THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2002

Nick Faldo

TODD BUDNICK: Welcome, Nick Faldo to THE PLAYERS Championship press room.

Nick, 73 after a 68 in the first round. You started off with a birdie on No. 11, can you go through that hole for us ?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, that was a good -- I hit a good drive and with a good 2-iron and just managed to hop onto the green. Then I hit my putt about ten feet past the hole so that was very nice, putt back for 4.

TODD BUDNICK: You parred out the rest of the nine there and then made the turn and double on 1.

NICK FALDO: Doubled on 1, yeah. I missed the fairway by a yard down the right. I chopped it out. I lost my concentration. I pulled a wedge into the bunker. I was plugged. I chopped it outside of the green ended up holing a 5-foot putt for 6, so that was a good 6 in the end.

I just chipped the tree on No. 2 off the tee. It came down buried in the rough again -- out -- short of the green, chipped, two putts. Then I managed to regroup.

I played -- I hit a really good shot on 3; hit a 6-iron to about eight feet behind the hole. That got me back again.

4, wedge to about three feet.

Then 5, I holed about a 30-foot putt there. So that was great.

7, I pulled my driving down the left, hit a 3-iron short of the green, in the front bunker, out to about eight feet, missed that one and then parred the last two. I was pleased to get in. It is just a brutal, brutal golf course. It is just nice that it is over and done with.

Q. It looked like you had the putter working pretty good there the last couple of days. Have you been, sort of, on a roll here? We haven't seen you over here, so it's hard for us -- have you been going like that or was that unusually hot?

NICK FALDO: It was very good, yeah, that was my moment. I have putted well at a few places around the world, but that was great. I had a lot of good par putts and few birdie putts here and there, so that was good putting for me.

Q. To that end, how important was the putt you hit at 17 to save par?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, that was -- I holed a good three or four, I think, this week for -- when it looked like I'd bogey it, I managed to save par. This course is all about momentum. If you play well and you keep the momentum going, and, obviously, that keeps you thinking, "Well, if you bogey a few and things go wrong, it changes the momentum then every hole suddenly looks scary," so you have to regroup.

Q. You are still well under at the top. Does that surprise you that you have not fallen a little bit farther back given what happened?

NICK FALDO: It was really whipping, that wind, about an hour or so ago. Above the trees is the tough thing - blue skies, no clouds, it's a calculated guess at times. If you get it wrong -- you just have to be a little bit out, not giving you much margin of error here. You have got to be landing the ball in the right spot where you intend to.

Q. How tiring was the combination of yesterday's late round, having to get up and everything?

NICK FALDO: Well, it happens so often, but you have to -- yeah, you come back and you eat as quick as possible and get organized and get to bed as early as possible.

I was up at 5, so yeah, you have to just go with it.

Q. Do you stop at any moment and look at yourself? You were second at one stage; did you ever look at the leaderboard and think it's --

NICK FALDO: I am not really looking at the board, to be honest with you at the moment. You can't do much about it. You have got enough on your hands playing the golf course. I have made that a goal to just go play the golf course and not get wrapped up in the tournament and try and, you know, focus, you know, stay within myself, just keep my own little world going, yeah.

Q. As we were told, we haven't seen you over here much before, but do you think it's a little bit of an advantage to you that you have been playing so much in Europe where you get a lot of wind like this because you have always been a good wind player, and is this one of the like the best two rounds you have kind of put together for a while?

NICK FALDO: Well I have played -- I am trying to think, we played the first tournament of the year in Australia the Johnnie Walker, that was breezy and hard and that was a good golf course we had -- the big difference here is you have -- you still have to land the ball on the green at the right number. You can't run it in. It not like it's a links, you play, the wind is downwind and you bumble it in somehow. You can't do that in America or this style of golf course. The ball still stops. So you have still got to carry it and land it perfectly across all these corners. Yeah I have had a fair bit of experience from my years out here playing in the breeze.

Q. Staying here through The Masters of course then what is your course after that?

NICK FALDO: I go yeah, I play The Masters play Hilton Head, I will go back to Europe and play through May. At the moment I am still waiting for an invitation to the U.S. Open then obviously I have got a busy July back in Europe and just back for the PGA.

Q. Playing U.S. Open only by a special invitation; is that it?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, I need a special invitation.

Q. Might have jogged a few memories over the last two days with the USGA?

NICK FALDO: I don't know, they need another two days to be convinced (laughs).

Q. You have won a lot of tournaments in your time, but what would winning another one mean to you now?

NICK FALDO: I could retire. (Laughs).

