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OMEGA MISSION HILLS WORLD CUPNovember 29, 2008Richard GreenBrendan JonesSHENZHEN, CHINA CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: We have Team Australia here with us. Superb round, 9-under par 63 with the joint lead at 22-under par. Richard, let's start with you, and before we proceed with Brendan, talk us through a good day out there. RICHARD GREEN: Yeah, it was a good, solid performance. We both played pretty well. I probably felt that I didn't hit my iron shots as well as I would have liked and probably didn't putt quite as good as I did yesterday. But all in all, Brendan was right there for me when I needed him and I would like to think that I was there for him when he needed me. There was a couple occasions where I wasn't, but I think all in all, a good day, a good, solid day for a Saturday, and we are right in contention for tomorrow. BRENDAN JONES: Yeah, I got off to quite a poor start. I actually ate something I think before we went out to play, and I had quite a bad feeling in my stomach. The first few holes, I was playing quite poorly, and Richard birdied No. 2 and 3; he holed some good putts there. And I was really not a help to him early in the round, and then I sort of came good. You know, when Richard was out of play, I was making solid pars or trying to, and the birdies came on the holes that we expect to make the birdies, on the par 5s, just to keep the momentum going. And around 12, 13, we got a little bit sloppy, and I found myself trying to avoid bogeys instead of trying to make my putts for birdies. I lagged a couple of putts on 12 and 13, and happened to 3-putt 13 for a bogey. But after that, you know, we just said that we can finish the last five or six holes off really, really well, and Richard holed a nice putt on No. 14, and I made eagle on 15, and that sort of got the momentum going again. Like yesterday, I missed a little putt on the last hole, and I had the same sort of length putt today. You know, I sort of made up for it today. You know, we feel a lot better now walking off the golf course with a birdie, as opposed to a bogey. As Richard said, it's a solid round of golf and we are right where we want to be. Q. That was a good round, and congratulations particularly on that eagle on 15. 15 is a hole that has not been very kind to the Spaniards over the last two days. Could you just say a few words about it? It's a great hole for the spectators. Could you say a few words about that hole? BRENDAN JONES: Yeah, it's a hole that pretty much everybody playing here this week is long enough to get home in two. The real problem is, just hitting that fairway. The fairway doesn't sit at you how you would really like to see it. If you can get your tee shot on the fairway, it opens to a lot of possibilities, and it's still a tough shot if you're far enough back. The green is such that if you're short, it's not real good; and if you are long, it's not real good. You still really need to be confident in being able to hit the green. And for us today, it was pretty easy to see Richard just in the middle of the fairway, and then I relaxed a little bit and we played a lot better today than we did yesterday. It's a much better format for us. You feel a lot more comfortable in this format. It's a tough hole and one that makes you think. As you said, the Spaniards have not played it well. We had a good day today on it, but it's an eagle hole or a bogey hole; so it's one we have to be careful on. Q. Richard, you're playing on The European Tour and Brendan, you play on the Japanese Tour so you don't play with each other on a regular basis throughout the year. How can you come up with such good chemistry? And Spain has one player older than the other, and you two are around the same age. So who is going to play safe and who will play aggressive? RICHARD GREEN: Brendan and I have known each other for quite a long time. His career path has taken him to Japan and my career path has taken me to Europe. But we both, being Australian, keep an eye on fellow Australians around the world wherever they are playing. You know, I've been watching Jonesy play in Japan for a good while now and winning golf tournaments and doing very well, and vice versa for him; he's been probably seeing us Aussies over in Europe playing our games. You know, in regards to sort of who makes decisions out there on the golf course, we both make decisions for the team, basically. We both go out there and play our own games and do as good as we can for Australia, and that's what it's all about, for both of us. We both feel very proud to represent Australia and no one stands above the other. Q. What are the details on your eagle, how long was the club and how close? And for each of you, the Spaniards, do you think they have an advantage tomorrow because they played so much better in the foursomes than you guys did or, do you think it doesn't matter at all? And why is foursomes so much more difficult? BRENDAN JONES: Lots of reasons (laughing). I'll go with