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VALERO TEXAS OPEN

October 5, 2007

Mathias Gronberg

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

NELSON SILVERIO: Alright. Mathias Gronberg, thanks for joining us for a couple minutes here.
Great round today. Why don't you just take us through it, thoughts on it?
MATHIAS GRONBERG: Played pretty good the front-9 and I was just not hitting it great into the greens. I kept leaving myself a lot of 8 to 15 footers and I was burning the holes. I was making a lot of good putts but they weren't dropping like they did yesterday.
I made the turn at 1-under. Nothing really exciting. I was hitting a lot of greens, I think, the front-9. I don't know if I hit all -- I spun it off on -- I hit my wedge on 9 maybe two feet away with the carry, the pitch, and it spun off the green so that was my front-9.
It was pretty good but not perfect golf and then I drove it into the right, the bushes and the rubbish on 10 to the right and I chipped it out and I hit a good 8-iron, a good aggressive 8-iron on to the back left part of the green and made the putt and it was a good, probably a 25-footer downhill, left to right, and it was really nice for me to get that putt and still be 1-under par and feel good about that.
Where I did birdie? I hit a 5-iron on 5 and that was my only birdie -- no. Which hole? No. 3. I hit a 5-iron there and made the putt maybe from 9, 10, 11 feet for birdie on the front-9.
Then I played pretty solid. I didn't -- I just kept on missing the putts like 12 and 13 and then 14 I hit it up -- I hit a 6-iron on to the green fairly close, maybe 20 feet away, and I rolled it in for an eagle and that kind of was great to get to 3-under for the round.
Then I decided to play aggressive on 16, the par 4 I drove the green pin high and 2-putted from 75 feet which is -- it's nice when you hit a good drive. I didn't think I would drive it into the bowl on 16.
I actually, I was planning to drive the front part of the green so I would have a flat putt but instead now I had an uphill putt and I hit it really good to maybe four, five feet away and rolled that in.
And then on 18 I was in the -- to the right and -- in the rough and hit a soft 9-iron from the rough up to maybe 9, 10 feet and rolled that in on the last hole.
It was a great finish, 4-under the last five holes and -- I was patient on 10 to kind of just chip it out and try and save par and I saved par and then I kind of got rewarded in the end because of being patient.
NELSON SILVERIO: Questions?

Q. Obviously, you and your countrymen, top 4.
MATHIAS GRONBERG: It's a strange leaderboard. I don't know if it's ever been like that before. Might be the first time. I don't think it's ever been like that after 72, I'm pretty sure, and it's probably never been like that after 36 or 54, too.

Q. You going to let anybody else get up there, play up there?
MATHIAS GRONBERG: You know what? It's a lot of good players around us but I'm very excited for myself but also Richard Johnson who has been also struggling like me a little bit and played good and then obviously Fredrik is already kind of clear with his card and everything and then, Jesper, I think is already kind of finished, too.
But it's always exciting to go play well.

Q. Then I think Daniel is like tied for 8th or something. He's got a shot.
MATHIAS GRONBERG: He had a good round yesterday, I saw 5. Actually I did not look at the leaderboard. I saw glimpses of Jesper's name that he was leading but I had no clue that he was 14-under.
It's a great score to be 14-under on this golf course and I kind of saw that I was around 7th or 9th place but I didn't realize that I was alone -- that my putt on 18 was for alone in 2nd so far. I'll take it after 36 holes.

Q. Jesper's number, 14-under, like I said, it's impressive. Did that kind of make you play a little bit more aggressive after the trouble at 10?
MATHIAS GRONBERG: I did not know what he was at all. I'm taking care of myself on the golf course. That's hard enough, kind of, and I'm sure he did the same.
You focus on your own game and, as I said, I had no clue how well he had played. Normally you would kind of maybe see it in the clubhouse or something like that but -- I kind of -- sometimes I look at the leaderboards a little bit too much and I decided that I wouldn't -- I would try and not look too much at least.
I never really realized that he was 14-under but I definitely thought that I needed to play aggressive when I was -- like 6-under. You need some more birdies. I knew that the golf course was playing not that hard like 1-under after 10, 11, 12 holes.

Q. You talked yesterday about your putting and did today, of course, you talked about you nailed a couple pretty good ones there when you needed them.
You still feel the rhythm where you want to be as far as your putting goes?
MATHIAS GRONBERG: I'm making more putts than I did before but today the first 9 holes or 8 holes I felt like I had a couple of putts that I really could have made more but I'm putting well, pretty much I'm putting almost great.
And the last 9 holes was very good putting but you always feel like you can make one or two more but it was good putting in the back-9.

Q. Must have got really pumped, that eagle on 14. Describe how your confidence must have just really soared after that.
MATHIAS GRONBERG: I definitely felt happier being 3-under than just maybe 2-under or 1-under to get to 3-under, but it was -- it was not that many people around so it wasn't that exciting (laughter).
I am definitely a player that likes to have people around and it wasn't that many people around and it rolled in. It was good but so you don't really get -- also -- this is the second round.
You're trying by yourself not to get so pumped up. If I do that on the 4th day and I'm in the hunt I will be very excited making an eagle but I know there's a lot of holes left to play.

Q. Can you talk, are you guys all, the countrymen, are y'all close, will you talk tonight?
MATHIAS GRONBERG: Normally when I was younger on the European Tour we traveled a lot together and everything. Now we're just a little bit older, we have our own families to take care of.
When you're not with your family you kind of have your week by yourself out and it's kind of nice just to -- myself, I don't spend too much time with the other Swedes. We live fairly close but I practice and play at different golf courses than they do and --
Q. How about tonight, though?
MATHIAS GRONBERG: No. I probably won't say hi to anyone. I saw Daniel Chopra the other tonight and -- but no, not too much.
It's a profession. You do your own thing, kind of, and maybe it's because I'm 37 now and I'm not 27. I try to -- walking up the last 18th hole here I was a little bit tired. I've got -- I was a little bit tired. I need to rest a little bit.

Q. You have a later tee time tomorrow.
MATHIAS GRONBERG: Yeah.
NELSON SILVERIO: Anymore questions?

Q. If you do this tomorrow call us and we'll go out and cheer you.
MATHIAS GRONBERG: It will be a lot more people out there, I'm sure, especially weekends and I'm playing -- am I going to be -- if I am going to be in the leader group with Jesper, it will be a lot of people, hopefully, and I'm sure we're playing some exciting golf so hopefully there will be a lot of people out.

Q. You'll have to dress better tomorrow, outlandish?
MATHIAS GRONBERG: Me? I'm good like this (laughter).

Q. Be in the background a little bit.
MATHIAS GRONBERG: It's good that we're all different.
NELSON SILVERIO: Alright, Mathias, thank you. Good luck on the weekend.

End of FastScripts

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