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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

October 3, 2008

Jeff Overton

VERONA, NEW YORK

JOE CHEMYCZ: We'd like to welcome Jeff Overton in today at 3-under, 69 today. Looking at the stat sheet, 18 of 18 greens in regulation. Obviously something is working very well. Talk about your day, if you would.
JEFF OVERTON: Like you said, 18 for 18 greens. I had a lot of good drives and put myself in good positions and was able to -- you know, just I mean, kind of keep things going from yesterday.
Didn't aim at a whole a lot of flags. Just wanted to hit some shots and work the ball into some holes, and was able to do that a couple times and made a couple birdies.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Talk, if you would, about the delays and what that does to your momentum.
JEFF OVERTON: Fortunately for me it didn't really bother me so much today, because right before the first delay happened I had just gotten -- hit 5-iron into the green because the way the wind had trolled around on No. 12.
I was able to hit 5-iron in there about 12 feet, so I got to back off and, you know, wait a little bit until the wind kind of died down. It was good for that. Didn't make it unfortunately.
But then when the next rain delay came I was already on the green, you know, 20 feet away, and I got to go in and kind of take a look at the putt and then I also got practice on the putting greens.
So neither one of the delays really bothered me so much. I'm sure it really bothered some guys, you know, if they're right in the middle of a shot kind of feeling it and seeing it. I kind of got a good break as far as that goes.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Where were you on the second delay?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, once again, on the green. Two holes later, so what, 15?
JOE CHEMYCZ: Questions.

Q. What were you happier with, the round yesterday or the round today in the morning with the conditions you had to play with?
JEFF OVERTON: I don't know. Probably it was a little frustrating day because I missed a few putts. But, you know, probably -- they're both really solid rounds. Ball striking-wise I was very pleased. I've been working a lot on my golf swing and had been hitting a draw last year, and things were just really ugly earlier this year.
Actually hitting a little bit of a fade, so it's just -- I'm not used to seeing the ball work left to right, and it just kind of all came together ball striking-wise here the last couple days.
You know, they're both fun. Any time you get conditions like this and you can hit 18 greens, you just take a step back and are like, Wow. You know, it's fun.

Q. Is there any risk to getting physically stiff during the delays, body getting out of rhythm?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, I mean, I guess it could happen. It happens. Luckily enough I would just start putting each time. So I was like down there putting. It just seems like when you're able to come back from a delay and putting the ball, it kind of seems like you're able to get back into the zone a little bit. It doesn't do as much if you just kind of go out and the first swing is after a cold delay.

Q. You started out bogey.
JEFF OVERTON: Uh-huh, 3-putted the first hole.
JOE CHEMYCZ: From how far?
JEFF OVERTON: It was a long one, probably 40 feet.

Q. And then the last, you parred the last seven?
JOE CHEMYCZ: Six.

Q. The last six?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, probably.

Q. Birdie opportunities there?
JEFF OVERTON: Missed about a four- or five-footer or 17, but it was kind of a tough little putt. It was straight down the hill and it looked like it was going to break a little to the left. I felt like it was going to break right and I confused myself. It was like, let's jsut aim inside right and just kind of pushed it a little bit.

Q. Does learning to play golf in Indiana prepare you for these conditions more than maybe anybody else?
JEFF OVERTON: I mean, I feel -- it really reminded me of playing college golf at Indiana. Like I can remember playing at Ohio State a few years back. My senior year is about four years ago, and the golf tournament got snowed out. It was like Michigan State and Wisconsin, my first college golf event ever, and they're squeegeeing the greens just so you can finish the last hole.
So, I mean, I would definitely say I had quite a lot of experience in college golf playing in these kind of condition. Actually, I would say 80% of the tournaments were like this.
So, you know, it's kind of fun and kind of feels like you're right back at home.

Q. Are you going to change anything up over the next couple days or stick with the game plan so far?
JEFF OVERTON: I mean, hopefully we can make some more putts. Yeah, if we can change that stat and hit 18 greens and get the putting stats down to under 30 putts in a round it would be great.
But otherwise, no, not going to change anything. Just keep plugging along.

