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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 17, 2008Retief GoosenSOUTHPORT, ENGLAND MALCOLM BOOTH: Ladies and gentlemen, joined by Retief Goosen, leader in the clubhouse with a score of 71. Thanks for joining us. Just how tough were the conditions out there today and how pleased are you with that opening round? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I was very pleased. It was tough conditions out there. Probably had similar weather on other golf courses but not as tough as this one. It played extremely tough. The ball was going absolutely nowhere into the wind. It was hard. It was pretty much every hole, it was pretty much a fight out there. There's a few very ornery out there, but overall very good round. Q. What would you say par was in truth out there, and were there fairways that you were struggling to reach? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, especially 11. 11, I hit a pretty good drive, just got it a fair bit out to the fairway. There's going to be a few guys out there that won't reach. Q. 16? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, 16 is quite similar. But I think it's probably closer to the tee. But yeah, it's tough. I don't know what it is. Yeah, I suppose on any other golf course you probably would have shot 65, 7-under or 6-under. Q. What was going through your mind when you woke up this morning and you saw the conditions, and then when you came here, are you even able to warm up properly? RETIEF GOOSEN: I woke up at 2:00 this morning from the rain already. No, actually my tee time was just before 8:00, and I got to the range at 7:00. But it was too cold and wet. I couldn't hit the ball. So I hanged around in the Taylor Made van for a while, eventually had to brave it and went out there about 25 past 7:00. I hit about 20 balls, hit a few putts and then went. Q. Did you feel Padraig was making the most of his wrist injury? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, he played extremely well today, putted very well, great round of golf he shot today. Q. Do you want to talk about Tiger Woods and his injury at all? RETIEF GOOSEN: No. Q. Have you seen Gregor Jameson recently, and have you been working with him? RETIEF GOOSEN: No, I actually haven't seen Gregor since the U.S. Open. That's the last time I saw him. I had three weeks off the last three weeks, so I didn't see him, but I will see him in Akron again. Q. I think I heard you mention on TV you only got here yesterday. Was that always the plan? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I got here yesterday about midday and teed off at about 1:30 and played 18 holes. I think it was a pretty good move, you know? Similar conditions yesterday, so I figured I don't want to play in this sort of weather too much. Q. It's kind of like being a young kid again, barely warming up and going out and just playing? RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I thought I was warming up more standing inside in the warm than hitting balls outside (laughter). I was definitely warming up a lot more inside than outside. Q. You seemed to have played almost better in the first nine when the weather was even worse than later. RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, well, I made a bad double bogey on 5, and I chipped in for par on the next. The chip-in, I think, sort of turned the nine around. Those first few holes are very tough. Sort of from nine onwards, I sort of got my game -- I hit a very good shot into 9. Making birdie there, turning at 1-over, you felt like you made up quite a bit of ground to the field just shooting 1-over on the front nine. I think the front nine is definitely the tougher nine the way it blew today. Q. How far was the chip-in? RETIEF GOOSEN: It was probably a good 20 yards. I drove it in the left rough off the tee and had a chip out and then missed the green with a 5-iron and chipped it in. Q. Can you just kind of talk about your season and your view of how it's gone, whether it's been good, bad, in between? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, the season has been up-and-down. I'm starting to play better rounds. You know, I'm hitting a few good rounds out there, I just need to put four good rounds together. That's been a problem, just a little bit of inconsistency. Q. That's kind of what happened at the U.S. Open, right? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, the U.S. Open I played well and just had one bad round. I just need to keep the consistency going at the moment. Q. Your last U.S. Open win came in conditions when everyone else in the field seemed to be getting beaten up. Do you think you perhaps come to the fore when conditions are the toughest? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I mean, I don't mind tough conditions. In a way you sort of feel that maybe half of the field is sort of not trying anymore because they're tough conditions. In a way you know if you grind away you shoot something around par, you're not going to be far off the lead. I like that in a way, that, you know, you have to work for your pars. I'm not very comfortable on golf courses that you have to shoot 20-under par to win. Q. If it was so horrible, how come you're wearing long sleeves? RETIEF GOOSEN: Because I don't have a long-sleeved rain suit. I don't know, I just don't like long sleeves. It bothers me, especially on the putting. So I just prefer warm up underneath. It looks like chickens, my arms, but it's more comfortable to be in short sleeves. MALCOLM BOOTH: Retief, thank you very much for joining us. End of FastScripts |
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