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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

May 23, 2006

Angel Cabrera

VIRGINIA WATERS, ENGLAND

GORDON SIMPSON: Well, we're pleased to have Angel, the defending champion with us today. Angel, it must be very happy memories coming back to Wentworth and seeing the course and the facilities again.

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes, well, really to come here and be back at the place where I won the biggest event of my career is something very important.

GORDON SIMPSON: And this is the first time you've seen the course with the Ernie Els touch. What are your thoughts on that?

ANGEL CABRERA: Well, I really think the changes have been really well done and everything is good. Unfortunately the weather might get the course playing really, really long and difficult. But, that's how it is.

GORDON SIMPSON: But if it's long and difficult, that's what you like.

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes.

Q. What memory stands out from a year ago when you won?

ANGEL CABRERA: The best memory really when I walked on the 18th green and I saw the big stands and all the people, and I knew that I was going to win the tournament, that is probably the best memory of last year.

Q. What score would you sit in the clubhouse with Sunday afternoon?

ANGEL CABRERA: No idea.

Q. Do the changes make you play the course differently?

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes.

Q. Which holes?

ANGEL CABRERA: The second shot on the first hole with those two bunkers is going it make a big difference.

No. 4 especially if it's into the wind, and with a soft course, it's going to be really complicated as well.

Of course, 17 instead it's going to be harder to make a big mistake because the tee, putting it back to the right, it gives a bigger target on to the right. So it's going to be harder to hit it out of bounds.

Q. And No. 18?

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes, well, bunkers are always a complication, but in this particular case, it's actually easier to get out of the sand than it is to chip out of the rough around the green.

Q. Can you reach the 17th or did you by any chance reach the 17th today in two? Two questions, can you, and did you?

ANGEL CABRERA: Yeah, today I hit it on with a 3 wood on the green on 17, today.

Q. How much run on the ball?

ANGEL CABRERA: Nothing. Six feet run.

Q. And 18?

ANGEL CABRERA: As well, two 3 woods on the green.

GORDON SIMPSON: So it's a tougher finish now, isn't it?

ANGEL CABRERA: Well, the 18th hole is not going to be any harder than it was before. There is a little bit more space because the bunkers are more out of play than they were before.

Q. And which way is the wind today?

ANGEL CABRERA: It's straight off the right.

Q. So it's neither against nor with?

ANGEL CABRERA: Not today. It was straight off the right.

Q. And what about the water around the side of the eighth green?

ANGEL CABRERA: No, I didn't realise about that. (Laughter).

Q. Ernie said he wanted to retain the character of the course. Has he succeeded in that?

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes, I think so. He just lengthened the course a little bit. He did not touch the original design. It's just been lengthened, so it's still the same course.

Q. How confident are you at the moment? You had a very good finish to the Masters, and the tournaments since, not played so well.

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes, my confidence is really high. I'm hitting the ball as good as always. I'm just having a bit of trouble on the greens for the past month or so.

Q. What do you consider to be the most significant change?

ANGEL CABRERA: I think the first hole, those two bunkers on the front of the green make a big difference, because it's such a hard hole and a long hole, and going into it with a long iron and having two bunkers on the front of the green, it's a big, big change for me.

Q. Is it still a long hitter's golf course?

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes, of course.

Q. You don't mind the fact that it's playing really long?

ANGEL CABRERA: The longer, the better. (Laughter).

Q. After your successive Masters, what have you been looking forward to in terms of U.S. events?

ANGEL CABRERA: Well, for the moment I'm staying focused on The European Tour. That's my tour and wherever the year finishes, I might have a second thought about playing on the is.

Q. Have the changes that Ernie's made reduced the number of people who can win, because it's now so much longer?

ANGEL CABRERA: Yes. Definitely, with these changes, it favors the long hitters, and especially if the course is wet and soft.

Q. So how many people do you think could win?

ANGEL CABRERA: I don't know. I don't know. There are a few people who can win. Actually a lot of people can win, but it depends on the weather. If it keeps on raining, that's going to reduce the number of people who can win the tournament.

Q. I have a question about yesterday's Irish Open and what happened to Darren Clarke on the ninth hole when he was in the rough and chipped outside ways instead of taking advantage on an improved lie that had been improved by a spectator.

ANGEL CABRERA: It's normal. This is a gentleman's game and you are your own judge. So it's normal.

GORDON SIMPSON: Enjoy your defense of the title. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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