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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPFebruary 24, 2011Matteo ManasseroMARANA, ARIZONA PAUL SYMES: Matteo, another day and another great victory for you. MATTEO MANASSERO: Exactly, yeah. Another great victory. It gets me into Friday of this great event. It's a big sense of achievement for me. I really enjoyed this round. We both played really well. And I'm very happy to be in the third round of this event. PAUL SYMES: Your confidence just must be growing all the time, as well. MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, yeah, I'm really confident because I'm driving the ball well, hitting the irons well. If I manage to make maybe a few more putts, it's going to be absolutely perfect. I'm really confident on my game, which is very important. Q. I'm just going to throw this out there, but can you allow yourself to start thinking about maybe winning this thing? MATTEO MANASSERO: Not after tomorrow, no. I still have a lot of matches I had before -- before I got to the finals. I don't know, I'm just confident on my game, as I was saying. So I can win definitely another match, that's what I would try to do, playing my best game. But I don't want to put myself into carrying the final, which I think is very difficult. But anyway, I'll try to do it and I'll try to go through tomorrow. Q. Pardon the out-of-left-field question a little bit, but do you and Fowler, how long have you guys known each other? MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, I know Rickie. Q. From when you were little? MATTEO MANASSERO: No, no, no. We never played amateur golf together, because I never came so much in the U.S. And we're obviously quite similar in age, so we were playing actually in the same period as an amateur, but we didn't meet each other at tournaments. I met him when we were both professional already. Q. It seems like between you and Day and him there's some younger guys who have advanced pretty far in this tournament. Any rhyme or reason for it, do you know? MATTEO MANASSERO: I don't know, maybe, as I was saying yesterday, because we played a lot as an amateur in match play events. So there are a lot of professionals that play just one a year, once a year. We played a lot as amateurs. But I think more than that it's just because we've been playing good, that's all that really matters. Q. What happened on that tee shot on 16? Was it unplayable behind all of the -- MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, yeah it was a terrible shot, first of all. And I think I hit inside -- well, in the stand and it jumped over it and landed straight in a cactus. So -- Q. So you wouldn't have gotten line of sight relief? MATTEO MANASSERO: I tried to lift -- there was like a piece of root, a branch in the cactus, which was quite loose, but I tried to lift it up and the ball barely moved, I couldn't really see it well. My caddie saw that, for him it definitely moved. But anyway, I tried to concede it in any case, because I would have to take an unplayable drop and then drop it for the stand, so I just conceded. Q. So you went back to all square at that point? MATTEO MANASSERO: Exactly. Q. And that approach shot you hit into 17 was three feet from the pin? MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, three feet from the pin. Q. That was a pretty bold shot? MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, it was very good. I felt that moment I was from 2-up, very positive with an easy birdie putt to all square and two to go. So everything could have happened. But, you know, what I putt into 16, it doesn't -- I didn't really pay a lot of attention, because I just hit a terrible shot. If that ball would have catch the first part of the stand, my chip wouldn't have been too bad. It's just a bit of odd luck that it happens. So I tried to stay focused and just play -- keep playing as I was playing, and I did it well. Q. What club did you have in there, 17? MATTEO MANASSERO: 6-iron. Q. Do you have much experience trying to hit a ball out of a cactus? MATTEO MANASSERO: No, I don't. We don't have many in Europe. Q. Ever, though? MATTEO MANASSERO: I never even tried, no. I don't know how it is. Q. What were your expectations when you got here? MATTEO MANASSERO: My expectations were none, actually. Because I was trying to play good golf, maybe get some lucky breaks and get through a few rounds and try to get in Top 50, which gets me into Doral. So that's what I'm aiming at, and -- but my expectations weren't high because I didn't want to put my expectations especially into match play, where everything can happen. So I just came here and try to play a good game. Q. Could you tell us who the players were that you looked up to as a kid, I guess you could say, a few years ago, a couple of years ago? MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, true. Q. Yesterday. MATTEO MANASSERO: True, yeah. Seve Ballesteros has always been my idol, main idol. Then growing up on TV, I was looking Faldo; I was looking Tiger, that's obvious. He is fantastic. But many, many players. I was really much into golf watching every single player, but mostly Seve, Seve Ballesteros has always been my main -- the idea of golfer. Q. Do you know Luke well? Have you played with him? MATTEO MANASSERO: I know Luke, yeah. We've got kind of a similar game. We don't hit the ball so far, but we kind of put it in the right spots. So it's going to be a similar match to the one I had with Steve Stricker. So kind of that kind of game. So it's going to be definitely a good match and I'll try to do my best. PAUL SYMES: Thanks, again, Matteo. Play well tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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