BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 5, 2003

Tom Byrum

TOM BYRUM: I missed a couple shots that weren't hard shots, made the turn and at the first hole I had a 7-iron into the green and didn't hit a very good shot, perfect club for me, and just left it in the bunker didn't get it up-and-down.

Then the short par 4, No. 5, I hit the wrong club off the tee. Should have played it a little safer. Hit it in the bunker and then hit it over the green and then hit it over the green and didn't get it up-and-down. I kind of paid the price for bad thinking.

But other than that I played really good. I'm putting well and hitting it well. If I can get past a couple little mental errors, I'll be good.

Then on 15, I hit a 9-iron to three feet.

Then the par 3, 16, I hit 5-iron about maybe eight feet.

Q. Putting well today?

TOM BYRUM: Pretty well. I didn't hit any putts off-line where you just know right away that you missed. I feel like I'm stroking it where I want to hit them, and obviously a lot didn't go in, but that's just getting used to these greens.

Q. Yesterday, really aside from Charles Howell, nobody who played in the afternoon scored as well as the people who played in the morning. Can you contrast, is there a tremendous difference between playing here in the morning and playing here in the afternoon?

TOM BYRUM: I don't think it's a tremendous difference. I don't know how hard the wind was blowing yesterday morning, but if there wasn't any wind, there was a big difference because of that factor alone. That just makes it that much harder to hit these fairways, hit these greens. They do dry out. They are hard to hit even in the morning, but they are easier in the morning because of their softness. But in the afternoon with the wind like that, they dry out even more and they are harder to keep the ball from running over the green.

Then if you hit it in the rough and stop it on some of these greens, it multiplies even harder. The wind is a big factor on this course. The wind blows, the scores are not going to be very low, I don't think. I just think it's too hard to keep it in the fairway.

Q. Can you talk about the course, the mental errors, can you anticipate being able to reduce that as you get more familiar with it?

TOM BYRUM: I think so. Especially on No. 5, that's just being a little patient, hitting the right club off the tee, that kind of thing. The other one was -- that to me can happen more any time. But the one on 5 was more getting used to the course.

The one on 1 was just maybe stepping up and feeling like I had the right club and swinging away. That's one of the greens that as we were talking about was a little firmer and I was a little afraid of hitting over the green, so I didn't quite let it go and kind of kept it -- trying to hit a little softer left-to-right shot and hit it in the bunker instead of just hitting it up there; and if it runs over, it runs over. You kind of learn as you go around it.

Q. How many times did you use your driver today, and after what happened, will you maybe keep it in the bag a bit more often?

TOM BYRUM: Well, no, that's just that hole. I won't change it. It varies on into-the-wind or downwind holes, but I don't know how many times I used it today. I can't really say. I used more than my 3-wood today. Yesterday I think I hit my 3-wood more.

Q. The course is getting a lot of attention. Are you one of the people who enjoys this type of course?

TOM BYRUM: Definitely. Any time that you have rough like that, fairways that are narrow, that's my kind of golf course.

Q. You mentioned the wind. Just wondering, are you finding it a two-club wind, is it a lot of crosswind?

TOM BYRUM: More a crosswind. When I say it's more of a factor, it isn't so much when you're into the wind, it's so hard to get the ball there. It's just that the crosswind's taking it more when you're playing it, and if it doesn't take it, you end up going in the rough because the wind didn't bring it over. And downwind it's hard to stop shots into the green, because they don't start well downwind for sure, unless you have a 9-iron or wedge, for me, anyway.

And of course the wind dries out the green and that makes it firmer and even harder to hit. A lot of factors there.

Q. Mike Weir is obviously a huge attraction to the tournament. Do players want to avoid the huge galleries that come with anything with him, is that something that registers at all?

TOM BYRUM: Do they want to avoid the gallery?

Q. If you draw Mike Weir as a partner?

TOM BYRUM: I think it would be great. It would be a lot of fun. I've played with Mike before. He's just a great player. It would be all go Canada out there, but it would be a lot of fun to play with him, I think.

Any time you're in front of the crowd, I think you're -- you just get the feel that you're involved in that tournament a little more. Maybe you're more of a factor, too. So a crowd leak that can't hurt you.

Q. The crowd is focusing on you as opposed to focusing on one of your partners?

TOM BYRUM: You know I've never had them really focus on me. We don't play in South Dakota.

End of FastScripts.