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FBR OPEN

February 2, 2005

Justin Leonard

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Justin Leonard, thank you for joining us for a couple of minutes here if he FBR Open. First and foremost, congratulations on winning the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic last week. Start with some opening comments. A great week for you and nice to get off and get your first win of the year so early, I'm sure.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, it's nice to win early. It's been almost two years. I think the -- it's funny, Joe Ogilvie asked me in the scorer's tent when I got done, how many wins that made. I said, "I'm not sure, I've either had seven or eight." I guess it ended up being eight. It's been so long since I had thought about it, so it's nice to get a win, and again, so early in the year.

With the equipment change and kind of a down year last year, I really hope and feel like this is the start of some good play for myself.

Q. Talk about how your game has evolved over the last couple of years. Last year you came within a shot of winning the PGA on one of the toughest courses of the year, and then last week at courses where you have to shoot in the mid-60s every day to even give it a chance, shoot 28 under to win. Just talk about how your game evolved.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, I think I still believe I'm a better player on a difficult golf course. It seems to play more to the way I play the game, and it's more about positioning the ball in the right place. I think over the last couple of years, the things that I have done with my game and my swing that if I have a good week, I can compete on any golf course, and I feel like I can compete against -- maybe not the best players when they're playing their best, but on the right golf course I can compete with those guys.

I think it was evident at the PGA. I had a great chance to win there, and that was very disappointing, but I learned a lot from that experience in that I had been struggling all year and had just started to work on some different things away from the golf course with Gio Valiante, and those things were really reinforced at the PGA.

I've got of got a little different mindset this year carrying over from the second half of last year in that I don't work quite as hard at home so that when I get to a golf tournament I'm fresh, and I'd rather be, you know, a little bit rusty but excited to play than feel like my game isn't on all cylinders but yet a little bit tired.

I think after taking two months off during the off-season and getting used to everything Nike that I came out this year with a really -- I was really excited to play, and I think that really showed last week.

Q. Did your goals and objectives change getting a win so early in the season? Do you reevaluate things or do you keep trying to win every time out?

JUSTIN LEONARD: One of my goals this year is to be ready to play every week. I really gear my game up for The Players Championship and for the major championships, but I need to be ready to play every week because I'm not playing as much as I was three or four years ago, and because of the time I want to spend at home with my family, I need to make full use of the tournaments that I do play.

So playing well at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic can do nothing but help me come March and April when I'm trying to get ready for those big events.

I wouldn't say really my goals change a whole lot after winning so early, but certainly it's nice to have that shot of confidence this early in the year, and it'll help make my preparations for March and April that much easier.

Q. (Inaudible).

JUSTIN LEONARD: Probably in the neighborhood of 22 to 24. You know, I know my schedule is pretty solid through mid-August, and then from there I just kind of have to reevaluate, see what's going on.

Q. (Inaudible).

JUSTIN LEONARD: I probably averaged about 28 to 30 events my first five or six years on Tour.

Q. (Inaudible).

JUSTIN LEONARD: I think it depends on the year. A lot of it depends on the weather here. I didn't play the course today, but I know there's been a lot of rain here, so the greens are going to be a little softer, the fairways are softer, but rough is very deep. I would think this week would be a nice week to hit a lot of fairways, and when I'm playing well, I do that.

I think this golf course -- you know, anywhere from 12-under I think has won to even par a couple of years ago, so I think if the wind comes up a little bit here, the golf course will be difficult.

Q. (Inaudible).

JUSTIN LEONARD: I don't have a whole lot of choice in the matter. I pretty much hit it as far as I can, so I don't gear back a whole lot. But for me it's more about putting the ball in the fairway.

Q. The Hope is a big birdie fest. This tournament has a lot of history and it's a big deal on the West Coast. Do you get a sense of that playing that tournament?

JUSTIN LEONARD: It's an interesting event because you're playing -- I play in the celebrity rotation, so I think it's more relaxing and it's more chaotic at the same time. It's relaxing from the standpoint of George Lopez is out there cracking jokes and Cheech Marin is cracking jokes underneath his breath, and then I played with some of the athletes, Sterling Sharpe, Marcus Allen and Drew Brees and Marshall Faulk, and those guys are so competitive, it's funny to watch the difference between the celebrities and the athletes and how they approach the game.

I think all that is pretty relaxing. It's a five-day event, so I think if we all -- the Tour guys played together for five days, they'll be at each other's throats, but in that format, you know, it's fine. I enjoyed playing with those guys, so it brings it up a little bit and it's not quite the grind that you would think five days would be.

Q. Does it have more significance then, the scores? So far the card seems like it's kind of pushing over the tournament -- (inaudible).

