VALERO TEXAS OPEN

September 28, 2002

Loren Roberts

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Loren, thank you for joining us. Third round leader. After a third round 67, it puts you at 13 under. Let's get some opening comments from your round. Came in with birdies on 17 and 18, which had to be a good way to end your day.

LOREN ROBERTS: It was a very good way to end it. We were just kind of holding ground today. I saw the leaderboard a little bit on the front nine and guys were making a lot of birdies and running away from us. I figured we were going to be shoved off the leaderboard if we didn't make some birdies. But I guess the back nine played a little tougher. I made some birdies coming into the house. I wanted to stay close.

Today is Saturday, you want to keep yourself in position to have a chance tomorrow. I was happy to finish the way I did. I hit a couple of really good shots coming into the house and got them close enough to where I could get the putts in. I'm right there for tomorrow. Today is a positioning day. You can't win it today, but you can sure lose it. So that's basically my goal, is to go out and shoot as low as I can. But if the putts aren't going in, want to make sure you don't get too far behind.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Having quite a number of tour victories yourself, do you think that gives yourself an advantage over the field? There are a lot of players who have experience, but not necessarily winning experience in the Top-10 right now.

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, obviously you've got to hit the ball well and you have to make some putts to win the golf tournament. If that happens tomorrow, I like my chances.

Obviously, having won before, I know what to expect. I know what to expect out of myself to get the job done. And I kind of know what I have to do with my game and what I need to focus on and the things that I've done in the past that have worked out for me to win, and that's what I'm going to work on tomorrow. It's nice to have a little bit of resume to fall back on.

Q. You birdied 17, a couple guys ahead of you made double there. What was your secret?

LOREN ROBERTS: Well, my secret was just try to hit the ball in the middle of the green and let it fade a little bit. If it got close to the hole, great, if it went straight, then I'll just take my two putts from 25 feet. I hit as good a shot as I probably hit all week on that hole, that's a key hole. To hit a good shot on that might be the toughest hole on the golf course, that and the second hole are the two toughest holes out here.

It was nice to get in there close enough to make birdie. And the birdie on 18 was really the icing on the cake.

I always feel it's a little tougher to follow-up a low score -- I shot a 63 yesterday. It's tough to follow-up a low score with another really low one. I like the position I'm in right now. Obviously, I'm tied for the lead, but I'd like to be tied for the lead, considering the score that I shot today.

Q. How is the ball rolling out there? The greens are I think pretty fast, pretty short?

LOREN ROBERTS: The greens are good. The greens are real good. There is not as much grain to them as there has been in the past. I know today, the first day of the tournament and today I was overplaying the grain a little bit. The ball is really rolling good. They're fast. You have to be careful when you have a downhill putt, but there's not that many fast downhill putts here. If you start trusting your reads, you can fill it up.

Q. Are you changing the way you're reading them, more or less straight on?

LOREN ROBERTS: Yesterday I played less break and I made a lot of putts. Today I couldn't get in that mode. I just kept playing a little too much break. I'm going to go out and spend a little time working on that this afternoon.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Best of luck tomorrow.

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