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OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

February 13, 2011

Alvaro Quiros

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Alvaro, many congratulations.
ALVARO QUIROS: Thank you.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic Champion. Must feel very good right now.
ALVARO QUIROS: Obviously I'm very happy. Winning is always something great. With this field and these tough conditions, it's even bigger.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: I think we had better start talking about your scorecard.
ALVARO QUIROS: Every single time I see the scorecard --
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Eagle two, birdie three, triple-bogey eight up a tree.
ALVARO QUIROS: I'm fighting on my swing to be more regular and consistent but as you can see it's impossible.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Talk about your day on the golf course. It was obviously eventful.
ALVARO QUIROS: From the beginning I was in a position that I want to be with early eagle and early birdie, and after that, I was playing good. I mean, another good birdie at the 5th, as you can see.
Unfortunately on the 8th, we were a little bit under the doubt from where it was coming the wind. I hit a great driver, finishing in a bush, and after that, I took a drop. The ball just collapsed into the sand.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: You took an unplayable.
ALVARO QUIROS: Yeah, a one-stroke penalty and I tried just to push with an iron to the front of the green, 60 metres short. And with the bad lie, I hit the sand before the ball, hit into the palm tree and the ball holds. I have to take another penalty, stroke penalty, and then played to the green. I have a chance to make double-bogey but I didn't make it; so, triple. All of the job, that I did in the correct moment, it was done. But at the same time, as my caddie says, nobody moves up the leaderboard too much, so I'm still in contention after the 7 at the 8th.
After that, well, the hole-in-one on 11 obviously was the more, I would say, positive, or important moment of the round, because it puts me again in a very good position to be in the fight.

Q. How is the arm?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I mean, I've been treated all the week. It's just a tight ligament, but I hit the third shot on the 8th hole, which is when I started to suffer. This is when I called the physio and he puts me some creme and gives me a pill, an anti-inflammatory pill. Right now it's still been hurting but it's not something serious; so this is not something that I'm worried about.

Q. How does this one compare with your Qatar success of two years ago? Do you favour this one or the previous one?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I think both of them are very important. When I won in Qatar, if I'm not wrong, I move in the World Ranking to 24th. Now I think I'm going to move about 20. So it's very similar move.
But I have to recognise that this win arrives in a very good moment. I was trying to work properly, mentally speaking, and obviously I've been lucky, but I think everybody has to be lucky to win tournaments. I made two triple-bogeys this week, which is not a normal thing in a winner, so it means that I'm in the good way, even when I have an irregular round like today.

Q. Did you expect to start the season so well? You've obviously had an incredible start.
ALVARO QUIROS: (Big smile) Well, I have to recognise that I play here in the Middle East, always thinking that I can win one week. This year, we play four weeks here. Normally we have three, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai, and they are three golf courses that I love, the three of them. Obviously you have to play well and you have to be lucky to win.
But in Qatar, I finished second last week. Last year, second, two, and three years ago, I won. In Abu Dhabi, it's always the same story, we are coming from the winter break and it's difficult for me to make really good or important scores. But at the end, Dubai is a golf course that doesn't suit me because it's not a typical for fade players like me. But at the same time, I know that I have a good advantage with my length if I'm able to put the ball in the fairway.
So, well, right now, after today, everything is going to start again. Obviously I'm very happy with my win, but it's difficult to expect winning tournaments, for me, for probably the No. 1 in the world is not that difficult, but I'm a normal guy. Winning one per year is great for me.

Q. What was a memorable moment in this tournament, and how do you feel right now?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, I feel very happy. Probably the most memorable moment of this week, without doubt is the hole-in-one on 11. I mean, it's always difficult to make a hole-in-one, but in a final round, and being in contention, it's even more exciting.

Q. How many holes in one have you had?
ALVARO QUIROS: I have a few. It's difficult to believe but I have a few. The last one was in Celtic Manor last year playing with dear captain, Monty, third hole if I'm not wrong. I had another one --

Q. Abu Dhabi.
ALVARO QUIROS: Abu Dhabi on 11th, or 12th, and I have another one at The Belfry. So I have a few, yeah. (Laughter) Official.

Q. You've gone to No. 21 in the world and you had that big disappointment at Gleneagles last year; you got over that, but now going to the WGCs and Majors, what sort of force can you be now?
ALVARO QUIROS: As I said, everything starts again from tomorrow in advance. I win a tournament, I'm very happy, but I know that I have a lot of mistakes this week. Otherwise, you don't make two triple-bogeys. And it really has to improve.
For this week, it was enough, my game. But I'm pretty sure with the same level of game, I wouldn't be at the top for such a long time, because I have a lot of mistakes. So I have to correct, I have to improve.

