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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2008

Trevor Immelman

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

RONALD TOWNSEND: Good afternoon. We are pleased to welcome Trevor Immelman. Trevor is tied at 4-under 68 with two others to lead the Masters at this point, and he also had an outstanding Masters in 2005, finished tied for fifth, and made a hole-in-one that Sunday at No. 16. And this is Trevor's sixth appearance at the Masters, and we would invite your questions, please.

Q. I guess one of the British writers was saying earlier you and Ian and Justin all came down here together and played a practice round after the Tavistock Cup. Did you guys figure something out or what was the deal with that? There seems to be a common result today.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, I saw that. It was fun to see Ian make that hole-in-one on 16. I was on the third green.
We live a couple yards away from each other down in Lake Nona and opportunity presented itself to come up here and came up here for two days and had an absolute ball. Any time you play this course, you learn something new, and so that time was well spent, and it was a great experience for us.

Q. What did you guys do for fun while you were here?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: You know, we flew in just in time to get a round in on Friday and then went straight to Tbonz for dinner and crashed and played at 7:00 the next morning before we had to fly out again.
We didn't have enough time to get into any trouble but had a fantastic time. Like I said, any time you can come to play golf at this golf course, it's really special.

Q. Can you give me your thoughts on the course setup and conditions today?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, the course, as usual, is impeccable and perfectly manicured and an absolute joy to play. You know, that was obviously coupled with the fantastic weather we had today.
So you know, it was great to be out there. And obviously when you start hitting a few good shots and holing a few good putts, you enjoy it even more.
So I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hopefully we can get some good weather for the rest of the week and keep playing well.

Q. Not to belabor the things that you've been through, but to throw this out in the opening round, it's kind of surprising given what has preceded it this year. What's the difference? Why the low round now?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, obviously my form hasn't been too stellar so far yet this season. You know, I think I've been struggling through a few things, and, you know, each week I've kind of felt like I chipped away at something new and started getting a little bit better.
You know, obviously the results have been pretty frustrating and pretty disappointing. I felt like I was improving and starting to get some form back, even though the results weren't showing it. I knew I had to just try to stay patient with myself, because I know it's in there somewhere.
So you know, just like I said, I hit a few good shots today and saw the ball go in the hole a couple of times, and you start remembering that you're a fairly good player.

Q. But nothing you've worked on?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: No. I've worked on the same things in my game for the last three years now.

Q. When you guys came out for those two practice rounds, is that mostly just to get the lay of the land, or did you keep score or were there any fun side-bets or any fun and games?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, we had a couple games that were closely contested.
You know, we just had some fun and we did a lot of chipping and putting around the greens and shared each other's knowledge, shared our knowledge with each other, different shots and different putts that we had seen before. And like I said, we just had a fantastic time. Kind of like three kids going to your favorite golf course playing golf. It was an awesome couple of days.

Q. No bogeys out there today, but why don't you walk us through your four birdies that you did have.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I birdied the fifth hole which is always nice. I hit a good drive down there and hit a 7-iron in there to about five or six feet and got that one in. So that was to get me under par, that was a nice feeling.
And then the ninth hole, I hit a good drive, and I hit a decent second shot there. The flag was cut quite tight to the left bunker. I hit a good shot on to the right edge of the green about 35 feet away and managed to make that, which was, you know, a real confidence booster there.
So I birdied two real tough holes on that side, so that was nice.
And then parred 10 and 11. I hit a good drive and a 6-iron to about two feet. I think it was the first time I've ever hit that green in about 20 rounds around this golf course, but I must say, I was aiming at it and I hit it, so that was a thrill for me. Managed to make that putt, so a birdie there is always nice.
15, I pulled my tee shot and I had to lay up and hit a great wedge to four or five feet and made that one. So those were the four birdies.
I had a great save on 17 to keep things going. You know, I would say that was kind of a two or three out of ten, up-and-down there, so it was nice to pull that one off.
And missed a short one on 18, unfortunately.

Q. One last question on the boys weekend. Where did you guys stay?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: We stayed at the Marriott.

Q. Paid less than 400 a night?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I hope so. I must check my statement. (Laughter).

Q. As you were going around today, and you looked up at the board, did you at all think of what a coincidence this was?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Why would it be a coincidence?

Q. Just the fact that all three of you were here and nicely positioned.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Actually I did think about it. Like I said, I was on the third green when Ian holed that shot, and it was just a massive roar. My caddie and I had a good chuckle when we saw that it was him who holed it.
Justin, his doesn't surprise me at all. He's been playing some fantastic golf for a long time now, and he really seems to be comfortable with himself and his game and his standing in the game, so I expect him to contend in majors. So I was not surprised with his play today.
Yeah, it's a great coincidence. Hopefully we keep it going.

Q. Something you decided on during the Tavistock Cup?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Yeah, actually on the second day, we were standing on the 18th green and they said that they had planned to come up and they wanted to know if I wanted to join them. It was as easy as that.

Q. Who paid the airfare?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: We split it three ways. (Laughter).

Q. How do you feel your play today is going to translate into play for the next three rounds? Will you go out with a lot more confidence out there after posting such a good number today, considering the scoring?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, it definitely makes me feel good, so it will give me some self-confidence.
You know, major championships, you can't get too far ahead of yourself and you can't get overconfident. So I've kind of just got to bank that round of golf, and, you know, go out there with a clean slate tomorrow and just play shot for shot. You know, as soon as you get ahead of yourself, especially on a golf course like this, you can start to lose some ground.
I've just got to bank that good play today and try and keep it up tomorrow.

Q. When you were talking with Mike Tirico, you made reference to some stuff going on in your personal life; can you elaborate more?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Well, it's an extremely long story that we would probably be here until nine o'clock, so I'm not going to go through --
RONALD TOWNSEND: Next question --
TREVOR IMMELMAN: The whole thing. (Laughter) but I'm sure some of the other reporters would be happy to fill you in.

Q. Over the two days who came out the winner?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Justin actually won. I think I still owe him some money.
RONALD TOWNSEND: Other questions? Well, thank you all, and congratulations on a great round and good luck the rest of the week.

End of FastScripts

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