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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPFebruary 18, 2010Retief GoosenMARANA, ARIZONA COLIN MURRAY: Retief, thanks for joining us here in the interview room at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Took you 20 holes, but you got by your good friend, Ernie Els, if you could just talk about the match today and then we'll open it up to some questions. RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, it's I think the first time ever I got past Ernie. It's nice to also move on in this event. I think this is about the best I've done it in. It was an up-and-down game. He probably played tee-to-green better than me, but I putted better than him today. I knew he was going to come back. I knew I had to make birdies to win. And I didn't coming down the last hole. I made a couple of good putts on 18 and won, but I had exactly the same yardage for my second shot in the second hole today, this afternoon. I had 5-iron this morning, and hit 5-iron again, and hit it better than this morning. And it was nice to finish it off that way. Q. Just wondering -- as soon as you hit the shot, you kind of looked over, I was wondering -- RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I looked straight up into the sun, I couldn't see anything. Straight up into the sun. I looked up. I knew I hit it well, it was just a question where it was going to come down. I said to my caddie, could you see it? Q. The way it looked like on television, it looked like it was -- RETIEF GOOSEN: No, it was just looking straight up in the sun when it took off. Q. I don't know if you already touched on this or not, but I understand that the poa maybe took your confidence a little bit on the greens at Pebble. I know you were working hard on your putting, where do you feel your putting is at? RETIEF GOOSEN: I putted much better today than I did yesterday. Yesterday I probably hit the ball a little bit better, but didn't make as many putts. But today I made some good putts to halve a few holes, and he missed some birdie putts to win the holes. And I think that's the way it turned. Obviously I made a good putt on 16. And then he made a mistake on 16 and 17. So it was nice to crawl out of those 2-up. But match play is never over until it's over. And it was nice to finish it off with a good shot. Q. All the No. 1 seeds are now gone, and I think there's now only one No. 2 seed. Can you talk with the parity of 1 through 16, that seeds don't really seem to matter? RETIEF GOOSEN: No, the seeding doesn't mean anything. I look at Mike Weir yesterday and look at him today. So it doesn't matter, really, the seeding at all. You've got to go out there and play your best golf and you can beat anybody. The depth in the fields are so strong now, and a lot of the Europeans are very strong now, so anybody can win any match out there. Q. Is it fun for you to face Ernie or is it kind of hard to face a friend out there or if you could draw it up any way, is this how you'd want to face Ernie, 20 holes? RETIEF GOOSEN: It was disappointing because quite a few South Africans made it through in the first round. And me and Ernie were the only ones that were up against each other. I knew I was going to have a tough match today. I got a bit lucky, I must say. He had his chances to take it and he didn't. Hopefully tomorrow I can put it all together and play better. Q. I hate to ask this question, but how do you feel about the timing of Tiger Woods' statement tomorrow morning, in the midst of this tournament, does it bother you? RETIEF GOOSEN: I think it's good. Let's get it over and done with, let's hear what he has to say and everybody can carry on. Q. Do you want to see him back on the course? RETIEF GOOSEN: Yes, as soon as possible. Q. Are you going to watch it tomorrow, it's 9 a.m. here, and you don't play until noon? RETIEF GOOSEN: If I'm awake I'll probably watch it, yes. COLIN MURRAY: Thank you, Retief, and good luck tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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