WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 24, 1999

Jose Maria Olazabal

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Almost every one. What I really don't understand is how the hell I shot 61. But yeah, I will never forget that day. It was a very special day and a very special week. The first round was a 61, but then I have three 67s to go with it, which around here is very good. It's par 70. A score that is under par is a great score.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: When I played that day, the start was fantastic. I was 5-under par after four holes. Half of the job was done already. When I shot the 9-under par, actually I missed a couple of short putts. Obviously, I made a few good ones before then. But I missed a 4-footer on 15, and then a birdie chance on 16 and 17. It didn't look to me like, you know, it was all that difficult that day. Everything seemed to be in place. Driving was good, irons were fantastic, and I made a few good putts. You know, if felt really easy that day. It's one of those things that are very difficult to explain. But, you know, when you go through a feeling like that, when you are standing on the tee, and pretty much you know that the ball is going to go where you want to hit it. It seems to be very easy.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: It's as tough as hell. My goodness, I've gone through a bunch of tournaments here, I've been struggling since the U.S. Open. I had a good last round at the Memphis tournament. But since then, when I hurt my right hand, silly, silly mistake from my part. But, you know, I haven't been driving the ball well. And, you know, somehow it gets onto me on the course. You know, yesterday I really had a lovely round and drove the ball best ever, I think, yesterday. And then today I was, you know, really happy and stand on the first tee. I miss the 1st one; I miss the 3rd one; and I make the 4th one. And all of the sudden we're going back to usual stuff again. And it was a tough day again today. Somehow the last few holes, it gets onto me. I can't keep on fighting and fighting and trying to save pars. Today, I was having a decent round; and then, all of the sudden, I shot like 5- or 6-over par on the last six holes. It's very difficult. I think, you know, when you go through a period like the one I'm going through, I think I have to enjoy the game a little bit more, but it's definitely hard when you don't hit the ball like you want to.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Every year is the same. It doesn't matter how I am playing everybody is expecting me to do well at the Ryder Cup. That is not going to change this year. Obviously, I am not hitting the ball well, as I said. But there is three more weeks before the tournament starts, and hopefully I'm going to take a couple weeks off after this week. And that, hopefully, will rest my mind. And, at the same time, I will work on my game. And hopefully, I will get some positive things from here before the Ryder Cup starts. And hopefully I'll do well there. But for me, it's not going to change anything. I think I'm going to have pretty much the same amount of pressure as the last few Ryder Cups. Everybody was expecting me to do well before, and it's going to be pretty much the same situation this year.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yes, that's my intention anyway.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Stature of the tournament, I think the field is really strong. Look at the field this week. I don't know any other years if you had a stronger field than this one. I don't know, there were good players, plus some others that are not that great. But they prove they are really good and consistent. You know, every year, we play around 45 players, 47 players here. And I don't think this field has gotten any weaker.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I hope they know their way well enough anyway. Well, the situation has changed in that sense, obviously, but that's a matter of life. Time goes by, and nobody gets any younger. Some players will give them for the new players, and that's the situation. But the way -- the amount of pressure that there is in all the tournaments nowadays, I think everybody that -- it doesn't matter how young you are. I think once you've reached this level, I think you are really prepared mentally to face a situation like that. You can give some advice to the newcomers. But at the end of the day, they are the only ones that have to face the situations. They will have to be prepared for that.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: It surprised me in a way. Not completely. What surprised me in a way was how quickly he did things and how good those things were. You don't expect a player to play tournaments and win one of them and finish second on the PGA. You know, virtually has his card here; has his card in Europe. You know, that is -- that is impressive. I knew he had the potential. I think nobody had any doubts about that. But, you know, to be honest, I was maybe thinking, you know, next year would be a great year for him. This year would be good enough just to play a few tournaments, do well enough to have the card in Europe, and then really concentrate on the game next year. But, well, he moved quick.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No, not really. No.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, it's up to Mark James. I've always played with Seve and Nacho (Ignacio Garrido) and Constantino. I feel more comfortable with a player that speaks my own language. But I don't think that should be any problem if I had to play with somebody else on the team.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: In a way, I was saying that to take as much pressure out of him as possible. I knew that all you guys would -- you know, eager to write things about him. I don't think that was the right situation for him. The main reason was just that one, obviously. But he proved me wrong, anyway.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I don't think so. I think when you're a 19-year-old, you have no fear, have you? You don't have anything to lose; nothing to lose. 19 years old, what you achieve is going to be good. There is no pressure at all. No responsibility. And I think he's taken advantage of it. The picture might change in a couple years' time -- three, four years time. Maybe he keeps on doing that, and shows and everybody will expect him to win every tournament that he tees off. And, you know, sometimes you don't feel that comfortable in that situation. But I think, you know, as I said, when you are 19 years old, I think that's the right attitude. That's the one that you have to have.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: What kind of advice can you give a guy that just finished second at the PGA? (Laughter.) Well, I saw him at the International, obviously. I never gave him any advice. He knows very well what he wants. I think he has that very clear in his mind. In that sense, I don't think I can give him any advice.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, it is, obviously. If you can achieve that attitude and have those feelings, of course, that is good, not just for the Ryder Cup, for any tournament.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Not in my case. I've won -- my short game's pretty much the same during all the tournaments. Obviously, because of the situation right now with my driving, I've spent more time on the driving range, and I think that might affect my short game a little bit. I know that. I will try to practice the short game like it should be practiced. But at the same time, I cannot. Somehow, I have to improve my driving. If you don't put the ball on the fairway, it's very difficult to attack the greens or attack the flags. You are always playing defensive for a par. It doesn't matter at that time if your short game is really good, you might save a par. But at the end of the day, that's the best score you're going to have if you keep on hitting roughs and not fairways. So, you know, I have to work both parts of the game, because both of them are really important. Before, driving obviously was important. But the fairways were wider. The rough was not all that tough. Nowadays you have fairways which are 18 yards wide and the rough is really thick. As soon as you miss the fairway, you virtually have to break your hand just to chip it out. Obviously, chipping and putting is a very important part of the game, obviously. But they go together.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Of course. You will have a situation where you're 12 feet from the hole and you might be 20 feet away and make that putt, and it's a whole different ball game. Obviously, you know that chips-in and making long putts, that's going to be the key. If you look at the Ryder Cup which Nick Faldo and Jim Furyk played together, look at those 14 or 15 holes. Faldo hit both holes -- shots about a couple feet from the hole and Jim made a chip shot from the bunker. Look at that swinging there. Instead of being 1-up, he was 1-down. Short game is always important. Without a doubt. But obviously, as I said, you need to have the rest of the game, too.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No, I didn't. I've never played Brookline before.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No, never. I'm not going to go before.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: He's going to be important. I think, you know, with Seve and other players before myself, I think one of the reasons Sergio is there is because of what we achieved before. And I think if Sergio -- it's a great thing to see a young kid, 19 years old, doing so well, because they are going to show that on TV back home, and that is going to encourage some other young boys to catch up with the game and practice harder. Because they know if Sergio has done it, why, I can do it, too. I think that's going to be great for the game back home.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I don't think so. As I said, he has his mind where he wants, and I don't think that's going to put any extra pressure on him at all.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I really don't think so. I mean, every time I come here, game, I have a lot of good things going for my game, and I think that's the reason why I've been able to do well here in Akron. Obviously, I feel comfortable because I do have one place where I can eat really nice. I like the golf course, too. I think it's a very demanding golf course. You have to be straight off the tee. Greens are really small. The angles have to be very precise, and you need to have a great short game at the same time. So when I go here -- when I won in 1990, I didn't play all that well the week before at the International, but I had a lot of good things that I took with me from that week. Driving was not that good, but I managed to drive the ball well that week and that's why I managed to score very well. The same thing happened when I won in '94. At the International, I was feeling really comfortable. I hit the ball pretty well during that week, even though I didn't manage to put some great scores there. But I was bringing some confidence with me to this week. Right now is not the same situation. It's not the same feeling. But, you know, I'll try to do the best I can this week. Hopefully, you know, I do have another day and this whole afternoon to practice my game and see if I can manage to get some of that feeling that I need.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: When I first heard of him he was 15 years old, four years ago. He was playing on the International Team, and everybody was talking about him: How good he was, how long he was. I think, you know, how popular is he going to be for the game of golf --

