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FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

May 29, 2004

Vaughn Taylor

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Vaughn, thanks for joining us. A little bit of an up-and-down day for you but even par, 71 today. David is really playing well and will be tough to catch, but with some expected bad weather tomorrow, high winds, anything could happen.

If we could talk about your day and maybe also comment on the play of David Toms so far this week.

VAUGHN TAYLOR: You know, David played really solid today. He never looked like he was going to make a bogey or miss a shot. It was fun to watch.

Today I just got off to a bad start and then got it back early, and 9 and 10 kind of took the steam out of me a little bit, but I tried to battle back again. I just didn't quite have it.

Q. Talk about your eagle on No. 5. You bogeyed 3 and 4 and then came back with an eagle to get back to even for the day. Obviously that was a big part of your day today, No. 5.

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Yeah, I hit a perfect tee shot right where I was aiming and hit a good 4-iron, and I got a lucky hop there. It landed soft, and then about four feet. That was what I needed.

Q. How did the nerves kind of manifest themselves? You mentioned that it was in the putting a little bit, but did you feel them warming up, did you feel them the first tee? When did you start noticing you were a little bit nervous?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: All day pretty much, beginning to end.

Q. From the time you woke up?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: No, I was fine until I stood on the first tee, and pretty much the whole day I felt it.

Q. Do you have anything you try to do to calm yourself down, any routines?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Yeah, I constantly talk to myself and try to relax myself. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Q. You talked about learning some things about yourself today. What did you learn about being in contention?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: You know, I have to really keep my mind on what I'm doing. I can't let what's going on, what David is doing, what the crowd is doing, anything but the shot I'm hitting. That's the only thing I can think about.

Today when I really focused on what I was doing, I hit great shots.

Q. How much can you use today to try and go into tomorrow since even though David has gotten a good lead right now, you're still going to be up there at the top and have a chance to have your best finish ever?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Yeah, I think tomorrow hopefully I'll be more relaxed. Today was my first time in the last group, and hopefully tomorrow I'll feel more comfortable. The wind is supposed to blow, so a good score will definitely go a long ways.

Q. Do you think the special tee times tomorrow to avoid the weather will be any kind of advantage or disadvantage for you tomorrow?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Probably not. It's going to be the same for everybody towards the end of the wave there, so I don't think it'll be either way.

Q. Did you gain any confidence from the first round Thursday playing in the wind, playing well?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Yeah, a little bit. It seems like it's been windy all year, so I've been working on my wind game, and it's feeling much better. I'm keeping the ball down out of the wind and it's showing.

Q. David is a very easy-going type guy, isn't an intimidating player or anything, but just the way he started, that would seem to -- can that be a little intimidating just watching him go about his business that way?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Yeah, when he got off to such a good start and I bogeyed 3 and 4, I was wondering how in the world I was going to catch up. It looked for a while there he was going to shoot nothing.

After he just got on a roll there, I tried to just really focus on what I was doing and not worry about how low he was shooting.

Q. Tomorrow I guess you just concern yourself with what you're doing, but there's a pack of guys, and if you're going to stay in second place, and in a sense, that's kind of where your golf tournament is tomorrow?

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Yeah, I mean, I don't know how many guys -- anybody can catch me if I don't play good, so I've just got to go out there and take care of business and hopefully shoot a low score.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Can we go through the round quickly? We talked a little bit about it, but you bogeyed the par 5, 3rd hole.

VAUGHN TAYLOR: Yeah, I pulled it off the tee, hit the tree, went across the fairway and had a real downhill lie. I tried to hit too much club off the downhill lie and I hit a little mound right in front of me. I got in the rough on the bad side of the lie.

In that lie you feel like you're going to lose it right so I guarded it against the water and hit it in the bunker. I hit a poor bunker shot. I wasn't really relaxed over that putt. I was nervous and hit a weak putt.

4, I didn't hit a good shot there. That was a tough putt over a ridge, and I left it a little short. I thought I hit a good putt there and I just missed left.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We talked about the eagle on 5. Came back with another birdie on No. 9.

VAUGHN TAYLOR: I birdied 6. I hit 3-wood, sand wedge, made about an 18-footer.

Then 9, I hit 5-wood, 9-iron to about a foot.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Bogeys on 10 and 11.

VAUGHN TAYLOR: 10, hit 3-wood down the middle. Hit a 9-iron long and left and hit a good chip to about four feet, and lost my concentration on that one, and missed that putt.

Then 11, lost my concentration again. I just kind of went blank there. I forgot what I was doing and hit a bad shot. I made a good bogey, though. I felt like I hit a good shot from the drop area. That was what I wanted to do there.

Birdied 12, hit driver, pitching wedge, made about a 15-footer, I guess.

Bogey on 17, hit 5-wood, 6-iron left, and that was dead over there, had nothing really. I was pleased with that chip. I could have done anything there, and I two-putted from 15 feet, or something.

Q. How impressive is David? I guess he's 16th in the world now. (Inaudible).

VAUGHN TAYLOR: He's real impressive. He's solid. He hits it straight as an arrow, and you can tell he's really confident and believes in his ability. And if he putts well, he's going to play good.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Vaughn, thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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