WGC ANDERSEN CONSULTING MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 27, 1999

Jeff Maggert

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, kind of a lot of thoughts going through my head right now. I feel lucky and I fortunate, but on the other hand, I feel really good about the way I played the last nine holes. It was not what I wanted to do today, was to get 3-down, and, you know, I was just -- I gave away some holes early in the round with some kind of silly bogeys and I was upset at myself. That's not what I normally do when I play well. And, you know, when I got 3-down after 11, I told myself, let's just stay in this match and try to make some birdies coming down the stretch, you know, not give anymore holes away by making bogeys. And made a nice eagle put on 12 and that really kind of -- it gave me a little bit of confidence. I was still two down in the match at the time and I had a lot of work to go. But, fortunately, on the next hole, you know, Steve made a bogey and that's -- sometimes if you can get a couple holes like that where you can win with the other guy making a bogey or making a mistake, it can get some momentum going your way. And when he made bogey on 13, I felt really good about my position in the match even though I was still one down, I felt like if I played good golf over the next four holes, I could really put the heat and the pressure on him. I hit a good shot on 15 and made birdie there and that put the match back to even and it was all square with three to play and the momentum was definitely on my side and I felt like, you know, all I had to do was hit the ball on the fairway and on the green the last three holes and give myself an opportunity for some birdies. Steve missed the green or missed the fairway and the green at 16. And he missed about an 8-footer for a par there and that put me 1-up with two to play and I thought I was really in control of the match there.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, 3-down - three holes down is a lot different from three strokes down. For instance, you know, I make eagle on 12 and he probably was going to make par. That would have been a two-shot swing in stroke play. But, you know, Match Play, if you win a hole by three shots, it doesn't matter. You know that 3-down is a significant margin, especially you've only got seven holes to play. And usually the only way you can come back from that is by making some birdies. You can't expect him to give three or four holes away to you with bogeys. And I was fortunate enough that I won two holes with birdies and I won two holes by making par and he made bogeys. You know, I gave some holes away on the front 9 with bogeys and he gave a couple away on the back 9 with bogeys and if you take those holes out of it, I probably had the edge. I played pretty steady most of the day and, you know, I made some birdies today and that was the difference in the match.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, wasn't you guys? Come on.

JEFF MAGGERT: That's just a fact of sports in general. I mean, you know people want to write about the Chicago Bulls. They don't want to -- pardon the L.A. Clipper fans, but, you know that's just the way professional sports are, and, you know, whether it's basketball or football or golf, you know, it's the superstars in the game that make it such a great game. And, if it wasn't for Tiger and Ernie and David, you know, our sport wouldn't be what it is and those guys deserve a lot of credit. They have played a lot better than I have over the last three or four years. You know, but we have a very competitive sport. Our sport is unlike other sports where, you know, the 50 or 60 best player is really not that far from being No. 1 in any given day or any given day in any given week he can be the best player in the world and I think everyone has witnessed that this week. I know the players have said it many times this week that there really aren't any upsets in this tournament. You can write it again or not, but it's true. There's a lot of good players on our tour and there's a lot of good players on some of the foreign tours and, you know, when you play a guy that's playing good, it doesn't matter if you're Tiger Woods or David Duval or Ernie Els, you'd better play good, too, or you're going to get beat.

JEFF MAGGERT: You know, it's -- I've had a lot of close calls the last five years. You know, it's frustrating to be in a situation to win golf tournaments and not win. You know, that's what I judge myself on playing is being able to win golf tournaments out here. You know, I've always said to myself that I'm going to keep putting myself in a position to win and I know if I do that I'm a good enough player to win some tournaments out here. I can't look back and say, gosh, I've come up short so many times. I'm going to do it again this week. You know, I'm always looking ahead. I feel like I have a lot of good golf left in me and a number of years left to prove myself. I'm not out here to prove a lot of things to myself. Forget, you know, whatever. You know, I'm a good player and I know that I'm good enough to win out here. You know, that's why I come out and play. You know, it was a great win yesterday, but that was just, you know one of the hurdles that I had to get to have a chance to win the golf tournament. When I got here on Monday and played my practice rounds Monday and Tuesday, Sunday is where I wanted to be. Whether I played Tiger Woods in the first round or Sunday, you know, I knew I had -- I wanted to win my matches and I wanted to get to the finals and I have a chance to go out tomorrow and win a golf tournament.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, it is a lot of money. It's more money than I've ever won in a single season on the TOUR. I've been close to a million dollars, but it's really insignificant, I think, to me at this point right now. Winning the golf tournament is going to mean a lot more to me than the million dollars. You know, that's a big thing for me, and I want the victory a lot more than putting a few more dollars in my bank account.

