CHRYSLER CHAMPIONSHIP

November 1, 2003

Retief Goosen

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Retief, three great days of golf so far for you, if we could just go through the round today. Obviously, things are going well for you.

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, I got off to a nice start, driving it in the bunker on the first and laid up and hit a sand wedge to about five, six feet. It's always nice to start off that way. And a good birdie on the third.

So yes, obviously, I played very nicely.

I had a very long putt on No. 8 for birdie. That was sort of a bonus, really. You just try get it close and it went in.

So yes, I got off to a nice front nine. I made a few bad mental mistakes coming in but it was nice to finish off with a birdie and give myself a little bit of a cushion.

Q. You won on the European TOUR this year; it would be nice to add a PGA TOUR victory to the season, I'm sure?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, differently, obviously, Vijay is trying to win it tomorrow to finish off the money title. I'm trying to win it to get into Mercedes for next year. Someone of us is going to be unhappy tomorrow. It's going to be a tough day. Vijay I know is playing well. The whole year he has been playing really well. He is probably the man to try to beat tomorrow.

Q. You think Vijay is the man to beat tomorrow?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, Briny is playing really well himself of late. There is a few guys up there within five shots who have got a chance tomorrow.

Tomorrow could be a tough day if it's windy again like it was today on the front nine, you know; you get a low round in, somebody can sneak it away from us. So it's going to be an interesting day. I would think, you know, Vijay is probably the guy that you are going to have to watch out for tomorrow.

Q. I didn't mean it that way. I meant he is playing so well that he has commanded your attention anywhere he gets near the lead.

RETIEF GOOSEN: Tomorrow you got to focus on your own game. You know, just play hole by hole and see what happens. If I shoot another good round tomorrow I'm sure I'll walk away with it.

But, that all depends on what the conditions are like tomorrow. If there is not a lot of wind, you know that you are going to get a low one in to win it.

Q. How much difference is it for you to end the year knowing you won and -- not won; I know you already won this year in golf -- just to win over here?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, it would be great to have a win here this week. It would obviously have been a great decision to stay here and not go to Valderrama. But like I say, my main goal is obviously trying to get a win in my last two weeks here and let's see if can I get into the Mercedes which is a nice way to start off the year, a couple of weeks in Hawaii and have a couple of lava flows while you're playing; it's great.

Q. You played with Vijay twice last week?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, first couple of rounds.

Q. What is your impression of the way he is playing that changes in his game?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, he is very solid. He is putting really well. But I think his iron play is very good. He gives himself so many birdie chances and that's why he makes so many birdies.

He is really firing down on the flags. Last week you needed to do that. And that's what he is doing as well.

Q. Have you ever lost your temper out there, Retief?

RETIEF GOOSEN: I was a bit upset on 17. I made a very silly swing. I made a mental mistake. You stand on the tee and you try to cut it up and you stand over your ball and you think maybe you should draw it. It's not quite focused enough. It cost me a shot. I want to go hit a couple of balls on the range now and work on a couple of things and just wind down and get a good night's sleep.

Q. I think people watching other players will say that you look so unflappable out there, good or bad, very even keeled; have you always been that way and is that the way you are feeling inside?

RETIEF GOOSEN: I actually had a bad temper as a junior. I remember breaking a few clubs. I had to work hard on my mental side to adjust the last four years. That's been my goal, to sort of work on the game. I know I have to improve the mental said.

Q. Can we expect Thomas Bjorn to turn out as nice as you?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Tommy has got a few coals to throw some water on. But you will get to him. He is a nice guy and a very good player. Now I think Thomas, you know, a lot of off-course things happened to him this year, neck problems and twins, so his focus hasn't quite been on the game. I am sure next year he will be ready to go.

Q. Is a win a win or does winning on a PGA TOUR mean more; does Europe remain more important to you?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Any win in the world. Obviously winning over here this week it's quite a strong field that played this week. It would be quite nice to pull that off.

But I think, you know, it doesn't matter where you play in the world these days, you got to play really well to win. You know, obviously it's my goal to win over here. Everybody would like to win on the PGA TOUR. The prize money is big and you play great golf courses and that's where everybody wants be.

Q. In a week like this, do you feel something like this coming on when you are playing well? Is this something that you saw maybe coming about earlier this week?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, I felt like I was playing pretty well the last two weeks in Greensboro and Disney. I know I was hitting the ball very well, but my putting was very bad. I changed putters after the first round last week and I sort of started hitting better putts. I'm still not making a lot.

