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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 2006

Tim Herron

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

KELLY ELBIN: Tim Herron, ladies and gentlemen, in with a bogey free round of 5 under par 67 in the second round of the PGA Championship, now in a four way tie for the lead. Looks like an exciting finish to a real good round.

TIM HERRON: Yeah. I played pretty consistent and just kind of hung in there and hit one stiff on 8, then got a good read off of K.J. Choi on the last hole and drained the putt straight up the hill.

Q. Two birdies on the par 3s, you'll take that any day?

TIM HERRON: Oh, yeah. Going into the weekend I'm looking to play the par 5s just a tad better, 1 under, one birdie and seven pars.

KELLY ELBIN: Let's go through your card, just length of putts on the birdies, please.

TIM HERRON: The length of putts on the birdies? Okay.

I started on 10. I birdied No. 12. I probably made a six footer for birdie on 12.

Then on 16, I hit it in there about four feet, made that for birdie.

About five feet on 17.

And then made quite a few pars.

Then No. 8, I hit it to probably about eight inches.

9, I made about a 30 footer straight up the hill.

Q. Have the conditions changed this afternoon?

TIM HERRON: How did the conditions change this afternoon? Well, the greens seemed a little more spiky. It was a little soft. The ball probably wasn't going quite as far. But you knew you could kind of stick your shots because of the rain.

You know, you knew if you just hung in there, it's still a major championship, but you could be maybe just a little more aggressive.

Q. What do you expect this weekend? Obviously nice to be tied for the lead, but you've got a bunch of players within a couple shots, including Tiger, Love, a lot of big names right on your heels.

TIM HERRON: Yeah, you know, everyone is going to be kind of looking at them, and I'm going to go out and try to do my business and try to hit as many fairways as I possibly can. I know if I hit some fairways, I have a good chance coming down the stretch on Sunday.

Q. What's happened or what's not happened on the par 5s, or did you take advantage yesterday, and what's not happened today?

TIM HERRON: Well, I haven't hit the 5th hole yet, but that's a tight driving hole. I'm a fader, so I set up trying to draw it on that hole. Maybe I'll try to hit a fade next few days, but I'll see how I'm going to play it.

I'm borderline getting to the par 5s.

Then No. 10 starting out I hit a pretty good drive, just pushed it a little bit and couldn't go for the green.

You know, most importantly if you drive it in the fairway you've got a pretty good chance at those par 5s.

Q. Do you pay enough attention to the leaderboard at the end to know who the three guys you're tied with are, and are you paying attention to where Tiger is, too?

TIM HERRON: No, not really. It's always interesting to see where Tiger is. He's kind of always there, you know. He wasn't on the board much of the day. I don't know if he birdied a lot of holes coming in or in the middle of his round.

Not really, really looking at the board, just kind of seeing if someone is really going off, getting into double digits. Starting the week I never thought any guys would be this low going into the first two rounds just because the reason why I think they're low is because of the playing conditions. We haven't had much wind. You get the wind kicking up on holes like 17 and some of these par 3s, it becomes more of a difficult golf course trying to judge the irons and flighting your ball and things like that.

Q. The conditions are unusually soft for a major championship. What is your take on that? Do you like that? Is it a reason the field is so bunched, and as a result does it feel like a major because the scores are so low?

TIM HERRON: Well, when you say the greens are soft, I think a lot of it has to do with the conditions they've had this summer. You know, that 100 degree heat, and I don't think the club wanted to lose the greens, and it just doesn't seem like they have tons of structure to get the greens as fast as they want. I mean, that's my opinion. I have really no idea. That's why I think you do see it bunched is because it's a lot softer. If you hit good shots, you're making birdies.

Like I've always said, the PGA is the fairest major of all four of them. You hit a good shot, you get rewarded, and you hit a bad shot, you're probably not going to get rewarded at all. I think that's the way golf should be, and I think the PGA sets up their golf courses great for the last major of the year.

Q. Does it feel like a major?

TIM HERRON: Yeah, the only thing that doesn't feel like a major is that the scores are lower. It feels a little like Valhalla, the scores at Valhalla, but this course is totally different.

Q. Given that, with the conditions, what do you expect this weekend? With all this rain it would seem like the greens are still going to be soft? Do you think the scores will continue to be low?

TIM HERRON: I think what you're going to see is the greens are going to be better kind of in the middle of the day, and you'll see some guys jumping up the leaderboard before we even tee off tomorrow, and you just kind of have to take that out of your mind and go out and play golf tomorrow. That depends on the wind and the conditions, but if we don't get any wind tomorrow, you're going to see some guys vault up the leaderboard. You might see some real low scores.

Q. I was with you 18 holes, and I saw you putting twice where you barely missed the hole. Did you practice your putting? It was so great. Your parents were so happy with that. Can you tell me was it just putting?

TIM HERRON: Well, I've taken two weeks off before this major, and I focused really hard on my putting. K.J. Choi played with me is that what you're talking about? He played with me in Milwaukee and I putted terrible. I worked two weeks, 50, 60 hours in those two weeks, on my putting. Usually when my putting gets bad it's mechanics, and then once my mechanics get good, I don't think about mechanics. That's probably why they eventually get poor again.

The only thing is I felt like I was hitting down on the putts a few weeks ago, and now I'm trying to hit up on the putts and that releases my shoulders and gets the ball releasing to the hole. With the greens not being quite as fast it's a little easier to do, and I feel like I'm putting a lot better.

Q. Those last two holes, you played in off and on rain. Talk about the last two holes, was the weather at its worst? Were you playing in the steadiest of the down pours?

TIM HERRON: I didn't think it downpoured. I think it's downpouring now. It was pretty steady out there. Off and on, you didn't really know if you should carry an umbrella or not carry an umbrella or what. It was more tedious, I guess, than anything else. It wasn't too bad.

Q. Normally at a major we'll see some train wrecks even among the leaders as they go through their round. Other than Davis' triple yesterday, we haven't seen much of that. So not how difficult is the golf course, how dangerous is the golf course in that sense, or is bogey really the punishment on this golf course when you make a mistake?

TIM HERRON: Like I said, we haven't had any wind. We get 10 miles an hour wind, and we know Chicago can blow. We get up there on 17 with that downhill par 3 and you get up there, with a doubt, you'll see a lot of train wrecks on 17 and 13 and things like that.

The thing is we knew it was blowing maybe two or three miles an hour and it was downwind. That's the easiest wind that you can have, and that's what it was the first two days.

You know, if you get a little bit of wind, you might see some train wrecks. Is that what you're looking for, train wrecks (laughter)?

Q. You talk about working so hard on your putting. I'm just curious, has that kind of been the missing element in your game since the win at Colonial?

TIM HERRON: I don't know, I just felt like I haven't been well organized, I guess. I feel like I haven't been playing terrible, it's just that I haven't played good and it kind of snowballed the other way instead of playing good.

Yeah, I'd have to say putting, the way I putted at Colonial. Of course that's the way you always want to putt, but you can't always do that. I'd have to say putting.

Q. You called this the fairest major. Is this the most fun major, as well?

TIM HERRON: Well, yeah. I mean, the best one you do in is the most fun when you sit back the next day. What's fun about it is if you hit a good shot, you get rewarded, and if you you know what I mean? It's probably not as grinding as saying I hit a good shot in the U.S. Open and it bounced over the green and now I'm dead. That gets frustrating. It's probably more on yourself. If you hit a bad shot it's because of you. It's not because you had a funny bounce or whatever.

All right, thanks. Hope to see you tomorrow and the next day.

KELLY ELBIN: Tim Herron, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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