information on the tee at the par 3. I have to get back to Mark, the rules man, and I have to go through Ian and have the permission given to me; by that time, Ernie has already hit. If you have a captain and vice captain between the two of us we should be able to give advice at any time. I know there's requests to others in collegiate sports in golf and they are keen on it and I think that's something that should be done.
And I think these guys, they are such great athletes, and Jack agreed and I agree, and that is to have to leave people out. Because everybody always feels they are playing well. He dropped Scott Verplank out who won every single match. But foursomes don't take long. We finished in 3 1/2 hours, and a better ball doesn't take long. So you have a team of 12 players playing against each other I think every day, every day; play everybody every single day. It would save a lot of difficulties.
MIKE WEIR: I think the golf course was spectacular really. It was in perfect condition. As Jack Nicklaus said, there wasn't a lot of rough. It was great for the fans to see a lot of birdies. The greens were rolling good. I think everybody felt if you got your putt online, it was going to stay true. Yeah, the golf course was great.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: International Team, thank you very much.

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