VOLVO PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 22, 2003

Jose Maria Olazabal

MODERATOR: What a nice way to finish.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yes, it was a very nice way to finish the round. I think it was pretty tough conditions today. I managed to hang in there even though I had a terrible day on the greens. But obviously happy with the final result.

Q. When you missed the short one at the 15th, didn't go in, you were looking at your putter as if you wanted to throw it into the woods.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I don't know that that would change anything, would it? Well, I thought about it. It's not the first time I think about doing that, but, you know, sometimes you get the right decision. So that's pretty much what happened there.

Q. Speak with Seve last night?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Just for two minutes. He was going to have dinner and I was just going out.

Q. Is he not feeling well then?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: He is not feeling well?

Q. He pulled out.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I know that he didn't sleep at all. That's what I know. So obviously he's not feeling very happy about the whole situation. I don't blame him at all. But I know that he didn't sleep at all last night. You know, that doesn't help, either.

Q. Do you think the punishment was wrong then, if you don't blame him at all?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I don't blame him that he's not feeling at all comfortable with the whole situation. I'm not going to say anything at the moment, just in case.

Q. How do you know he didn't sleep last night?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, I was in the room with him. (Laughter.) I know for a fact that he had better company than I. (Laughter.) But this morning, we were having breakfast and actually he mentioned it and that's how I know.

Any follow-up on that question? (Laughter.)

Q. Will you go out and practice with a couple of other putters?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yes, I have some with me. I'm going to go to the putting green and mess around with it a little bit and see if it fits any better. Obviously, I'm kind of running out of time.

Q. The other one could be banished.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: The one I've been putting for the last, I don't know how many years, it had a retirement planned last week. It's not here with me. I knew that if I had taken that one with me, most probably I wouldn't be using it. So I sent it and brought two new putters, and that's what I have now with me. I'm going to have to find my way somehow on those greens.

Q. Can I just ask you again why you don't blame him at all for not feeling very happy about the whole situation?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: As I said, I will give you the same answer, I don't want to say anything at all right now. I'll talk to the people I think that I have to talk to in private. I guess that that's how things are supposed to be done in this tour from what I see.

Q. Do you know how much he was fined?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No.

Q. Are you happy with the whole situation on this tour?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I think you know I'm not 100% happy about it.

Q. What is the bit that you're not happy about it?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: I think when we have a tournament at hand, it's not the right time to start talking about it.

Q. How well are you playing?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: It's been a tough year. It's been a hard year. I've only had a couple of good tournaments. One of them was the Masters and that cheered me up a little bit, and then the following tournament was the Spanish Open where I struck the ball quite well. Then at the Benson and Hedges, it was a setback again. It appeared that every bad swing was with me that week, so it was a serious setback and I'm just trying to regain form. I've been really working hard last week back home. I hit quite a lot of balls. I didn't play much golf but I practised really hard on the putting green, too, even though it didn't show up today obviously. That's where I am at the moment.

Q. Do you know or would you imagine that his pride, Seve, his pride has been greatly hurt by being punished by the Tour of which he is such a big part?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, I don't know about that. What I know is that we are what we are, thanks to a lot of people, but I think in particular, to Seve. I think that nobody can deny that. Obviously there were more players that helped, of course, to bring the European Tour where it is now. I think Seve was the first one that made that possible, by all of his achievements around the world, in particular in the Masters. I think everybody should not forget that.

Q. Returning to your own game, does it help to come back to a course that you play on so well, and you are a past champion of this event.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Yeah, but I think the golf course has changed through the years. They built a few new tees. They built sand bunkers on some of the holes. The golf course, I think is different from what we played in '94. In '94, it was really a dry year. I remember we used a lot of lines off the tee, the golf course was playing really short and the greens were hard. In that sense I think that we are playing -- it's the same golf course, but we are playing a different one at the same time. It helps in a way, but on the other hand, you know as a fact that you are not swinging the club well, you are not making putts and that's going to make things more difficult. The golf course is playing longer, obviously. So here I am. As I said, I'm trying to do the best I can, but I'm going through a tough time.

Q. So in that case, how happy are you with 4-under par to be two off the lead?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, I'm really happy because especially at the turn, it looked to me like it could have been another one of those days. When I 3-putted 7, I missed a short putt on 8, missed a short putt on 10 again. I was 1-over. I had a tough stretch of holes coming in: 13, 14, 15, so the prospect was not very bright. It was not a very bright one. I'm really happy with the score.

Q. Do you know how many putts you hit today?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: 29.

Q. Do you think the punishment last night was wrong?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Don't go that road. I won't give you an answer on that. We have enough time to talk about it during the year.

Q. Given the way you're playing, is it strange to be 4-under?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Nobody should be surprised playing this game. So anything can happen. You might be playing a little bit of golf and shoot 66 and you might be playing really bad and have a good round. I've learned through the years not to expect anything at all. When you're standing on the tee, it's good to do the best you can and sometimes, you might know, obviously, the chances of having a good score are better when you are swinging the club good, but there is no guarantees.

Q. Before the Benson and Hedges, I talked to Sergio and he said the driver was now the best club in your bag.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: Well, it's been a year where the irons have been off, I have to say. That doesn't mean that the driver was excellent, but, you know, it was less bad. But the irons have been really bad.

Q. Do you think improving the driving you might have lost?

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: No, I don't think so. I started hitting the irons badly pretty much at the German Masters last year. I started pulling the shots left. If I am not really very careful with the shot, most of the time I would miss it straight left. It's just magnified that at the moment. As I said, it started pretty much at the German Masters last year.

With the driver, I've had weeks where I drove the ball well. Some others, not that well. But I think that the combination of bad iron play and bad putting is costing me most of the troubles.

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