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BELLSOUTH CLASSIC

April 1, 2004

Jose Maria Olazabal

DULUTH, GEORGIA

TODD BUDNICK: A 7 under 65 for Jose Maria Olazabal the first round of the BellSouth Classic has you tied for the lead in the clubhouse right now. No bogeys today, a very good round for you. Talk a little about it.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: It was an extremely good round for me today. No bogeys, as you said, that was the key for today's round. I made a few good up and downs on the front nine and that kept the round going. I hit a lot of solid iron shots on to the green.

I put the ball pretty close most of the time, and the driver didn't hurt me that much. I missed a few drives but they didn't hurt me all that much. That's the combination of why I scored that well today.

TODD BUDNICK: Guys this morning had to deal with the very bitter cold. For you guys, it's still cold but not as bad. How were the conditions?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I guess this morning, the conditions have been freezing. I heard the temperature was like 35, 37 degrees, plus the wind factor. It must have been freezing. It's not easy at all to play in those conditions. I think in that sense, in the afternoon, even though it was cold, it was much better than in the morning for sure.

Q. (Inaudible.)

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I don't know. You'll have to tell me. I really don't know. It's been a struggle all year long. You know, it's one of those rounds. I started hitting the ball well. When I kept on doing that, you know, that kept me trying hard and that's how I ended up with a good round.

Q. When did you last see Butch?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I saw him at TPC last week, actually, from Monday to Wednesday.

Q. Was there anything that you were working on?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, a little bit on the top, the top of the swing, but nothing drastic, really.

Q. You played with Adam Scott today, obviously in the limelight at moment and playing well.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yeah, you know, the relationship between the two of us is good. I had a good threesome today with Matt Kuchar, too. Obviously, somehow you feed from players that hit the ball well and that was the case today.

Q. How dispirited have you been with the form this year?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Very. It's been a struggle, really. I am going through a tough spell. The scores are no good. One day I might have a good round and then the following day, I can't follow that with another round. It has been frustrating, yes, but all I can do is keep on trying.

Q. A great time to get going with Augusta coming up next week. Just your thoughts on using this week as a springboard to play well next week.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I've always said this golf course is set up pretty much the same way as Augusta. You do have very undulating greens with a lot of slopes around the green. There's not much rough around the greens. It's a good tune up for next week.

I have to tell you that I'm not concerned about next week. You know, you have enough of a task around here this week, especially in this weather. You know, next week will be next week, and I do have a lot of work to do this week. And obviously it will be great if I could follow this round with another two or three good rounds, and that will be a positive thing for next week.

At the moment I'm trying to do the best I can this week and see if I can finish more high on the leaderboard, and that will be the best thing that could happen to me this week.

Q. How do you go into tomorrow, are you wondering with a tomorrow might bring after a day like today?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I'm not worrying about tomorrow. I know that tomorrow is a different day. I will have to try my hardest tomorrow. I am have to start from scratch tomorrow. I'm not going to think about what happened today tomorrow. I know the golf course is tough, it's playing tough in these conditions. Many things can happen. I've been through this all year long. So, all I can do, as I said, is try my best.

Q. What was working for you today?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Hard to say. My iron play today was excellent. I've been strong with my irons all year this year and last year, too. I hit all of the iron shots today. Actually I hit 3 iron shots that ended up less than a foot from the hole. You know, that was it.

Q. When you're struggling with your consistency, is that a matter of confidence or is a matter of physical, the swing?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I think it's a matter of technical problems. I mean, you know if technically you are swinging the club okay, then there is no reason why you should not hit good shots. When you keep on missing shot after shot, it's not a matter of confidence. Obviously confidence disappears in the long term, but when you hit three bad shots in a row and you go to the next tee and you've missed another two shots, it's not a matter of confidence. It's just a matter of bad swinging.

Q. Traditionally, over the past few years, it's been your driving that has let you down. Are you now saying that either your driving is better or that it's the traditional strength, i.e., your iron play that has let you down?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, obviously last year, most of the year, you know, the irons were awful. Actually, this year, a good example was San Diego. I hit quite a lot of fairways and I had wedges and sand wedges in my hand and 8 irons and I kept on missing greens with those clubs. I made bogeys and double bogeys from the middle of the fairway that week. It happens a lot like that most of the year so far.

I'm not saying the driver is great. I know I'm not a great driver of the ball, but I've been able to drive it better than in the past. The scoring has been not great because the irons were not like they used to be, and obviously the putting didn't help, either.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your birdies.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No. 2 I hit an 8 iron about 20 feet pretty much, made it.

On 5, I hit a driver, 5 iron, landed a foot from the hole.

On 8, 5 iron a less than a foot from the hole.

10, a driver, 3 iron, about, I don't know, eight yards from the hole off the green and I putted it and made two putts from there.

On 12, 3 wood, 7 iron less than a foot again from the hole.

15, 3 wood, 5 iron, holed it from eight feet.

On 18, a driver, 3 iron, wedge about three feet from the hole.

End of FastScripts.

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