WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 22, 2002

Retief Goosen

GORDON SIMPSON: Well, Retief, very well played today. You had a nice round, 6-under par, sharing the lead. You said the key was actually knocking in some putts, something you've not done very often this year.

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I have been playing well, but over the last few months, I don't really feel like I've been putting as well. I've worked quite hard on my putting the last couple of days, trying to work something out, and today I seemed to stroke it a lot better. I struck the ball a lot more on line than I did the last few weeks, and gave myself more chances of it going in.

GORDON SIMPSON: It's certainly been a big frustration with the mid-summer majors that you have not putted better.

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, unfortunately, I think pretty much to win at a tournament, is the guy who putts the best. When I get my putter going -- I felt like I hit the ball quite nicely, as well, today. There were a lot of birdie chances out there, so it was nice to shoot 6-under, and it wasn't like I really had to work hard for it. I knew I could have probably gone lower.

GORDON SIMPSON: Do these greens reward good putting?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, the course is in unbelievable condition. The fairways are perfect. The rough is quite heavy in places, and the greens are quite soft at the moment, so they might firm up the next few days.

Q. A hot guy this week, Rich Beem, coming off the PGA Championship, struggled a little bit today. How long did take you after you won the Open to get your feet back and what was your first competitive round like after winning the Open last year? Was it tough to come back after all that?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, definitely. I know always when I've won a tournament, it's difficult the next week to get your concentration going.

I took two weeks off after I won the U.S. Open, so it sort of gave me some time to get my concentration back.

I didn't have a great round my first round back, but it will take him a couple of days to get focusing again. At the moment, there's so much distractions around; that it gets his mind off the game.

GORDON SIMPSON: What did you find the hardest thing to do? Was it the endless rounds of media or what?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, the media thing is the big thing. I know for the first sort of five days after the U.S. Open, I was doing interviews five hours a day.

I'm sure if he's having a week off next week, he's going to have the same sort of problem.

I'm sure he's tired, mentally tired, that's the biggest problem. But, you know, a couple of days' rest and he will be fine again.

GORDON SIMPSON: What about your card today? Where did you pick up the shots?

RETIEF GOOSEN: I started on the 10th and actually birdied the 10th, my first hole which really got me off to a nice start. I had a putt from about ten feet.

And then from about 20 feet on the 13th hole.

And then about 20 feet on 17. To have birdies on the two par 3s going out was nice. I didn't birdie the two par 5s.

Then on the second hole, I hit driver, 4-iron to about ten feet and holed a good putt for eagle there, and that sort of really got the round going.

Then a nice birdie putt from about seven feet on No. 7.

Q. Your thoughts of Sahalee; it's been described by some as a second-shot golf course; it takes the driver out of your hands. How many times did you hit driver today, and is it frustrating to have to play a golf course that you cannot hit driver as much as usually you would?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I'm not that long of a hitter -- so I hit a lot of drivers out there today. I don't really know. I can't say exactly how many times I hit the driver, but it was probably eight times or so I hit the driver today.

Playing with John Daly today, he doesn't even carry a driver. He's hitting his 3-wood as far as I hit my driver, as far as I hit a good drive.

For him and Tiger, I'm sure they don't need a driver around here, or maybe Phil Mickelson might use a driver here and there. But for me, I need a few woods out there.

Q. Have you ever had a car alarm go off before while you were putting, like on the 12th today?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, you can't stand there the whole time and wait for it to stop. If you take longer than 40 seconds, you get fined, so you've just got to get down and do it. It doesn't really matter how much noise is around; if you're focus is well, it shouldn't put you off.

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