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VALERO TEXAS OPEN


September 25, 2003


Tom Byrum


SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Tom, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center. Great round today. Great finish with a birdie on the 9th hole, which was your back nine. You're the first guy in at 7 under 63 from the afternoon. Why don't you talk about the conditions this afternoon, maybe from when you started to when you finished and then we'll go on to some questions.

TOM BYRUM: Well, the conditions were very - I thought very consistent. The rains this last weekend are still showing signs there. The greens are still holding well. Fairways are drying up a bit, but the greens are still holding shots. Until the greens firm up a little bit more, the scores I think are going to stay a little bit low.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: How about the wind?

TOM BYRUM: It wasn't much of a factor. It switches around. It seemed from the start of the morning until into the afternoon, it did seem to change direction, but not enough to where it was too much. You had to play it, but it was noticeable enough to where you could figure it out. It was consistent all day, though. It wasn't a hard day to score. The wind wasn't a factor to the point where it was making it really hard to score. And the greens were rolling nice. You just had to pay attention to where the green was and watch your speed into the green or down green. It was a good day.

Q. When the course is this vulnerable to scoring, does it make you more aggressive or less aggressive in the way you approach it?

TOM BYRUM: Well, luckily today it is vulnerable to scoring, I think, but I tried not to get in an aggressive mode. I just tried to play my own game, which isn't going to be rewarded by long drives and super shots, it's just going to be consistent and wait for the wedges and hit the wedges close and hopefully the putter is there all day. That's what it was today. It was good putting and a lot of patience and just putting the ball in the fairway and on the green and accepting a par and 20, 30 feet for a birdie. If that's what I had to take, I would take it. Then when I got the wedges and the 9 irons, I got a little closer.

Q. It seemed like you weren't real streaky today. You stretched your birdies out. Is that how you like to play?

TOM BYRUM: I love to play that way. I'd love to spread about six of them out every day. It seems sometimes, though, I think if you notice on there, they were spread out, but they were kind of in pairs or so. It seemed like you would get on a little roll. I think that has to do with the layout of the course. I think there are holes that run together where you can birdie a few in a row and you get a good hole or two in a row. And then you're not going to birdie every easy hole, either, but I think for me it seems like they kind of come in groups when I do start making some birdies.

Q. You ended today with three straight birdies, no bogeys.

TOM BYRUM: That's right.

Q. Did you feel towards the end that you had to be more aggressive?

TOM BYRUM: No.

Q. That the scores were so low?

TOM BYRUM: No. I wasn't watching the board. Whatever the course was going to give me, the last three holes were just, put it in the fairway and you had a sand wedge, a wedge, and a wedge, you know. You're not thinking you're aggressive. With wedges in your hand, you should be aiming at the pin, anyway. If your yardages are fitting your club pretty well I didn't have any in between yardage. They're a little harder to get it close, so most of my shots were nice hole shots, not take it off of this or swing at that. It fit the shot very well.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You played very well of late. I know you played well in Canada, I'm not sure what you did in the last two weeks, and you played well last week. Is there something you've changed or done?

TOM BYRUM: I changed putters in Canada. I went to a different potter in Canada. I was ready for something different on the greens. But I don't know, I've just been very patient and I've always been more of a finisher than a starter anyway. It's always been late in the year, got to go do it, so I start picking it up. It just seems like the courses fit me better, if it quits raining. When it rains I'm not necessarily a factor.

Q. Your a Texas resident?

TOM BYRUM: I live outside of Houston, yes.

Q. Have you ever played this course before?

TOM BYRUM: Before this year? Yes, every year.

Q. So you feel pretty comfortable with the course?

TOM BYRUM: It hasn't been very generous to me, necessarily, in the past. I've had some decent tournaments here, but this year, as Joan said, I do feel like I'm playing pretty well and just not looking to go out and try anything that I'm not capable of, which I think for me is what I need to do to score well.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Let's go through your birdies today. You started on the back side. You birdied 11.

TOM BYRUM: I think I hit a pitching wedge about 10 or 12 feet.

14, the par 5, I hit a 4 wood on the green in two, 2 putted.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: How far was your putt.

TOM BYRUM: Probably 30 feet, maybe more than that.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: The first hole.

TOM BYRUM: The first hole was the next one? I guess it was. So No. 1, I hit a sand wedge just past the pin, probably it was 12 feet.

No. 2, I think I hit a 6 iron into No. 2. That was probably 15 feet, maybe 20. And then the last three, right?

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Yes.

TOM BYRUM: I hit a little sand wedge into 7 and 52 degree wedge, gap wedge into 8 I'm sorry, 7 was about three feet.

8, I hit a wedge about 5 feet.

And 9, I hit a pitching wedge to about 10 feet.

End of FastScripts...
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