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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2006

Lucas Glover

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

KELLY ELBIN: Lucas Glover, ladies and gentlemen, the leader in the clubhouse at this point in the 88th PGA Championship with a 6 under par 66.

Lucas, comments on your round today, please.

LUCAS GLOVER: It was just a good opener, I guess. I was real solid, a couple bad tee shots led to two bogeys, but made all my short ones and made a couple long ones for birdie.

So eight birdies, two bogeys, you can't ask for any more than that out here, that's for sure.

KELLY ELBIN: Would you mind going through your card, please.

LUCAS GLOVER: Sure. Birdie on 2. Made a long putt there and that kind of got the ball rolling, 30 footer.

Then 3, took two pretty good shots to 12 feet and made that one.

5, the par 5, wedge to 18 feet and made that one.

6, that was one of the bad shots. Right rough to left rough to on the green to 2 putt.

Birdied 10. Knocked it on in two, 2 putt.

11 hit it a couple feet.

12 was another bad tee shot. You had to lay it up and didn't get it up and down.

15, I made a 15 footer.

16, a 4 footer and 18 a 4 footer.

Q. Well, I'll start with the thing that attracts us. Are you thinking about the Ryder Cup or is that on your mind or how do you look at your standing in that?

LUCAS GLOVER: Well, let's see, every day, every minute, every second for the last six months.

But I had decided to put that behind me this week and try to just play golf, have fun, not worry about it. But play well and let it take care of itself. If not, just, I tried, I guess. I hate to say it like I'm giving up, but it had not worked pressing the last three months, so we're going to try something else.

KELLY ELBIN: Lucas is currently 14th on the Ryder Cup points list.

Q. I know the previous majors haven't been the way you wanted. Is there anything different you did in your preparation other than what you alluded to in terms of maybe not obsessing so much about the Ryder Cup?

LUCAS GLOVER: I didn't stay out here all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday like I did the previous three this year. I think I might have worked myself into the ground earlier in the other three.

I got my work done, did what I needed to do and left. Went and got some rest. So I feel good this morning. And I did I was fresh and prepared and you know, I was at peace on the first tee tee, which was nice. I haven't been that way. Usually I've been tired and nervous and everything else, so it was good.

Q. We've all been talking the last couple hours, if the conditions stay the way they are right now, what do you think the score is going to be come Sunday, if it stays like this?

LUCAS GLOVER: Well, if the fairways stay soft and the greens stay soft, man, 15, 18. I don't know. It depends on the afternoon scores.

But, you know, driving the fairway, you can make plenty of birdies. If we don't get any rain, it's going to firm up. It's already firming up a little bit. Ball is not running into the rough and it's not bouncing over the greens, so guys are going to make birdies because the greens are so good.

Q. Just talk if you could about the start of your day, not so much your round, but did you know Darren very well or Heather at all, and what was that like going from there to the tee?

LUCAS GLOVER: I didn't know very well. I've met him a couple times. I was there for Butch. Butch asked me to be there. So I went with him. As a tribute to Darren and Heather, just Butch has told me what kind of guy he is and the times I have talked to him, he's been great. I just went because I felt like No. 1, for Butch, and No. 2 because that was the right thing to do. He plays our tour a lot and he's won a lot and he's a top ranked player and a pretty big tragedy. But that was a great deal Tom did and the PGA did. It was good.

Q. When they talk about the course's yardage and they say it's not playing that long, what do they mean by that?

LUCAS GLOVER: The majority of the length comes from the long par 3s, and the long par 5s. And then the long par 4s always seem like you're landing it on a downslope; for instance, No. 12, that's like 475 or something and it runs, and you hit the fairway, I can't seem to do that. If you get it on that left side it runs down. I played with Trevor Immelman Monday and he hit eight, nine, wedge, and 4 is the same way, it chases down and long iron hitters can have a short iron in.

Q. What did you take away from the final round at Buick, being in the last group with Tiger and basically going from second to no Ryder Cup points for the day?

LUCAS GLOVER: Well, that was tough to swallow. I had played well the first three rounds, made a lot of putts and then just it seemed to go away. Butterflies were there, playing with Tiger and all the people, something I never experienced. But it was a good experience.

