FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 27, 2003

John Huston

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome co-leader in the clubhouse, John Huston. John, great round today, best round of the year so far, 63 for you, 8-under. If we could just go through some opening comments and we'll take some questions.

JOHN HUSTON: I played extremely well today. I drove the ball really well, so I gave myself a lot of good chances. Chipped in one time, made one from the bunker, so everything pretty much went pretty well.

Q. On 18 did you know that you had a chance to grab a share of the lead at that point?

JOHN HUSTON: Yeah, but Friday afternoon, that's not that big of an incentive, but I hit a good tee shot and only had a 9-iron into the green, so it set up pretty well for me.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Were you about ten feet maybe?

JOHN HUSTON: Maybe six, eight feet.

Q. You've developed a little bit of a reputation over the years for being able to go really low when you get hot. Did you feel like this was a round -- at what point did you feel like maybe this was one of those rounds?

JOHN HUSTON: I think before I would really get hot with the putter. More the last few years when I've had low rounds it's been more of hitting my short irons and wedges close to the hole. I probably didn't putt quite as well as I used to, but it was a really good, solid round today. I really couldn't have shot much higher other than the couple of chip-ins, but I really was never in any trouble.

Q. You said you hadn't been able to put together a good string of rounds at a tournament. What will it take for you to do that here?

JOHN HUSTON: Well, hopefully I can just keep playing the way I did today. I think driving the ball is going to be, for sure, the biggest thing for me. I think if I drive the ball well, that my iron play will be -- should be able to hit close to the hole and have some good chances. The greens aren't lightning fast so you can take a pretty good run at the putts. I think mainly if I drive the ball well the next two days, I should play well.

Q. Have you been driving the ball particularly well this year?

JOHN HUSTON: Very inconsistent. I've had a lot of good -- really good rounds, but like I said, I haven't had a lot of really good tournaments. It seems to go right with the driving. You know, when I drive the ball well, I seem to be playing really well.

Q. Was there any advantage to the guys who teed off yesterday morning, the first wave yesterday morning, that you had good weather or decently good -- was there any advantage to that sort of thing?

JOHN HUSTON: If you look at the scoreboard it doesn't seem like there's a big disparity leaderboard-wise, but certainly I think that we had good weather both days to play in. Other guys -- stopping and starting is never much fun and having to finish the next day, so I would say we had probably a little bit of an advantage, but if you look at the leaderboard there's not a big disparity.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we go off in twosomes tomorrow, it looks like you'll be playing with Richard Johnson. What do you know about his game, if anything? He's predominantly played on the European Tour until this year.

JOHN HUSTON: I don't know anything about his game. He's obviously playing well, so I'll go do my thing and hopefully we'll have a good day.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go through your score, eagle on 3.

JOHN HUSTON: I hit a 4-wood just left of the green and chipped in from maybe 60 feet.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: And a birdie on the par-5 fifth.

JOHN HUSTON: I hit a 4-iron about 12 feet behind the hole for eagle and two-putted.

No. 8, I hit an 8-iron about four feet.

Par-3, 11th, I hit an 8-iron about 15 feet.

13, I hit it in the bunker and holed it out of the bunker.

16, I hit it short of the green and pitched it about a foot from the hole.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about how the course has changed from yesterday until today as far as, has it dried out at all? Has the wind maybe dried out the greens and made it firmer and faster or not too much?

JOHN HUSTON: I think it actually played similar to yesterday morning. I think if it hadn't rained yesterday, it would have dried out some, but it was almost identical to what we had yesterday morning.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Compared with the weather we've had on the Tour the last month, month and a half, was it nice to have a sunny, warm day out there?

JOHN HUSTON: Absolutely. Teeing off the first day -- I've had two really nice days so far and it looks like the weekend is going to be nice.

Q. You've played here in the past. Do you remember the days -- usually the heat is pretty oppressive here.

JOHN HUSTON: I don't remember too many days like this. It was perfect temperature-wise, hot enough to where you were loose but not -- certainly not uncomfortable.

Q. You mentioned that when you would go low earlier in your career, a lot of that had to do with the putter. Is there more satisfaction when it's out of more shot-making than putter, or does it make a difference?

JOHN HUSTON: No, I don't think it makes a difference. Everybody out here wants to make putts. I think that that's -- if everybody feels like they can make putts, they're going to do really well because you can get it around. Sometimes it's pretty hard to get that putt to go in the hole.

Q. When was your last win?

JOHN HUSTON: It's been probably three years.

Q. But you've played well. I mean, you've been pretty high on the money list, but lacking that win, how important is that win?

JOHN HUSTON: Certainly that feeling is irreplaceable. I think guys get choked up a lot of times when they haven't won in a long time and then they do win because it's so frustrating, finally to shake that feeling and be on top. I think that that's what everybody strives for, is that one feeling and it doesn't last very long.

Q. Is this a course that you've typically liked? Does it suit your game?

JOHN HUSTON: Yeah, I think so. It's pretty generous off the tee. I think there's probably about four or five holes that are what you would call "disaster holes," double bogey holes that you've got to get past those holes, and I think if you do that, you're going to shoot a good score.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Any pars today that kept the round going or any good saves?

JOHN HUSTON: No, if I'm not mistaken the only green I missed was the hole that I made it out of the bunker.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: It was a good day then. John Huston, thank you, good luck the rest of the week.

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