Q. Is Jack one of those?
JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, he doesn't play a whole lot any more, but, yeah, it's good, great to see the way he's played the last two days. And I know he's, I know for him it beats sitting around the locker room and the TV trailer for two days.
Q. You said Harrison said there was a time when you kind of drifted apart as friends. Was that because of the competitive nature between you two or was it when he decided not to pursue a professional career for awhile there and then what brought you back together?
JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, it was really I got out of, I graduated a year earlier and so he's busy with college, I was trying to figure out what was going on out here and then he decided not to play golf after school. So, yeah, there was a period for two or three years there where we would see each other very sporadically and talk even less. So but without, there was no intent there. Just we happened to be going two different directions and we were both pretty involved in what we were doing.
Q. Once he got on tour, you just got kind of caught up?
JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, it was like riding a bike.
Q. You were close at Colonial, did you feel like you were playing well coming in from last week? Did you make a change or what's the difference between this week and last week?
JUSTIN LEONARD: I didn't make any changes, I don't know what the difference is, I think part of it -- after playing at home for two weeks, I got pretty tired late in the week. Just from, it wasn't friends or this and that, but playing at home, I try to, I do the things I normally do during a tournament and then when I get home I try to do the things I normally do when I'm at home and it was probably a little too much. And after a couple weeks of that I was actually a little tired towards the end of the week. And but it is my on fault for doing that and hopefully I'll learn from that next year. Butch is here, he watched me hit some balls on Wednesday morning and said a couple things that seemed to make sense. All pretty minor. And so I think it's partly a continuation and I'm kind of improving from what I've been doing the last couple week.
Q. Are you talking about exercise or social functions or what?
JUSTIN LEONARD: No, not really. Just it's different. Like this week I'll go back to the hotel, figure out what to do for dinner, then it's pretty much done. Well, when you go home, after around at Colonial, there is mail there, I'll have a few messages, I want to call a couple of my buddies, this and that. And it just, all of a sudden it's 10:30 I'm going, wait a second, and my wife was the same way. It's just that's there are trade-offs and playing close to home like that. And it's great, but when Sunday at Colonial was over I'm pretty relieved.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Could we go through the round, Justin.
JUSTIN LEONARD: Sure. Birdied three, hit a sand wedge three feet.
Birdied five, laid up and hit a sand wedge about 15 feet.
Birdied 8, hit it on the right fringe and kind of bellied a sand wedge from about 12 feet. Made it.
Birdied 11. Hit a 9-iron about 15 feet. And then eagled 15. Hit a 3-wood about eight feet.
And birdied 16, hit a 5-iron about a foot and a half.
Q. Justin, has the run you're getting on the fairways helped you this week?
JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah. I'm sure it's helped almost everybody, unless you're not hitting it in the fairway. I like to see this place get fast because the fairways get narrower. When it's soft, you get so much room to drive it, I think it brings a lot of guys into the tournament. So it's not going to get fast and I can't worry about that. I just have to go out and play it the way it is.
Q. What was it like when you won your amateur?
JUSTIN LEONARD: It was rock hard in the week. And then about the second or third match we got rain. We got rained out one day. And it softened up and then it started to get firm again, the last couple matches.
Q. Verplank said out there earlier that at this point no matter what happens this weekend with the weather, the guys that are playing well they're going to keep playing well. No matter what happens this weekend, do you feel good about your chances? The way you're playing, whether it's wet out there or whether it's dry?
JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah. There are more important things to worry about than the weather. I just have to go out and play. If it's pouring down rain tomorrow, you know, I'll play off it and try to do the same things I did today and I would do it if was sunny out. The weather is not going to change my approach too much.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Couple more questions.
Q. Does it seem like this course is playing noticeably shorter at all than say two or three years ago?
JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, because the balls aren't backing up.
Q. But even factor that in, does it still seem like it's quite the monster it used to be, I mean length-wise?
JUSTIN LEONARD: I don't know. I think -- I mean, yeah, it's playing a little bit shorter and I'm sure it's because of the balls and the drivers. But even that being said, 10-under is leading this golf tournament with par 72, four pretty reachable par-5s. I would say this golf course is holding up just fine. 5- or 6-under is in about third or fourth or fifth place. There's nothing wrong with this place.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thanks, Justin.
JUSTIN LEONARD: Okay. Thanks.
End of FastScripts....
