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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 22, 2005

Jose Maria Olazabal

HOUSTON, TEXAS

Q. Excellent round out there today. You kind of stumbled a little bit early.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yeah, I started badly. I three-putted 10, then missed a tee shot on 11, made bogey. Then from then on it went better. I had a good stretch of holes starting with 16 all the way to No. 2. I birdied five holes.

If anything today the driving was a little bit off. I didn't drive the ball well, and yesterday I did. I only missed three fairways yesterday, but today was exactly the opposite. I didn't drive it well, but the rest of the game was in good shape.

Q. It looked like for that stretch there, every hole you knocked it to ten feet, knocked it in. It looked like you were playing the same hole over and over again.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I had a nice stretch of holes. The longest putt I had was from nine, ten feet, and that was the longest putt I had. You have to take advantage of those putts, otherwise you're going to struggle to score.

Obviously I made those putts, but you have to leave yourself with some shot. I put all those shots really close to the hole.

Q. 16, 17, 18 is maybe the toughest stretch on the course, and to make birdies, is that almost like a double -- a lot of times guys are just opening to get through those holes?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Exactly. That's what we think. When you're standing on the 16th tee, those finishing holes are really tough. You're looking more for pars than anything else. Whenever you make a birdie, as you said, I mean, sometimes it's like you pin a couple of shots on those holes. I think it was the momentum of the round for me, that 16, 17, 18 stretch of birdies.

Q. You've had really a good stretch down here. You've played well for quite some time. Talk about how excited you are about your game at this point.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: It's more fun, I have to say, to play golf these days than it has been the last two years. Worked hard in the wintertime, my game is coming, too, so I obviously just playing golf. As I said, it's more fun when you hit the ball better.

Q. What has been the key for you?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I changed a couple of things in my swing, a little bit of the plane in my swing. I exercised a little bit so I'm hitting the ball a little bit longer off the tee. If you hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, the scores on this course will come.

Q. (Inaudible).

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: The off season, yeah.

Q. Anything in particular that kind of drove you to say, "I just need a change"?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Nothing. There was nobody that needed to tell me really. Myself, after the two years that I had, and it was clear that I needed to work. The decision was not easy. Changes are not easy anyways. That's what happened.

Q. You seem very comfortable with where you're at right now with the swing and just playing well. Is it feeling more like it did three or four years ago then or when you were playing well?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I think it's different in the sense that when I was playing good, off the tee I was not that good. I've been pretty steady, these weeks, at least the start of the season anyways. If anything, that's the only difference compared to when I was playing good. Maybe then my putting was a little better than it is now.

Q. But mentally you seem very even keel, very -- everything is good?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I'm very happy with the situation at the moment. The important thing is to keep scoring well, to keep that mentality, to keep that confidence.

Q. Augusta is a place you've had some success and people say that's a bomber's course. This course you have to be long off the tee. You obviously are finding your way around this course.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I still believe that this is a long hitters' course. The par 5s are reachable for those guys, and then there is an advantage on the long par 4s. The big hitter has a better advantage playing this golf course. Like 16, 490 whatever yards to the hole. If you're a long hitter, you're always going to have a better chance of getting the ball to the green and stopping the ball quicker, and if you play good, you're still going to have a chance.

Q. How much have you added?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I don't know, but I'm hitting it a little bit longer.

Q. Ten yards?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I don't know, maybe ten.

End of FastScripts.

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