WGC EMC WORLD CUP

November 17, 2001

Toshi Izawa

Shigeki Maruyama

TOSHI IZAWA: Today's round is 7-under and there is a little bit of difference chair to the top group. But to win any kind of tournament, you have pressure, and I'm sure the top group is going to have pressure on them on the final day. But even so, we have to play probably six or seven shots to win the tournament.

SHIGEKI MARUYAMA: The lead is four strokes, but they are playing with the U.S. team, so I'm sure that they are going to have a lot of pressure playing in the final group. Probably we are going to play with the French team, so we are going to take it easy playing our golf.

SHIGEKI MARUYAMA: Yes, I changed my putter that I've been using for a long time, but still, I'm misreading the greens on a few holes. That problem is kind of unstable, the putting. Like especially on No. 6 hole, when Izawasan missed the green, I had a real pressure that I have to chip well and to have an easy putt. Today, I had about four good putters, but tomorrow, I will try to have six, but I'm not sure. When I wake up in the morning, I might change to a new putter again.

TOSHI IZAWA: The tee shot is the key, first of all, to keep the tee shot on the fairway. Because from the rough, you are going to lose birdie chances. So to keep the ball in the fairway and to have birdie chances from there is a key point.

SHIGEKI MARUYAMA: I agree that we have to keep the ball in the fairway, to get birdies on all four par 5s, and maybe two birdies on the par 4's. And also, not to shoot bogeys on the par 3s. So that would be 6-under which will maybe be the score that we can have a playoff. David Smail is putting so well this week, but hopefully, he's not going to putt well tomorrow. (Laughs).

TOSHI IZAWA: Well, today was a very cold day, so I have to wear sweaters which makes body movement a little bit slow, so maybe that's the reason why. But, I'd rather keep my body temperature high. And I had a good hole on No. 11.

SHIGEKI MARUYAMA: Well, I played with the French team last year. They are very nice, gentle, very polite. So I know their golf style. But we will be playing a little bit in front of the final group, so probably we can pass the cold 17th hole when the temperature is a little bit higher.

TOSHI IZAWA: No. 3, the third hole, it was a line, more than I expected. And No. 7, my own ball mark was on the line and I fixed the ball mark, but maybe that caused the ball to turn to the right-hand side. On the 11th hole, Maruyamasan made a good birdie on the eighth and the ninth, and he missed the tee shot on the 11th. I thought that I had to do well on the back nine, so I tried a little bit hard on this hole. This paragraph five, I knew that I have to have the second shot close to the green and I was able to.

SHIGEKI MARUYAMA: I was using an Odyssey putter and I changed to Bernaldi. It's almost the same balance and the same length. The reason why I changed is to change my feelings, nothing more than that. I don't know whether it's changed, but I made some birdies today. So maybe it was a good change.