WGC WORLD CUP

November 13, 2003

Bradley Dredge

Ian Woosnam

GORDON SIMPSON: We have the Team Wales here, Woosie and Bradley. Woosie, you were sunning yourself on the beach in Barbados. When did you find out you were going to be playing this week?

IAN WOOSNAM: Monday morning. It wasn't too far to come. It seemed to take forever to get here, really.

GORDON SIMPSON: What was your journey?

IAN WOOSNAM: I went through Miami. I missed my connection and ended up flying to Jacksonville and driving from there, which was 3 and a half hours drive. A journey should only take 6 hours. It was 12 hours. I might as well have traveled from London.

GORDON SIMPSON: Sounds like a good decision to be here.

IAN WOOSNAM: We got it going quite well through the middle of the round, which was perfect.

GORDON SIMPSON: Bradley, your thoughts on the day.

BRADLEY DREDGE: We didn't start off great. We struggled with a few of the holes downwind. We were a couple of yards out with the approach shot. We both took 5s on the par 5. Was it the second? Third?

IAN WOOSNAM: Second.

BRADLEY DREDGE: The second hole, we were going with 6-iron and 2-iron, we chipped in for a 5. That's the way it goes. The course was playing difficult. The back nine it was easy to get the ball close to the hole, even hitting a 4-iron. At least you can gauge, to get it close.

Q. You've got a lot of experience on this golf course. Talk about how it's changed over the years?

IAN WOOSNAM: Obviously when we first played the Ryder Cup, when you missed the greens there was more sand off the side of the greens, over the years they have improved the course a lot. They've put in a lot more bunkers, changed the 18th hole. When the wind comes up, it's very, very demanding. This is weather where you want to run the ball in but you can't do it here because the grass, it just stops short of the green. Some of the shots you want to play you can't play. That's why it's difficult downwind, because you have to pitch it on the green and spin it. The wind is so strong you can't spin it.

Q. The way it's playing today is downwind, upwind, downwind, upwind?

IAN WOOSNAM: Usually I play it the other way around, so it's unusual wind for me. You play 12, 13, them holes, which are usually down the wind, which they were meant to be played. You get to the 14th hole, I played in the Ryder Cup, a 1-iron. I know the tee was forward, today a 9-iron. That's how strong the wind is.

Q. Go through exactly what happened on the second.

IAN WOOSNAM: I hit a monster drive, it was a bit unfortunate, I had to cut it around the tree. I actually wanted a 7-iron, but I had to cut it with a 6-iron. I overhit it a little bit. It went to the hazard on the right-hand side, tried to played it out, it didn't come out, and then I can drop it where it went across the hazard the first time. I dropped it and chipped it in for a 5. It was a bit of a bonus, really. When you go in with a 6-iron you expect something different.

Q. So you didn't realize before you tried to play it out the first time you could have had the drop?

IAN WOOSNAM: I knew I could play it there. I wasn't sure for the next time.

Q. Did you need much persuading to come here?

IAN WOOSNAM: No, I have been in Barbados. I was coming next week for the USB Cup. It was nice to come and represent your country again.

Q. The Chileans, can you talk about them for a second?

IAN WOOSNAM: I think Roy, it's unfortunate for him, somebody said it's the third time he's had to withdraw. I think his partner was saying Tuesday or something, he slipped coming out of the one of the courtesy buses and was taken to the hospital and it was a broken hand.

Q. Was it disconcerting for you to play with them at the first?

IAN WOOSNAM: It was going to be a slow round anyway. When they decided to pull out, we were very fortunate to go through on the 12th hole, which was nice for the guys to let us through. That made a big difference. That meant we could get on with our game and it kept the momentum going really.

Q. Did you realize before you started he had the problem with the hand?

BRADLEY DREDGE: On the first tee.

Q. He didn't hit a shot on the first tee?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Every now and then if his partner was in trouble, he would try to hit the ball, but he couldn't do it. He was doing damage to his hand as well. It was best to pull out.

Q. Have you ever played through in a tournament before?

IAN WOOSNAM: Many a times. Not in the World Cup, I don't think. Maybe once before. Obviously you go through on tournaments. I think we were fortunate being second to be able to go through the first team. If we had been further down the field that wouldn't have happened and that might have been a different thing then.

Q. Have you ever played a team event together before?

IAN WOOSNAM: Last year we played. We did all right. We didn't get going last year. Hopefully we can keep it up this year.

Q. Rate your World Cup victory in your list of achievements.

IAN WOOSNAM: One of the top team events. A little country like Wales, I think at the time we won in '87, there were only four pros on the Tour, I think. To beat all the other countries in the world was fantastic.

Q. What are the conditions like out there?

IAN WOOSNAM: If you played anywhere else, you can get around, but this course is so demanding, if you miss the greens, the greens are so fast and to try to get it up-and-down is very difficult as well. This is what it's supposed to be like. It suits me if it stays on it.

Q. How difficult will it be to play foursomes?

BRADLEY DREDGE: It's obviously going to be difficult. I think foursomes around here in these sort of conditions we have to revise the game a bit, play more conservative perhaps. You have to decide sometimes perhaps you're going to have to not go for greens. You have to use your head a bit more.

IAN WOOSNAM: Playing foursomes in this kind of weather, 2 or 3-over par is not that bad of a score.

Q. Have you been playing any social golf?

IAN WOOSNAM: I played a little in Barbados, yes. I was suffering with bronchitis a little. I picked up a cold where I didn't get some tablets and it turned into bronchitis. I had it at the beginning of the year and it's come back again. It's not that much trouble.

Q. Have you made any changes in your game as you've grown older, or are you still playing the same game?

IAN WOOSNAM: I'm pretty well playing the same. I seem to have found a ball and driver that seems to be going further, which has helped. The only trouble I'm having is on the greens, but I putted steady today with a belly putter. As I say, it's difficult to putt well on these greens being so windy.

Q. Did the able-bodied Chilean stay on to mark your card?

IAN WOOSNAM: No, we had a marker.

Q. After the chip-in, was that kind of the impetus to get the round going?

IAN WOOSNAM: I think, yes, it kept us -- we didn't want to drop on the second. You go in with a 6-iron and bogey would have been a nightmare, but then we bogeyed the third. 1-over, it's not the greatest of starts. We knew if we kept in there we would get it back and that's what we did.

Q. Did you have a strategy at all going into today?

IAN WOOSNAM: Attack. I only have that strategy. I just go for it.

BRADLEY DREDGE: I think the good thing is, Woosie is very attacking. I'm more conservative, so it's a good combination.

Q. What would you have been doing today in Barbados?

IAN WOOSNAM: Sitting down on the beach or in a bar drinking a nice rum and Coke or something, having a bit of lunch. What time is it now? I'd just be finishing now, just going for a siesta.

Q. Bradley, how often have you played with Ian in the past? Is it reassuring to play with someone with international experience?

BRADLEY DREDGE: We've played once before, and that was last year in Mexico. In terms of knowing one another's games, we don't really know how we play. It's great to have Woosie's experience. Like I said, we got off not to a very good start, but we knew to stick in there, and then we made a few putts and a couple of birdies and we got it going.

Q. Bradley, is the Ryder Cup the big target next year?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Yes.

IAN WOOSNAM: For me, too. Thanks for asking me.

End of FastScripts.