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BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP


August 28, 2004


Tom Byrum


CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

LAURY LIVSEY: Tom Byrum with us in the interview room. Thanks for coming in. You had some nice fall like conditions earlier in the week and it got a little steamy out there today. Talk about your round.

TOM BYRUM: I had a sweater on earlier in my round.

Q. And you were hitting shots with a jacket on Thursday morning.

TOM BYRUM: Amazing how it changed.

My round has been pretty much like every other day really, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and making four, five birdies a day, I think. That's probably what I had today. It's been very similar to the first two, other than I got rid of the big numbers the first day. I had a bad hole the first day.

It's been good. I feel good out there, and hopefully I can take it up a notch tomorrow and see what I've got.

Q. You played well in Canada last year but it's been a while since you've been in this position where you're leading or close to the lead. What are your thoughts?

TOM BYRUM: Well, Westchester I was playing well and got the lead with nine holes to play and gave it back, so my thoughts are hopefully I learned something from Westchester and I can play a little better on the back nine and have a chance even going into the back nine, keep giving myself chances. I'm playing well, so it's redundant and boring, but just stay patient.

Q. What would it mean to win tomorrow?

TOM BYRUM: Well, that's what I'm here for, so it would mean a lot. It would be satisfying to get in there again and come away a winner because it's been so long since I have done it, but I know I can do it. I'm actually playing and swinging so much better than I have been, even in the last ten years. That's given me a little more confidence even than I've had. Even though I've had opportunities, I haven't had the confidence that I have now as far as my game holding up, and my putting has been pretty good.

You've got to putt good under pressure, and luckily I've putted pretty well under pressure this year.

Q. What did you do on the back nine at Westchester and what did you learn from that?

TOM BYRUM: What did I do? Let's see, I bogeyed 11 and 12 and birdied 17, bogeyed 18. You know, I've just got to handle the situation a little bit better, not let the situation dictate my emotions and my feelings, put it in perspective and try to just take away all of that "what would it mean to you to win" type attitude, just go out there and I know I can hit shots in the fairway and I know I can make putts. Now it's all for a different thing, and if you can take all that away and wait and make it so it's not really going to happen and just go play like it's Saturday, maybe Friday, but in the back of your mind, you know.

Q. It's Sunday, isn't it?

TOM BYRUM: Yeah, it's hard to do.

Q. I remember your wife and your kids were there at Westchester and you thought you played well and just for whatever reason it hadn't happened?

TOM BYRUM: Well, I'm in a little better position than there. I've always seemed like I have to make money at the end of the year just to be in the Top 125. I've had a lot of experience at that. But I've played well, and in the end I've kept my card I don't know how many years now, so I feel like I'm over that, and Westchester put me past that basically. That's not something I need to worry about.

In the back of your mind you can't go out there and shoot 75 the last day and only make 50 grand. When you have an opportunity to make a couple hundred thousand and take that whole issue out of it, that's not even a problem at this point this year, so I can go out and think about winning, and if I don't win, I can look back and see what I was doing wrong or doing right and yet didn't get it done, you know.

Q. As you said, it's been a while since your last victory. Do you remember much about that day, or is that a day that you'll never forget in your life?

TOM BYRUM: Yeah, I remember shots that I hit and putts that I made. I stayed loose during the day. I had a caddie that was a joker. He was pretty much a wise guy, telling a lot of jokes. He kept me loose. I think he realized he saw a pretty hard nut that needed cracking, so he tried to keep me from getting too uptight, which he did a pretty good job of. Then I went right out and got a four or five shot lead, three at the turn and maybe a couple more at the turn and I won by five, so it wasn't like it was they were ever closing in on me or ever had a chance to give it up.

Q. Is your caddie now a joker?

TOM BYRUM: No, he's pretty serious, so we've got a problem there (laughter). I think I'm a lot better now than I was then. I had lots of pressure on myself. I know how to give myself a break now. It's not quite the world that it was back then.

LAURY LIVSEY: Can we go through your birdies and your bogeys.

TOM BYRUM: Yeah. I birdied No. 2. I had about 95 yards to the hole and hit it in there about a foot.

I birdied No. 4, made a nice putt from pin high right, maybe 20 feet.

I didn't birdie again, I don't think, until 10. I hit a 6 iron in there maybe 12 feet, 15 feet, made a nice putt.

Then 9 iron on 11 past the pin probably 10 or 12 feet.

I bogeyed 14, drove it in a divot and just really misplayed the shot. I really didn't hit a very good shot, even though it was a divot. I have an excuse, but I still could have played a better shot than that.

But I made a nice birdie comeback on the next hole. I had a lot of grass behind it and chipped it up ten feet and made that.

17, just hit a poor tee shot. It felt good but I looked up and it was left more than I had thought it would be, and then decided to just lay it up and not take myself out of the tournament on Saturday. So I made bogey there, hit a wedge in there and then two putt, and that's it. I parred 18.

LAURY LIVSEY: Thanks, Tom.

End of FastScripts.
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