MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 10, 2004

Stuart Appleby

THE MODERATOR: Like to welcome Stuart Appleby into the interview room. Another great day of playing. Two-shot lead going into tomorrow's round. Can you talk about your round today.

STUART APPLEBY: Today was not too dissimilar to the other days. Course was playing pretty much the same as previous rounds. Played solid golf through basically all three days. Really nothing much different, I'm sorry to say.

THE MODERATOR: Got off to a good start with a birdie on No. 1.

STUART APPLEBY: 1 was obviously a big improvement from the previous two days. Made a good putt on 1 probably from around the 15-foot mark.

Good par on 2 after chipping, putting there.

3, 2-putt. Nothing special on the second shot.

The par 4 up the hill, good up and down from leaving it short left. So a good chip and putt there.

Par 5, 2-putted, birdie.

6 was a little bit more difficult. I made it more difficult today. Not a great tee shot down the hill.

Made a good 4 in the end.

Birdied 7. Probably had about -- must have been a good 40 or 50 feet, made that.

On 9 was just left it short left, pitched and putted for birdie.

10, hit a good shot in there. Hit a poor putt, misread it.

11, not really a birdie chance. I 2-putted there from about 25 feet.

12, hit a really good putt actually. It was the only good putt that I felt like I hit perfect all day that really didn't go in from birdie range.

13 was a good little putt of about eight to 10 feet straight down the grain, a little bit right to left.

Bogeyed 14. Hit a good 3-wood up there. Hit a poor pitch, poor chip. Had left myself a snaky putt, but missed that.

Liked to have made he three on 15. Just pulled my putt about eight feet there.

16, I made about a 10-footer, 12-footer, downhill, right to left.

17, good 2-putt from a good range.

18, Texas wedge from about 30 feet from the flag just off the right-hand side for a birdie.

THE MODERATOR: Your miss on 14, how many feet was that?

STUART APPLEBY: The putt I had was about four feet, five feet, somewhere there. Difficult putt from that length really, where I left myself.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Obviously the scores are going real low. How tough is that for you? If you have a two-shot lead, you can't really make pars tomorrow.

STUART APPLEBY: Very much so. I'll just be going out, doing what I'm doing. I can't really do anything else but that. That's certainly working for me. Get the golfing gods on my side. What everyone else does is up to them.

Q. What is it that you're doing? These are the best players in the world. You've been beating them every day here.

STUART APPLEBY: I think all the players, some very good top players in the world, everyone here knows how to play, knows what it's like to win obviously previously last year. There are some good players out here. You just have to keep your wits about yourself.

It's early in the season, but there's absolutely no reason why anybody can't get off to a good start. Vijay finished the year I guess with a great finish. Mike Weir I guess got off to a fantastic start last year. There's no particular period in the year where it matters whether you light it up.

Q. The question is, how do you attribute the last three days? There are so many good players here. You've been able to stay ahead of that.

STUART APPLEBY: That's probably what everybody's -- that's just what about every tournament is really. There's going to be at least a handful of players up at the top pushing away. I don't see this as too dissimilar from any other event, unless I was five or 10 shots ahead, then it's a little different. I think there's still plenty of work in the office left yet.

Q. What has been the key for you in these three days, and also last year when you played with two seconds and a win?

STUART APPLEBY: That's a good question. I don't know. Can't really put a finger on it. It's not something that's totally new. I think all the top players in the world have pretty much got it all under control. Sometimes it's just a small mixture, a little bit of spice there, bam, you're done. We can't always put a definitive, "This is what I've done. This is definitely what's changed it." I can't say that.

You know, you practice well. You be confident when you practice. Can you take that to the tournament. I think, you know, really quality practice can turn into a quality tournament.

Q. Physically speaking, how does this golf course compare to other courses?

STUART APPLEBY: It's pretty hard work. It is pretty hard work. For the start of the year, I think most guys have been spending the last few months, if they have been practicing, or the last month in golf carts. It is the hardest physically as we play.

But, you know, I don't think anyone is complaining about that.

Q. Do you like it?

STUART APPLEBY: I don't mind a flat golf course. Next week will be a little easier than this one. I'm not complaining, but everyone that's got here is not complaining because there's a reason why you're here. Physically this is a pretty demanding golf course. It was designed based on golf carts, certainly not legs.

Q. What was your life since The Presidents Cup?

STUART APPLEBY: About two weeks after the cup, two weeks after The Presidents Cup, I took off. The following week I played a tournament. The next week after that, I took off. The next week, I practiced. Then here we are. So I had a stint of two weeks off followed by a tournament, Australian Open, followed by another week off, then a week of practice and here. Really not a break any more than what I could have got a two-week break anywhere in the year.

