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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 26, 2009

Ross Fisher

MARANA, ARIZONA

RODDY WILLIAMS: Ross, that's a pretty convincing victory, that one. I think you're showing some good form now after two rounds.
ROSS FISHER: Yeah, definitely. Like I said before, I felt quite fortunate to come through yesterday against Robert. I felt like I played well, but he just kept on opening the door, and I just didn't manage to walk through.
I had to give myself a little talking-to after eight holes, 2-down. I thought, I'm not coming all this way to go down first round. I think I won four in a row to get it up, and then he made a little battle towards the end, but I was very relieved to come through and was looking forward to today.
Obviously playing a guy like Pat, he's in good form, and he's won recently. To beat Padraig, he's definitely on form. Fortunately for me he was a little bit off today, and I was bang on form. It was quite a sweet victory, I think. Very pleased.

Q. Could you talk about the play of the English golfers here? Obviously very good so far, and we could have at least three so far and maybe two others in the 16.
ROSS FISHER: Yeah, obviously I didn't really look at too many boards whilst I was out there, but I did notice that Ollie was a couple up on Anthony Kim. I don't know if he --
RODDY WILLIAMS: He won.
ROSS FISHER: He won, so that's good, and Casey won. So yeah, obviously it's great for European golf, and obviously it's great for English golf.
We've got some really good youngsters coming through, as well, that aren't here this week. They're playing on the European Tour. I think the future is very bright, not only for European golf but for English and British golf.

Q. Why do you think that is? You've got a good generation of English players, and others are following through. Is it the setup at home, or is it just a freak?
ROSS FISHER: Yeah, I was fortunate to come through the English Golf Union, so that helps us out massively. It gets you used to, almost prepared for tour life. We play big tournaments, you get to travel around the world, as well. You play not only in the UK, you play abroad.
So it just opens your eyes, I believe, to what you're aspiring to do, essentially turning pro. This is what we've got to do.
It's not just in one place, you've got to travel week on week on week and live out of a suitcase.
For me it was a great experience and a great steppingstone for me to get into that national team and feel what it could potentially be like as a pro. I would say it was a massive help to me.

Q. Every year at Match Play there's talk about how the Europeans grew up playing this maybe more so than the Americans did. Might that have something to do with at least the British success today?
ROSS FISHER: Yeah, possibly. If you're playing for your country, you're obviously going to play international matches against other countries. We always have the Home Internationals, so you'll play foursomes and obviously singles.
Yeah, obviously the college system out here is maybe a little bit different. You don't play so many match play tournaments, they're mainly stroke play. So I guess in that sense, yes, we do have a slight advantage.
You look at how we've performed in Ryder Cups recently, obviously the last one the States got it back, but yeah, I think overall maybe it slightly favors the Europeans. But I think there's still a lot of Americans still in this tournament, so it's going to be very interesting.

Q. You guys obviously don't grow up playing on courses like this with cactus and all that. Is there much of an adjustment to that?
ROSS FISHER: Yeah, I'd say there was a big adjustment this week. The course is very, very long. It's 7,800 yards, but fortunately the ball seems to be going absolutely miles here.
Obviously the sea level issue comes into play. It's actually 7,800, but it's actually only playing like 7,300, 7,200.
I've found it quite difficult to adjust. I've still misclubbed a few times trying to play that ball that is going an extra bit further. It is very tricky.
I've come from the cold in the UK, so I was hitting like 7 irons from like 155, 160, whereas out here I'm hitting 7-iron like maybe -- I think I hit 7-iron into 12 yesterday from like 222, so it just shows you how much of a difference it is. So yeah, it takes a while to get used to, but for me, I played -- I felt like I played enough golf before my first game to feel like I know the course, where I'm going, what clubs to hit and where to hit it, and obviously once you put the ball in the right positions then you can attack the flags on the greens because you need to be putting it close to the green -- close to the pin, because they're so severe, the slopes.
They're obviously a little bit slower than what I'm used to and I think a lot of the U.S. guys are saying they're a lot slower. I think if they had them a bit quicker, they'd almost be unplayable.

Q. Ollie was saying earlier that he decided he was going to stop being friendly when he played, and that seems to be helping. Do you have a strategy when you do that, or are you friendly or are you cold or are you somewhere in between? Is it different with match play than it is with stroke play?
ROSS FISHER: Yeah, I guess so. I mean, stroke play obviously you're not only playing against the people you're playing with, but you're playing against the whole entire field, whereas match play you're only playing yourself against the other guy.
I don't know, I'd hope that if you were playing someone that you knew quite well, obviously you'd be having a bit of chitchat, a little bit of banter flying around. But once you get into the nitty-gritty part, onto the back nine, it kind of starts getting a bit serious. So maybe the chitchat will slow to a minimum and you'll more or less concentrate on the golf and what's at hand.

Q. The way it's going at the moment, it looks as if you'll probably be playing Jim Furyk. Do you have any thoughts about that? Have you played him before?
ROSS FISHER: No, I've never played with Jim. Obviously I know he's a great player. He's a major winner, as well, big Ryder Cup star. If it is to be Jim, then it will be a very tough match. But like I say, I'm growing in confidence every day. I feel really comfortable and confident on the golf course. I feel really comfortable with my swing where it is right now. I finally started to hole a few putts today, so that's obviously a massive key to match play success.
If it's Jim, then I'll definitely relish the challenge, and I'll look forward to playing him tomorrow.

Q. Jim went to college here, he's got fans here it seems so far. Do you expect to be at least not the crowd favorite if it's you versus him?
ROSS FISHER: Yeah, possibly. Obviously not being American they're obviously going to cheer for the Americans, which is understandable. There was a lot of guys cheering for Pat out there, trying to lift him up when he was struggling. I got to 3-up, 4-up and 5-up, they're still trying to lift him. You've got to accept that.
But also, when I hit good shots in, the crowd are very appreciative. There's been a lot of good support from the U.S. fans, which means a lot to us Europeans. You want to go out there and you want to perform for not only yourself but obviously the people that have come to watch.
For myself, I quite enjoy putting on a show. I like to hit every golf shot perfect and give the crowd and the fans something to cheer about.
Fortunately I did quite a bit of that today, so if I can do that tomorrow, then who knows. It's going to be a tough game, but I'm looking forward to it.

Q. Just one last question about the English guys. Maybe you guys are sending a bit of a message for next year's Ryder Cup?
ROSS FISHER: Possibly. You know, for myself, you know, I'm not thinking that far ahead. I'm thinking about this week. I was obviously disappointed that I didn't get into the last team. I was obviously very close, but unfortunately didn't quite manage to get in.
Hat's off to Ollie the way he finished at Gleneagles. He was looking like missing the cut and really dug deep and managed to make the cut, which basically got him into the team. I felt like he performed very, very well for the first time.
For myself it was disappointing, but if the opportunity did come about in Wales, then I would relish the challenge, and I'd really look forward to it. There's a long way to go. There's a year and a half left to play, so I've just got to keep my feet on the ground and take each tournament as it comes.
Obviously this week is very important, and I just want to keep going onwards and upwards and take each match as they go and progress further and further and keep my fingers crossed I'll be playing here on Sunday.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Thanks for your time. Well done.

End of FastScripts

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