THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 28, 1998

Justin Leonard

JUSTIN LEONARD: I felt the conditions were pretty similar. There has been times the last -- or Thursday and Friday where it may have blown a little harder than it did today. But, there was enough breeze there to affect shots and, you know, the golf course got a little firmer. I felt the greens were very fair and the pin placements. And, just happy with the golf course. I think most of the players will be. Go through my round, I hope you have a lot of ink. No. 1, I drove it in the left rough, hit it over the green. Hit a pitching wedge, bumped it into the bank up to about ten feet, made that for par. 2, good drive, hit a 1-iron just short of the green, chipped with an 8-iron about ten feet past, made that for par. 3, hit a 7-iron just short of the green, chipped it up to about six feet, made that for par. 4, hit a good drive, hit a sand wedge about 15 feet, made that for birdie. 5, hit a good drive, hate 5-iron about 20 feet, 2-putted for par. 6, 1-iron, wedge, 25 feet, 2-putt for par. 7, driver, 4-iron, 2-putt for par. 8, hit it short and right of the green with a 1-iron. Basically just tried to get it on the green about 25 feet past, with my second, 2-putted for bogey. 9, hit a pitching wedge on my third shot that just rolled through the green. Chipped it up to about a foot, made that for par. 10, pretty good drive, it just landed in the fairway, bounced right into the rough. Had a flier from there and hit it left of the green, in kind of a funny lie, left that chip shot short, then chipped it up about a foot made that for bogey. 11, decent drive, but I had to lay up over on the left side, ended up leaving it between the fairway and the bunker, from 86 yards, hit a sand wedge to about 15 feet, made that for birdie. 12, hit a good drive, sand wedge about twelve feet, made that for birdie. 13, hit a 7-iron landed on right side of the green just bounced through, so it was on the fringe. Decided to putt it, left it about four and a half feet short, and missed that, so made bogey there. 14, hit a good drive, hit a 7-iron that came up just short chipped it up to about five feet, made that for par. 15, drove it in the left rough. Hit a 6-iron on the front part of the green, about 50 feet, 2-putted for par. 16, hit a good drive. Pulled a 1-iron into one of the front bunkers short and left of the green. Not sure how I did it, but somehow I hit it out to about a foot and made that for birdie. 17, hit an 8-iron on the back fringe, 2-putted and 18, driver, 7-iron on the front right fringe, 2-putted.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, I feel like that plays more into my strengths of, you know, really managing my game, avoiding mistakes. I think that the more difficult the golf course, the more advantage I feel like I have, from a mental aspect and in dealing with the golf course and in difficult conditions.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I mean, today I wanted to give myself three good chances and because, you know, I was kind of -- seemed like I was either making a 12-footer for birdie or having to make 6-footers for par all day. You know, fortunately I made most of them. But I just wanted to give myself some good chances and, you know, that is what I did. I didn't hit a very good shot into 16. Actually just pulled it about 10 yards -- I think if I would have hit it pretty straight it would have been fine. You know, and then hit a great shot out that turns out better than expected. I had it about 15 feet on 17 and about 15 feet again on 18. So, I gave myself those three chances. You know, I had been happier if I could have made one of the putts at 17 and 18. But, you know, I still feel like I am in good position going into tomorrow and, you know, it is just nice to be playing well and getting to sleep in on the weekend and after Bay Hill last week we were up at 5:00 every morning. So, you know, just -- it feels good to be playing well this time of year and, you know, coming into this tournament definitely, but if I was going to think ahead going into Augusta playing well is nice.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I think the greens are because you have to be pretty creative and you have to land the ball in very precise places on the greens to get it close. So, I think from that aspect it is a pretty good warmup.

JUSTIN LEONARD: No, not really. I think that the back 9 -- the pace on the back 9 was pretty slow. I mean, you finish a hole and you go to the next tee and you want to tee it up and rip it and you get up there and the guys are just getting to their ball. They are just walking off the tee so you have got to set your bag down and sit down. I think that had more an effect than what JD was doing.

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, I just like to go out and get off to a good start and, you know, get -- try to get in a good rhythm. If I happen to get off to a good start, play the front 9-under par, then I will take a more serious look at that. But, I am not going to kill myself tonight thinking about it. I just like to come out and get off to a good start and, you know, maybe -- it seems like the last three days I have really worked hard for the scores that I have shot. It is a difficult golf course. The conditions are hard. But, you know, still there is something to hitting the ball 15 feet and just missing a putt and being able to go and tap it in rather than missing greens, hitting it six feet, trying -- you know, just feels like I have kind of -- it has taken a lot for me to be at 5-under. So, it would be nice to come out tomorrow and, you know, have some good yardages where I can just hit nice full shots and, you know, have a nice relaxing day and see what happens.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, really my putting. I don't know how many putts I had today, but I think I'd hit 19 greens the last two days, Thursday and Friday, and today was probably around 10 or 11 depending if you count fringies or not. So, you know, my short game has been very good and I think my patience has been really good in not getting too frustrated at missing some of the shots because it is -- I haven't really been missing the greens by ten or fifteen yards. But, this kind of golf course really magnifies your misses. So, just looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully I will be having a few more birdie chances than I have had the last three days.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Thanks.