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DEUTSCHE BANK - SAP OPEN TPC OF EUROPE

May 20, 2004

Jose Maria Olazabal

ST. LEON-ROT, GERMANY

GORDON SIMPSON: Jose Maria, a round of 66, it's a good looking leader board as it stands right now.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Good looking which way?

GORDON SIMPSON: With your name on it there.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yes, this is a golf course where if you play well, you should score well. If you are a little bit off, you're going to struggle. The greens are receptive, so the guys that are really in sync with their swing are going to have a bunch of birdie chances.

GORDON SIMPSON: And are you in sync with your swing at the moment?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, today was better than the last three weeks. Last three weeks were awful. I spent quite a lot of time last week on the driving range working on my swing. I saw a couple of video tapes of my swing during the last three week, I didn't like what I saw, and made a decision to change a couple of things.

I worked hard last week. Even though today was not, how can I put it, fully free, but it was much better. I didn't hit too many awkward shots like I have with the irons, and I hit most of the greens some close and knocked a few putts in.

Q. Have you decided that it's the putting that was the problem? When we spoke to you when you had the bad scores you thought it was the putting.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No, no. If I said that, it was wrong. I was never intending to say it was the putting. What I said, it was that the putting was not helping the cause. I knew the golf, the swing was really bad. I mean, I was striking the ball really bad, especially with the irons, pulling them way left, and every now and then, obviously trying to avoid the pulled shot, blocked one to the right. I never blamed fully the putting. I truly blame the way I stroke the ball from tee to green. You know, I'm pretty straight with those things. I don't try to avoid issues. The last three weeks were awful from tee to green, but obviously the putting didn't help.

I couldn't complain about the putting. I felt like I hit nice putts. I made some, I made some, but all in all, it was the way I hit the ball from tee to green. It was awful. The same thing at the Italian Open, when you have well, every wedge, 9 iron in your hands or an 8 iron and you miss the green or at least the flag by 15 or 20 yards, that's an awful shot.

Q. The last nine holes, you didn't hit many fairways, have you been working on your driving since and what have you been working on?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, I've been working on my swing overall not just the driving. The driving was part of it but the iron play was really bad. When I saw the video tapes, the hands were really close to the shoulders and a little lower. There was no room, any width on the downswing, there was no room for the club to get to the ball. That's just to start with.

And sometimes when I try to get those hands a little bit higher, I get my club face shut, especially with the irons and I keep pulling shots left all the time. So I have to be concerned about those two things; having the hands higher and not getting the club face short on the top of the backswing. If I do that, the results are better.

Q. Have you experimented with the loft on your driver at all?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yeah, I did that earlier in the year, I put some more loft on it and everything. You know, that's not the solution. I mean, that is like a part time solution. That's not going to help you on the long term. So you have to, as we say in Spain, you have to grab the ball by the horns. You know, I'm going to try to do that.

Q. How many fairways did you hit and with what?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Today, I missed I know I missed the first three. After that, it was better, and then missed the seventh fairway. But apart from that, I hit 18, I missed 18, too. But I hit the rest.

Q. Drivers?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Drivers most of them. I missed the 18th fairway with a 3 wood and that was it.

Q. Do you think there's still a chance you could get into the U.S. Open without needing to qualify?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Not a chance. I'm to go and qualify, as simple as that.

Q. But a good week this week may help you.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: A good week I need like 15 good weeks in a row, my friend. I know it's going to be a long road, as I said, but the toughest part might be to be patient enough and not to get frustrated when the results don't show up. I believe that at the end of the road, there is some good golf to be played still.

Q. How much do you love golf at the moment?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I do have to love it a lot, because otherwise I wouldn't be here, after all of the weeks and the year and a half of golf that I have played. I love the game a lot. I love the competition. I love the challenge. When I'm not playing, I miss it a lot.

Q. You've never been given a special invite to a major, have you? You've always qualified?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Not that I know of, no.

Q. Would you like one?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: You know, I think in a way, you have to deserve it. I'm not going to beg for it. I would love, I would love to play, but, you know, it wouldn't be fair for all of the other guys that are trying their hearts out to get in. The way I'm playing at the moment, you know, I haven't earned my spot, and it's going to be like that. I'm going to try to earn it.

Q. Which qualifier are you down for?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I'm going to go to the one that is next to the Memorial.

Q. When you went through all of that, did you do that alone or did you have some help when you watched the video, the swing?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Watching myself. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know what might be wrong on the swing. There are certain things that are pretty obvious.

Q. We keep getting these glimmers of hope, one good round or two good round and then you collapse, what

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I'm going to put it very clearly to you. You might not understand it, but it's very obvious to me. You can have a good round, but the player really knows how his game is. You can fight one day, you can fight two days, you can struggle on the golf course and manage to put a good score one day, two days. But in the long run, you're going to fall.

So, I knew the game was not the swing was not good. You know, most of you were surprised that after a bunch of weeks of playing golf, I get to the Masters and I'm like two shots behind the leader and you were all crazy, what the hell is going on with this guy. But at the end of the day, you know where you're standing. A player knows when he is in control of the situation, when he is in comfortable with his swing. I felt comfortable with my swing. I shot 75 and didn't worry a second about it because I knew that the following day would be a good day. Up to now, the last few months it's been just the opposite. I might have a good round, 6 under par, 7 under par, but you know your game is not as good as that. It's down to the player how he feels and how he knows himself.

Q. How in control were you of your game when you won your second green jacket?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Except for the driver, the rest was very good. The driving was the only problem that it was killing me before the Masters in 1990. That was the only thing. The rest of the game was really sharp. You know, as soon as I hit a fairway, my iron shots were very close to the hole and all that. So, I managed to hit the drivers half decent that week and gave myself a chance and won.

Q. When was the last time you actually entered a qualifying tournament for a major?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Never. First time ever.

Q. When you have a long run of things not going well

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I would love to punch your face. (Laughter.)

Q. Well, it might make you play better what is the worst thing about it? Is it waking up every morning and not wanting to get out of bed, is it not wanting to leave home? What's the worst thing about a long run?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: The worst part of the long run of not playing well is not knowing what to do, not knowing how to approach the situation, trying a lot of things and not seeing any results. That's the tough part. It's pretty simple. It's hard, but it's simple.

Q. How do you deal with it?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: How do you deal with that? Well, most probably because I love the game the way I do. I don't give up easily. Because you have the trust of the people that surround you. All of that together I think makes you keep on going. If it was a lonely fight, you know, just yourself with no support, you know, I don't think many people would have the courage or the strength to stick with it, family, really close friends, coach, and mainly yourself, obviously.

11, I hit a driver, 8 iron, holed the putt from 15 feet.

Then 17, driver, 3 wood, sand wedge, holed it from eight feet.

No. 1, driver, 3 iron, sand wedge and holed it from 16, 18 feet.

Second hole, driver, 7 iron, holed it from, again, 16, 18 feet.

Par 5, driver, 1 iron, sand wedge, holed it from 15 feet.

No. 9, driver, 5 iron and holed it from, I don't know, 40 feet, something like that.

GORDON SIMPSON: Well done, Jose Maria. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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