THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 10, 2006

David Toms

DAVE SENKO: David, another 67 today, just function get us started, talk about your day and then we'll get some questions. DAVID TOMS: A lot of birdies, a lot of bogeys, a lot of stuff happening out there. Did a lot of good stuff today. I hit some bad shots, but overall, another good, solid round of golf and put myself right there with a chance to win the golf tournament going to the weekend. You know, that's what I'm here to try to do. So I'm in good position so far, and that's about where we are. Q. Have you had a ball that deep in divot that you did on 17? DAVID TOMS: Yeah, foreground that's as firm as it is, that was an awfully deep divot. I've been in somewhere the ground was soft on big grass fairways or whatever, but bermudagrass, as tight as these fairways and firm underneath, that was a pretty wicked divot for sure. Q. On the third shot were you aiming at a particular spot? What was your mind set over the ball, on the chip in, after that? DAVID TOMS: Oh, the chip was I had a perfect lie. I actually, where I was, it was a little bit downgrain, but I was chipping once I got on the green, it was into the grain, so I could be aggressive with it and fly it up there. It was about as easy a spot you could be, you know, on that hole as far as trying to get a ball close for a chip. It just happened to go in. Q. Did you think the ball was going to stay on the green, or did you figure it was going to come out of there pretty hot? DAVID TOMS: You know, once I made solid contact with it on my second shot and once I got it in between the two bunkers, all I was trying to do was run it up there somewhere around the greens in the bunkers, and once I did that, I didn't really care where it went. I hit a great shot to get to anywhere I could make a birdie, so I wasn't worried about it. Q. What did you hit for the second shot? DAVID TOMS: 5 iron. Q. And what was the chip, about 35 feet? DAVID TOMS: I don't know, I was just DAVE SENKO: 37 feet plus. DAVID TOMS: Ask ShotLink. (Laughter). Like I said, it was a pretty straightforward, easy chip, and one that if I wouldn't have got it up and down, I'd have been very disappointed. But any time you chip in, I guess it's a little bit lucky. But I sure had visions of that when I saw my lie. I felt I can I could give it a good shot and give it a chance. Q. What's up with you and the front nine this week? DAVID TOMS: I don't know. I've putted well on the front nine for some reason. I've hit some good shots and then I've made a lot of 10 and 12 foot putts to take advantage of the shots. I don't know. I 3 putted the first hole today right out of the box. But I came back on No. 2, which is one of the more difficult holes on the golf course, and made a niece birdie there to make up for it. Just bounced back really nice and kind of setup my day. Q. No. 14 is playing the hardest hole of the day, could you talk about that? DAVID TOMS: Yeah, 14, I thought I'd hit a great second shot there, although there wasn't much green over there on that left hand side. And looking back, I should have just played out to the front right of the green and tried to 2 putt and get up and down, but I played too aggressive, hit a perfect shot but didn't stop and went over the green. I had visions of watching Len Mattiace on TV yesterday, I couldn't believe they showed that but he was back and forth, back and forth, and I could have done that right where I was. If I chipped it another two feet past where I did, it would have gone down the hill on the other side. I made the mistake on my second shot instead of, you know, just taking the par. I was in the mind set, I was playing great and why not go ahead and do it, and I paid the price. DAVE SENKO: What did you hit? DAVID TOMS: I hit a 5 over the back of the green. Q. When you hear or see things such as David Toms is 0 for 52 in Florida, is that something that only we're going to come up with that and bug you about it, or are you aware of situations like that in your career? DAVID TOMS: I heard that on the Golf Channel last night. I had no idea how many tournament it is was, or maybe it was on the USA Network, sometime when I was watching golf. That sounds like a lot, doesn't it? (Laughter). Q. Have you done enough in your career to really not worry too much? DAVID TOMS: No, it doesn't matter. I've won in the south, many times. Just never I guess down this far. This is not pin high to New Orleans, is it? It's further south. (Laughter) just. Never quite this far south. Q. Making an adjustment from what you did at Doral, playing at Doral, that golf course, to this golf course, seems to be a pretty big leap, yet you've seemed to have done it seamlessly, why do you think that is? DAVID TOMS: Well, you know, obviously I was pretty disappointed last week the way I finished up. I spent a lot of time here on Monday, whether it was on the range or the chipping green or the putting green. Mondays are usually a day off for me. I passed up a little fishing trip with my caddie to come out here and work, just to kind of get over, you know, what happened and just start back; hey, this is a new week, let's prepare, do the best we can and forget about it. I think that did me a lot of good on Monday to do that. You know, not that I needed to work on anything in particular, but just to get back into, this is a new week, this is a new tournament, and let's start over and have a good one. So that was big for me. Q. I guess fishing trip aside, how often do you use Monday to recover from what you did on Sunday? DAVID TOMS: I don't know, a lot of times on Monday if I'm out on the road, I won't do much. Not that I don't come out to the golf course and hit a few putts, but I was out here doing some work. I mean really, I wasn't out here just getting a suntan. I was trying to get prepared for this week early on. And so it's just not a typical Monday for me, especially after I've played well, I tend to just take it easy and relax and recharge. But this Monday, I had I guess what I would say a mission to put last Sunday behind me. Q. And you passed up a skiing trip with the family last weekend. DAVID TOMS: It seems like everyone around me has got recreation going on. I'm the only one working I guess. (Laughter). Q. Billy said he had some fond memories of you guys competing in tournaments and college, his comment; does it surprise you that he has not won a real significant tournament up to this point, like