Q. Do you feel as though now you can in contention for a Major, get yourself up on the board?
ALVARO QUIROS: I think winning a Major is something very special for a few reasons. One of the reasons is you have to be ready to be in contention with the best players of the world, and play good enough to let yourself be in contention.
And then as I said, I think the luck is something important. In my case, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be in a good position to fight for a Top-10 in the Majors, if I make my job properly. This is my target; to improve in the Majors, because as you can see, my numbers in the Majors are really bad. I think I made two cuts in eight Majors. So I can't expect to win a major doing two cuts in eight. So, we will see.

Q. Can I just clarify that previous answer of yours? Did you suggest that your form shouldn't have been good enough to win the title here today?
ALVARO QUIROS: No. I'm saying that I was lucky. Because I don't know if it's quite normal, to make an eagle in the second hole, birdie on the third hole, be leading by two or three like I was on the 8th tee, make a 7 on a par 4, come back to the third position, and then make a hole-in-one again and finish suffering to win by one. I don't think many people have been in this situation.
So for me, with a hole-in-one, one eagle and a few birdies, is not a great thing if I win by one. Winning is winning. I'm very happy to be here sitting obviously but you know what I mean.

Q. I do. But you're suggesting that you perhaps made too many mistakes?
ALVARO QUIROS: Obviously. Obviously. This is what I mean. Everybody has mistakes.

Q. So why did you win?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, because I shoot one shot than the other. (Laughter) Honestly, simple as that.
At the beginning of golf today, we were 25 players in two shots. So to be honest, everybody knows that any of these 25 could win the tournament. I'm going to say easily, but if they shoot 6-under, they will win it.
So what I mean is for today, it was enough. Because I make a hole-in-one and one eagle. But if you take these two scores and just put birdie and birdie, I wouldn't be here. This is what I mean. I have much to improve.

Q. What did you say to yourself standing on the 9th tee, and have there been times in the past when you would not have coped so well after a triple-bogey?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, the thing is, every single time that I've been in contention, except in this tournament last year, I won the tournament, or I finished very close. So after making the 7, I thought, well, it's not the best way to keep going; to think of winning the tournament.
But at the same time, my caddie watched the leaderboard and I said, hey, we dropped three shots and we are still in second. There is not any hurry. If we can recover the same form, we will be in contention and, in fact, that's what happened. Last year on the 13th hole, I remember perfectly, I was leading by two, and I made 3-putts. I made 3-putts 14, which happened today, too.
So after 14, I thought, again, it couldn't be possible. I mean, it's difficult to believe that you are in the same golf tournament, playing well, and you're going to lose it again. But the truth is, in this time, I thought, okay, you are one behind, three holes to play, 17 is reachable, and 18, if you hit a good shot from the tee, you can reach it, too. So you're going to have chances and this is why I won.

Q. We all know about your power off the tee. When you talk about improving the big tournaments, what aspects of your game do you think you need to move on this year? Is it the mental side, the short game?
ALVARO QUIROS: Everything can improve. Starting from this point. The start game probably is the main thing, but in my case, the most important thing obviously is the mentality. I should try to be able to keep working the same way even when the things, they are not going in the good way. When the things are not coming to win tournaments, I'm coming just to make cuts, this is the way to improve, in my case.

Q. You were quite aggressive coming down 17 and 18. Both holes you used drivers. Is that something that you intend to continue? What I mean to say is that even with a 3-wood, you would have a great chance of having a birdie on both the holes. But you still decided to go for driver without even blinking your eyelids.
ALVARO QUIROS: On 17, it's a very special situation for many reasons. In my case, today, with the wind helping, I knew that if I hit a decent driver, I would be long. This is an ideal position to chip back. Unfortunately I made it too soft, a little bit weak and I finished short of this flag, which is the only point that they should have never been, if you have the chance to finish long.
But I mean, why to hit the 3-wood or an iron? It's going to be almost the same shot. I'm going to have a 70-metre, 80-metre shot to a tough green and a difficult pin position with the wind blowing in different directions. So it wasn't that risky. It wasn't that difficult from my point of view.
And at the same time, you know, most of the time on these kind of golf courses, in my case, it's worth it to be in the heavy rough, even when I cannot see even the ball with a 58 than in a fairway with an 8-iron or 7-iron; the greens were so quick, so tough, it was to finish close to the flag, always. Otherwise the scores would improve a lot.
As you can see, I don't know with how many shots win by Miguel Angel, but it was close. I think this is the reason.

Q. Having Cabrera's caddie on the bag, has that been good for you?
ALVARO QUIROS: Well, hopefully yes. (Smiling) If I have somebody wrong on the bag, we are in a bad way.
Obviously we are working on it. He needs to know me and I need to know him, because when he used to caddie for Angel, he was a completely different style of golf. He's a draw player; I'm a fade player. And under the wind conditions, Cabrera plays in a different way than me. So it's time.
Obviously it took us four weeks, at least, to start to work properly. But obviously I have to thanks to him that he's on the bag for different decisions that we have been taking during the week.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Alvaro, many congratulations again.

End of FastScripts

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