JUSTIN LEONARD: You've had some great players win that tournament. Phil has won it two out of the last four years and Weirsie won it a couple years ago. It's fun to play there. I've always enjoyed the desert. It does have a cool history from Mr. Hope's involvement, and when you've got a great sponsor like Chrysler that's been so involved, just you have all the celebrities and that buzz, and then all of a sudden Sunday it gets real serious. The tournament really shifts gears on Saturday night.

Q. With the way it went last week the first four days, there wasn't any wind at all -- (inaudible). When you woke up Sunday and you saw the trees were moving, did you kind of -- (inaudible).

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, I definitely had to switch gears a little bit. I think really what -- while I was warming up and noticing the wind, I think that I felt that was going to take some players out of the tournament because it really -- shooting 62 or 63 I didn't think was possible, and with calm conditions it is, and that's going to lure guys into it.

It probably eliminated quite a few guys, and I felt like my chances were probably better. Being able to play with Joe and Peter, both those guys being ahead of me in those conditions, they're both great players. Peter hits the ball as well and as solid as anybody on Tour, but he struggled on Sunday.

I wouldn't say I was licking my chops, but I certainly felt like I was in a better position at that point than if the conditions would have been benign like they were the rest of the week.

Q. The way that you started on Sunday, quick --

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, that was kind of nice. Obviously, I was hoping to catch those guys. I didn't think it would happen after three holes. I kind of had to readjust my thinking a little bit at that point. It was fun to get off to that great a start with those holes being into the wind and playing pretty difficult. Both Joe and Peter kind of feeling their game out a little bit, not hitting it as well early in the day, and nice to be able to jump out in front and get a taste of the lead early and then able to distance myself a little bit through the middle of the round so where I could kind of coast a little bit there towards the end.

Q. Is your new equipment allowing you to hit different shots or are you able to do something different with the equipment that you're using?

JUSTIN LEONARD: I feel with the driver I am able to hit some different shots. I'm playing the 410 Ignite, and from the monitors and from everything I've seen, I definitely hit the ball a little bit further, but I'm still able to move the ball like I like to. I mean, I like to hit different shots, like to adjust the height of the ball for different conditions, and I'm able to do that. Some drivers I tested last year, I was not able to do that.

The irons, it's pretty much the same animal. It's a forged blade and there's not a whole lot you can do with that. I do know the combination of the driver that I'm using and the Nike 1 golf ball is a better combination for me from anything that I've tested, and I mean, I've seen it on the monitor.

That right there gives me a lot of confidence before I play a single shot; it's a great combination.

Q. What's going to be the bigger factor, the changes you were talking about or your mental -- (inaudible). Which of those do you think is going to be more important to you this year?

JUSTIN LEONARD: I think -- I don't want to downplay the physical aspect of it because if I'm not swinging well, then the mental stuff doesn't matter. It might keep me in an event a little bit longer, but ultimately I won't be able to perform as well. But when I'm -- physically right now everything feels pretty good, so it's more about the little mental bouts and being ready to play. For instance, normally I would have come out today and played nine holes, maybe played a few more. I had a pretty decent session. Instead, because of playing well last week and winning does take a little bit out of you, I took it easy and just hit balls for maybe an hour and chipped and putted a little bit.

That's a different approach from what I would have done six or eight months ago.

Q. Why did you change it?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Because I was playing so lousy. I missed the cut at Memorial and then missed the cut at the U.S. Open, missed the cut at the Kemper Open. I was working too hard, pressing too hard, just putting too much pressure on myself. Gio and I started working at that point.

First thing he told me after talking to me for an hour, "sounds like you need to get away from the game." So I went to Colorado and I was debating whether to take my clubs. This was before the British. He said, "how long are you going to be up there?" I said ten days. He said, no, don't take them. I never taught about taking ten days off two weeks before the British Open.

I came back and I was pretty rusty early in the week, but I was as excited to play as I had been in a couple years, and I think that showed. I mean, I played well there and then played well for another four or five weeks after that. I think that showed. I played well there, and then I played well for about another four or five weeks after that. I just needed to make a change because I was just playing lousy and not having much fun doing it

Q. Less?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, in this case less is more.

Q. (Inaudible).

JUSTIN LEONARD: Just enjoy it. I know what to expect as anybody who's played here before does. You just try and enjoy it, embrace it. There are some really smart guys out there behind that 16th tee because I turned around one day, I think it was last year, and they had volumes printed on players, and they were singing like high school fight songs for guys. I mean, it's unbelievable.

They definitely do their homework, and you've just got to go out and think, "you know what, this is going to be interesting," and have fun with it.

Q. When you come to the TPC do you think about the playoff -- (inaudible)?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Briefly, not as much now because I'm, what, nine years removed. But yeah, I certainly do, and how much fun the experience was looking back on it. I've been able to play in one Ryder Cup overseas, and it was a pretty similar atmosphere, so it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.

At the time it was pretty difficult, but looking back, it was a great experience. I don't know if you could ever have that kind of atmosphere on the golf course again.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Justin, thank you.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Thanks.

End of FastScripts.

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