WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 21, 2002

Jim Furyk

Q. Talk about your match today?

JIM FURYK: Well, I never trailed. I got up early and he tied it. I got up two on 5 and 6 -- I guess 5 and 6, but then he got one back on -- I don't even know anymore. 5 and 6, I got 2-up. He birdied 8 and 12 to tie it up. I birdied 13 and 14. He birdied 15. I birdied 16 to go back 2-up and then we both hit in there close on 17 and he missed it.

Q. The birdie on 16 for you, would that be --?

JIM FURYK: The first -- the first, really, of a lot of big moments. Originally it was after he birdied 12 and I didn't, a big moment was on 13. I hit it about 15 feet and he hit it about eight feet and I knocked mine in, he didn't. So I went 1-up.

Then there was another pretty good mood swing on the next hole on 14, he hit it short left of the green, caught a bad lie and chipped it about 30 feet past. So I had it in there about 15 feet for birdie. You know, I was kind of counting my chickens there thinking that I've got this hole on him, I'm 2-up, thinking about how I'm going to play the next hole; and then he went ahead and knocked his 30-footer in. So I'm sure it was a pretty good up for him.

But then I knocked the 15-footer in to win the hole; so that was a big turning point.

He came back and birdied 15. But 16, again, he had it about 10 feet and I had it about 18 feet and I knocked mine in first and he missed.

He hit some great shots and hit the ball well today, but he didn't get a couple of putts to drop. That was kind of the difference.

13 and 14 were the two big holes. They got me up two and a little more breathing room.

Q. What's your experience playing here?

JIM FURYK: First year I played here, I lost in the first round to a Swedish fellow named Patrick Sjoland. And then two years ago I lost to Davis in the third round.

Q. A lot more matches are going like yours did yesterday, a lot more going further. Is that just because now we are down to 32 and tomorrow it's down to 16, is the golf getting better?

JIM FURYK: I think you get a match like mine where Toshi was probably -- I was somewhere between 5- and 7-under and he was probably 4- or 5-under. Just, you know, other matches could have went to 18 where they were even par and even par. It just depends. I would have won some matches big today and I probably would have lost a couple of matches. It just depends on who you are playing and how the other person is playing.

I think too much is probably made out of seeds. As you found out yesterday, on any given day -- Tiger Woods is obviously the best player in the world; he's not going to lose very often. But on any given day, anyone still can beat him.

Q. Do you play any differently against a player that you may not know his game quite as much or just play your own game?

JIM FURYK: Last time I was here I played Rocco Mediate who I know real well, and Bob Tway who I'm friendly with, and I played Davis, who I know real well. I know Rocco's and Davis's game really well, and we talked a lot, chatted quite a bit. Yesterday, I played with Billy Andrade who I've played a bunch of practice rounds with. But it doesn't really change the way I play. Or today, Toshi was very polite, but we spoke very little; we just didn't know each other.

It doesn't really change in the course of the day whether I know anyone or not. Ultimately it does not matter who you are playing, whether you're playing Tiger Woods or someone from another country that you don't know. You still have to go out there and hit good solid shots and get ball in the fairway and hit good irons and make putts. If you don't do that, you're not going to win matches.

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