WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 20, 2002

Paul Azinger

Q. That was a pretty good scrape out there.

PAUL AZINGER: Yeah, I hit it great today. Just a missed a couple fairways, but hit my irons on the button today. If I had made a few putts early on, I might have had more a little more confidence. I just kept missing putts.

And I got lucky today that Jesper was not on one of his six birdie runs, seven birdie days, because he always makes a lot of birdies. I think he only made one or two birdies today; so I caught him on an off day. I had a cold putter today. If I had a hot putter today, I could have made a bunch of birdies.

Q. What was the turning point in the match?

PAUL AZINGER: I think he bogeyed from the bunker on 13 to go 2-down and that really hurt him, I think. You know, it was -- it was just close the whole way. It was close the whole way. I just could not do anything to put him away, and it was there for the taking today; it was a surprise to me, but he just didn't have a lot of birdies.

Q. Talk about 14.

PAUL AZINGER: It was about 2 1/2 to 3 feet. He was 2-down and he didn't know how I was feeling. That's why you can't really let the guy know how you're feeling. I wasn't feeling that great. I didn't think either one of us were going to miss, but they were both the same. If I was 2-down, we would have been putting. I was very surprised.

Q. Do you like this format? Do you think there should be more match-play events one or two more times a year?

PAUL AZINGER: The only thing I don't like about it is the finality of it. If there's a losers bracket, yeah. (Laughs).

Q. Do you like the head-to-head aspect?

PAUL AZINGER: Yeah, you've got to -- you've got to just play a little better than the guy you're paired with. You know, generally, a round like I had today, I'm about six back because I probably shot 2-, or 3-under or something, and somebody would have got shot 63 or 64.

Q. On 17 he needed a ruling on that --?

PAUL AZINGER: On his drop, not really. His feet were on the cart path and his nearest point was in casual water and he just wanted to confirm it with me. He was just letting me know what he was doing, because he was taking relief from the path and his relief was going to be casual. So he just wanted to let me know he was going to have to go this way a little bit more.

Q. Do you like to chat a little bit or would you rather not chat?

PAUL AZINGER: We chatted a lot, actually, all day. I generally don't like to chat in match-play because I don't want anyone feeling too comfortable. We get along real well. I like Jesper, we played together for three days at AT&T. He's a great player. I just caught him on just an average day.

Q. And when you get to 18, are you thinking, is that a tough up-and-down for you?

PAUL AZINGER: It's the first -- well, yeah, I had not hit a chip shot, really. I hit a pitch on 16 over a bunker, but I had not hit a chip shot all day. I hit a couple bunker shots, I hit a lot of greens; and I'm standing there, thinking, "You've you haven't hit a chip shot in about four hours." It was one of those that I had to fly over the hole, too, and I couldn't do it.

Q. Talk about playing Davis.

PAUL AZINGER: Well, Davis is going to make birdies. He obviously made a lot of birdies early today and got way ahead. It will be fun to play Davis Love. It's a great opportunity for me to beat a guy who is totally a world-class player.

I just hope I can be really focused tomorrow. I felt real comfortable with my ball-striking today. Greens are funny, though. I had a lot of really beautiful putts today that didn't go in.

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