home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT


May 27, 2000


Justin Leonard


DUBLIN, OHIO

LEE PATTERSON: A 66 today with a Hole-in-One. Maybe just go over the hole-in-one and we'll open it up for questions.

JUSTIN LEONARD: It's easy; only one shot. I think we had 189 yards today, and pretty much the same distance we had yesterday. And I come up about a half-club short, so I was kind of between a 5- and a 6-iron. Yesterday, I hit 6(-iron) and so I decided just hit a little 5-(-iron) and kind of cut it a little bit, and, you know, landed and it came off pretty good, landed about a foot and a half short. I could not tell if it bounced in or rolled in, but it doesn't really make any difference to me. 6, hit an 8-iron about eight feet and made that for birdie. 7, I drove it in the left rough. Pitched out. Hit a 7-iron about three feet; made that. 10, I hit an 8-iron about eight feet; made that. Missed putts at 11 and 12, both from about eight to 10 feet. 14, hit a pitching wedge to about 10 feet; made that. Missed about a 12-footer at 15. Missed about a 15-footer at 16. Bogeyed 17. I hit it in the left rough, left of the bunker short of the green down there in that ditch, and just hit it on the green and 2-putted from about 30 feet. 18, hit a 5-iron to about three feet and made that.

Q. When was your last ace and how many have you had, do you know?

JUSTIN LEONARD: My last ace was at the Kemper Open in '98. And this was my fifth Hole-in-One, third on TOUR. And all five have been in tournaments.

Q. Were you watching Tiger run away?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, I mean, I kept -- I was watching the leaderboard, just to see what was going on. But, you know, not paying as much attention to it today, just because I was playing well. And, you know, didn't want to get too caught up in what was going on behind me.

Q. Does 18-under seem doable or seem out of reach on this golf course, or because of the conditions, can you see it happening?

JUSTIN LEONARD: I mean, the golf course is fairly soft. The greens are, you know, a good pace. They are comfortable. You can't get them real fast. Obviously, he's the only one there and nobody is within six or seven shots or maybe eight or nine, I don't know. I think, you know, the amazement has kind of gone away. A week like this on a golf course that suits him this well, I mean, you almost come to expect it. But I think, you know, certainly we as players can appreciate what he's doing, but I don't think we're as surprised as maybe we would have been two or three years ago.

Q. Is it too soon to say that you're playing for second tomorrow?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yes, it is. You can think that we're playing for second, but I don't think we as players can go out and do that.

Q. What do you do? Eight strokes behind, I mean, how do you look at it?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Try to go out, and if things feel well early in the morning, just go after it. There can be some two- and three-shot swings out here. At least, you know, I've been playing pretty aggressively all week, so I would just love to continue to do that. And if there's opportunity, maybe take a chance at something.

Q. If the lead were 2 -- you might get wrapped up in each other's game tomorrow or do you just go out and play and see what happens?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Exactly. Exactly.

Q. You did come from way behind to win; yes?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yes.

Q. Five, six shots back?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yes.

Q. Not against this guy.

JUSTIN LEONARD: That's true.

Q. I would assume that, you know, it feels good for you to be building or seeing, at least this week, round after round, are you taking encouragement each day that you're able to come back and play consistently well?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah. I mean, you know, they asked me outside if I was, you know frustrated being eight back or whatever, and I said, "Look, I'm -- I'm not going to let that spoil what I've gained from this week so far." And, you know, this is the happiest I've been walking off the golf course with my play in the last eight or nine months. And, you know, I'm not going to let the fact that Tiger is running away or trying to, you know, spoil that for me. So, you know, I've got so many positives to take away from the last three days, and you know, I'm just going to try to build on that tomorrow and build on it next week and, I mean, I'm looking forward to the is U.S. Open.

Q. Justin, with five shots at Troon, five at The PLAYERS Championship, five at the Kemper, I think, is there a point during a round when you start making a -- is there a point during a round that you can tell, yes, suddenly this thing is in reach or do you just keep playing?

JUSTIN LEONARD: You could keep playing, but yeah, I think there kind of comes a point, and if that point comes tomorrow it's probably going to be pretty late in the day with eight shots. There's times you get out there, you get a feeling, like, you know, "this is something I might be able to pull off." You know, whether it happens or not, I don't know, but when you do get that feeling, it's a lot of fun.

Q. Today I think you were even par through like 5 and then you hit not a very good drive at 6, but made birdie there, another birdie. What's the thought process there when you just hit a bad drive?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, I birdied 6. I hit a good drive and then I missed the fairway on 7. I actually hit a pretty good drive, it kind of curled around the bunker and I was on the upslope. Yeah, sitting there on a par 5, not sure I'm going to be able to go for it, but at least get a sand wedge in my hands and I basically just have to kind of bunt in down there. And to hit a 7-iron in there three feet, shots like that are what turn around. When you do miss something and then hit a great shot to recover, those kind of things -- and those are things that have been lacking from my game, amongst many other things which we won't cover because I'm in a good mood. But it's fun to be able to go do something like that. And then the 8th hole, to make an ace there, you know, kind of caps the day.