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Not very popular. It's getting much better now, obviously. But if I can answer you -- to that question, maybe at the PGA, the ratings for PGA for TV one day showed that golf, it was really very, very high, even as big as when they show a soccer match back home, which is a very popular sport there. You know, that is a great sign.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No, not at all. I didn't drive the ball well before the Masters, or even just after the Masters. There was nothing to do with the miscalculation. (Laughing.)

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: You know, I've played a few Ryder Cups already, and I've seen newcomers, quite a few newcomers on the team, different years, different players. And most of them, they have done really very, very well. Look at Peter Baker. Peter Baker, when he played at the Belfry, that was amazing. He played with Woosi, and Woosi said: Well, I did nothing at all. Everything was done by Peter Baker. It was the first time he was playing the Ryder Cup, 21 years old. As I said, sometimes being so young and being the first time you play the Ryder Cup, you don't have the responsibility of doing well. You might be playing against the best players in the world on paper, without a doubt, and that somehow might take a lot of pressure off the new players. As I said, they have nothing to lose. They have nothing to prove to anybody. I think that might be a point on their side -- on our side. Hopefully, I'm right. Knock on wood. (Knocks on wood.)

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Not really because tomorrow is strokeplay. Ryder Cup is match play, and we are going to be playing foursomes. I think virtually there is nothing to do with the tournament itself. It's a completely different format. Now we're going to be facing completely different situation when we tee off the at Ryder Cup.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: If you look at the last few Ryder Cups, the U.S. team has been a very strong team, if you look at the players that were on the team. I mean, very, very strong players. Strong team. Without a doubt. This time, I think we are leaving a transition here in our side. We're not going to see the Faldos, the Woosnams, the Langers, the Seves. In that sense, it might be tougher for us, because before, pretty much, we knew how the pairings were going to be or what the pairings were going to be. This year, Mark James I think is going to have quite a job trying to figure that out. But as I said before, there is no responsibility for the newcomers. Hopefully, they will feel no fear when they have to face their opponents.