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SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 12, 2006

David Toms

HONOLULU, HAWAII

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, David, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Great round today, no bogeys, nine birdies, 61. You should be pretty happy with that.

DAVID TOMS: Yeah, it was a good day. I got off to a decent start. You know, I felt like the key to me having a good round today was feeding off of Chad Campbell. I mean, he played unbelievable. I was just trying to keep up. I made a couple nice putts there on the back nine that you're not supposed to make, but that's what you do when you have a hot round.

It's just a good day. Didn't really I only struggled on a couple holes and I recovered well from those. The rest of the time I was in control of what I was doing. Just a fun day to play golf. Obviously conditions were a lot better today. You could score. So it was there to take advantage of.

I saw before I teed off, I saw a couple of guys, I think I saw Brent Geiberger shot 5 under or so on the front nine, so I thought maybe it was a bit easier and went out with the mentality that I could attack the golf course when I could, and I did.

Q. Did you realize you were having a good round or were you thinking, "Man, I've got to hang on"?

DAVID TOMS: I was just trying Chad got off to a good start and I knew that I had to stay close to him. The way he was playing golf, you know, he was leading the golf tournament. I just was looking to just keep up. I started to make some birdies and I was right there with him. Then obviously finished up tied with him.

Both of us played good every day. Played solid on Thursday in tough conditions. Played pretty well yesterday in tough conditions at times. So I'm just playing solid, and I'm going to have to go out and do it again tomorrow, that's for sure. Because the way he played golf today, he drove the ball fantastic. Hit it close to the hole, so it just didn't look like he was going to struggle at all in any part of the game. So that means I'll have to go out and play well.

Q. Was it easy, just, I don't know, to feel a little more confident given that you've had six rounds in Hawaii that were wind blown and you finally get a day, you know, if you hit a shot, you know what it will do instead of guessing?

DAVID TOMS: Yeah, I definitely think last week helped me, coming in here when we had tough conditions. And then when it doesn't blow and you can hit a normal shot, you're like licking your chops that, hey, I can score here.

So I think that experience I had last week has certainly helped me here, and will tomorrow, depending on what the conditions are like tomorrow.

Q. This must have felt like Palm Springs today.

DAVID TOMS: Well, still it makes you do crazy things. I had 201 to the hole on 17 and I hit a 5 iron that flew 25 yards too far. So there's still wind there. You have to play for it.

Q. Anybody else in the field you're worried about tomorrow other than Chad?

DAVID TOMS: Well, if we don't get off to a good start, I think that that round if the weather is like this, somebody could do what we did today and come from behind.

But I still feel like both of us are playing well enough that if we just keep on doing it and not think too much about anybody else except for what's right in front of us, you know, we'll be tough to catch.

Q. There's obviously some downwind holes and it's dry out there, but are you any longer than you were last year? Seems like some of the drives you've had are 320 and 330 out there.

DAVID TOMS: No, I think I averaged 258 last week. (Laughter). It was a lot to do with being flat and firm no.

You know what, I'm long enough that if I play well, I win my share of golf tournaments and have good finishes and have success. So I'm not sure, I'd like to be 20 yards longer. I think I could contend a lot more, and especially in some of the bigger tournaments on some of the really tough golf courses. But, you know, where is that going to come from? But for now, I'll just do my thing.

Q. Can you talk about that no doubt putt on 16?

DAVID TOMS: 16?

Q. The 75 footer.

DAVID TOMS: To be honest what helped me was I had a putt similar length on the hole before. I had perfect speed, uphill into the grain and I was worried more about the speed on 15 and I pushed it six feet to the right.

Chad and I were actually talking about it walking to 16 tee. I said it felt like a British Open putt, one of those long ones you're trying to get it somewhere around the hole, and here I am faced with it on the next very hole, and I got the speed and the line right.

Q. I know it was just one day out there, but can you draw any comparisons to how you played today and the 2 1/2, three days that you had at La Costa feeling wise?

DAVID TOMS: I felt like I was in control today. I was surprised when I hit the shot off 15 tee that wasn't very good. I was surprised that I mis clubbed so bad on 17 because I felt like I was thinking, well, I played the smart shot every time, pick my targets. And that's what I was doing there at La Costa, where I just felt like I was in control of everything, even though I didn't get the ball as close to the hole today, I think the wind is a factor. Today, if it was a perfectly calm day, I might have really been on and dialed something in because I felt that good about when I was trying to do.

Q. Do you enjoy playing with Chad, comfortable with him?

DAVID TOMS: Yeah, we're friends. We talk a lot out there. Our caddies are close. We had a good time, a lot of small talk. But at the same time when it's down to your shot, it's all business. That's what we'll be doing again tomorrow. We'll have hopefully have some fun out there, get off to a good start and play well and run away.

Q. Is it hard to have a guy like Jim in your group, too, that's obviously tied for the lead to start and just can't get going? Do you find yourself not saying anything to him because you don't want to

DAVID TOMS: I felt bad for him, but it's probably the way he felt for me last week on Saturday. We played together on Saturday; I played terrible and he played good. You're just kind of like, you know, what do you do? You don't really know what to say.

But you try to maybe say something here or there to get his mind off of it. He hung in there and he came back well. He'll play good tomorrow and he'll have a good finish. But he did get off to a rough start when two guys were playing great with him. And I've been in that situation; it's tough.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Let's go through your round.

DAVID TOMS: 4, I hit it to 15 feet and made a nice putt.

6, I hit an 8 iron that was pretty close, that was about six feet. .

8, I hit a 9 iron to about 20 feet.

9, I 2 putted and hit a 5 wood on the green about 12 to 15 feet, 2 putted for birdie.

11, I hit a 4 iron just over the back edge and had about a 20 foot putt there.

13, I hit a 5 iron to about 20 feet and made another nice putt.

14, I made I hit an 8 iron to probably 35 feet and made a nice putt across the green there.

16, I was short of the green with an 8 iron. I don't know how long that putt was.

Q. 74 feet.

DAVID TOMS: That's a good putt.

18, I hit a 3 iron on the green about 30 feet and 2 putted.

Q. That one on 11, did you have to pick up your putter at all?

DAVID TOMS: Tried to take it back the first time, and I was ready to go and it stuck in the grass. So I'm like, well, I have to pick it up and drop it on there and it came out perfect. A lot of times we're not worried so much about the direction. But a lot of times when you have to do that, your speed can get off when you're popping it like that, and it just came off perfect.

Q. Did you have the sense that if you had one bad hole, he was going to be gone?

DAVID TOMS: Wall well, I felt like yeah, he was in control, what he was doing. I was surprised when he missed a fairway. I was surprised when he didn't get a ball close to the hole, he was swinging that well.

Yeah, I knew I had to keep up, I knew I had to continue to make birdies and I wasn't paying attention to what the other rest of the field was doing. I obviously knew how Jim was doing, but I was playing well enough to where I was just trying to keep up.

Q. Will you approach tomorrow the same way?

DAVID TOMS: Sure. Like I said, he didn't struggle in any part of his game from what I can tell. He looked like he felt comfortable off the tee. I did too, so I know he's going to play well and I'm going to have to do the same.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, David.

End of FastScripts.

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