And watching him at his best, I think he hit two bad shots all day, make every putt; and then you take away from that, I've got to improve. That's the bottom line.

Then, you know, I got to play with Phil the first to days at The INTERNATIONAL, so I got to see the best two right now back to back weeks and realized what they are better at and why.

Q. In terms of their demeanor, just to follow up on this question, is there something that you felt that you needed to do in presenting yourself? You have all these people out there, it has to be just a gripping feeling, the tension of it and just moving around, the air and everything, did you find something about yourself that you're going to do differently in standing at the tee and moving around?

LUCAS GLOVER: You watch Tiger and he's as focused as anybody when it's his turn, and he's relaxed as anybody when it's not. There's a happy medium there that all of us could learn from. Because when it's his play, he's as intense and focused as anyone could possibly be. When he hits, the ball stops rolling, it's just like, you know, relaxed and like all of the air is gone. And then you take Mickelson on the other side, it seems like relaxed, focused all the time, which is hard to put into words. But to me, when it's their turn, they are focused. And then they do different stuff in between shots.

But for me, I kind of like to goof off a little more than not. So focus as much as I can when it's my turn and then goof off a little when it's not.

Q. This doesn't pertain to today's round, but when you get paired with a pretty slow player, how do you cope with that, and is the fact that you do like to go up and hit it, is that just something natural that's always been there with you?

LUCAS GLOVER: Yeah, I've always been a fast player, and I've had to learn the last couple years to get used to slow play, because rounds on Tour take a long time.

Something I do is, you know, being a long hitter, hurts even more, but I make sure if I'm playing with a slow player, walk behind them, walk slower, goof around on the tee, fill up my water battle, whatever. Just anything so I'm not racing to my ball. And I've gotten better at it. My pace, walking and everything, has gotten slower and everything and that's probably helped me.

Q. If you could answer as honestly as possible, when you look at a leaderboard today or this week, do certain names maybe stand out more than they would? A Vaughn Taylor, J.J. Henry, a Stewart Cink, Andrade, seems like there's a fraternity of guys that are all trying to make a move this week. Do you notice those names more than you would?

LUCAS GLOVER: Absolutely. Absolutely. We're all chasing the same goal. It's just like looking at a leaderboard on the 18th tee on Sunday if you're in the hunt. You're all vying for the same thing, you all want it and that's the goal. So, yeah, absolutely.

Q. Being that this is the first time you've thrown yourself into the Ryder Cup mix like this, what's the best thing you've learned out of this chase?

LUCAS GLOVER: Not do what I've been doing. Not press. Last year, first part of this year, I was relaxed, playing golf, not getting beating myself up every shot. And since Charlotte, seems like I've been doing that.

You know, like I said, I've made up my mind this week. I was going to be a kid again, try to have fun and laugh off the bad shots. That helped today because I hit some bad ones.

Q. Can you explain what Butch Harmon has been helping you with, not just in terms of your technical ability, but in terms of how to be a better player?

LUCAS GLOVER: Well, same thing, with all the pressure of the Ryder Cup, just time to play golf. Don't worry about it and go to the tee, just play.

You know, we do our work on the technical stuff, and the bottom line is you've got to trust it and put it on the golf course. That's kind of what we've focused on the last couple of days.

Q. What is it about the Ryder Cup that has players getting so uptight about it? It sounds like it really hurts your season this year with the focus you had on it for a few months.

LUCAS GLOVER: Just like wanting anything else too bad. You press, you try to hard. And in this game, the harder you try, the worse you play. I don't know if that's been proven, but I've proved it and proved it to myself. But it's just a goal that every player wants to do in their career. I would think guys are crazy if they don't want to play on that team, but for me, it's been a dream forever. It's been my favorite sporting event to watch and forever. So it's just a lot to look forward to and a lot to hope for.

Q. How does this pressure compare to Q School pressure, and were you able to kind of have a relaxed attitude during did that get you through Q School, being able to be more light hearted about it?

LUCAS GLOVER: Well, the Q School thing was a little bit easier because I did have something to fall back on being in the 150 that year. I don't have a whole lot to fall back on right now, other than last week or whatever it may be.

So the pressure was a little different. But that 18th hole at Q School was pretty nerve wracking.

KELLY ELBIN: Lucas Glover, in with 66, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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