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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AMFebruary 13, 2009Retief GoosenPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: We welcome Retief Goosen to the interview room. Retief is currently in the lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach. Retief, if you would just start off, get some general comments on your round today, and then we'll take questions from the audience. RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, obviously very happy about the round (chuckling). Yeah, got off to a good start, the second hole hit a driver and 3-iron to seven feet and made three, and that always makes you feel a little bit more comfortable. On 3, I hit a very poor tee shot way left of the green and chipped it in, so that was sort of a big momentum swing there. Looking like making bogey and then I made birdie. Otherwise, the rest of the round, played pretty solid. I'm not feeling like I'm driving it too great. I've been struggling with my driving the last couple of rounds, but my half-shots into the greens have been very good this week. Hitting a lot of good -- from anywhere between 120 to 140 yards into the green. I've been hitting a lot of good half shots to keep the spin off the ball. That's what is keeping me up there at the moment, hitting it pretty close with those shots, and then making the putts. Q. What's the bigger boost for you, do you think, the eagle? RETIEF GOOSEN: Probably the chip-in on 5 was more than the eagle. The second hole, they actually play as a par 4 in the U.S. Open. I hit it way left on the par 3 and probably hit a 15, 20-yard chip and holed that. So that was really more of a swing for me than the second hole. Q. How was the wind out there today? It looked like conditions were pretty benign but I don't know about the wind. RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, we were lucky once again. The forecast said rain all day, and we had a little bit of a shower just before we teed off at 9:30, and so we couldn't have asked for really a better break in the weather in the last couple of days. I'm sure one day it's going to be wet, and that sounds like Sunday, but we'll have to wait and see. Q. (How much more work did you put into your fitness)? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I've been working pretty hard on my fitness in the last, oh, probably eight, nine months, a lot more than normal. I've lost about 16 pounds in weight, a lot fitter and stronger I think than I've been for the last couple of years. I also turned 40 last week, so felt a bit depressed about that, but Vijay started playing his best golf when he was turning 40, so hopefully -- you keep that in the back of your mind. But I've been playing okay in the last couple of months. I've won a couple of small events towards the end of last year, and last month I won a small-ish event in South Africa. So, I've been playing okay. I just need to drive it a little bit better. Q. What prompted the fitness drive? Was that the 40th birthday on the horizon, or anything particular in your game that encouraged you to work harder at that? RETIEF GOOSEN: No, I just looked at myself in the mirror January, February, last year and I looked a little bit bad (chuckling). So I just decided to turn it around. Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better, I must say, fitter. Definitely I've played some very hilly golf courses in the last few months, and I think playing those hilly golf courses and being fitter has definitely helped me through the whole week. You know, this week is a long week. You started on Monday with three practice rounds and another four rounds, and four rounds, five rounds last week, so you're playing almost 12 rounds in a row. So you need to be a lot fitter. It's helped. Q. Do you assume that the mirrors are broken in the house of Tim Herron? RETIEF GOOSEN: Tim Herron? I don't know if he has mirrors. (Laughter). Q. When did you go to the belly putter? RETIEF GOOSEN: Last week, Tuesday. Q. What prompted that? Must have been a shorter one after you lost weight. RETIEF GOOSEN: Only about an inch. You know, like I said, I've won a few events, but the last couple of years, I've just putted bad. I just thought, you know, when I had a week off back in London, I was just fooling around in the garage there for putters and tried a few long putters. And then I thought I would sort of give it a try. It can't get any worse I think, so I might as well try it. Last week was a little bit difficult, struggling with the pace a little bit sometimes on the longer putts. But on the shorter putts, I've made some really good strokes. If you can get some sort of confidence going again, just seeing yourself making some putts, helps. Q. Any change in setup? RETIEF GOOSEN: No, not really. Pretty much same setup as always. Just with the long putter. Q. And just to follow that, is it at all maddening about this game, coming off three or four years where you turned in probably one of the greatest putting performances at a major, and then -- RETIEF GOOSEN: Like I say, this game, you need to make putts if you want to win. All of the guys out here hit it pretty good and if you can make putts, you've got a chance. The last two days, I've hit some good putts and I made a lot of good putts, and that's where I am now. Q. You obviously don't usually play in this event; what prompted you to come back and play here, and how much do the courses match your game, your style? RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, this year I decided, okay, I'll play the West Coast. Normally I play Riviera and Tucson, but this year, I decided I'll come out here for a month and give it a run and see how it goes. Last week was a bit of a struggle with the driving again, and last week the rust was up; if you didn't drive it well there, you struggled, and that's what I did. Also with the new putter; so everything was a bit of a trial and error thing last week. And this week I feel pretty confident. I walked the two courses, Spyglass and Poppy Hills on Monday and Tuesday, just walked them just to get a feel for them. The courses are soft, and I am playing my half-shots very well this week, so that helps. Q. Did you play or just walk? RETIEF GOOSEN: Played a few holes here and there, but in general I just walked most of it. Q. When you were winning those smaller events, how were putting then? RETIEF GOOSEN: I was putting with the short putter then. It's just last week I started with the long putter. Q. But I mean, were you happy with the way you were putting in the wins that you had? RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I was, but not as good as you would like to be. You know, I didn't make enough, really and I felt my stroke was -- I made the putts, obviously, the one tournament I won. But this week, I feel so far my stroke has been good and I've been reading greens well, and that helps. Obviously you need to read the greens well to make the putts. I'm feeling a little bit more confident with the long putter now. Q. You obviously have a low-key demeanor, but how restless are you to become a factor in majors, having won two opens and a couple years here where like you said the putting was a problem, but seems like you're finding your game again? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I'm trying to turn it around, as we all do in this game. I'm working on my fitness a lot harder than I used to. December I really didn't take any time off. I was pretty much on the driving range every second day and didn't really have too much of a holiday. So I did work a little bit harder than normal in the off-season this last year than I normally do. Q. Was it the age at all, too? RETIEF GOOSEN: Maybe, everything, but just general, I would like to somehow turn my game around a little bit and just start playing a bit better. You know, when you've been struggling the way you've been struggling, you know, you don't really feel like going out there anymore. So I needed to try and turn everything around again and get a bit more motivated. Q. Some pros stay away from here, some of the concerns are bumpy greens and six hour rounds -- RETIEF GOOSEN: 6 1/2 yesterday. Q. Some questions about the weather, whether it's going to rain or not. How are you dealing with that and how are you feeling about those factors? RETIEF GOOSEN: It's tough. Yesterday it got a bit tough towards the end. In the beginning it took two hours to play the first three holes I think, and it took half an hour to play the last hole. And I made bogey, which made it feel very bad. Yeah, it's tough, but yeah, you've got to just pace yourself and just accept that you're going to be waiting a lot. But you know, they told me Poppy Hills is pretty much the worst of the three courses; it takes the longest to play around there. Today wasn't too bad, I don't know, 5 1/2-something. But yeah, we've been lucky with the weather. I think it's been raining and coming down; then it would have really been bad. But luckily it's been not too bad for us. Q. Different people accept 40 differently, and I'm wondering, are you kidding, or did it seem like a heavy thing for you? RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, it's not -- I didn't celebrate at all really. (Laughter) I just went out into the hotel restaurant with my coach and my caddie, Mark, and we had a nice meal and went to bed at about nine. So I wasn't celebrating. Unfortunately my family is back in London, and it's a long month out here without seeing them, seeing the kid not for a month and my wife, it pretty hard. I'm sure when I have my week off when I go back home, we'll have a few drinks. MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Retief. End of FastScripts |
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