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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 9, 2010

Robert Allenby

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: PLAYERS Championship runner up Robert Allenby, thanks for joining us here. You shot 67, 70 on the weekend and it was just one short of Tim Clark. Certainly Tim deserves the title but you played your heart out this weekend, and great playing, congratulations. Maybe a few opening comments.
ROBERT ALLENBY: Sure, thank you. Yeah, I mean, all week I played great. And today obviously I only shot 2-under, but I don't think that really shows pretty much how good I did play. I did make a couple bogeys out there.
But, you know, when you're playing in the final group trying to win this tournament, you're going to make a couple of mistakes. And it wasn't from lack of trying to make pars from them.
Yeah, I mean, my main goal today was just to go out there and stay out of my own way and just try and stay focused on what I really had to do, and that was really to try and win the tournament.
But my main goal today was to just stay out of my own way. You know, we can all get in our own way and make a lot of mistakes, and not once today did I step on my own toes.
So I'm pretty happy with the way I played. I'm very happy with the shots that I executed coming down the stretch, hit a lot of good putts. The greens were very tricky out there today, and it's probably some of the toughest conditions I've ever faced in a final round.
You know, from 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, I hit a lot of good shots there, a lot of good tee shots, a lot of good iron shots, and hit a lot of good putts, too. It's hard to describe really how tricky those greens really were out there today. But it wasn't probably the greatest putt on 16, but I was really just trying to get that thing to drop in the middle because it could have got away from me very quickly.
You know, I could have hit it five or six feet past without blinking. And the main purpose was, okay, let's at least walk away with a 4 instead of a 5. But I was definitely trying to make it. I wasn't trying to hit it that far short. I just thought it was going to be a lot quicker.
17, I hit a great shot in there with a 9-iron. You know, I just -- any time I've got a wind that's into, off the right, and I've got all that water on the right-hand side of that flag on 17, it's never really my favorite shot because I tend to drop it on the side and hit a little draw.
So for me to hit the shot I did here, it was probably one of the best shots I've ever hit. For it to stop that quick, I don't know how it did that. I really thought that was going to be within a foot from when it first hit. I thought it was just perfect.
I thought the putt was in. It was a very bumpy looking line and track all the way to the hole, a lot of spike marks and stuff. But I really did think it was going to get to the hole.
There was a spike mark just at the front of the hole and the hole was slightly raised up and the ball took a look and decided to come back at me. Another half a roll, it was in.
And then I was in between clubs at 18, didn't really feel comfortable in hitting a 5-iron because I knew I would have had to bust it out of my shoes. And then you've got the chance of when you're trying to swing out of your shoes, you are trying to -- the majority of the time you'll either block it right or pull it left.
I thought I had to stay in control of my swing, so I went with a 4-iron to hit a hold shot up against the wind, and I hit too good a shot. The wind didn't touch it.
But I gave myself a chance. I thought I hit a pretty good putt. It took about four bounces halfway down the line, and it went right. It was meant to go left.
But you know, I'm very happy for Tim. I think it's awesome. He's such a good guy and a great player. I'm happy to finish second to him.

Q. It's been a while since you've won, as well as Tim. And I just wonder if you can appreciate that drought and trying to end that, which obviously you tried to do today, but just on behalf of him, 205 events and he had never won a TOUR event here.
ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, good tournament to win, ey? Yeah, obviously I haven't won over here for nine years. I did win two tournaments last December. But yeah, it's been a while over here.
My turn is coming, that's for sure. I've got a lot of patience. I showed a lot of patience out there today. And for Tim, you know, it's awesome. You know, it was only -- I think it was probably a few weeks after Bob Hope where he had a chance to win there. And he just said, Oh, man, when am I ever going to win? I just can't get over the line, and I said to him, "Mate, you've just got to be patient, you've just got to keep putting yourself in there for a chance on the last day." Lo' and behold, he beat me (Laughing).
But that's good. I'm super happy for him and Candice. They're special friends, and he deserves to win, that's for sure.

Q. That conversation, was that after the Hope this year?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, about three weeks after.

Q. How difficult is it to make birdie on the 18th in such a pressure situation, and can you kind of compare it to other championships? It's a difficult hole. It's the hardest hole on the course anyway, but to know you have to make a birdie on it, can you just talk about that?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, I guess you start off with the tee shot. It's one shot at a time. You start with the tee shot, and the number one goal there is to get it on the fairway. That's the toughest tee shot on this golf course to try and hit that fairway. And especially if you're a right-to-left player like myself, and you've got the wind coming off the right and into. Last thing you want to do is turn it over because you know where it's going. It's going to get wet.
I got the first part of the equation right, just hit a nice little soft 3-wood down the middle. And then you're left with a long iron. But it's just not a hole that you can hit driver because if you hit it straight, you're going to be blocked out with the trees. I did that the first day with 3-wood, and then I've slowly backed off with the 3-wood the last few days.
Yeah, it's a tough hole. I mean, some guys have made birdie there to win this tournament or to get into a playoff. I gave it everything I could, that's for sure.

