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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

November 16, 2011

Charl Schwartzel

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

Q. You played in Japan last week, was it a commitment or by choice?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: By choice and commitment. I like to go and play different places now and again, and I haven't been to Japan, also, for a long time. I just heard good things about that golf course. I figured what I've heard from other guys, that the greens are so good and so fast that in a way it was good preparation for playing this golf course. So decided to go out there.

Q. And it brought you into the time zone, I suppose.
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Exactly. It's the same sort of time zone, so it wasn't too bad. Fairly happy with my decisions.
I played well. I played really good. I played good at the HSBC and played good at Japan and nearly won. You know, I feel good. I've played quite a lot of golf up until now, and you know, it's sometimes what I need is actually to get actual rounds instead of standing on the driving range for hours.

Q. Playing with Geoff Ogilvy?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yes, I am. Playing with Geoff I think is a good thing for me. He's very popular around here. He knows this golf course back to front. I think for me, I was happy I heard I'm playing with him. He can sort of -- I think we play very similar games. You know, we were actually discussing on the golf course -- we are so similar that we don't actually know which one should hit first tomorrow. In a way it doesn't actually matter and I think that that's a good thing, so it's not going to be a big thing for us to make a decision.

Q. We were playing with Geoff this morning and Ernie yesterday?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, I played with Ernie yesterday and played with Adam yesterday. Played with Adam today, as well, and then so I played a round with Geoff and we were messing around with the two different golf balls, I play Nike and he plays Titleist so we were just seeing which ball we were going to hit.

Q. Which one?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I found no difference in the balls. Geoff found that the Nike, he was struggling with the irons a bit so I think we'll just go with his.

Q. How much do you think that Jeff's knowledge of the course has helped you so far and will help you tomorrow?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: It's difficult to gauge. I mean, Geoff was playing pretty aggressive today. He was hitting on lines that a guy hits that has played the golf course a lot of times.
For me, I played a little bit more conservative lines. I played with Adam Scott yesterday and also today, and we sort of played the same lines, same sort of clubs, where Geoff, I think just from overall experience, playing here so many times, that he was taking a little more aggressive lines, which is great for me. I mean, if he's hitting his tee shots miles down there, I'm very happy to be hitting the wedges.

Q. Do you know Geoff on a personal level?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, I've played quite a fair amount of golf with Geoff out in the States, even a little about Europe. I know him very well and we get along very well. I think we are both very excited.

Q. When do you work out who hits the first tee shot?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I don't know, maybe we'll flip a coin on the first tee (laughing).

Q. When the year began, did you even dream you would be a Masters Champion and playing on The Presidents Cup team?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: It was a dream. It just came true. Yeah, it's been a fantastic year for me. I'm very happy. I've achieved all my sort of goals that I set out. I had to make some new goals. It's just been a very good year. I feel very privileged.

Q. Is there any other word about the International record and maybe how much it hurts, when he's been on the losing end so many times, a bit about, come on, guys, let's win this one?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I think the record is pretty obvious to everyone. You know, I can just imagine, you can sense some of the guys that's been there for a long time that losing is not nice. I think we all know losing is not nice. I think the guys are really up for it. I've never been on a Presidents Cup team but I've played lots of team events as amateurs and juniors and we used to have a very good team spirit and we used to do very well at team sports.
You know, I sort of get the same vibe with the team we have got. Everyone gets along really well. You know, even with the guys that struggle to speak good English, you have Japanese and Koreans and we all have something to say, and you know, everyone is sort of -- it feels like a team. It doesn't actually feel like different countries. They might as well just call us the Internationals instead of the South Africans and the Australians. It actually feels like a team.

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