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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 4, 2010

Nathan Green

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

PHIL STAMBAUGH: A very nice 5-under 65 to start the 2010 Honda Classic. This is your sixth event this year. You tied for 8th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. This is your fifth appearance in the Honda Classic, third place finish in 2008, but this is your low round at this event. Maybe just take us through your day and tell us any highlights or any good saves you may have had out there.
NATHAN GREEN: All righty. I was sort of pretty nervous going into today. I had not played -- probably the biggest draw I've had in a while, playing with Padraig and Vijay, so you sort of know you're going to be in front of a bit of a crowd and confidence is not at an all-time high, but go out there, and played a bit scrappy the first hole and saved a par.
And the second hole, 11, fatted my second shot pretty badly and come up short, we thought it was in the water but it sort of wasn't plugged, just over the water and didn't go back in. Managed to get up-and-down. From there, sort of settled down a bit after that and I could have gone either way. Could have made double but made par.
Just played solid golf pretty much the next sort of 14, 15 holes. Trying to think what I did, I birdied 13 was it. I birdied 13, hit a good shot in there and made a good 10-footer.
Then just trying to get through the next stretch of holes, 14 was playing really tough and I made a good par there. Then 15, 16, 17, whenever I play those holes, I just go middle of the green, anyway, and that's what I did. Made a good birdie on 18.
From there, I think the whole group was playing pretty solid. We sort of fed off each other a little bit, Vijay was having a good round and I managed to get a birdie on I think the third it was, straight downwind, pretty much a par 4 today. I think we hit sort of 4-irons and 5-irons in there for our second shot. I hit a great shot into 5 to probably five feet and made that.
Then 8, I hit it in the rough and so just played middle of the green and probably about 25 feet and made that. So that was sort of the big bonus. That was one birdie I had from outside ten feet.
It was a good day. Didn't really make any huge mistakes, and when I missed greens, I was chipping it pretty close anyway. So it was one of those fun days.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Can you sort of talk about your year to this point?
NATHAN GREEN: It's sort of been hot and cold. I played well for three rounds at Kapalua and then played really well in Hawaii, but one of those things, I like the course there and have had good results there in the past, too.
The West Coast, it's just getting tougher and tougher for some of the short hitters out there I think. It was cold and wet in Torrey, and even the North Course is playing tough there now. They have lengthened it up a lot. Missed the cut by a shot there, and went up to Riviera and it was the same thing, cold and wet and just wasn't hitting far enough. Couldn't get home on a few par 4s and that sort of thing. It's sort of been a few good things with my game this year.
My putting has not been as good as it was the first few years on TOUR, but ball-striking-wise, I'm starting to be able to hit my shots a little bit better and just everything has been a little bit tidier, especially of late. Hopefully the rest of the week, just keep it going the way it was. Everything was sort of upper level on what it has been; the chipping was better, the putting was better and the driving was better. Those are the three things that have been hurting me later.

Q. You mentioned Hawaii and now you played okay obviously today, how much is it helping, the conditions you're used to being in in Australia with the wind and rain and greens and all that stuff?
NATHAN GREEN: I've always had a pretty low ball flight, and I think -- the greens here this week, I don't think they are as fast as they have been in the past, too, so you can have a bit more run at your putts.
But yeah, I've never -- a lot of my best rounds have come in windy conditions. It probably doesn't bother me and I'm not worried about it as much as some other people might be.
I'm not sure. Just one of those things, I don't know why I've played well in the wind before, but that's what we are sort of accustomed to down in Australia living on the coast.

Q. Talk about 2008, how close you were to breaking through, what the tournament was like for you?
NATHAN GREEN: When I come third here? Yeah, I can't really remember a great deal about it. I don't think I was ever really in contention. I think we are all a fairly long way back. That's sort of from memory I think. All I can really remember is I made about a 50-footer on the last for birdie to get up into third place. That's sort of my one memory of that year. It's just one of those courses that I've always liked. I think there's a lot of great holes. It's one of those ones that's like Sawgrass; it doesn't really let up. Every tee shot is kind of tough.
The par 3s are all really strong. I think today the Bear Trap holes were a lot easier than the par 3s on the front nine. I hit 3-iron and I hit 5-wood and probably needed 3-wood to get to 7. But the back nine we hit 6-irons or 8-irons or something into 15, 16, 17. And it's one of those courses that each nine can play very differently depending on the wind. I think the front nine today I thought was a little easier than normal. But you get a different wind and the back nine is almost impossible.
It's one of those courses you have to be patient. I sort of -- everything sort of went right for me today, and so I need three more of those days out there.