Q. The third shot on 18, can you just walk us through the decision to putt instead of chip there?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Well, I was pretty nervous, obviously. And I just thought that putting was -- for me was the best option. You know, maybe if I was Phil Mickelson, the best chipper in the world, he probably would have chipped it.
But I thought for me to give myself the best opportunity to get to that hole was to putt it. I know probably the commentators are going, oh, he should have chipped it. But you know what, I'd love to see them get in that situation and try to do that.
I know a couple of them have, have in the past, but when you're trying to win the TPC, you just want to give yourself a chance. You don't want to leave it short, but you don't want to be stupid with it, as well. You know, I chose the club that I thought was best at that moment. If I had to go and do it again, I'd hit the same club. I'd use my putter.

Q. Just going back to 18 on the driver, because you know you have to birdie it -- did you know you had to birdie the hole?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Yes.

Q. So did you think -- I know you made a good case for not using driver, but were you thinking I need to get it down the fairway to give myself --
ROBERT ALLENBY: I think I've only ever hit one driver in my whole life on 18, and that was into about a 30, 40-mile-an-hour wind. I think it's probably about three or four years ago when Davis Love won when I shot 7-under the final round. I hit driver, 3-iron to about two feet at the last. That was the shot I was looking for but with the 4-iron.
You know, it's easy to say why didn't you hit driver and get closer to the hole. It just doesn't work that way. The most important thing for me was to give myself a chance to -- from the middle of the fairway. Every shot that I hit on that last hole was a good shot and was a smart shot.

Q. Just as a follow-up, on 17, what was going through your mind when that ball seemed to move actually towards you?
ROBERT ALLENBY: It did, yeah. It went up to the hole, kind of like went in the hole or just stayed up on top and then rolled back about an inch, two inches. You know, greens didn't have a lot of water on them for the last two days.
Obviously they put nothing on them. That's why they were just brown, no greenness to them, and they were super, super slick. I mean, I can't tell you how some putts are so nerve wracking because they were just so slick. You could tap it, and that ball could just get away from you very, very easily. So you really had to be in control of what you were doing and your emotions, as well.
That was a putt that if I hit it a little bit too firm, you know, I could lip it out on the high side and go six feet past. So you know, my main goal was I picked my line to just get to the hole, and I hit it exactly the way I wanted to do it. It looked like it was going in, and last group on Sunday, the greens do get a little bit bumpy, that's for sure. But I know I hit a good putt.

Q. But emotionally did it -- were you sagged after that?
ROBERT ALLENBY: No, not at all. I was disappointed it didn't go in because I thought I hit it good enough to go in, but no. You know, I just said to myself, okay, we've got to try and birdie the last, and that was my main goal.

Q. Where exactly were you when you saw that Tim had posted 16 under and you knew what you had to do?
ROBERT ALLENBY: I was 16 green. I looked up at the board, and I saw that he had finished on 16. You know, obviously I was trying to make that putt at 16 for eagle. It didn't roll the way I thought it was going to roll, as well.
It wasn't a bad putt. It just didn't go in. But you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Q. All golfers have putts that they have over the course of time that they look at and say, Gosh, I just cannot believe that ball did not go in. I don't know how it didn't go in. Is that what you will remember most about that putt? Can you ever recall being in more disbelief of a ball not going in than on that one?
ROBERT ALLENBY: Yeah, that was probably it. That was probably my most disbelief that I've ever witnessed, and especially in those circumstances, as well, knowing that it's got to go in to tie Tim. And for it to go up to the hole and take a little look over the top and then come back, that was a bit rude. (Laughter.)
But obviously the golfing Gods were with Tim today, and I can accept that. It's not a problem. I did everything that I could possibly do to try and win the tournament.

Q. Can you think of another course with this type of prestige involved where you'd rather be in that situation of having to make birdie at that hole? I guess I'm not phrasing this right. Is there a harder 72nd hole within a championship of this magnitude compared to the one that you faced today, the challenge that you faced today?
ROBERT ALLENBY: That's probably one of the longest. I'm sure the U.S. Open have some pretty tough ones in there. But I think whenever you try and win obviously a TPC or one of the four majors, I don't think it really matters how long the hole is. It's always going to be a difficult hole, isn't it?
But depending on how much pressure you do put on yourself -- but you know what, I felt so in control of what I was doing out there today, and especially coming down the stretch there. But yeah, I mean, it's a tough hole, there's no doubt about it. I mean, we've seen the greatest player in the world hit it in the water there this week, and I'm sure there's many more. But I can't be disappointed with the way I played it today.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Robert Allenby, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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