WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 24, 2000

Stuart Appleby

STUART APPLEBY: Started with a couple birdies early, so that was obviously a good, strong start. Nothing much happened -- nothing much happened later in the first nine. Hit some good drives, some good irons, some good putts. Nothing quite dropped, then I started to hit it pretty poor. I didn't like the way I was getting results from my driving, basically the last nine holes. I didn't hit it that great with my woods. But I made an eagle; holed 130-yard wedge on 14 from the middle of the fairway. So that was one of the good drives I hit down the later half of the day. Then I had a 4-footer tap-in on 17 for birdie to put me to 3-under, and a nice opportunity on the last. But 3-under par was -- I felt like the score, at least I deserved that. You know, that course is playing pretty easy today. There's no wind. It's pretty dry. The greens are perfect, and you can obviously see that by the scores. So 3-under is a start, but I certainly want to drive the ball better than I did today.

STUART APPLEBY: I would say that my guess would be the soil is a little different to the fairways. I think the fairways are more clay-type; so when it gets dry it can get a little bouncy on the greens where they put a little more sand. They are faster than I can remember them; and really, not any different -- I'd say a little firmer, because I know these can get pretty soft. But not firm to the stage where we're really worried about the fact -- the ball is going to bounce over the green or whatever. But if you get a deluge here, the greens become really, really mushy. It's a perfect scenario, but you can still go at the flag.

STUART APPLEBY: I said to my caddy today -- I jokingly said to him, "They say that the Tour -- we are playing for more money. There is only one guy playing for more money. He gets 18 percent of the first prize. We get what's left, the leftovers." Sometimes the guy who comes in second plays awesome and he's not getting what he feels like he would have got, except for one guy. You know, it's a pretty easy course for him. He's going to eat up this type of course, if we keep conditions like this. He's playing really, really well. 3-under is par for him, I would consider. So anything better than that is certainly a good round for him.

STUART APPLEBY: Good question. I suppose if you knew straightaway, you would probably not do it again, or you would get it back. Ideally, around here you obviously want to hit the fairways. The fairways are so good, the greens are so good, the ball is flying pretty consistently, you can get it pretty close. Obviously, there's a couple things in my game in that part that were -- weren't working. The worst thing when you hit the ball bad is when you think you put a good swing on it and you did not get the good result. That's when you get confusion. But when you don't put a good swing and when you don't get a bad result, you know, way to go. But when you think you're doing the right thing and you're getting the wrong answers: "One and one is three -- oh, I thought that was right," that's frustrating, very frustrating. I've been driving the ball well, get on the range. Just shoot it a little bit better.

STUART APPLEBY: I felt like I hit some good shots, but I was not getting the results. I did not like a couple of swings that I knew were going to be bad shots. I looked up and thought that it was all right, but it was not where I wanted to be, so there could have only been a couple of things. I suppose I did not pay the price too much, but certainly I'm driving the ball better than I drove it today. And I have been. So it was not like, you know -- that wasn't me today. I want to get a bit better than that.

STUART APPLEBY: No, not really. I suppose, you know, obviously, we're trying to repeat the good things that we're trying to do all the time, and sometimes the key hits the right lock and, bang, it goes in. I'll try and anchor that shot for another time I have a 130-yard wedge -- good swing, good ball flight, obviously perfect result. But I'm going to get up tomorrow and keep moving, shoot a 66, 67; can't really go near par. Can't afford to go near par at all.

STUART APPLEBY: I think it was last year -- but I did hit a wedge in there.

STUART APPLEBY: Usually about four or five times a year. I had five -- I think five last year. And this is maybe four or five this year. Every now and then. Obviously most of them are short irons.

STUART APPLEBY: I didn't know that. I don't know why we're moving.

STUART APPLEBY: I think this is a good course. Sahalee is a good course, too. So good facilities, good course, good test. At least it's -- certainly got a lot of history, this course. I don't think it's a bad move. I'm not sure why we're going there. I can't answer that. I don't think it really matters too much, but someone would have to tell me why, and I would go: "Oh, yeah, I agree," or "Oh, I disagree." So I can't answer that. But I don't mind.