JEFF MAGGERT: Make I'm a little bit more focused on the back 9. But I have had some slow starts this week in my matches. I haven't played a lot of birdies on the front 9, you know, I think -- I try to play each match -- I try to go with the mindset that I'm going to go play for a score and try to make as many birdies as I can and try to shoot 5-, 6-, 7-under for the round. Usually I try not to pay attention to my opponent and what he's doing until on the back 9. Because if you're 2 or 3-up or 2 or 3-down, it's going to change the way you play some of the holes coming down the stretch. But, for some reason, I haven't been able to get the birdies on the front 9. I've certainly had some opportunities. But, for some reason, I haven't made as many.

JEFF MAGGERT: I couldn't tell you. I think the first day when I played Fred Funk I was a couple under. When I beat Nick Price, I made one birdie and no bogeys; so I was 1-under that day. Yesterday I think I was 5-, or 6-under in Tiger's match and today I was probably 2-, or 3-under. So I've played some good golf this week. You know, if you add up all my rounds together, I probably, you know, would be right there near the lead if we were playing a medal play event over six rounds. I feel comfortable with the way I've been playing. It's been consistent. I haven't had a lot of up-and-down rounds. I've played pretty steady all week and I think that's going to be important tomorrow playing 36 holes. I need to go out and play steady and not make too many mistakes.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, it has taken its toll. I feel tired today even though we just played 18. I probably felt better yesterday after playing 36 than I do right now. It is a long week. I was -- I was hitting balls this morning and I was thinking: Man, it seems like I've been here for a month. But it is a lot of golf and it is a lot of matches. It is a mental grind each day in a stroke play. In stroke play you are more relaxed the first couple of days to put yourself in position for the weekend and in this format, you've got to be ready for day one. You've got to be ready like it's Sunday afternoon of a normal tournament.

JEFF MAGGERT: I've known Andrew for a long time; probably since junior golf. He grew up in the Dallas area. I grew up in the Houston area. I've known him since then; played against him in college some and played with him on the TOUR and in a number of events; so, we know each other and we know each other's games. We don't play exactly the same style of golf. Andrew hits the ball pretty far and I hit the ball pretty short. I don't like saying that, but it seems like everyone keeps hitting the ball farther and mine doesn't go anywhere.

JEFF MAGGERT: Well, I think the big thing in Match Play, when you get 2-, or 3-down, you know, you can't -- you can't expect the other guy to make a mistake and you get back in the match. When you get 2-, or 3-down, you have to get aggressive and you have to go out and make something happen for yourself. And the only way you can do that is to make birdies. And when I got 3-down against Steve today, I just told myself, if you want to have a chance to win this match, you're going to have to win it by making birdies. You're not going to sit around and make six pars the next six holes and expect to get back in the match. It makes you play more aggressive when you get down and if you're playing well, you can make the birdies, you can certainly comeback from 3-down. It's not that difficult to do.

JEFF MAGGERT: No I've played pretty aggressive - I've always been a good ball-striker with the irons and I've never been afraid to shoot at pins over bunkers and over lakes. If I'm in the fairway, you know, in a position to shoot at the pin, I normally shoot for it.

JEFF MAGGERT: I think you have to play like it's 36-hole medal play all day. You want to get out early and try to shoot a good score, try to make some birdies. Don't make bogeys. Certainly, if you're 3-down on the first nine holes tomorrow, you know, that's just the beginning of a long day and you've got to realize that you might play nine holes tomorrow and you could be 1- or 2- over and be 2- or 3- or 4-under. But if you play, you know, the next 27 holes with good some golf, you can get right back in the match in a hurry. And I think, you know, this golf course, it's -- most of the matches seem pretty close all week. There have not been too many blowouts. A lot of the matches are going down to the end; so I expect tomorrow's match to get pretty close to 36 holes.