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THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 3, 2005

Retief Goosen

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Retief Goosen, thanks for joining us. You furnished up last year at the TOUR Championship with a 64 and came out here in the first round with a 64, two off the lead of Bart Bryant, who you'll play with tomorrow. Opening comments about your day.

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I obviously got off to a great start on the front nine, five birdies and a bogey, so it was good to get off that way.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk a little bit about Bart's game and what you know about it. Obviously he set the course record today and won The Memorial this year. I don't know if you guys have played together before.

RETIEF GOOSEN: No, I haven't. But any guy that's here in the field this week can play. You know, he's got a great golf swing and he's obviously found his game a little bit in the last year or so, and he's playing very well.

Q. How often have you shot 64 in one tournament, come back a year later and shot 64 in the next round?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Oh, I can't remember. I can't remember. It was nice to get off to a good start today. Me and Sergio kind of got on a good run early on, so we were sort of carrying each other along all day.

Q. Are we to assume that score of 64, 62, that the course is playing easy or that the wind was down and fairways holding?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I think it's as easy as you'll see it today. There was not a breath of wind out there. Earlier in the day there was maybe half a club wind. The course is definitely there for the taking out there. If you hit the fairways, you always had pretty much a short iron into the green because the fairways are running that much.

I don't think the course is going to stay this easy. I think it will probably get a little bit tougher and tougher.

Q. Is it just a matter of you playing well in this tournament, or how much has to do with the course and you liking it?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, obviously I like the course. I sort of feel comfortable on it, especially on the greens. I seem to see my lines very well on the greens, and it helps. I holed a lot of putts today.

Swing wise I've been struggling with my swing, but I've been working quite hard the last couple of weeks to find something, get myself going a little bit, and I hit it a little bit better today, especially my irons. I wouldn't say my driving was all that great. I did pretty well on the first few holes, but on the back nine I didn't drive it all that well.

Q. You self diagnose, right, in terms of your swing? Do you have certain swing keys that you go back to since you're not working with Leadbetter or a guy like that?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Yeah, I'm just more of a feel player, sort of when I feel good over the ball I just let go. I don't think of any mechanics or anything like that. I have not felt good over the ball of late, and when you don't feel good over the ball, you're always in doubt, and you never make the swing you want to make.

Q. You shot quite a good 64 on the last day a year ago to win. Would you have guessed a 64 this year would be a good two shots out of the lead?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I had a funny feeling that somebody was going to shoot low around here. I think when I came in on Tuesday or whatever, I sort of mentioned it, that I've got a feeling that the scoring could be low this week if the weather stays the way it is. That's what's happening out there. The weather is good so the guys are bombing it out there, and even if you're in the rough you've got a short iron coming out of the rough, you've got a half a chance of stopping it.

Q. Did you think the 62 would come from Bart Bryant?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, obviously it's a great round. I don't think that will be beaten for a while. I'd never say never, but you know, he obviously played great today. He got on a roll early on. I think he was 3 under after four holes or something, and he obviously hit everything in the right place on the greens, as well, and made lots of putts.

Q. I heard an interview with you lately how you talk in great detail about the psychological advantage you need with the talent on the Tour. Now that you have the Top 30 here do you have to increase the psychological edge this week to get ahead?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, in a way psychologically you're thinking that you've only got 28 other guys to beat and not 156 guys to beat. In a way you sort of feel that you feel like there's not really anybody that's going to be running away with it this week. You just need to be patient and see come Sunday if you're right up there giving yourself a chance to win.

Q. How would you describe your season to this point? You struggled and now you're maybe finding things again. Was it a grind? Did some things surprise you at certain points in the year, and are you getting it all back?

RETIEF GOOSEN: I actually haven't swung the club well for a lot of time this year. I've struggled a bit with my swing this year feel wise. But yeah, I've done well. I'm not going to argue that. I played well when I needed to play well. But also I've taken quite a bit of time off and spent a bit more time with the family and all that kind of stuff, as well.

Q. Often some players will always say, oh, the Tour is structured so that it benefits the top players, the marquee names. But when you look at this field, Bart Bryant, Olin Browne, does this Tour allow guys to really establish themselves and give them opportunities?

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, like I said, all these guys that are here this week deserve to be here. They played really well all year, consistent golf, won tournaments to be here. You know, there's so many first time winners on Tour now that it shows that anybody that tees it up this week can win it. I don't know who the other players are that could have been here this week, but it's a strong field.

Q. Do you think there's a chance with the new '07 schedule here on this side that the European Tour takes a bite in that you guys are going to be assuming everybody signs on and plays in this points race, that seemingly is going to create a huge hole in the middle of their schedule for star players? And secondly, is the Order of Merit as a former Order of Merit winner over there still something that matters to you, or is that just a by product of

RETIEF GOOSEN: Well, I'm not 100 percent of all the details of the '07 schedule. But I think the European Tour in a way is going to suffer a little bit, but it's going to open up opportunities for the Southern Hemisphere tours to grow a little bit, South Africa and Australia, because they're going to have a couple of months or so of more space to put in their events.

But I will still keep playing the events I always play in Europe and keep supporting the European Tour, and if I have to drop events on this Tour to play those, then I will. I will keep going back to Europe and playing over there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Retief, thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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