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BARCLAYS SCOTTISH OPEN

July 8, 2005

Maarten Lafeber

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

SCOTT CROCKETT: Maarten, thank for coming in. I guess waking up this morning, this must be exactly as you had planned?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: Yes, when I wake up this morning, it is beautiful weather and no wind and obviously a great day for scoring and it turned out to be perfect.

SCOTT CROCKETT: And another bonus for you being no dropped shots.

MAARTEN LAFEBER: I really got my round going on 11. I missed the green short and hit a great chip shot and holed it and that really got me going. From there on I started to play lovely golf and hit a couple of irons really chose and stayed patient and it was great.

SCOTT CROCKETT: Give us the details of your other birdies. You birdied 13, the par 5.

MAARTEN LAFEBER: Yeah, I hit a solid driver and knocked a 3 wood on the green to 30 feet and 2 putted.

14, I hit a sand iron to three feet.

18, I hit a 6 iron to eight feet right of the pin.

3, I hit a 3 iron on the green and 2 putted to 30 feet again.

6, I hit lob wedge to six feet.

7, I hit a good 9 iron about 15 feet short of the pin and rolled that one in.

9, I hit it close to, about two feet I guess, two or three feet and I guess, sand iron.

Q. Would this mean more to you winning here than winning your own national Dutch Open?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: You look at the field, it's definitely a bigger one here. But when I was young, my dream was to win the Dutch Open. When I was doing putting contests with friends on putting green, it was for winning the Dutch Open. So for me, winning that one was a dream come true, but to win this tournament, yeah, that would be unbelievable obviously, and you see how strong field is, that would be a great step in my career.

Q. Is 63 your lowest round?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: My memory is not too great. I don't know, actually. I think I shot a 63 before at the Dutch Open, actually, in '96, as an amateur maybe. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

Q. Since you've started working with Jos again, has that helped you?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: Yeah, we're friends. And last year was a struggle, I was tough, I was injured and trouble at home stuff like that. And I didn't swing the club good and I stopped working with Jos, but I had good success with winning the Dutch Open and finishing fourth in the Dunhill the year before that in 2003.

I talked to him Wednesday afternoon and he said, "How are you doing?" I said I'm doing fine, playing solid all year but mental side is really letting me down. Self confidence is low and just struggling on the golf course. He said, "Well, let's start working again and see how it goes."

Yeah, I got positive really quick and helped me out yesterday and I played and felt really comfortable and this morning as well. So it's paying off very quickly.

Q. How much did that cost?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: I don't care.

Q. What was your injury?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: An elbow injury. Started around actually the Dutch Open last year, got really bad. I had problems with it until March this year. Overall it's getting better and better. Had a bit to do with some swings changes I made in the winter of 2003, 2004. That didn't work out, but it's getting better and better and it seems to be okay now.

Q. Can you tell us about the shares you sold in yourself?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: I'll do it very quickly. It was in the end of '97, my management came up with an idea to sell 7,500 shares, and at that time it was about 100 guilders each about 50 Euros, and that's what more or less led to finance my career for the next five or seven years and to pay my coaches to travel around the world without having to worry about any money. It worked out great and after seven years, I bought out the shareholders and they made a profit of 85 percent per share and it worked out great for them and for me. Yeah, I was a solid player on Tour and that was the whole purpose of it, so it was a good plan.

Q. How many people?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: We had about 1,100 shareholders.

Q. What makes Jos so effective?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: Well, it's hard to say. It's just the little things that really helps. Obviously he works with big players. He won a lot of tournaments with Ernie; he won the U.S. Open with Goosen. For me, he really makes me feel comfortable and just take it one shot at a time. It's really simple stuff, but it's great help.

Q. Are you in the Open next week?

MAARTEN LAFEBER: No, nothing yet, no. I played Sunningdale, yeah. Didn't make it yet. I actually missed the cut in France, so I had plenty of time to prepare, but it didn't really help.

End of FastScripts.

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