EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2003

Jeff Sluman

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Jeff Sluman after a 2 under 68, one shot behind Vijay Singh heading in into tomorrow. You are looking for your first top-10 here since a T-4 in 1996. You got off to a good start three birdies in your first four holes, then things kind of slowed down after that.

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, it wasn't an easy day to play out there and the wind was coming from a different direction. The greens really firmed up, so it wasn't the golf course that we saw basically the first two days.

But all in all I'm not unhappy certainly with my position, and I thought I played well. And Peter Costas was following us, and he said, man, nothing really went your way the entire day. The shots I was hitting, I felt were pretty good shots and a lot of times they didn't end up in pretty good spots. That's the way it goes around here and every week really.

Q. It seemed like that shot into 16 was a perfect example of what you are talking about, it looked like it was going to be really good?

JEFF SLUMAN: Maybe a foot left or another foot in the air, it's probably up there pretty close for eagle. That looked like it went 20 yards sideways. I was able to get it up and down fortunately. I hit a perfect drive, I thought on 15 that ends up one yard in the left rough. 14 I hit off the tee shot. I am pretty positive I'm the only one that had almost a plugged ball on the fairway and the ball was totally covered in mud on 14. I hit a good shot so it's funny now, but had it turned out a little different I obviously wouldn't have been very happy. It was a strange day in that regard.

Q. It seems like we are talking to you every week on TOUR this year?

JEFF SLUMAN: Are you getting tired of it?

Q. No, it's got to be satisfying that you are getting yourself in a position a lot of times this year?

JEFF SLUMAN: I think so. I worked very hard with Craig Harmon at Honda this year although I missed the cut there. I think I had a 5-under so that wasn't good enough to make the cut. But realistically it's been my putt there that's been off. I think we went through that with Stan and that, but Craig has helped me with my swing and really focussed on a few of this things that I need to continue to do to swing well on a daily basis. I'm actually being more disciplined and I'm trying to plug them in on a little mini practice session every day whether it's 10 or 15 minutes.

Q. Is this as excited you have been in your career during the top of your all time hot streaks or whatever you want to call it?

JEFF SLUMAN: All the hot streaks have a lot of wind in them. I'm playing well and I'm playing consistent. I honestly think I have done that for quite a long time out here on TOUR. Sometimes you notice and sometimes you don't. It depends honestly who is leading the tournament, and if you are fourth sometimes people don't realize you are even around.

If you are first, second and third you are here in the interview room, but we understand that.

Q. You can finish second in the U.S. Open sometimes and nobody notices?

JEFF SLUMAN: Exactly. But the winner should get the spoils and all of that. I feel like really since the '90's. I had a little down time in '93 early into '94 with my swing and that. I was really at the bottom of the barrel. Since then I think I played good solid consistent golf for the last basically 10 years.

Q. Jeff, Nick was saying late '80's, early '90's, he felt like he had a lot to prove himself. Now he says he works just hard enough to keep up as he put it, how do you see your work ethic now as have you gotten to the age you are and playing as well as you are?

JEFF SLUMAN: Well, I think it just becomes obviously smarter as you get a little older in this game. I can't do some of things that I physically could do years ago, and what I mean by that is I'm not going to go out and hit balls for 5 or 6 hours which I would do when I was a young guy out here on TOUR. I don't feel like I have to anymore. But I understand where and what I need to work on. I'm a little more disciplined in that regard instead of just aimlessly beating balls and trying to be repetitive and group your swing on the range. I feel like I understand what I have to do, and what shots and how my body reacts and then try to work on the scoring aspects of your game, which, quite frankly, I avoided for a while. It's the old adage that any golfer -- you will find even with TOUR players, they don't like to practice what they are bad at. I never was what I thought a great chipper and a great pitcher of the ball. That's where you can really save a lot of strokes out here. The last four or five years I really tried to work hard on that aspect of the game and finished my practice session that way. It's really helped over the years because of that.

Q. Is Vijay a difficult guy to contend with on Sunday?

JEFF SLUMAN: I mean obviously he is a major winner. He has won all over the world. He is a big strong guy that hits it a mile and is fearless out there.

Q. In here, too?

JEFF SLUMAN: I'm not touching that. But we played a number of rounds together. I can't worry about whoever I am paired with. I just have to worry about my own game and that goes back to, I think, being a little bit more of a veteran player than the young guy. If I was 24, or 25 and first or second year out here, I would be probably wondering how he thinks I am going to play. Is he going to be looking at my swing? Nobody is looking at it.

I remember the first time I played with Jack, that's all I could think about was, geez, I better play good. I wonder how he thinks I am swinging and this and that. He could care less. That's not saying anything bad, that's reality that you have to concentrate on your own game. It doesn't really matter who you are playing with. You got to worry about yourself out there.

Q. Speaking about concentrating on your own game, today you might not have been looking at the leader board, but it seemed like a seesaw battle between you and Vijay, that has to play on you a bit?

JEFF SLUMAN: I didn't see it though. I know tomorrow how it will be going. Or if someone else is ahead of you. I got kind of caught up in that in '88, I think, I had the lead here going into the last day and I hadn't won yet and I remember kind of getting caught up in the leader board and how everybody was doing. It was a good lesson learned.

Q. Can you talk about not going out and beating balls for 5 hours a day, do you think young guys spend too much time doing that or is that just part of the process?

JEFF SLUMAN: I think that's part of the learning curve really. What you can and can't do. How many tournaments you play in a row. If do you outings on Monday. How many weeks you can stay out on the road. There is a lot of things that you have to learn. You have to learn quickly out here because if you don't learn them quick, you are probably not going to get another chance the next year.

Q. How much of a disadvantage or maybe even an advantage being a Chicago snow bird in the winter where you can't play?

JEFF SLUMAN: I never thought it was a disadvantage. I started off in Rochester, New York. And then I moved to Chicago. But in between when I was single I lived in Naples and I lived in Palm Springs, and I still shut down at the end of the middle of November until like January. I think it just refreshes you. It gives you a chance to get all of those little nicks healed and get refreshed and you really have some enthusiasm to go out and practice starting in January. I found myself getting stale a couple of years that I played all the way through and kept going. But by February or March I felt like I was stale.

When you take some time off, the bell is going to ring early January. You say, oh, boy, now I better, I better make sure my practice sessions are solid. I am working on fundamentals and doing all of those things. I'm not in a real hurry. But I get out to Hawaii and make sure I get about 8 or 10 days to get ready and that's kind of what I do. It might not work for everybody but it seems to work for me. I think if anything it will add so longevity into my career.

Q. Because you are fresher?

JEFF SLUMAN: Yes, and not killing myself playing every day. I can't be a Dana Quigley that plays every day and every tournament and gets off a plane and plays. That's okay for him. It works for him. I know personally it wouldn't work for me.

Q. You talk about lessons learned, can you amplify on that, obviously you are in the hunt on Sunday?

JEFF SLUMAN: I was in the hunt. I didn't play well. I think I played Lietzke, if I am not mistaken, I don't know who won offhand. I was too caught up in the whole situation, the last group, and making sure I was trying to stay away from Bruce and worry about all of this things you don't need to worry about. So tomorrow I have been through this enough that I am just going out to play my game and stay patient and hit quality shots and eventually you get rewarded out here.

(Scorecard.)

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Jeff.

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