CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

June 22, 2002

Davis Love III

JOHN BUSH: Davis, we'd like to thank you for coming by the interview room. 10-under par for the tournament, 3 back of the lead.

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I hit the ball really well. I didn't hit it the right distance enough times, it seemed like, at the greens and got a little bit aggressive on a couple and got it just off the side of the greens in a tough place, but overall, I hit the ball well. I'm driving a lot of fairways the way I wanted to do and gave myself a chance. And, you know, I had some not bad breaks but breaks that didn't go my way, bounces that didn't go my way, so I left enough out there for tomorrow.

JOHN BUSH: Can you go through your round for us starting with birdie on 3?

DAVIS LOVE III: 3, hit driver and 8-iron to about four feet.

JOHN BUSH: Number 6?

DAVIS LOVE III: 6, a driver and a 3-wood on the back of the green about 50 feet and rolled it down there and tapped it in.

7, yeah, I was a little aggressive with a 9-iron, driver off the tee and hit a 9-iron. Got it over the back left and putted it back up the hill about 5 feet and missed it, so that was disappointing after getting off to a good start. I had birdie chances on 1 and 2 and 4 and didn't convert, and then, to make a bogey was a little disappointing, but then I birdied 12, driver, and just a pitch shot about 60 yards, 70 yards from the hole with a 60-degree wedge and made about a 10-footer.

JOHN BUSH: Number 15?

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, 14.

JOHN BUSH: 15.

DAVIS LOVE III: 15, driver, pin-high right and pitched it up about 3 feet and made it.

JOHN BUSH: Then --

DAVIS LOVE III: 16, hit an 8-iron trying to hit it real easy and hit it a little solid and hit it on the back side of the green and left my first putt short and then had about a four-and-a-half footer and missed that for par. And then parred the last two.

JOHN BUSH: Any questions?

Q. Was the wind a big influence, Davis?

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah. It was blowing, you know, softly and then it started blowing hard and then it switched when we were on 10. Scott and I both got tricked on 10 and on 10 it started blowing the other way, which was kind of easy on 12, 13, 14. It was really helping. But then you got to deal with it when you get to 17 and 18 then because it's back into the wind, so it made it a little trickier on the back 9, and you could see guys getting going and a lot of guys coming in were having bad holes. It was very tricky in there, especially when it was switching back and forth.

Q. You're playing with Scott again tomorrow. Is there any difference in that tomorrow, on the course with the same guy?

DAVIS LOVE III: I've played a lot with Scott and get along well with him, so it will be, you know, very normal, very comfortable for both of us, I think. You know, we get along well. We've played well in tournaments together and against each other and played on some teams together and this year's Ryder Cup Team too, so it will be a fun day and, you know, we're both chasing, so I think you're we're in a good position.

Q. What about that? Are you going to have to be a little aggressive a few times early or are you going to wait, or what's your strategy?

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I did what I needed to do the 1st 4 holes today, had easy birdie putts and only made one of them. I just need to get out there and make a few putts early like Phil did. He ran right out and ran to the top of the leader board. It will take a low round because there's a lot of guys with a chance, and obviously if Jonathan plays well, we'll have to shoot even lower to catch him. But if there's a low number out there, like Scott did today and I did yesterday, you just have to get it to be able to win, I think.

Q. How are the greens? I mean, early in the week we got a lot of rain.

DAVIS LOVE III: They're drying out a little bit. They were a little faster today, and I think we got tricked some times today because they were picking up a little bit of pace, but after last week, they seemed a little bit slow, so it was an adjustment. They're in great shape. They roll really well and you can bang them up the hill. You can take a run at it, which is nice.

JOHN BUSH: All right. Davis, thanks a lot for coming in. Good luck tomorrow.

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