Retief Goosen Quotations

Golf is flexibility, and I notice more guys injured. You can overdo this conditioning.

I played a lot of other sports at school and just one day the golf bug bit me and I started playing serious golf from when I was ten years old.

I've always been kind of a shy guy. Not very outgoing. I might not start a conversation, but if somebody else does, I'll chat away.

There are a number of golfers who are playing great golf in their 40s.

I turned pro and won Rookie of the Year on the South African Tour and then it took me two tries at the qualifying school on the European Tour and to get my card and the rest is history.

Golf is growing, and there are more good young players, but you don't see them going abroad. It's so expensive to travel.

I do like match play. I like trying to match an opponent shot for shot. It's a challenge. And it's something different.

I hang around under the radar. Nobody is bothering me for interviews.

I mean, to win a major, you've got to be a good player and you've got to get your breaks, as well, to win.

I remember winning the first time, you know, suddenly everybody expects, well, okay, now he should win every time he tees it up, win six tournaments.

I'm not that clued up on the American sports yet, really.

I've got an L3 bulging disk and degenerating disk. It's bulging in two places. Yeah, it's not good.

Just about every player on tour has a bad back. It's just one of those games that does mess you up a little bit. You've got to keep looking after it.

Majors are important but so is every other tournament I play.

Pretty much whoever wins the tournament at the end of the week is the guy that putted probably the best.

Traveling around, it's difficult to follow much TV. Mainly I'm somebody who watches sports.

You can't really measure your game. You can shoot seven under and lose and you can shoot even and win.

You know, one day you make putts and the next day you don't.

Well my dad was a pretty good player at one stage and my two older brothers played golf as well. So there were always golf clubs flying around the house.

Luckily, it doesn't really hurt me when I hit the ball. I know it's there, but it's nothing serious.

Luckily, everybody is still breathing. When both cars are a write off, then it's not a little bump.

On 17 we both hit the wrong clubs, eight-irons instead of nine-irons. I didn't have much of a shot and it was a bad lie in a hard pan. It was a question of landing the ball in the right spot and it was a bit of a shock when it went in. But then it was a great up-and-down by Ernie as well.

One hole, you could hear the birds singing away, like there's nobody on the course. It's definitely a lot quieter out there than you normally hear around Augusta, besides the one big cheer we heard. And we obviously all knew that was Tiger.

No, I'm not even thinking about the lightning incident,

Obviously there's a long way to go still but I'm very happy to start off like this. You can't win the tournament in the first round so I'm just going to keep playing well and see what happens.

Obviously, the golf course is only going to get tougher as the week goes on. If I can keep striking the ball solid and keep it in play, we can try for Sunday.

Obviously, that bad round hasn't affected his game. It shows you he's got a good mental attitude, and that's what you need in this game.

Obviously it was a great round, I don't think it will be beaten for awhile,

My swing is definitely not there. Yesterday I was very bad off the tee and I had to keep chopping out sideways. I was a bit better today, at least I kept the ball in play more.

My schedule just worked out so that I'm able to play more tournaments in South Africa this year.

On the back nine I was just sort of hanging on but it's never over till it's over. I think on 15 was a big turning-point, when I chipped in for par and I think then the tournament was over.

On the front nine I never really did anything. All of my birdie putts were really too far away to make anything,

I wouldn't say we feel like we're the underdogs. Obviously on paper we look like we are probably not as strong a team. But in match play, it always can turn around so many times, like we've seen in the Ryder Cup.

I worked on my temper and worked with Jos from 1998 to 2002 on the mental side of the game.

I got off to a bad start on the first when I hit my second over the green and took a bogey five. Ernie then birdied quite a few holes on the front nine, but I struggled all day. While Ernie was always putting for birdies, I was scrambling.

I didn't really play all that well. I missed a lot of greens but I chipped and putted very well and holed a lot of good putts for pars. The greens were a bit more tricky this afternoon with all the traffic. I felt I could have shot a good round. I was three under through six and then nothing happens,

I could tell by his body language that he wasn't in the right frame of mind and that gave me encouragement. When you see him slouching down the fairway you can feed off that energy.

Funny enough, I've been struggling a little bit with a sore rib. Everybody's got sore ribs this week.

I enjoy playing with Tiger. I've come close to beating him at the (World Golf) Match Play, but I don't think too many players have a great record against Tiger.

He got on a roll early, I think he was three-under after four holes and he hit everything the right place onto the greens.

When I play over here (the U.S.), I have to get releases there and when I play in Europe, I have to get releases from here. Wherever I want to tee it up, I have to ask somebody if I can play. It's quite scary.

Today I found my game a lot better, started hitting the ball well and made a few putts. The first two days I hit it so bad. I hit it right into the middle of the lake a couple of times.

He's got to have some sort of excuse not to play. I mean, serious excuse.

Hitting the fairways here is the most important thing, ... If you miss a green, you have a chance of getting up and down. If you miss the fairways, you have no chance of getting on the green from this rough.

We made the right putts at the right time, ... We played solid. We played good. The pressure was always on them.

We made the putts at the right time. The pressure was always on them.

It can only get tougher out there when the wind starts blowing and the greens dry out.

I think the guys would like to play this type of golf course more often, ... I think this is a true test of your golf. You really cannot get away with any bad part of your game around here.

I think the course setup was perfect today. Tomorrow it might blow a gale, and we'll all be moaning at things. But I don't think anybody will be unhappy with the way the course played today.

I think the course is playing the best I've seen it for a while for everybody: shorter hitters, longer hitters, the fairways are running out of places a little bit, so even the shorter hitters are getting some distance out on the fairways.

