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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2005

Scott Drummond

SURREY, ENGLAND

RODDY WILLIAMS: Scott, thank you very much for coming in and joining us here. As defending champion this week, must be rather nice wandering around back here at Wentworth as the defending champion.

SCOTT DRUMMOND: Yeah, it's a nice feeling obviously to come back. I haven't really been back since The Match Play last year, which was another great week for me. So it's all good memories of Wentworth, and yeah, it's an exciting week.

RODDY WILLIAMS: As you look forward to coming back and enjoying the week, what are your thoughts looking ahead to the next few days?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: Yeah, I had said that I was determined to come and enjoy the week and the experience of being the defending champion. It's a nice week. I've got my family and friends obviously here to support me, and I've got a nice draw this year. Yeah, I'm going to enjoy the week to its fullest. My game is coming together, so I'm pretty pleased about that. It's all set for a good week.

RODDY WILLIAMS: You've had a year to reflect on that fantastic victory last year; what did it mean to you?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: Well, I mean, I can't believe it's been a year, that's the first thing. It's just gone so quickly from the win until the end of last season went in a flash, really; there was so much going on. It was quite hectic really and it was quite nice to get a break over the winter and have a bit of time to reflect on the win and how it's changed things for me, you know, my outlook if you like; playing without the pressure of trying to maintain a card for the next few seasons, which was obviously the foremost thing on my mind last year.

So it's been a great 12 months really, and I've gained massive experience at the tournaments I've got to play in. I feel I've learned a lot from playing in those tournaments with the best players in the world. I'm trying to use that as a platform to push myself forward.

Q. Was there a feeling that you did not finish strong last year?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: I feel as finished strong last year. I feel like I would have liked to have had a few more Top 10s and maybe been in contention a little bit more. My schedule changed after I won last year, and I played some bigger events and I missed some sort of regular tour events that I would have played had I not had the win.

So there was a bit of upheaval obviously. And to go to America and play for two weeks and then to play in the other world events was a fantastic experience. I went into those weeks obviously with quite a bit of confidence anyway. But it was nice to perform reasonably well, I felt, in those tournaments. I gained a lot of confidence. The fact that I felt comfortable playing in those events was a big thing. I didn't feel overwhelmed by the occasion.

You know, I think sitting down with my coach at the end much last season, it's hard to criticize, obviously, the first year where I've done so well. But if we could criticize, it would be that I didn't have more Top 20 finishes, let's say, which is more where we felt where my game was at. I was making cuts but finishing sort of 40th and 50th, which was slightly disappointing because I was actually playing some nice golf but not quite finishing it off.

So this year we really set up one of the goals was to make more Top 10s and more top 20s.

Q. So is the desire to win again as great as it was to win in the first place? In your own head, is there a feeling, whether it's this season or the next, but to do it again is almost as big as to win the first one?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: Absolutely. I tee it up like everyone else on a Thursday and I want to win the tournament. Obviously some weeks you play better than others and some weeks you don't feel you have much of a chance at winning, and you just want to have a nice side week to do the best you can.

Certainly when you're playing reasonably well, your game is not too far away. I'm here to win this week and I feel happy with my game. Like I said, it's coming together and I love the course. It suits my game and I know if I can role in a few putts, I have some low scores in me for this week, they are there.

You know, I've won at every level I've played at now, Challenge Tour and the MasterCard Tour, and so I've got that. I've always had that desire to win, and I've always suppose been lucky enough to know that I can win at whichever level I play at. So I want to win again as soon as I can.

Q. Your finish at Carton House last week was strong, and, usually you have had one or two rounds with poor finishes this year, but this one was different.

SCOTT DRUMMOND: Yeah, it's certainly been this season, really, I finished off quite a few rounds where I've dropped shots on the final few holes and, that's one thing I've been a little bit conscious of. When I qualified from the Challenge Tour, I won the Red Bull Final Five and my stats for the final five holes were fantastic, and I was really building on good scores and turning them into great scores. Obviously that's what you want to be doing.

So, yeah, it was nice to have a good weekend and finish strongly on Sunday last week. I had finished badly on Friday, dropped three of the last four and when I finished, I thought I was possibly going to miss the cut.

Q. Is it mental or technical?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: Well, I mean, I've come off and sort of tried to analyze it and thought, have I been flagging it the last few holes or have I not been as focused or has my concentration wavered. The answer to that in my own mind is I don't think it has. It just so happens I've hit a couple of half bad shots towards the end of my rounds. It's not been every round, but it's probably been half of the rounds.

So it's been frustrating and kind of disappointing. But it was nice to turn that around last week and finish off nicely.

Q. Winning such a big event last year, does that put even more pressure on you? Say you had won the Italian Open, you might not put as much pressure on yourself; obviously you're delighted to win the PGA, and I wonder if additional pressure comes with winning such an event?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: Well, I think it's only pressure if I perceive it to be pressure or think of it as pressure. Obviously my own expectation level rose after winning here last year, and I suppose everyone else's expectations of me were much higher as well than they were before the week.

You know, I was still the same person. I had a week where things clicked for me on what I can do and what my game is good enough to do. And really, I said last year after the win, I was just going to take everything on board and try and build on the win and the opportunities that really opened up for me, and that's what I feel I've been doing. I certainly don't feel any more pressure I would say than if I'd had won a regular Tour event if you like. A win in my first season would have been fantastic regardless of which tournament it was. Fortunate enough to do it on probably the biggest week outside the Open Championship, which is obviously great with the exemption it carries, and that's like I say, some of the doors opened to play some bigger events. That's as for extra pressure I don't think so.

Q. In the months after you won, was there any one thing that surprised you, where you got something because you won the PGA Championship?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: There were several, but I suppose getting in the British Open was one thing. In previous years I've always tried to qualify, and the last couple of seasons I haven't bothered with the qualifying. Got stuck into the Challenge Tour when I was there and didn't want to get distracted from taking a couple of weeks off to try to qualify for the Open.

Similarly last year, I had not I don't think I had entered the qualification, qualifying tournament for the Open. So certainly when we arrived up there, I knew I was in because of the win here. It was all little things like that which brought home to me just how big of a thing it was to win here.

Q. What exactly is preventing you from getting back to the Top 20, Top 10, is there one particular shot?

SCOTT DRUMMOND: It's been probably been my in general it's been my short game I think. The week's where my short game has been very good is when I've had the best results here Volvo Masters, the end of last year, my short game was very good. Generally not a lot goes wrong with my long game. I'm pretty good off the tee. Probably one of my strongest assets is my drive, and my iron play is never too far away.

When I get my short game together, that's when I get the results and I feel that's what I had to that's what we identified over the winter, if you like, as an area that I need to tighten up. Having played with guys, you know, like Ernie, or Harrington and some of the other guys in America, I realized that their short game, even when they are not having a good day, their short game is still level, which is far above mine. If I was to compete at that high level all the time and get in the Top 10s and Top 20s and get in contention, then you know even on a bad day, my short game needs to be good, and obviously on a good day it needs to be great. So that's the area we've been working on, this first half of the season. Certainly the last few weeks, it's starting to pay off.

RODDY WILLIAMS: Scott, thanks very much. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts.

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