Q. Would it be sort of a Nicklaus-86 kind of moment for you, kind of --

NICK FALDO: Well we're long way off from that. I am not even going to go down that road, but we have got a lot of work to do, let's see what happens.

Q. Do you have a club deal right now? I notice your bag ---

NICK FALDO: It's under negotiations, yeah, we're nearly there.

Q. Have you found in the last few years that it's been difficult to keep up the dedication that you have had throughout your career as you have gotten older and accomplished so much?

NICK FALDO: No, the dedication has still been there. Sometimes it is difficult to -- but the frustration has probably grown a bit more as well. It hasn't gone quite to plan or -- I have had a lot to deal with off the golf course for quite a few years. This year has been the first year where I have had a free run where I can concentrate on golf. I have worked hard with my business team to put everything together and on and off the golf course and it's going well. I have got a chance to just go play golf again.

Q. Was it a tough decision to give up the membership here given -- we read about it from here from what you said over there, but can you just sort of ---

NICK FALDO: Well, no, it simply was -- I have struggled the last couple of years to meet the 15 and I was -- I felt end of last year I was starting to be in a transition between golfer and business-golf now. And the world is a very good marketplace for me - obviously Asia, Australia, Europe, and I need to be there, and it was so difficult for me to play 15 in America and commit myself to doing all that travelling around the world. I physically and mentally just couldn't do it.

Q. You mentioned losing concentration on the first. I don't suppose you will ever lose your dedication but is concentration --

NICK FALDO: No, I have been pleased -- you are picking one, one like today, I think or two days I think I have done really well. I think I have concentrated really -- well sort of one slip-up. I am sure everyone has a slip-up. I have been pleased the way I have knuckled down the last two days.

Q. Anything bring that on, that one aberration?

NICK FALDO: Yeah, a few little secrets, yeah, just trying to yeah I have just worked hard on -- Kjell has helped me on - just like I was saying, I had this great quality of being inside yourself and you need an outlet. You need to just have your own little world and block out everything else because there's so much going on, so, that has been good.

Q. Lost that Nick, being in that zone --

NICK FALDO: Yeah, I haven't had that for my -- I think my concentration because I have had so much going on off the golf course in my life; it has been difficult to concentrate at times, yeah.

Q. What is the status of the restaurant deal? Are we going to see any of those in the States here in Florida in particular?

NICK FALDO: I don't know about Florida yet but there will be one in America and yeah, things are going well. I have learned we're going to put one in Moscow. One in Greece.

Q. Big golf country Moscow or Russia, I guess.

NICK FALDO: It will be. You wait. You just wait. Yeah, they can embark on golf like -- yeah, you think how disciplined they are the way that they pursue a sport, you wait. So there's a few more around the world, yeah.

Q. Where in America?

NICK FALDO: The one in Phoenix.

Q. Have you talked to anyone who has seen the change at Augusta and what are your thoughts on that?

NICK FALDO: No, it is speculation at the moment. Haven't seen -- I haven't been there, I have seen the pictures, seen the yardage (laughs), doing the press-ups. Getting ready to cope -- to get to the top of the hills, yeah.

Q. Are you okay with that or --

NICK FALDO: I don't know. We shall see. I think it's tough to comment now, but you know, if -- what was so great about Augusta is you had to land the ball on the number, they gave you these pins, on 3 -- they gave you one yard to work with. Now if they expect us to do that, you know, three clubs further back than before, it could get serious, so we shall see.

Q. What do you think about the suggestion where Augusta National would be bringing their own special ball; all players playing with one ball?

NICK FALDO: A little ball with a little green logo on it. (Laughs).

Q. Marketing ploy?

NICK FALDO: Yeah.

Q. What was your first reaction?

NICK FALDO: I haven't heard that. I first heard that. So I don't think that would work because I think -- I don't know how that would work because guys are contracted to have golf balls -- I don't know -- would they be able to sue because they are not playing their ball. It would get too -- don't think that would happen somehow.

Q. Would you go there before the week of the tournament?

NICK FALDO: No, I think -- I know what's in store. I am just going to prepare the next couple of weeks and have a good time getting fit and strong and all that.

Q. How often do you feel like the player you were at your prime?

NICK FALDO: How often? (Laughs) every morning when I get up. (Laughs).

Q. Are you close to that player still?

NICK FALDO: No, I am totally different player. It's ten years now. Ten years have gone by so sure, I am a different player. Some bits actually might be better than ten years ago but some bits might not.

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