Q. Doesn't really feel like a new year?

STUART APPLEBY: No, there wasn't like a big cross through December where there was no golf. Still very busy. I think this year will be a little quieter without The Presidents Cup and things like that, you know, into the latter part of the year. I don't know what the Australian schedule is yet, so I don't know. I hope it's a little quieter.

Q. I don't want to minimize the shots you played, you and Vijay, both Retief, et cetera. Essentially, would this come down to a putting contest? 13, for example, you roll yours, Vijay misses 17.

STUART APPLEBY: True. No, it always comes down to that. No one ever walks off a golf course, "Pretty average, nothing, I really could have made a lot more," unless you absolutely stripe it. It's so tight at the top, you know, that is the only thing that will make someone run away with the tournament. Sometimes it's the only thing that can sometimes cost someone a tournament. A lip out is only millimeters from being a shot less, but it's not. You got to hit it one more time.

It is a putting contest. You know, unless you do get on a roll where you really just knock it in there nice and close within 10 feet, get this great rhythm going. It's predominantly -- putting is the critical thing to shooting low scores. You ask any low rounder, you know, I don't see you missing too many putts in a round for 63.

Q. I was wondering more so here.

STUART APPLEBY: You look at Ernie shooting 30 something under last year, you know, he obviously made eagles and birdies left, right and center. The course is very generous off the tee, based on because you get the gale force winds. The greens are very big. But there's no point in being 40 feet away hitting greens in regulation. You have to get it there, you have to just get comfortable, make putts.

Q. You were about 50 feet away on 7.

STUART APPLEBY: Probably not quite that far. I was probably nearly that far on 17. A long way. Felt like it was a long way.

Q. Are you capable of running away with this tomorrow?

STUART APPLEBY: Capable, but I'd like to think the other guys would be nice to me, though, wouldn't they (smiling)? Would they help me out a bit?

No, I'm not too concerned about worrying about that. It's a good thing to have to worry about if you have that scenario drawn out for you in the last hour of the day. Again, we're talking about some of the best players in the world.

Q. Do you expect it to be tight? How many people are in it? Two? Three?

STUART APPLEBY: I don't know. I don't really care, to be honest. Doesn't interest me who is worried about who is in it. We'll be focusing on what we're going to do and what the course is going to let us have based on pin positions, course conditions. I don't know. You guys can write it. You look at the leaderboard more than I do.

Q. Is this the easiest day you guys have seen?

STUART APPLEBY: Wind-wise you're talking?

Q. I guess in general with the wind, yeah.

STUART APPLEBY: It was only slightly less than yesterday, just the first day was probably a little quieter, I think.

Q. Any idea how many times you've gone into the last round with a lead?

STUART APPLEBY: No. I'm not a big keep-the-stats man. It's more about how many times you finished in the lead. There are 72 holes, not 71, 54. It's all about 72.

Q. You said I think after the second round that you really weren't looking at the leaderboard, didn't really care what happened or anything else. There's got to be a point tomorrow you are going to look to see where you are.

STUART APPLEBY: Maybe. Maybe. I can't guarantee you that. But there's absolutely no reason why I have to. There's no reason why there wouldn't come an opportunity where I need to. I can't really err on either side.

You make a valid point.

Q. How critical is the Front 9 for you tomorrow?

STUART APPLEBY: Front 9, good, yeah. I think you need to get under par comfortably. You don't need to slip through the turn even. I think someone, Retief might have said, you might need to get 3- or 4-under. I won't be worried about that. I'll be plugging away and literally letting the score unfold. That's what I've been doing the last three days. To get off to a good start, Front 9, 3- or 4-under is good.

Q. Are you worried about anything right now?

STUART APPLEBY: Not really, no. Just play golf, you know.

Q. You haven't been here for a while.

STUART APPLEBY: No.

Q. Has this course always suited you?

STUART APPLEBY: No. I don't know what my record has been here. It's been four years. I don't really know how I've played here. I guess you don't gauge your year based on how you start the first tournament. You shouldn't gauge it how you finish the last one either. It's sort of a big mixed-up part, for me, of 25 plus tournaments. That's really how I'll gauge my year, through that.

Just control each -- I guess each shot adds up to each round, each tournament, each batch of tournaments. Before you know it, you're 50 and you've finished your career (smiling).

Q. That was fast.

STUART APPLEBY: Fast forward.

Q. Are you a better player now than you ever have been?

STUART APPLEBY: Better player? Yeah, I would think so. I guess my world ranking is better than what it was. So I'm a better player, yes.