I think the course is in as good of shape as I've seen it in the last five years. You know the fairways are running a little bit and some holes are actually playing shorter than it's played in the last five years, purely because you get some run in the fairways.

I think the course is definitely a better course. The course today was a perfect setup. Tomorrow, it might blow a gale, and we'll all be moaning at things.

I think the course is definitely a better course. It's tough, that's for sure. The rough is just slightly longer than it's been in the past two years. With the fairways getting so firm now, the rough tends to stop the ball a little bit from running into the trees.

I think what has turned my golfing career is my mental toughness,

I think any golf course they make longer plays into the hands of Tiger. I think he's just smiling. You haven't heard him complaining about that. The longer they can make it, the better for him.

I think this pro-am thing is being revisited,

I think that's as easy as you will see it today.

Last week wasn't a great field but I played well and it would be great to win again,

I saw the greens very well today and I read the greens very well, especially on the front nine. That was the key, putting well. I didn't drive too well. I only hit six fairways out of 14, so I did well to shoot 64.

I saw him miss the return, and I heard someone in the crowd say, 'You're two ahead now, ... I didn't really expect Phil to make double on 17.

Some of the holes are actually playing shorter than they did last year.

My putting is good at the moment, ... I'm making a lot of good saves out of the rough.

Mark struggled and that's pretty much what happened with Jeff Maggert, ... He pretty much struggled all the way, especially on the back nine this morning, and that's really where I got ahead.

Mark struggled and that's pretty much what happened with Jeff Maggert,

Match play is completely game. You can play well and lose in match play. If you play well, the other guy just played better than you.

It doesn't make much difference who it is.

That was not the way I wanted to start -- I've had some bad rounds this year, especially some final rounds.

I would like to go for the greens, but I keep driving in the rough. That's the problem. I hit a few bad drives. I didn't quite drive it as well as I did Thursday. I need to work on that a little this afternoon, and hopefully play better Saturday.

I would love to win ? not too many players have won it three times, ... But this week, next week at the World Match Play and the American Express are three very important weeks.

Michael obviously today didn't play all that well on the front nine and that won the tournament for me,

You always get more pleasure if you beat great players.

Well, Tiger has found his game again so he would be a tough one to catch but I would like to move up and see if I could get into that 'big four' category, though if I did they'd probably change it to the 'big three'.

You know, tomorrow it might blow a gale and we'll all be moaning at things.

Those big putts, when I was standing over them, I felt like I had a chance, ... I had been making big putts all week.

We obviously knew it was Tiger doing something.

There are a few mixed feelings out there. But at the end of the day everybody is playing the same course.

We've played in sleet a few times on the European tour, but Europe is not this bad. We never have weather like this for eight straight weeks.

Two under is not a bad start. That was pretty much as good as I could have shot. I didn't drive it well. I was making a lot of five-footers for par, which is not good.

Today we played very well, we just seem to play a similar sort of game. We gel well with each other.

You can lose a three shots very quickly around here,

We all know why they are playing in Dubai this week, ... The top guys can't play every week, although they are playing this week somewhere else.

Unbelievable. I thought if I got to 9 under, I'd have a chance.

This year I have been pleased with my level of consistency, but a little disappointed not to have won, ... But having won here in 2000, I have a lot of good memories of this golf course, so hopefully this is the week that I make the breakthrough.

Everybody struggled, ... The course wasn't easy and, you know, I'm just lucky to be on top.

At the start of the day I thought 11- or 12-under (would win), ... When I saw Tiger and Jay got off to a bad start I thought nine-under would be a good score.

Ernie played very well and I got away with it at the end there. It's great to win this trophy again. The last time was ten years ago so it's great to get my hands on it again.

There was about a yard-and-a-half break on the putt, so it was nice to roll that one in. I was a little bit on the lucky side.

I started a little bit shaky but I had Phil to guide me around here. We made some good putts and it went really well.

I've been putting well all week, ... It was a great match. I just putted better than he did.

I've been putting very well all week, seeing the greens very well. I started playing better in the last few events. It was nice to have a good week.

The wind has been blowing differently and the par fives played easy as it was blowing downwind today. You can't win a tournament in the first round so I'll just hope to keep playing well,

It was unfortunate, but you need to take some time out now and then. It put me back probably six weeks or so. I didn't play golf, but it was a good rest. I felt like I needed it, although it wasn't something I planned.

It was an up and down day, especially on the back nine with three birdies and three bogeys. They were stupid bogeys, to be honest. I feel disappointed right now, but I have another chance tomorrow.

People are telling Ernie to travel less because he is tiring himself out. I hope he doesn't listen to that nonsense. I used to travel round the world with six children, no jet, and it was 30 hours from Johannesburg to America. Ernie's got a bed on his plane, for goodness sake. It's all in the mind.

On Tuesday he hit the ball as good as I've seen him hit it. He's such a great competitor that he probably still believes he can win out here.

Adam played well today, ... I struggled and was completely out of it on a few holes, but he kept us going.

Adam carried us the first couple of days,

As long as you hit it straight (at Augusta National) it doesn't matter how long you hit it. You still have to hit it straight and hit the shots. I think I'm hitting my irons a little bit better at the moment, which is a big plus.

It's just lucky for me the last two days that I have managed to get ahead very quickly and stay there and win by a big margin,

It wasn't the Big Five when I was No. 5. As soon as I'm No. 4, they make it the Big Three. But those are the guys you've got to beat. They're going to be up there on the weekend.