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HSBC WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

September 17, 2005

Michael Campbell

SURREY, ENGLAND

GORDON SIMPSON: Well, Michael, for a man who professed to be shattered after round one, you did a very good job of showing otherwise. Maybe your thoughts, how do you feel physically and mentally at this stage of the event?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Pretty good, actually. Pretty good. I think.

GORDON SIMPSON: Does that stem from winning?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, I think the fact you just beat one of best players in the world kind of helps. To beat Retief in such a manner. I knew I needed to bring my 'A Game' today, and I did. I had a great start to the round with eagle on 4, I think it was and three birdies in a row. And that started the whole mood of the game, really, and then birdied 11 and 12, and 18 as well.

So it is quite a the way I played the first morning session, it was rewarding. But the most important thing was I couldn't let up and I wanted to keep my foot on the accelerator. And a surprise winner on the third hole with a bogey, and then once again, I birdied 4, 6, 8 and 10. So once again, the golf course wasn't too bad at all. It was nice to walk away today with the way I won. I played great today and I just wanted to keep focused on what I was doing, my processes and today it was a good day.

GORDON SIMPSON: Did this tournament filter through to New Zealand when you were a youngster, or did you come to it later in life?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I remember watching this when I was a youngster and I wanted to be a part of the World Match Play. And finally, I am, a finalist. It's always been one of my dreams to fulfill.

And so tomorrow is another day. I'll play either Paul or Angel. Things can change very quickly in match play, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow now.

Q. What did you change in your game to play so well?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Just your mind set, really, simple as that. Just thinking positively out there the whole round. That's it.

Q. Were you surprised that Retief seemed out of sorts?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Well, I'm not sure what he shot the first couple of matches, but I knew if I got off to a very quick start I'd have a chance to beat Goosey, and I did, and that's something I'm very proud of.

I had a certain game plan, you could say, this morning, by starting pretty strongly, and I did. So I rattled him a little bit; after seven holes, he was 4 down, and so it kind of helped set the whole mood for the day really. I was probably defending myself for the rest of the round, the first round. Once again, I wanted to put my foot down in the afternoon round so I didn't lose. But 5 up is not much at all if you think about it in this game, so I just wanted to make sure I got off to a good start in the afternoon and I did.

Q. Is this the same Michael Campbell who was missing all those cuts at the start of the year?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, where's my brother he played with me last year. Yeah, it's amazing how when you look at yourself in the mirror, which I did about the start of the year, I didn't like what I saw, and I've changed a few things personally which helped me enhance my performance as a golfer.

Q. What would it mean to win tomorrow?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I mean, a lot, to be World Match play Champion has been a goal of mine in my Filofax and my diary. To tick it off hopefully tomorrow would be a great achievement.

Q. What were the things you didn't like in the mirror?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: That's personal. Personal things that I had to work on.

Q. Are you staying at home this week?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I'm staying here, five minutes away. An hour and 20 minutes (to Brighton) is just a bit too long.

Q. An hour and 30 yesterday.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: An hour and 20, so a bit too far.

Q. Were you surprised that Retief seemed to get down so quickly?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, I was very surprised. I was expecting a lot of good, quality shots from Goosey. He just won previously the last couple of weeks and he's in good form. Wasn't quite sure how he played the first two matches but unexpected play from Goose because he's a great player. I think with me starting off so strongly rattled him a little bit, and he hit a few bad tee shots on 11 and 12, and I was very surprised.

But that's the game of golf for you, you know.

Q. Inaudible?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I could tell by his body language that he wasn't functioning correctly, functioning. He wasn't in the right frame of mind, just from his body language, and that gives me more encouragement to see that, when you see your opponent slouching a little bit when you're walking down the fairway, that sort of thing. You can feed off their energy from your opponent and I felt that I could feel that from Goose on last nine holes of the morning session.

Q. Does winning a Major make you feel you should be doing certain things on the course?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: It is I think, performance obviously my best one so far is obviously the U.S. Open. So I'm just feeding whatever form it just perpetuates through the whole year. I've just slowly been recognized all over, gives you so much more confidence. It's incredible, the mindset, you can make a shot, any particular shot, a bunker shot or chip shot, easiest shot in the world or the hardest shot in the world through the way you think. And if you just keep coming up with positive stuff, the game seems easy, it's as simple as that. There's no secret formula. It's just basically staying positive, that's all it is.

Q. You're aware of Paul McGinley's record in the Ryder Cup?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, Paul, he may be small in stature, but he's got a big heart. He's a great player, a good ball striker and a great putter. So if he does win today, I'll be looking forward to playing someone who is very competitive and who also is a very, very good player whose his Ryder Cup record is second to none. He certainly has the experience in match play format, maybe more than me.

I've played probably one or two events, really, three events of match play format. That was Presidents Cup and this tournament about three years ago, and before then was a tournament called Dunhill Challenge, which was Australasiaa versus Southern Africa. So I've only played like three or four times.

Q. Did you ever play the one in California?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Oh, sorry, yeah. That's like a shootout there.

Q. How different did you feel today from last night when you finished?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Night and day. Just fell asleep. I did a lot of exercises, stretching after I played, hot bath, just trying to recharge the batteries is very, very important in this format. It's a long, long, long week. How many holes did we play today?

GORDON SIMPSON: You played 103 up to this point.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: 103 holes in three days, that's ridiculous. It's a long week. Maybe they need to change the format a little bit to have it more inviting. Once again, I've been asking a lot of players this week about why no one turning up, and just it's too far away; ten hours on a plane for them is probably too far away. You get cleaners, great house, everything is free, you're playing for a million pounds; it's still not good enough for these guys? I'm a bit turned away by the attitude of why they are not here, really. Just I can't really understand it.

Q. Do you do certain things to get re-energised?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, I do a bit of yoga poses just to get the blood going that way sometimes because obviously you stand on your feet for so long walking around. And I do do head stands and I really enjoy it. Have you tried it? (Laughter). You should try it. You want me to show you? There's a little platform there (laughter).

Q. For how long do you do head stands?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Two minutes, three minutes. You've got to try it. Unbelievable. It's unbelievable.

If you think about it, okay, it makes sense, because you're standing all the time. It's very hard to get the circulation going through your body because the heart is up here and the feet is down here. So you do an inversion to get the old blood coming down towards the heart to move up, and also it sends more blood to the brain as well. It makes sense, doesn't it?

And also a bit of sort of meditation stuff, as well. It helps me to calm the mind, not think too much about the next day and really focus on what's happened on that day. And it's not like a deep sleep or just being aware of my body and my mind, and just thoughts coming out.

Q. Did you watch the All Blacks this week?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: They are not playing, are they? (Laughter).

GORDON SIMPSON: 'Dr. Campbell', thank you very much, and Michael, good luck tomorrow in the final.

End of FastScripts.

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