Q. The reasons being, other than experience?

STUART APPLEBY: Experience really is a lot of things, yeah. That's a lot. You know, I work hard. But I worked hard before, too. Experience I think is why a lot of players get better as they get older. It really is that predominantly.

Q. Week in and week out, what do you think is the strength of your game, or do you have one?

STUART APPLEBY: I think my game's pretty well-rounded. I think I can hit the shots I need, all the sorts of shape shots I need. I'm not a one-shot player. I can hit whatever shot -- execute for that particular play.

You know, I always want to get better. I don't have any areas of my game that I like to avoid. I'm a good chipper and putter, good bunker player. Pretty well-rounded game. I think that's what a lot of Australian players have, because that's sort of how we're brought up, certainly the ones that I think about, the ones I've played with.

Q. Would winning this be the most significant milestone in your career, or Presidents Cup or what?

STUART APPLEBY: Presidents Cup team-wise is huge. Certainly '98 was massive. Individually every win -- I think the win you just have is very significant. I think when you start to accumulate plenty or maybe more than 10 or a dozen, I think you can start to pick out, "That one was significant because of this, it led to this, that and the other."

Ask me in a few more wins, I'll be able to prioritize them more.

Q. What did you take out of The Open at Muirfield?

STUART APPLEBY: That I played pretty well all week, lost in the playoff, but could have played a lot better.

Q. Was that more of a boost?

STUART APPLEBY: I played really well, putted well for only a couple of days. I did get a bit of a good luck of the draw there, which certainly I think boosted me up the field a fair amount. That's good fortune on that behalf.

I learned that you don't have to play your best, but predominantly you do if you're going to keep winning tournaments. Sometimes you can get out there and you might feel like you're battling a little bit. Again, it comes down to making the putts.

On Sunday I remember saying -- Saturday night I said to my coach, "You know what, they'll roll tomorrow. They rolled great on Saturday. Sunday, they just all dropped." I learned that I can win a British Open. Even though I didn't, I know I can.

Q. Are you playing close to your best or your best right now?

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, pretty much. Close to the best golf that I've played. I played great in Vegas last year. You know, this is the type of stuff I'd like to do more consistently. This is the stuff that makes someone a better player.

Q. Did you get a questionnaire about The Presidents Cup, how to end it?

STUART APPLEBY: I think they're looking at trying to find a better way. I've heard Sid has been asking players. I would like to think about it more a little bit, how do we keep all parties happy. You have parties from both sides, you've got chartered flights being booked. If you go to Monday, can you delay a chartered flight? Probably not. What do you do? How do you get home once you've played off. Find a plane 10,000 miles from home. There's a lot of those factors. TV runs the show.

I don't know.

Q. When you were watching Ernie hit those putts on the second and third extra holes, were you thinking, "This is a lot of pressure for one guy"?

STUART APPLEBY: No doubt.

Q. Were you thinking, "I want to be a part of this, too"?

STUART APPLEBY: I think there's a lot of scenarios. You could have the whole guys play off again, you could individually select two players for a playoff. I think we need more daylight, first thing. We literally ran out of daylight. But selecting two players is really putting a lot of load on their backs. Sometimes maybe it might be best to pick three or four, three, pick an odd number. "Let's take our best three, you pick your best three. These are who we pair. Let's go out and play."

You sort of got a little bit less onus on one guy; you've got it on three guys. It's your three guns. Sort of a drawn out match play playoff scenario.

But, you know, you've either got to do that or bring everybody. I just don't think everybody works. It's just -- all over the place, too busy.

Q. On the other hand, that was arguably the most captivating golf of the whole year.

STUART APPLEBY: No doubt. I think it just finished the right way. I was there, but I don't know what it looked like on TV, how it all went with the ratings. I could imagine it was a huge success.

But got to tidy it up where we get a definitive winner. Maybe play out every match on Sunday, every individual match plays out, no half matches. You still can have a tie, but at least you have a definitive win or loss on every match. You can still have everything tied up at the end of the day. Saves these halves. Sudden death starts to force the issue who won the most out of the most holes.

Q. You're again with Vijay tomorrow. He doesn't talk much. You know him well. Do you like playing with him?

STUART APPLEBY: I haven't played much with Vijay. Really haven't played much with him. I've known Vijay for years. First time I saw Vijay hit a golf shot, must have been back in the bicentennial, '88, in Australia, Royal Melbourne on the 2nd hole. I was 17. I'd only just -- half decent amateur, probably off single figures. There is Vijay hitting into the green.

I've known Vijay for quite a while, but haven't played with him much. I know his personality very well through Presidents Cups and everything, just around the traps.

THE MODERATOR: Stuart, see you tomorrow.

STUART APPLEBY: Thanks.

End of FastScripts.