STUART APPLEBY: Pretty important. Obviously, you know a handful of events outside of the majors, top events where you're getting a condensed, quality field playing, for the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup -- well, not really the Ryder Cup players . Some of the Ryder Cup players get to play this event, and the rest get unlucky. But the old format, when it was just those, I think was a little bit -- a little bit better. And it was based on playing this event, it was for those guys, and now it is not. So I don't know why it's turned out to be like that. I think it is pretty important. I think that -- personally, I really enjoy the event. You know, limited field, quick rounds. We whipped around in 3 hours and change, a bit different than the British Open. Could have played twice today for one round there. Limited field, big purse, quick round of golf on a quality course. If you did it every week, you wouldn't mind, would you.

STUART APPLEBY: Compared to last week, last week was a bit of a mess, yeah. It was very -- I said to a friend of mine, I said, "This is probably reasonable preparation for the Presidents Cup," because the crowd is pretty noisy, pretty drunk, had a lot to say. Yeah, you call this a quiet week -- I don't know, I'm probably not the best -- get Tiger walking around I don't know if he would consider this business I or not. Doesn't draw huge crowds, and just not the amount of players maybe.

STUART APPLEBY: Maybe it's a bit early. Maybe everybody is worn out from last week, I don't know, watching TV.

STUART APPLEBY: I suppose as soon as the last one finished, I was obviously getting ready to get my way into the next one. I'm pretty much looking forward to the Presidents Cup. Certainly the highest priority I have in the near future, no doubt.

STUART APPLEBY: The team is always going to be good. I mean, you're never going to get a weak team. That's just not going to happen out here. With the quality of players you've got to play against week-in, week-out, you're not going to have a weak team. You're going to have maybe one extra player that can make a team look better on paper. But I think sometimes that's -- that might be based on history, and history doesn't always come through again; doesn't turn around. We've got a good team, a team that can win, a team that has to be -- has to be playing very well to win. We can't be off our game at all to win. To win it, we've got to be right there all the time. I think it will be a good fight, I really do. I hope it is a similar result to next year, to last year, the last time we played, but I don't foresee that being the case being in the States. I think they will be a little bit more pumped up about it.

STUART APPLEBY: Easy six hours.

STUART APPLEBY: I could have shot a 65 if we had not taken six hours. Just depends on how well you focus. Quick rounds do not always make good golf. They don't. But slower rounds, certainly, statistically, would show that generally scores being a little worse, just because your patience can set in, just things like that. You know, your whole rhythm is thrown out. You've got to be a good player to deal with a six-hour round. We should not be subjected to six-hour round. Nobody should be. But it is a concern, especially if the weather is bad and you're stuck out on the golf course in bad weather, six hours in rain is just -- there could be nothing worse.

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, I think it makes a big difference. I think this week you're only stepping 30, 40 yards to the next tee; whereas last week's course was terrible for a walking course. You're just walking -- you never stop. Hundreds of yards sometimes. And that just -- unfortunately that's the worst influence on golf course design is golf carts. They really make -- we're forced to walk it, obviously, and the thing was last week, I was heard, designed for a tournament, designed for us, so to speak because it really wasn't, because we're walking -- like from 8 to 9, it could have been 300 yards, upwards of 250 yards, 9 to 10, that was another 100 yards. There was a bunch of long walks, and obviously -- the design of this course is great. Off the green, bang, a minute later, you've got a tee on the green.

STUART APPLEBY: I think it was just media hype. People asked Bob May if fatigue came into it. Fatigue? He just barely played more than 18 holes; it was 18 holes and change. It wasn't like you play a nine-hole playoff and was at the end of that. I don't see that, no. I don't see fatigue is ever going to be a problem, because he manages to play, get his job done, get himself up for the next round the next week, and that's what he's good at. He goes away for two weeks, comes back strong. I don't think there's going to be a fatigue problem. I think that if he didn't play well, I would imagine it would be that his concentration would not be as sharp. He's been exhibiting very, very, very good concentration, very good focus. I don't see fatigue being an issue. Like people stated basically Sunday afternoon, he could do anything this week.