No. 15 first. Yeah, as I said before, Richard hit a great tee shot down the fairway and let me be more aggressive on my line that I took. I think I had 174 yards to the front pin, 181. The wind was helping and for me, it was a perfect number. I hit 9-iron, which I felt comfortable with. I actually hit my irons a long way. Yeah, it was just a really good number. You know, I knew Richard was not in the perfect position, he had come up short in that little gully. But you know, if I'm standing there with a 9-iron, I don't really want to hit the fat part of the green. I felt good that that pin was an easy -- a fairly easy target for me. And I guess the putt would have been about six feet; about five feet longer than I was hoping for. That shot in there, I actually got some chills up the back of my spine when the crowd sort of thought it was a pretty decent shot and they all cheered. It was a pretty good feeling. I would have been very, very disappointed to have missed that putt. And what was the other part of the question? RICHARD GREEN: I suppose the other part of the question, in regards to how well the Spaniards played in foursomes on Friday. You know, they had an exceptional round of golf in that format. It's a very difficult format to play, because you struggle to get your own momentum going in that format. You might hit a lot of drives during the round. I can remember how I hit about four iron shots on Friday, and hitting a lot of putts and a lot of drives, a lot of 3-woods. But there are certain parts of your game that you don't necessarily do. But I guess in regards to Spain replicating that round of golf tomorrow, I personally doubt it. I think it's going to be a little bit tougher tomorrow, obviously a lot more pressure to win the tournament, and, you know, I think a good score tomorrow is going to be anything in the 60s. Q. A lot of people said after what the Spaniards did yesterday that it might be difficult to catch them. Did you ever doubt that you could, or are you surprised to be sitting here tonight with a share of the lead? RICHARD GREEN: No, not really. When I played the World Cup in 1998, I can remember there being a lot of fluctuations in score. It didn't really matter whether if you were three behind or four behind. The way this format is, there's big fluctuations in scoring. The closing case today for us was the 15th hole, Brendan eagling the hole and Spain bogeying the hole; there's a three-shot swing straightaway. And that got us straight back into the game. And that can happen at any stage during the round, especially tomorrow, when we are probably not as reliant on one another, but we are probably more putting a lot of trust in one another to hit good golf shots at the right time. I always knew that we could catch that up. I feel very good out there with Brendan as part of the team. We are very confident. Q. Tomorrow you two are going to play in the final group with the Spanish team. Can you tell us what kind of strategy are you planning to do tomorrow? Are you going to be looking at the leaderboard, looking at what they score, or just play your own game? RICHARD GREEN: You know, we are just going to go out there and play our own game and stick to the same strategy that we had on Friday. You know, that worked pretty well. We shot 68 on Friday as a team, and felt pretty good about it. So, you know, there's no reason to go out there and not do anything any different. I will hit off the even holes and Jonesy will hit off the odd holes. So, you know, that way, it suits our games. Brendan hits most of the par 5s, so that gives me the opportunity to sort of play the second shot. When we can get down the fairways as far as we can and take advantage of those holes, and both the even holes that we hit off, the tee shots suit me. Our strategy is fairly well in place, and hopefully it works. CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: With your good round here this week, how has the interest been back home? And are you guys surprised that with the number of quality players that Australia produces every year, the last time Australia won the World Cup was back in '89 or something like that. BRENDAN JONES: The interest back home, yeah, well, I saw an article that was written on FOX Sports and it had "Green and James" coming second in the World Cup. So, you know, they don't even know who I am. Yeah, there's not a lot of press back home. It's all the Masters and all John Daly missing cuts. You know, who knows? There might be something in the newspaper tomorrow, but there has not been much interest back home. But, you know, we have got something to prove to the press back home that we might not be the most famous of the Australian players, but we are backing our ability. You know, we are in a good position, and who knows, we might get a line on the fifth-back page tomorrow in the papers. (Laughter). CHUAH CHOO CHIANG: Guys, thanks very much for coming in, and good luck tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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