WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 25, 2001

Retief Goosen

RETIEF GOOSEN: I had a perfect yardage at the first hole, 129 meters to the flag and I hit a 9-iron. It landed perfectly and spun back into the hole for a 2. That first hole has been really good to me this week. I birdied this the first two days, and now an eagle. At the second, I made a good up-and-down from a bunker to a foot. At the third, I hit a sand wedge to eight feet for a birdie. At the fourth, a drive, 4-iron to a foot for another birdie. After that, it became a bit of a struggle. I made two good putts at the eighth and ninth from 20 feet and 30 feet, and that kept the round going. The bogeys at 12 and 13 were disappointing. I hit a bad 6-iron at the 12th and it pitched into the bunker. Then I hooked my drive into the trees at 13 and had to chip out sideways. I didn't know until you told me that 29 is the low front nine here. Actually, I probably played better yesterday and shot 1-under. Today I made a lot of putts. I hit my irons very close but the real difference was in the putting. I had it going well today. I'd been struggling for the last few weeks but finally started to hit some good shots yesterday and again today. Am I back in contention? Well, nobody seems to be running away with it. I'm 5-under at the moment and I think 8-under is leading. The back nine is not playing easy. There's a bit more wind and there are some tough holes into the wind. I missed more fairways today than I did yesterday, but made more putts, and really, that was the difference. I just wanted to put a good back nine together today, and these bogeys were disappointing. But I made a couple of good birdies at 16 and 18 and had a good par save from eight feet on the 17th. I didn't think the ball was going to go in at the ninth. It looked as if it was going to hang on the lip, but it fell in.

RETIEF GOOSEN: I think I've been putting a bit too much pressure on myself to try to perform. I've been trying too hard and getting down on myself. But my caddy, Greg, said just to wait for it to happen, and it did today. I think I have to be more myself again and just play my own game and be a bit more relaxed. I think I have been too hard on myself since winning the U.S. Open.