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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP


February 21, 2008


Paul Casey


TUCSON, ARIZONA

SCOTT CROCKETT: Paul, thanks for coming in and joining us. Well played again today, another tough match, but you're through. You must be very pleased about that. Just give us your thoughts on making the last 16.
PAUL CASEY: Very happy to get through. That wasn't my best golf, nor was it Bradley's best golf, and I feel lucky to have come through with a victory. It was, as I say -- 9-under yesterday and probably even par today, and yet the margin of victory was slightly larger.
It was a scrappy game, and sometimes that's the way it goes, but we move on. I'm going to have to play better golf than that in the next round if I want to progress.
SCOTT CROCKETT: It was a bit of a struggle, 1-down at the turn and you just managed to gradually pull away on the back nine.
PAUL CASEY: Yeah, we both made some mistakes. Mine were on the green. I hit the ball very, very well from tee to green and didn't make the putts. I felt like I was struggling to get the putts rolling correctly, and Bradley hit a couple of wild tee shots which gave me a couple of holes, and that was the difference at the end of the day.

Q. 63 yesterday and then 72 today, kind of weird, isn't it? Were the pins any harder?
PAUL CASEY: Certainly a factor. I mean, the first four holes I birdied yesterday, and today with the wind direction and the pin locations I felt it -- from where I was in the fairway, awkward to get close to those pins. That was definitely a factor. That's just the way it goes. I felt in between some clubs today, and it was a day where it would have been -- it was frustrating. It was a day where I'll say everything was not quite going right. I did a good job of just sort of battling it out.

Q. Generally looking at the pins they look brutal.
PAUL CASEY: They're right on the edge. That's the way it is almost every week. But these greens are very good. The golf course is in wonderful condition.
Desert golf is fairly generous anyway, it has to be, because if you do hit it wide enough, rarely, if ever, are you going to get a shot out of the stuff around here, you don't want to be in with the cactus, so therefore the fairway widths, the rough is fairly generous. So that's what you do with desert golf, you tuck the pins.

Q. Would you still consider yourself streaky over a period of two, three weeks and then having down weeks, or are you getting more consistent?
PAUL CASEY: I'm getting more consistent, and I putted well last week. I putted wonderfully yesterday, and today I just think that was a blip. You're right, I've always said I've been a streaky putter in my moments of brilliance, they're few and far between, but they have been quite good on occasions. I just need to be more consistent, and I think I'm becoming more consistent on the greens. Hopefully that will reflect itself in the scores.

Q. And do you get -- where are you with slow play? Yesterday some of the matches were taking over four hours, which in match play is almost beyond belief. Do you just let it wash over you or do you get frustrated? Do you think they should do something about it?
PAUL CASEY: I think we were a slow group today actually, with where we hit it (laughter). Talking to Craig, my caddie, on 17, I don't know who it was, but he mentioned maybe one of the girls was given a two-shot penalty and lost by one? I have to say I'm a fan of penalizing people with shots. It will make you hurry up. It's a 10 grand fine, but you're trying to win a million dollars or something, it doesn't make a dent, even though that's a lot of money. Shots would certainly get people's attention. Maybe that's too harsh, I don't know.
It's difficult, though. I mean, out here if you get on a run and you make birdies and you're giving guys putts, then the round can be very, very quick, and if you get into trouble like we did today, it can be slow. Generally I think the pace of play is on the slow side, but I'm a quick player. But I don't let it affect me. It's not something that I waste energy worrying about it. There's nothing I can do. Maybe I should play slower (laughter).

Q. Can I just ask you about you coming in here looking at scores. Are you taking a keen interest? Do you pay attention to the European players? Who are you looking for?
PAUL CASEY: I'm looking for friends and stuff like that, really. Yeah, I do look at the European guys, but no, I look to see what my mates have done. Luke is 3-down to Cabrera right now, through 13. Because I know he's somebody else -- Cabrera is a mate of mine, too, but that's usually what I look at, or I look for interesting results. I'm still a fan of the game.

Q. Have you played with K.J. Choi much at all?
PAUL CASEY: Well, our lockers are always very close together. We're usually next to each other in the locker room. I like K.J. a lot. He's a great guy. He's funny. Sort of a quiet assassin, shall we say, because he's very, very good. I don't think I've ever played against him. In fact, I've --

Q. Can you think of a dry or killer remark?
PAUL CASEY: No, but he's very good, so I'm going to have to play much better golf tomorrow if I'm going to beat him.

Q. Not necessarily, he's only aiming for even par himself today.
PAUL CASEY: Well, we'll see. I know Prodger, his caddie, makes up for the talking bit.

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