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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 13, 2004

J.L. Lewis

IRVING, TEXAS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: First round co-leader J.L. Lewis. Thanks for joining us, great round today, 6-under, 64. If we could start with some opening comments, obviously a good day for you on a day that a lot of you guys didn't expect to play with the possible weather problems.

J.L. LEWIS: I was surprised we got to play. It was windy and there was quite a bit of rough on the Cottonwood course. I played fairly well and managed to make a few putts, kind of get in the game a little bit.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: One of just a few players without a bogey today. You felt like you were in control most of the day today?

J.L. LEWIS: I made a couple really good putts for par, and I had chances to score a little bit better, but I kind of got what I could out of it.

Q. Anything different about this year, these courses? It always seems like we get at least one 62 or 63 from down there.

J.L. LEWIS: It was pretty windy today, and there's quite a bit of rough. If it's calm tomorrow, I imagine you'll probably see a 62 or 63 there. You know, some of the fairways, like the 18th fairway, I hit 5-wood off the tee just trying to get it in the fairway. It plays about 15 yards wide because of the way it slopes off, so there's several holes like that that get narrow right in the landing area, so it's -- you can make birdies on that course, but it's pretty challenging.

Q. Kind of assess your year, how you feel you've played up to this point.

J.L. LEWIS: It's been kind of a real mediocre year for me. I haven't played real well. I've played well at times, I just haven't scored well.

Q. When you haven't scored well, what's failed you?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, I putted poorly in a few tournaments, and then I've had a couple of tournaments where I haven't struck the ball as well as I'm capable of when I did putt well, and so you have to hit all the shots to produce the scores. You know, it just hasn't been a very good year for me, but I'm feeling good. I'm starting to play a little bit better the last five or six weeks. I was definitely due for a round like this sooner or later, or even lower than this actually.

Q. We've been going around and around for a couple years now with Tiger about who's teaching him, who's coaching him. You've done that full-time. You've helped people with their swings and stuff. How hard is it to actually get inside somebody's swing and help them?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, I don't think -- he probably listens to a lot of people and I think he probably takes what he can use and applies it to his game, and if it doesn't work he discards it. I've been working with the same instructor for a long time, and we work on a lot of the same things just at different times. It's just depending on where the ball is going. That's just kind of the way I've done it, and I'm sure he's probably the same way.

Q. Who do you work with?

J.L. LEWIS: Bill Moretti.

Q. For how long?

J.L. LEWIS: Since 94, I think.

Q. Easier to teach or to listen?

J.L. LEWIS: Much easier to listen than it is to teach. Teaching lessons is hard.

Q. When you did it, what did you rely on? Were there a couple of key things that you relied on for everybody that came before you?

J.L. LEWIS: Teaching, well, I tried to help the person with what they had. I didn't tell everybody the same thing. There's different people that have different athletic abilities and different body types, so you've got to try to find ways to help them with what they can already do, improve on what they can already do.

Q. What did you do when you had somebody that had no hope?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, there wasn't too many of those. There was a couple of those, though (laughter), but there wasn't too many. Most of them were pretty good.

Q. Tiger was saying that the greens today on TPC were kind of soft and that's why maybe the scores are pretty good over there. Obviously you have to deal with the conditions as they come up day-to-day, but do you anticipate anything for tomorrow going to TPC?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, if it blows hard and it doesn't rain, the greens are going to firm up. I anticipate that. That's what I figure is going to happen. I don't know what the weather report is, but I think that's how they want the tournament to play.

Q. How does that affect your game? What will you do if that happens?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, I'll try to play short of the hole and let it bounce up, try to figure out how much it's releasing and try to play it according to that.

Q. How many U.S. Opens have you played?

J.L. LEWIS: Three, I think. I'm not sure. I've played every major, one British and several PGAs and one Masters. I don't know, two or three maybe.

Q. Nothing earlier on in your career maybe as a qualifier?

J.L. LEWIS: No, I don't think I ever qualified for the U.S. Open until maybe 96 or something like that.

Q. Oakland Hills?

J.L. LEWIS: I think I played three because I played there and then I played at Pebble Beach. I can't remember where the U.S. Open -- where was it last year?

Q. Southern Hills.

J.L. LEWIS: I played there, that's three.

Q. Olympia Fields?

J.L. LEWIS: No, I think three.

Q. What was the toughest U.S. Open of those three you played?

J.L. LEWIS: Well, I got a tee time at Pebble Beach where the wind blew about 50, but the first round at the British Open was the toughest first round I ever had at a major because I teed off late and it blew hard.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could go through your round, six birdies, no bogeys. Started out with a birdie on the 2nd hole.

J.L. LEWIS: 8-iron, and then made about a 10-footer on that one.

4, hit a 6-iron, made about a 25-footer.

7, sand wedge in there about five feet, made that.

11, made about a nine-foot breaking putt on 11. I hit a bad drive and got it up there close and chipped it past and made it.

Then the next one was 15, driver, 5-iron, about three and a half, three feet, made that.

Next hole I hit it in the woods and chipped it out, made about an eight- or nine-footer.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: J.L. Lewis, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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