Q. When you started, did you think there was a 65 out there today when you began?
NATHAN GREEN: I thought someone would have shot it. It's one much those things that out here, there isn't many good players, and someone will generally have one of those days, and sort of lucky it was me today.
I've been hitting it fairly straight, and when your chipping and putting is on, I think you can sort of shoot a good score anyway and I think that's sort of what it was. I think Vijay could quite easily have shot 5-, 6-, 7-under the way he played.
Padraig, I think he had 1-over, and he had a double early on, but besides that he shaved the edge all day and chipped it -- he could have holed three chips.
I think the way those guys are playing, you're going to have to sort of still have three more really good rounds to win. I think there's enough -- the course gives you enough that some of these guys are going to have a good round somewhere in amongst the four.

Q. You mentioned Vijay. He's 47 years old and obviously had an awful lot of success in his 40s. Just talk about what you saw in him today.
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah, you sort of realize where your game is at. That was a big day out for me where everything goes right. Vijay sort of did, I don't know, like he was playing in a Sunday game with a couple of his mates. His ball-striking and his control of the golf ball, especially with his long irons in the wind, it's just that different level and it's the same as Padraig's short game. You are put in some spots where you're lucky to get inside 15 feet, and he's almost holing it.
It sort of gives you a perspective of where your game is at. But I know Vijay, you sort of don't realize he's 47 when you're playing with him. His game is strong. All you can say about his round, he pulled a couple of drives and that's about it. The rest of it was so solid. His chipping was great. Everything is just so solid, he's not worried about hitting bad shots at all. He's just picking his shot and hitting it, and 99% of the time it comes off. And if he didn't, he was chipping it pretty close.
He's had a lot of success in his 40s. The shape he keeps in, he's pretty much equivalent to any of the guys out here in their 30s. He's looking after himself and reaping those rewards.

Q. Can you talk about how you thought the 7th hole played, and also the putt on 8.
NATHAN GREEN: 7, it's straight into the teeth and it's probably the one little tough patch on the front nine. You've got the sixth hole, which is a strong left-to-right breeze, and the bunker is on the right and water on the left side.
You've got that tough tee shot, and then the next hole is probably -- I think it was playing 204 meters, whatever that is, 226 yards or something like that. Straight back into the breeze, and it was -- probably one of the strongest there. I think we hit 5-wood, 5-wood and 3-wood there, and it's not the biggest target in the world, either, on pretty tricky greens. It's one of those holes where pretty much all par 3s around here, you're happy to walk off with par, try to get in the middle of green and go from there.
8, I hit what I thought was going to be a good tee shot but ended up just catching the rough. Pretty much hit the shot I was trying to hit for my second shot to 25 feet. I hit one of those putts that you sort of do on days like today. You hit with the wrong line and wrong speed and went straight in the middle (laughter). One of those things; thought it was going to go left-to-right, blocked it a foot and went right in the middle. You're going to hit some good ones on bermuda that will miss and some bad ones. They are the ones you sort of take and hopefully get a few more.

Q. You were in a pretty high-profile group today, but looking in the book, you were in a playoff with Tiger early on when you were on the TOUR; could you recall how difficult it was to hold your game together?
NATHAN GREEN: Yeah, it's definitely a lot easier now. I think the first year, I played really well earlier in the year and end up -- I think I played with about eight of the Top-10 players in the world in the first probably two or three months. It's definitely tough early on and it's tough when you're not playing well, because you don't like embarrassing yourself in front of a crowd.
Today, it can also help you, and I think that's sort of what it did today, playing with those guys. You definitely feed off them a little bit I think, just how calm they keep themselves. Yeah, as I said before, you just sort of realize that they are just that level above you, the way they play the game and their whole attitude on the course, that sort of thing. Definitely helps to see what they do. I think you definitely feed off that.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay, continued good luck, Nathan.

End of FastScripts

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