Q. Tiger, can you talk a little about the golf course and how you like it?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it's a different routing than what we played in '98. Even though they got new grass on the fairways, it's still playing fairly week. The greens are very quick. Probably more firm than they are quick. And there's definitely a lot of run-out on the greens, and we have to be paying attention to that quite a bit this week.
Q. It looks like on paper the American Team is a little longer, the course is not very long out there, there's a lot of drivable par 4s, but is that an advantage for you guys?
PHIL MICKELSON: The par 4s may be reachable but they are really not drivable.
It's more important to set up your approach shot, get the correct angle, given that the ball won't stop as quickly, angles are much more important this week, much like a British Open where you want to have the ability to land the ball 30, 40, 50 feet short and let it release back to the hole.So getting the ball actually on the surface of holes that are reachable is not really feasible or probable I would say out here. Creating better angles and shorter shots here is probably more important than trying to get it on.
Q. What do you think about the course so far?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, it's a great course. Kind of reminds me of a British Open style course, but also reminds me of Metropolitan when we were back here in 2002. So it has a great look to it. The course is in great shape. It's nice to be here. Can't say anything negative about the course. It's very nice. It's very fair. I imagine when the wind, if the wind were to get up and blow, it's going to be very difficult too. It's tough to get the balls close to the pin. It's really firm. The greens are really firm, so it's tough to judge it on the greens. Overall, it's in great shape and it's a great layout.
Q. I saw one hole out there on the 10th and the Americans came through and they were all on the high side of the hole and the Internationals came through and they were under the hole. As the local are you telling the boys to leave the ball under the hole? Is that a fair observation?
ADAM SCOTT: Well, you can try and leave it under the hole out here. It's not that easy on a lot of them. It's very, very firm and the fact is, you're just not going to be able to play them under the hole all week. You can get punished for trying to be too cute and leaving it under the hole. Sometimes you're just going to have to hit your shot and accept that you're going to have a fast putt. There is certainly a lot to take in on this golf course, and you get to play it for two days, and you there's a chance that some of our team, with a little more experience here, have a little better understanding of how to get it around the golf course.
Q. How much pride do you and your fellow Aussies and everyone in this country take in this golf course?
GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, that's a good question. I think it's a very -- there is a lot of pride in this golf course. It's clearly our best course. It's probably clearly our best course. It's got probably as rich a history in professional golf tournaments as any golf course in the world, really, outside of Augusta and St. Andrews. It's had golf tournaments for as long as I can remember, and they were happening a long time before I can remember. All the greats have played here. I mean, the golf course is going to be a really big part of the story this week, and I think it should be. Alister MacKenzie was here, and it's a stunning place. I hope player is going around today on their first hit or yesterday going, wow, I wish we could play this sort of course more often. I think it's pretty special.
Q. Is the course too different for that to be what to do now, or was that experience what you expect here?
ERNIE ELS: No, it's great. I know for a fact that winning on a serpent course when it's as tough as this golf course it's always nice to have a little bit of experience on it. So I think our team, if we have any advantage, it's the fact that a lot of our players have played this golf course, and a lot of the guys have won here and done well, so we know how to play it.
