JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 11, 2021

Hank Lebioda

TPC Deere Run

Quick Quotes

Q. 65 in conditions that can be described as not ideal. How were you able to get that done?

HANK LEBIODA: Just stuck to my game plan. When the weather was pretty bad and you had the rain coming down sideways and some decent amount of wind, the goal is always just to try to get to the next shot. So you do what you can, you focus on the shot at hand and execute it to the best that you can and then go and find it and hit it again, do the whole thing over again.

That's the best way to describe it.

Q. How much did the preferred lies help?

HANK LEBIODA: Oh, massive. If nothing else, just getting a dry ball. Tee shots were a little bit tricky because the ball was up on the tee for a while, it was getting hit, your club face was getting hit, so wasn't able to get a lot of spin on some of the tee shots, especially when it was coming down pretty good. But to be able to have a dry ball in the fairway gave you just a little bit more control. You weren't guessing at mud balls, how much it was going to affect it, how it would come off, things like that. But it allowed for a low score for sure.

Q. You're on a nice run the last three weeks. How much confidence are you overflowing with?

HANK LEBIODA: I don't know about overflowing with it, but golf it fun. Golf is really fun at the moment, and I'm going to do my best to stick to my routines I have, stick to my work and just keep it going.

Q. What would you say has been working best for you?

HANK LEBIODA: I've been putting really well. I've been putting very, very well. It's a testament to the work that John Graham and I have put together for the last, gosh, 18, 20 months or so that we've been working together. It wasn't immediate as far as the success, the improvement, but we knew we were doing the right things. We knew we were on the right track, and if I stuck to my game plan, stuck to my routines as I called them, knew that we'd be going in the right direction eventually.

Q. After this progression of these last three weeks, do you see a win on the horizon?

HANK LEBIODA: Yeah, for sure. A lot of things have to align for guys to win. We're not all Tiger or Dustin or Rory. But all I can do is control how I work and how I handle myself out on the golf course.

I've been playing well, like you said. This is the third straight week I've been leading on Sunday on the back nine. Granted, early in the day today, but if I keep that up, I'm bound to find myself in a position where things could get really interesting.

Q. The way the course is playing right now with the conditions, do you think you have a chance of winning?

HANK LEBIODA: Probably not, to be honest with you. If it comes down pretty hard and the wind picks up for the boys, maybe, but probably not, no. I think I was, what, tied with five or six other guys at the moment when I finished, and all of them have nine holes left at least.

I would assume that's not enough, but you never know.

Q. You're going to stick around I presume?

HANK LEBIODA: Yeah, I'm not going anywhere yet.

Q. You talked about being close, what it takes to get a win out here. Is frustration at all creeping into the fact that you're going to be close again, knocking on the door again?

HANK LEBIODA: No. No. Good golf is fun. Getting into that position is pretty fun.