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THE COMMERCIAL BANK QATAR MASTERS


January 27, 2007


Retief Goosen


DOHA, QATAR

RETIEF GOOSEN: I needed to finish with three birdies in the last four holes to have sort of a chance. 15, 16 and 17, are sort of the easy holes on the back nine because they were playing downwind. So that worked out nicely according to plan.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Thoughts on tomorrow as well, now suddenly from being five behind to tied for the lead, completely different ballgame really.
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I didn't quite expect that. I was expecting to maybe sort of be two behind going down the last. You know, unfortunately Green man hit in the rocks on 18 and made double. It was tough out there today, it wasn't easy. Especially from about No. 7 onwards it was starting to get cold again and very windy.

Q. Do you know what the forecast is for tomorrow? Is it going to be windy again?
RETIEF GOOSEN: The forecast was calm weather for today so, didn't quite get that right.
They had some really difficult pins out there as well, today. There was a lot of tough pins. I mean, 10 was extremely tough. So tomorrow there's going to be a few tough ones out there today, tomorrow as well.

Q. So what will you be trying to do tomorrow?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Trying to hit fairways and make putts. Yeah, you know, anything can happen. I was sort of struggling a bit but I missed a short birdie on the first and the second hole.
So I could have been off to a good start but that didn't happen and then hit it close on 5 I think it is.
From there on, nothing really got going and probably the second shot on 9, 3-wood, blocked it into the water and made 6 there. That sort of stopped all the momentum a little bit.
Obviously poor shots on 13 and 14 cost me shots there.
RODDY WILLIAMS: How did you make those three birdies coming in?
RETIEF GOOSEN: 15, I hit 2-iron, 9-iron probably to 20 feet.
And 16, I hit 3-wood just off the green there, left edge and chipped out to a foot.
17, hit a soft 8-iron to about four feet.

Q. Looks like you're going to play with Richard or Nick again tomorrow, do you feel like this gives you sort of a second chance?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, definitely. It wasn't looking good at one stage. I felt like a left-hander today out there actually after hitting some funny shots. But yeah, it's easy, you're standing on the wrong side of the tee box comparing to the first two rounds and now you're standing on this side.
Playing with them, they are very straight hitters. I'm just going to have to maybe hit it a little bit better tomorrow to give myself a chance depending on the weather.

Q. It's been a decade since Richard won on the Tour; playing with guys that have not won on the Tour?
RETIEF GOOSEN: It's not like I have won all that recent myself, my record has not been all that great. I've won one tournament in the last two years and it's not exactly that I've been playing that great.
Both of us tomorrow there's going to be a bit of stress on us trying to perform and do well.

Q. You said that you needed to tighten your game on the par 5s, does that still play in your mind?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, the par 5s is not easy around here. They are all very long par 5s. Besides 10 is the shortest but it's playing straight into the wind. Yeah, I'm struggling on the par 5s. I'm 1-under par for the week on the par 5s which is bad really. You need to probably be half of that pretty much, you know.
So I've lost some shots on the par 5s. Hopefully tomorrow I can make it up.

Q. Where are you with the driver at the moment?
RETIEF GOOSEN: Yesterday was very nice. Today was not that good. Hit a couple of really good ones and a couple of bad ones. There was a few that just sort of rolled off into the rough, but 18 was another bad one. I hit it right again.
That wasn't easy out there. You were sort of struggling to get into some sort of momentum but you know, like I say, I'm very lucky and fortunate to be tied for the lead. I was expecting to be about three behind really.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Thanks very much, Retief.

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