WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 10, 2003

J.P. Hayes

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: J.P., thank you for joining us. Third round 72 puts you tied for second going into tomorrow's round. If we could start with some opening comments.

J.P. HAYES: It was a fairly good day. I didn't hit it as well as did I yesterday but kept it in play and made some good putts. Shot a respectable score but if there was some more birdies out there, it was a little bit disappointing to finish the way I did. David played great. Would like to be a little closer to him obviously. But tough golf course. And five shots is not impossible, but it will be difficult.

Q. Can you talk about 17?

J.P. HAYES: That was probably 75 feet and I hit it way too hard and I knew it when it was halfway there, I thought I was in a little bit of trouble there. It caught the middle of the hole. That shows you how hard I hit it; it caught the middle of the hole and still lipped out. I was fortunate there. I hit a good tee shot, misjudged the wind a little bit, but got away with that putt, definitely.

I hit a 3-iron, but tried to hit it high and soft, which I did, and hit it right at the pin, and turns out I could have hit it as hard as I wanted to, 230 yards.

Q. What is it about this golf course, do you have to be aggressive or do you just let it happen? How do you approach tomorrow?

J.P. HAYES: I think so. On a golf course that's given up a lot of low scores, I think you have to be a little more aggressive out here.

I think the way I shot 66 yesterday, it just happened. I hit the ball well and kept it in play and hit a lot of good iron shots, and I'm sure David probably said the same thing. You don't go out saying: Well, I'd really like to shoot 66 today or I think I need to shoot 66.

On a golf course like this, it's just one of those things that happens. It would not be difficult to get on the bogey train out here and make up shots that way. I don't think you have to shoot at the pins all the time to make birdies. It's pretty easy to make bogeys out here. You can catch people that way, too.

Q. What's the most dangerous thing about playing this course, if you think you can play well, do you start attacking it and you get too confident about it? Or do you always have to play defensively?

J.P. HAYES: For me the most dangerous part of the golf course is just getting ahead of yourself and maybe looking forward to a hole that is a little bit easier than the one you're playing, just getting ahead of yourself. A course this hard, you've just got to concentrate on the shot you're hitting, especially tee shots, and get it in play and then hit an iron shot to the right side of the hole to give yourself a makeable putt. That's the biggest thing for me out here.

Q. Are you a little looser on the golf course these days? You were laughing after the putt on 17.

J.P. HAYES: That was pretty funny. I think I am a little bit. I think I've got a pretty good attitude. I think that will help me as my career continues and begins to wind down. I enjoy what I'm doing, regardless of how I play. We're very fortunate to be doing this for a living and I'm just in a good place in my life right now. I've got a good attitude. That putt, that was a pretty bad putt but I got away with it. That was pretty funny. So hopefully that will help me tomorrow is a good attitude.

Q. Do you feel better after having some success in the last four, five, six years, hanging out with Beem or what?

J.P. HAYES: You know, I think when I was younger, it meant so much to me that I think I might have been a little bit wound up about it, and it still means a lot to me. But I've got so much else in my life that is good, that one ingredient isn't going to make it or break it for me. Every day, it's fun to wake up, see my family; I think that has a lot to do with it. It just keeps me loose. Keeps you positive.

Q. Is David just solid the way he seems to be playing?

J.P. HAYES: I think he was pretty close the first two days to probably shooting what he did today. You know, it's just a shot here or there that makes a difference from the scores he shot the first two days and what he shot today. It's maybe a putt here or there.

He's playing awfully well. He's driving it long and he's driving it straight, drives that don't wind up in the fairway are very playable. He's doing a lot of good things on a very difficult course.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go over your score card. You started with a birdie on No. 4.

J.P. HAYES: I hit a really good 5-iron to about four feet and made birdie.

6, I hit a 3-iron right of the green chipped up and missed the putt from 5- or ten feet.

11, drove it right kind of under the tree and had a decent shot but couldn't get it up on the green and didn't get up-and-down.

Birdied 12. Hit an indifferent 9-iron to 20 feet pin-high on the right fringe and made a good putt and that got me going a little bit.

15, I hit a little pitch shot from 50 yards to about six feet and made the putt. Then bogeyed 18 from the right green-side bunker.

End of FastScripts....