The third round I actually putted really well. Except the last rounds I putted bad again. I don't feel like I'm putting badly, I'm misreading the greens or my pace is wrong or something like that. But this week, besides the first round, my pace and line reading has been pretty good. So I think I'm hitting the ball pretty much the way I hit it the last few weeks plus I'm making a few more putts that puts me in contention.

Q. What putter did you change to?

RETIEF GOOSEN: I was putting with a TaylorMade putter that I won with actually in Europe. I don't know, I just sort of lost all sort of confidence in it. I went back to a Bobby Grace putter that I used early on in the year and it seemed to help my alignment better.

Q. Can you take us through your birdie on 18, after coming off I guess you weren't too happy with a bogey; how big that was?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, 18 is a hole that you look down there and you hardly see the fairway. It's so narrow. You know if you can hit the fairway you got a chance because you have a short iron into the green it was nice to get a good driver away and hit a soft nine in there and it was nice to finish off that way. The green is a very tricky green. It's pretty much the easiest pin you are going to have to hole green and you felt like you should give yourself that birdie chance on 18.

Q. How close did you hit it?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Probably five feet, six feet.

Q. You are not riding the helicopter commute with Ernie?

RETIEF GOOSEN: He did offer but he was on the opposite side of the draw to me so that wouldn't have worked. It would have been nice.

Q. You have shown yourself to be a strong front runner, would you agree with that? If that's the case why do you think that is?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, I think I have won most of my tournaments, 90 percent of my tournaments, leading from the front or from the first round. Although I wasn't leading from the first round this week. It seems like once I get in front that's my main goal to stay in front. I grind hard out there to try to stay there.

Q. Retief, you had alluded earlier to the wind today, how much of a factor was it today?

RETIEF GOOSEN: It was very tough. The front nine was actually playing a little bit more into than it did the first two rounds. The front nine actually played different than what it did the first two rounds. You had to make a little bit of adjustment for the wind. But it was definitely the strongest it's blown all week today.

Q. You said Vijay you thought was the man to beat tomorrow; is that right?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, yes, I think if you look at what he has done this year and how he's playing. Second best player in the world. He obviously is the guy that -- he is going to be up there coming up 18 to try to take it away from you.

Q. Some people would say why don't you consider yourself the guy to beat since you have the lead?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I'm going to be out there tomorrow to try to win this tournament and take it away from Vijay to leave it for next week to try to win the money title. I definitely feel like I'm playing well enough for these guys that they are going to have to play really well tomorrow to beat me. So I can get off to a nice start and stay ahead.

Q. Briny said Tiger Woods will be rooting for you two guys?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, I'm sure. I'm sure Tiger would like to see it going down that way; it all coming down to the last events. I think between us two, whoever does the best next week will be Player of the Year, so next year it will be more exciting for everybody. That's the way it goes.

Yes, I'm surprised that Tiger is not playing this week. It's a great golf course, and I am sure this is his sort of layout and a test he would have enjoyed.

Q. A lot of players have said similar things about the golf course. Does it surprise you, I mean do people not realize what maybe they were in for this week?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I have never played here. This week is the first time that I have been here. I don't know what the course was like in the past. Maybe it was less rough than it is this year. It's still a very tight driving hole even though there is no rough. It's a very good test of golf. The greens are very tricky. The way the wind is playing across the whole course it's not easy to pick the right clubs.

Q. Is there a premium on shaping your shots on the tee than a lot of courses?

RETIEF GOOSEN: You got to hook it off the tee or cut it up against the breeze. Especially me. It's got a high-ball flight, the wind takes more. I played with J.J. and Jose Coceres, they hit the ball very low.

Q. The chip on 9, was it a good chip; it looked like one?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, I pushed my drive to the right and had a terrible lie. I think it was an old footprint they didn't rake properly. I was actually thinking of chipping out sideways back on to the fairway. I took a chance of a wedge and see if I can get it to the front left of the green there and made pretty good contact and just missed the green left. It was a tough chip. You can easily chip it off the green on the other side. It was six or seven feet where I got it to. It was a good chip. I think 8 and 9 really changed it around for me. 8, I was obviously thinking 2-putt and 9 could have been a bogey so easy. It could have been easily been 2-under.

Q. What club did you use on the chip on 9?

RETIEF GOOSEN: 8-iron.

Q. And how far left of the pin did you have to aim?

RETIEF GOOSEN: It was four or five yards, that chip.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Retief thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.