Q. This course now with these conditions, it's still going to be chilly for the final two days, and windy. Does it favor a long hitter, accurate hitter, or somebody with just a good mental fortitude?
JEFF OVERTON: I was talking it with Tom Pernice today after the round. It was like, I mean, he was sitting there and like -- there are a lot of carries. Like he can't carry the bunker on 18, or it's like if it didn't start raining right there at the end I could've gotten over it and had a 3-wood or a hybrid in, whereas he's hitting a wedge in there. Even though he made birdie anyway.
You still got to play good either way. There's a few holes out there where I'm able to carry the ball just far enough to get it past some of the trouble, which I mean, it helps. When you know you're not going to hit it in the trouble because you're going to hit it over it, it really helps you to swing hard and aggressive with the driver and get the ball way down there so you have the wedges and stuff in the greens.
So it's definitely -- I think if you look at the leaderboard I would say probably -- I don't know, I haven't looked at it, but probably 80%, 90% of the people are definitely, you know, probably the top 20 in driving distance this week.

Q. So it's favoring a longer hitter?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah.

Q. You've been out here a couple years. You turned pro in '05?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, third year.

Q. How have you learned to gauge where and when to play and how to play at the end of the year, I guess?
JEFF OVERTON: You know, you just got to approach every tournament as a new week and as something -- you just have to go out and have a passion to try to win every single tournament every single week.
I remember my first year, you know, you played so many tournaments just trying to play nine in a row and get my card and stay in there and hang in there. I learned you got to come out here and you got to go after it and try to win the golf tournament.
Generally if you're trying to win and you don't succeed you're going to finish top 10, top 20. If you go out there and try to make the cut and you don't succeed, you're just going to barely make it and finish last or something. You got to go out there and approach each week as your last tournament almost and just go after it.

Q. In that same vein, you're leading the tournament right now and you're in a position in the Money List where you need to win some money. Are you less aggressive the next couple days, or as aggressive as you've been the entire time?
JEFF OVERTON: No, you got to go after the win. I mean, you're trying to win. That's what we're out here for. It's all about -- it is about the Money List, but you're just simply going after it to win golf tournaments. That's what we prepare for and what we travel 30 weeks a year and work the other 20 weeks a year on our golf game.
It's all about having that passion and drive to hopefully one day capture a trophy.

Q. When you see what the conditions are going to be like for the tournament, do you put a score in mind that you want to shoot, or do you take it hole by hole?
JEFF OVERTON: You can't really put a score. You just got to take it hole by hole. You know what it would be nice to shoot. You know it would be nice to go out there and shoot 65 on a day like this. But you know you can't shoot every pin or you can't shoot every drive either. You just got to take what the golf course gives you.
Like 11 today, the wind changed on us. I hit a stinger 4-iron in there and carried 180 yards. Tom Pernice hit 3-wood in there that came up short of pin high.
Before the round you can't really prepare yourself necessarily for anything like that. You just got to, when you're in the moment, just got to kind of make your pars and pick your spots.

Q. You were in the lead all day today. Is that a position you feel real comfortable in?
JEFF OVERTON: I mean, there's four rounds. You can't really think of it like -- it would be nice to get 4, 5, 6 up on people. At the same time, it's like if you're right there in contention you can't really think about it that way. You just got to hit there and hit every shot and make as much putts as you possibly can.

Q. From this course in benign conditions last year people were shooting, after the first couple rounds, around 10-under. Do you think this is playing two strokes harder than it would be in a 70-degree, no-wind condition?
JEFF OVERTON: Oh, absolutely. I mean, if the wind and the cold went away and it stays just as soft, it's probably playing maybe three shots easier. But just because the greens are soft and they're very scorable, just as far as hitting approach shots into them.
But I also remember last year it was firmer. The golf course gets firmer like that, then some of the holes like No. 9, when you're hitting it off the downslope to a pin cut around the front edge over there on the right like yesterday, you know, it's pretty hard to hold that 9-iron coming in there, let alone hitting a 7- or 6-iron or whatever some the other guys were hitting.
When it gets firm it's probably playing maybe one or two shots easier right now. But if it gets like soft and everything is good, it may be even playing a little easier when it gets like that.

Q. How are the conditions holding up? How is the golf course itself holding it up?
JEFF OVERTON: There was a couple holes today, like right after we came back from the rain delay, I hit it right down the middle and had a 9-iron in. Like pretty much the whole right side of the fairway was all kind of casual water.
I couldn't drop the ball, because if I dropped it I would've had to drop it in the rough. It kind of caught a little fat and came up a little short and just led to par.
All in all it's unbelievable. For it to rain two straight days in a row and only one little section out here of that much water, in it's pretty unbelievable.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Anything else? Jeff, thank you. Play well this weekend.

End of FastScripts

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