Q. Would you relish playing with him tomorrow if it was you and he in the last group? Is that kind of an advantage for the chaser?

JUSTIN LEONARD: I don't know if it's an advantage. I mean, you know, I wasn't in the last group at those tournaments you mentioned, but, I mean, I like playing with Tiger. I think it's fun. I think that the galleries here are great. They are as knowledgeable as anywhere. You know, it would be fun to play with him. I certainly wouldn't shy away from that.

Q. There's been a couple of schools of thoughts this year about Tiger: One that says it's not a good idea to say that he's so great because it creeps into your head that you can't beat him, and others that say why can't you just be honest and say what he is. Do you have any thought on that? Do you think it's good or bad to build him up? Is building him up too much to your detriment or --

JUSTIN LEONARD: Are you talking about me personally? Well, I don't build him up that much. I mean, there's going to be golf courses like here where he's going to be very hard to beat. I know when I'm playing well, on the right kind of golf course, I can beat the guy, and most of those golf courses happen to be major championships. So that's the way I think about it; that I know going out to a place, certain golf courses, he's got a huge advantage over me, and, you know I've got to do some incredible things to have a chance. But on other golf courses, I feel like we're brought down more to, you know, an even playing field. You know, I'm sure he looks at it -- he probably thinks he's got a huge advantage of me all the time, but if I look at it that way, I'm never going to beat the guy.

Q. Is his advantage, or one of them here, besides just his length, the fact that the fairways don't pinch in so much and he's got some room out there when where he hits it?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, and they are fairly soft. I mean, I saw him fly the tree on No. 10 yesterday and I'm trying to get it up to that tree. So, you know, do you think that's an advantage?

Q. When you've been struggling, you said it's kind of been all through your game or whatever, what did your teacher say? Did he pick one thing to work on and were you convinced it was a physical thing, as opposed to a mental thing?

JUSTIN LEONARD: It was -- you know, my practice sessions like during the week off and things like that would go really well. You know, maybe work on a couple things, but no big changes. And, you know, once I got to a tournament I just got out on the golf course and it seemed to -- you know, may have been -- driving it really well in practice, things like that. I would get out on Thursday and I could not drive the ball. Things like that. Obviously, if I had been playing great all along, everything would have been fine; so that wasn't as good as it should be. But, you know, we worked on little things here and there, but there weren't any, you know, huge -- I mean, I wasn't getting the club away like this. Just little things here or there. You know, sometimes those little things tend to snowball. Sure, it started getting in my head and I would go out and miss a shot on Thursday the first few holes, and I'm thinking, "Well, I might as well make a plane reservation home now." I mean, I said it this week. But half the time, I'm just trying to get myself into it. But yeah, I mean, it's touched everything, mentally and physically. And hopefully, I'm on my way out of it.

Q. What was the shot Thursday that had you saying that?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Oh, No. 4, the par 3, I parred the first three holes and No. 4 I hit down there -- I mean, it was dark and cold where I hit it. (Laughter.). I mean, the sun was out that day, and I mean, I had to -- I had to hit a great chip shot just to give myself another chip shot. There was no way I could hit the green. "Well, this will be an interesting day". And that was the only one I hit like that.

Q. You made 4 there?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah.

Q. Troon and at the Ryder Cup, I guess the thing that people remember -- the long putts, is that when you know you're in the hunt when you do something like that at those places?

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, I haven't really made -- it would be interesting, the longest putt I played. A made a couple 12- , 15-footers but I haven't made any real long putts this week. You know, I don't think it necessarily takes that. I think there are times in tournaments like that where, you know, you go and you make a 30-, 40-footer, whatever it may be, it just gives you such a huge momentum boost. But, you know, I haven't had any of those this week, and but I've played very solid. And done a pretty good job staying aggressive.

Q. Everybody seems to be going low today. Has the course just stayed in excellent condition, and what -- is there anything you can put your hand on that says "this is why we are shooting so well"?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, it rained this morning; so it softened things up a little bit. And we've got the ball in our hands, which doesn't make a huge difference here in the fairway. But I know 14, I hit it down there and I was in a divot and I got to, you know, clean my ball and put it in a good lie and hit it about eight feet. So it may help a little bit. But the fairways being a little softer and the greens being a little softer.

Q. But the putts are still staying true, obviously, they are putting beautifully still?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, these greens are holding up very well.

End of FastScripts….

About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297