a major? DAVID TOMS: We've played against each other for a long time through the Junior ranks and college and everything. You know, one of the best junior players of all time, he was. . I remember one of the first times I ever saw him, I was playing in the 13 14s at The Junior World in San Diego at Balboa Park and I was kind of waiting to tee off. I was on the putting green and he was a couple of groups in front of me. I saw him play the first hole and he made like a 10 footer for bogey and he gave it a fist pump, a 10 footer for bogey on the first hole. And my dad said: "Did you see that right there? That's why he's one of the best, the most competitive guys out here and one of the best players." He just saved bogey and he was into it, which you know, at 14 years old, I was very impressed with that. I've always been impressed with him, and he works hard, he's been a good player for a long time. Q. I don't want to say it was issue, but it became part of a story line last week when you didn't know what you needed at 18 or didn't want to know or whatever the story was, today you were like five shots ahead of the field, were you aware of that at all? DAVID TOMS: I saw it for the first time on 15 green maybe, I think. Q. Were you up five? DAVID TOMS: I was like three for our up, I don't know what it was. But you know what, this golf course is such that you can't you've really got to pay attention to what you're doing out there. I paid the price on the back nine for being too aggressive a couple of times and forgetting where I was and not playing the smart shot. So I didn't do a whole lot of looking around out there. I was just trying to play this golf course. Q. Are you disappointed maybe that you didn't separate yourself more from the field because of, as well as you were playing? DAVID TOMS: Sure, I had that opportunity to do that today. You know, like I said, 14, I chose the wrong shot, and I hit the wrong club there. And then 16, I hit a terrible shot, but then again, I was trying to take something off of the club I was hitting. I didn't make a full swing and I had chunked it short of the green and let it get to me instead of going up there and letting the ball get. I was dwelling on the fact that I had just made another dumb play and didn't do it. Then 18, I had a shot where I needed to hit a big high draw to get closer to the pin, but I had a left to right wind. My ball was below my feet, which I knew the ball was going to work left to right, instead of hitting it out there left of the green or left of the pin and letting it work, I hit it out to the right and had to draw in. I hit a terrible shot right of the green and paid the price again. You know, I felt asleep a couple of times. But you're right, I could have separated myself. I could have just hit a couple of quality shots coming in and made another birdie to go along with what I did on 17. It would have been nice to separate myself but that's okay. I'm in good position and I'll hopefully learn from my back nine today and do better tomorrow. Q. How much more does this course jump up and get you when you "fall asleep" compared to some of the other courses we play on TOUR? DAVID TOMS: Oh, it does just because the ball has a tendency to repel away from the hole. A lot of courses you play, the ball will feed to the hole. And here, it seems like if you don't hit the perfect shot, the ball is going to go away from the hole and you'll get further and further away and have some tough putts, even if you're on the green, and then if you miss a green, you can get in a real bad spot. So, you know, that's the type of golf course it is. I mean, we know that going in, so you have to hit quality shots. Q. Just clarify, had that divot been filled in at all on 17? DAVID TOMS: No. Q. Would you rather have it in some sand? DAVID TOMS: I like it like it was with no sand because to me, they fill it with sand, you might as well be in a sand trap, you know. Do you want 200 sand traps in middle of the fairway? I don't like that. As far as sand filled divot, I've always been of the opinion that it should be ground unrepaired. Because if it's not, what is it? I think it should be ground unrepaired. Maybe now they are not filling them in as much, I don't know. But it looked like it probably happened in the Pro Am. It was an awfully deep divot for the yardage that I had. (Laughter). So, I don't know if there would be a pro that would do that from that spot, I don't know. (Laughter.) Q. But you had a good idea of how firm the ground was going to be under the ball? DAVID TOMS: Yeah, it wasn't the fact of not being able to make contact with. It's just which way was it going to come out of there. Here I was, hit a great drive and set myself up and then to be faced with that shot. I felt like I deserved better, and in the end I got better so, maybe it all worked out. Q. Do you remember your first thought when you walked up there and saw how deep that was sitting? DAVID TOMS: My first thought was I just screwed up two out of last three holes and things are starting to go the wrong way. And here I am hitting a perfect drive, set myself up to make an easy birdie and I'm in a spot like that. But, you know, I hit two great shots back to back right after it. So I wasn't mad for too long. Q. Were the greens at all noticeably faster than they were yesterday morning? DAVID TOMS: It didn't seem to be. I blame it on being faster on the first hole because I ran it about six feet by on my first putt of the day. But the rest of the time, they seemed pretty receptive to downwind shot like they might have been watered. I know the front of the greens were watered because they were, you know, stopping. So you know, I didn't see them being any faster. I think it just depends on where you are. If you're downgrain, downhill, downwind, you can't hardly stop it. So it's all about where you're positioned on the green. Q. Billy didn't make a bogey today, how good is no bogeys? DAVID TOMS: That's great playing. What that tells me is that his misses are in the right spot, and, you know, he must be putting pretty well. That's what I can take from no bogeys. He can play pretty solid golf and be playing great and get in a bad spot and have no chance to get up and down. He's obviously playing smart, his misses are in the right spot and he's putting well, because you're going to have some putts that you have to make to save them. DAVE SENKO: Thank you.

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