Q. We reached a stretch with Tiger where at some point over the weekend, you expect to see his name up there. Is that where we are with Vijay right now, considering what happened the last half of last year?
STUART APPLEBY: Oh, yeah, the last half of last year, he played just outstanding golf. I think that there's no real reason why he couldn't continue that type of golf, although you're going to have hot patches and warm patches and cool patches, and every player goes through that at a particular time.
But certainly Vijay puts a lot of work into his game, all parts. Obviously now he's been working on his health the last few years, he's obviously seeing some benefits. He set some pretty lofty targets last year and achieved them. So I guess he's got the feeling of, "What I want I can get." That's a good thing, and that's I guess we've been learning a lot off of guys like Tiger, as well.
Q. We always talk about his work ethic which he's had for 20 plus years.
STUART APPLEBY: Forever.
Q. Do you think his play is a result of finally after all these years grooving his swing or the fact, as you mentioned, he really took fitness to a new level a couple years ago and that made a difference?
STUART APPLEBY: Good question. I think Vijay is a very natural athlete, very flexible, very powerful. He's just very much like that. You can see that in his, you know, in his swing. So he certainly doesn't have to go out and lose a pile of weight or go crazy in the gym just to try to get some flexibility back. He's always been a very smooth swinger.
I think Vijay is the type of guy, when he commits to something, he goes for it. You can see that in his work ethic from the day I joined the tour to now. He's the hardest worker out here.
But I just don't think there's any definitive thing that's really changed Vijay because Vijay has been a great player for a long time. This is nothing surprising really.
Q. How do you think the fitness has helped him?
STUART APPLEBY: I think fitness for everybody is the concentration in the last sort of part of the day. I think that's the fatigue part. Vijay might have lost a bit of weight. I don't know if he's doing cardio. I can't really speak on that. I just think what working out gives you is gives you a feeling, you know, more energy, gives you (inaudible) confidence.
Q. Are you saying I should try that?
STUART APPLEBY: Maybe (smiling).
Q. At the start of the day, if you had been offered to finish the day one shot from the lead, would you have said, "I'll take that"? Are you a little disappointed?
STUART APPLEBY: What if I shot 10-under and I was one shot from the lead, I'd be taking 10-under. I'm not too concerned. I shot a good round today. I played pretty good golf for 9/10ths of the day. Doesn't really matter. The checks aren't handed out in the second round. The crystal is not in your cabinet till the end of the day, so I'm not really too worried about it.
Q. There's a considerable gap between fifth place, Scott Hoch at 7-under, and Vijay at 14. That's seven shots. There's a lot of guys that probably aren't in this tournament anymore after just two rounds. How do you approach going into tomorrow and how do you approach if you play as well as you played the first two rounds, then the likelihood that Vijay, historically he's played so well, how do you approach the next round?
STUART APPLEBY: Absolutely the same as Vijay approached today. Just went out, he played his own game. That's what I did. That's what we're both doing tomorrow. There won't be anything but single-mindedness to be focusing on what we do and what we do well. That's it.
Q. Vijay spoke a little bit about the toughness of the wind early in the day, the benefit of playing a little bit later in the day, the wind dying down a bit. Did you feel that?
STUART APPLEBY: I don't know about what Vijay is saying about how tough it was. It can't have been that hard. "It's tough. I made seven birdies in a row."
What, did he finish with a pile of birdies at the end of the day?
Q. Seven in a row.
STUART APPLEBY: I guess that was his secret. But, I don't know. I don't know. I can't really say. I think the breeze was definitely a little softer at the end. You could see the whitecaps out in the ocean were really a lot less at the end, I'm guessing the last hour of the day, than it was pretty much in the body of the round.
But, gee, Vijay made seven birdies, that's got to take at least an hour and a half to do that, doesn't it? I think he still had some tough holes in there with that breeze.
Q. On 17, you seemed to be having a few problems reading that green because of the sun.
STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, the sun -- when the sun sets really light and you're still playing, and I guess the amount of grass and grain on these greens, it changes the color of the grass a bit. It makes it a lot harder to read what's happening on the ground. That is very difficult. On 18 with the score board being in the way, when I looked up to chip, I literally had the sun blaring in my eyes. All I could see was a black shadow. I had no depth perception at all. It's tricky. It throws all the continuity of where actually is the ground, where is the break? It is difficult. Certainly on smoother bent like greens, it's a little bit easier.
THE MODERATOR: Stuart, thanks for coming by.
End of FastScripts.
