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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN


March 31, 2012


Louis Oosthuizen


HUMBLE, TEXAS

JOHN BUSH:  We'd like to welcome Louis Ossthuizen into the interview room after a 6-under par 66.  Not the best of starts today, but way to finish.  If we can just get some comments on your round.
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Yeah.  It was a rough start.  You know, two bunkers on the first hole, which is never ideal.  I got the wind drawing on the second shot on 2.  Hit a really good shot.  Just hit it straight through the gust and ended up hitting it way long.  But yeah, after that, I settled down, and, you know, got my first birdie on the 6th and then I hit good shots all day and made some nice putts on the back-9.

Q.  Can you put your finger on anything -- for awhile it didn't look like anything was going to get going.
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  You always need something to get it going.  I hit a -- good tee shot on 5 and good second, just missed the putt and same on 6, good tee shot, good second, made the putt.  It gets you -- gets your round in the right direction.
I feel like I'm swinging it well and hit some great iron shots out there and made good putts on the back-9, which always helps.

Q.  You kind of point to 6 as getting that putt to go as what --
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I think that stretch really 5, 6, 7, and 8, you know, 8 I hit a really good second shot in there, was a tough shot trying -- I knew the club I had was too much.  I had to take off it and with all the trouble on the right, so after that, you know, I felt really comfortable on the ball and made really good swings off of that.

Q.  What is your comfort level sitting on top of the lead where your position is and all these guys are chasing you?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  It's a good opportunity for tomorrow, go out there and play and, you know, have fun.  And it's great and it will be tough, but I feel like I'm ready for it.

Q.  Do you anticipate being in this position come Thursday or just kind of working things out before Augusta?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Yeah.  Been working on a few things for awhile.  I said yesterday from Tampa, the Friday on Tampa started playing really well and had a good week off, a little practice, and, you know, I'm feeling like I'm swinging it well, playing well, and any good finish here is great to go take into Augusta.

Q.  How important would it be to win this thing now that you've gotten to this point?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I always take it a day at a time on the golf course.  You never get ahead of yourself in this game, and, you know, I'm just going to go out and play the best I can.  Like I say, good guys on the leaderboard there.  They played really well today.  Pettersson played really well.  It will be good.

Q.  You obviously never enter a tournament not thinking about winning it.  Did you Wednesday, Thursday last week think that -- come here thinking that you could win this tournament?  Did that enter your head at all?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Yeah.  Every time you start a tournament, you want to win it.  You know, if you're playing well, you've got a bit more confidence than going in and feel like you're struggling otherwise.  I came into this event, you know, struggling a little bit with the driver, but, you know, hit a great session on Monday with my coach and today very good tee shots.  Couldn't pinpoint one that was bad, and so I feel like I'm getting closer to where I want to be.

Q.  How would you describe kind of the zone you're in on the back-9 there when you strung together those four birdies?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Those two par-5s close to each other, you always feel like you want a good stretch there.  But, you know, it was such a beautiful back-9 really with the weather and the sun dropping, such a nice place out there, and, you know, which was good, and just felt when we turned on 15, I was playing down the sun and the golf course looked spectacular.
So, yeah, I mean, if you play well and you're playing in a great course like that, I think it gives everyone a bit of a boost.

Q.  You kind of were able to step back and kind of take in some of that while you're out there?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Not really.  I was too focused on trying the make best score.

Q.  Can you expand a little about what you said you were working on that you may have found that Friday in Tampa and what specifically you may have been struggling with?
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  I was hitting my irons all over the place in Tampa.  The first round I was started 3 or 4 over after six holes there and ended up finishing 20th, I think, which was to me, you know, not a really good Friday through to Sunday, and just work on getting my swing a bit more tighter and not, you know, having all those loose swings and, you know, it just helped a lot.
This week the rough isn't really up, so you can get away with just missing one, two, tee shots, but my iron play has been really solid.
JOHN BUSH:  All right.  Anything else?  Louis, we appreciate your time.  Play well tomorrow.
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN:  Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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