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ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 21, 2007

Nick Watney

AVONDALE, LOUISIANA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Nick, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Good solid round today and in great position going into the final day. Just talk about that. I know you've been in that position before, and you're getting more and more comfortable with it.
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I'm excited for tomorrow. I know I'm going to have to play a good round. I won't be trying to protect anything. I know that the guys are going to come charging. Just go try to play the best I can.

Q. What do you see as being -- when you look at that crowd, who do you maybe see as being the chief threat?
NICK WATNEY: I'm not even sure who's closest or what. This is the PGA TOUR, so it's definitely not going to be easy. I mean, anybody, really. If they're good enough to play out here, they're good enough to -- they're obviously playing well this week. I can't pinpoint one name, but anybody can win, really.

Q. Knowing the history of this tournament, the first-time winners, do you feel pretty excited from that standpoint?
NICK WATNEY: I do, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I've still got a long way to go tomorrow. This course can be not very forgiving if you hit some crooked shots. I definitely know the history, but I've got a long way to go.

Q. As you were playing through this round, were you paying attention to the leaderboard, or is that just something that you start paying more attention to the further along you get into the round?
NICK WATNEY: I looked at it a few times, but, you know, it's only the third round, and like I said, I've got a long way to go. So it wasn't too much of a factor I would say.

Q. Is this one of those obviously anything can happen tomorrow because you're the third and new leader?
NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I mean, I'd like to go out there and play a really steady, solid round. It doesn't always happen like that, so I've got to be prepared for anything. You know, I'm not going to change my approach. I have to play well, so we'll see what happens.

Q. You said you're not going to change your approach, but obviously you did a little something different, for lack of a better word, today as opposed to yesterday to shoot what you did.
NICK WATNEY: Well, honestly I didn't. I played very well today, I played very well yesterday. I made a few putts. That's been the difference between this week and the whole year, really. I've been hitting the ball well but not really making a lot of putts. So this week the ball has been falling for me.

Q. Have you led a tournament going into the final round yet?
NICK WATNEY: No, I have not, out here, no.

Q. I apologize because we missed your original comment. Just give me your thoughts again about going into tomorrow's final round as the leader.
NICK WATNEY: Well, I mean, I'm very excited. I haven't been leading going into the final round, and obviously it's just a place you want to be. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and going to try to learn as much as I can and hopefully come out on top.

Q. Will you do anything differently getting ready for tomorrow because you are in the lead?
NICK WATNEY: No. I mean, bottom line is I have to go play a good round, and I've done that the first three days, so probably just try to stick to my routine and try to keep everything as normal as possible.

Q. Have you had a game plan this week, and if you did, what was it?
NICK WATNEY: Yeah. I mean, the greens -- mostly on the second shots. The greens kind of fall off in some areas and they put some pins where you don't want to mis-hit on certain sides. I've actually played fairly conservative, but I've just been making some putts, so I'm going to try to do that tomorrow.

Q. Is conservative the way to go, do you think, on this kind of course?
NICK WATNEY: Well, I mean, you can be rewarded if you hit a really good shot, but you can hit a really good shot that misses by just a little bit and end up making a bogey. I would say some of the greens, conservative is definitely the way to go.

Q. How did 16 play? I know you birdied it.
NICK WATNEY: 16, they moved the tee up there. The water is so close there on the left side and it's not an easy chip from the right, so you'd have to hit a perfect drive. So I just ended up hitting a club where I hit it the first two days, so it didn't play that much different for me.

Q. You played well early in the season. Are you playing similar to what you were playing early in the year?
NICK WATNEY: Yes. I played decent all year. I haven't really had a lot of top finishes recently, but I've been hitting the ball well. I've done a lot of good work with Butch Harmon, and I really feel like I'm striking it well. But this week I've been making some putts. I've been working on that pretty hard lately. That's been the difference.

Q. When did you notice, or did you notice about the logjam at the top? Where on the course were you when you first got perspective?
NICK WATNEY: I saw on the 10th green there were four guys tied. I can only control what I do, so I wasn't watching the boards too much.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you.

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