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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 24, 2004

Steve Lowery

HUMBLE, TEXAS

CHRIS REIMER: Steve, a few people in here want to talk to you after yesterday's round. Talk about how you finished off yesterday to get yourself 5-under, tied for the lead.

STEVE LOWERY: We went back out after the rain delay. It came at a good time for me because I had made double bogey at 17 and missed a short putt at 18. Parred 1, bogeyed 2, and I think that's about when the delay was. So it was a good time for me to get a little break there.

I went back out and made a couple good pars, then I was able to birdie 7 out of the trees and birdied 8 and 9 to get to 5-under.

Q. Was the course a lot different today when you went out than when you finished yesterday?

STEVE LOWERY: It was a lot wetter. I only played two shots today, but there was a lot more water on the golf course.

Q. When you finished this morning --

STEVE LOWERY: I didn't play this morning. I got finished yesterday.

Q. What's the mindset going out there when there's so many weather delays? What are you constantly trying to think of mentally when it's off and on, you don't know how many holes you're going to play today and tomorrow?

STEVE LOWERY: Well, I had been in that position where there was delays, I had already finished and then you get rained out and I didn't even get to practice. Today I came out and practiced for over an hour because I had a feeling we weren't going to play. Then I cooled down and went back out and warmed up, so I got some practice today, rather than taking a day off and having to play 36 holes tomorrow. That's kind of what I thought was going to happen. I thought we'd maybe play a hole or two and be done.

Q. The entire day has passed and you're still in the lead. Have you ever accomplished so much by doing so little?

STEVE LOWERY: Yeah, it's amazing. I birdied the last three holes yesterday and moved right up the leaderboard. You sit and watch and wait until you get to play.

Q. Looks like one way or another somebody who wins this tournament is going to have to play a lot of holes in a long day type of thing, and I'm wondering how well equipped do you feel to handle that kind of situation and just how you approach that kind of thing.

STEVE LOWERY: I think it takes some momentum. Obviously playing 36 holes tomorrow, if that's what we have to do, you get playing, you don't have to stop, you can go right to the next round, and I think that is a little bit of a pressure-free situation because you're in the middle of the round and you don't sleep on it, you just go play if that's what's going to happen.

I just think it's whoever gets the momentum tomorrow. There's going to be some mistakes out there. I've been making four birdies a day. If you make four or five birdies out there, you can do pretty well on this golf course.

Q. You had a real nice three-season, almost carbon copy seasons from start to finish, and then last year fell back a little bit. I'm wondering what you trace that to and where you -- what you think you need to do to get back to where you were.

STEVE LOWERY: Probably a combination of things. I think I got some bad habits and my putting has fallen off quite a bit. This year it's kind of on the upswing. I'm playing really well. I think I've made 7 out of 10 cuts. My confidence hasn't been where it was the last three years, and I think I'm gaining on that, but my game is good enough to be competitive, but trying to get confidence back to where it was a couple years ago, that's what I'm trying to do, and I'm getting closer.

Q. Is there a putting confidence thing?

STEVE LOWERY: Yeah, I think so. I've putted well this week, but I think in general, putting well week after week, your confidence goes up, and you've got to have some type of consistency to maintain that confidence over a period of time.

Q. Some guys do some really extreme things to try and get themselves on track with putting. What sort of things have you tried?

STEVE LOWERY: I switched putters, did all that. I was using a Ping-style putter and I switched to the Odyssey 2-Ball, which is more of a face balanced type putter. I was rotating the face too much and I've gone away from trying to do that. I was overdoing it, so that's probably been the biggest change, just the type of putter that I'm using.

Q. We're looking at the possibility of this carrying over to Monday, based on what we've seen in the weather forecast. Have you had to deal with any situations like that?

STEVE LOWERY: Yeah, we've done that a lot in however many years I've been on Tour. You have all kind of situations from 36-hole tournaments where it rains all the way out to playing till Monday. Pretty much we've done it all. If we have to cut to 60 after 36 holes -- I don't know if they'll do that here, but anyway.

Q. Do you have any other plans on Monday?

STEVE LOWERY: No plans. I'm going to New Orleans, as soon as this tournament is completed.

CHRIS REIMER: Thanks a lot, Steve.

End of FastScripts.

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