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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2006

Rocco Mediate

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

SCOTT FORD: Ladies and gentlemen, we have Rocco Mediate. You're sitting second.

ROCCO MEDIATE: Not a bad place to be right now.

Q. How important was it to get that birdie at the end and go into the night with the long day tomorrow?

ROCCO MEDIATE: A par would have been just fine. Bonus, yeah. It's just, you know, it's 232 or 231, it's hard to see, just wanted to keep it on that right bunker because you can't play from that right bunker to that pin. So happened to hit one about four or five feet left of the hole which is way more than I could ask. I made it, which is cool, because it wasn't an easy putt. It was getting dark but I didn't want to sit on it all night and think about a putt. I could see just enough, I knew what it did and I happened to make it.

Q. I guess people are going to wonder whether your back can hold up for 32 holes.

ROCCO MEDIATE: I think it will be fine. It's a little tender right now. But that's the weather change. I knew that would happen. So it should be better by tomorrow I hope.

Q. You can tell when it's going to rain?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I knew it was coming. (Laughter).

I'll crawl around here if I have to. I'm not going to stop, unless you have to pull me out of here. Being this close, lots of golf left but still I'm close. It's better to be here than five or six back right now. It's going to be a long day. It's going to be a tough day. I'm looking forward to it. Very challenging for me right now, as it is for everybody else, too. I have to do something real special the next 33 holes to win this golf tournament; whereas, some of the bigger guns, have to play pretty much a nice, solid round of golf. I have to go above that, myself. They have been there many more times. Phil is right there, he's close. Tiger is always close. As long as he's upright, he's close. (Laughter) So if those guys go out and play a good round of golf, it's going to be tough to beat them, even though I'm a few ahead of them. But I know what I have to do, so see if I can do it.

Q. What did you do all day?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Nothing. Came out here about 12:30. Got my back worked on a little bit. Then actually when I was getting my back worked on when they blew the horn at 1:05, just hung around, had a little bit to eat, talked, did something with Golf Channel, Rich Lerner a little bit, and that's it.

Q. How did the course play compared to yesterday and how do you expect it will play tomorrow morning?

ROCCO MEDIATE: It was obviously wetter. The greens were a lot softer. Augusta National's greens are never slow but were just a little sticky in spots. Sub air tonight will take all of that moisture out there of tonight. It will still be a little softer but it won't be mushy.

Q. How about the drama of having so many good golfers play so many good holes in the championship?

ROCCO MEDIATE: I said that this morning. I said, you know, it would not be a bad thing to play 36 holes tomorrow if they rained today out. Because if you get on a roll, you just roll all day. Sometimes that happens.

So I wasn't really I didn't care what they did. I know they wanted to get in as many holes in as they could but I think we'll finish no problem but it's not bad to play all those. Those guys can come from nowhere, and there's not much of a break, a half hour between times, I'm not sure yet what they are doing, so it's not a bad thing.

Q. Do you think the change in conditions on the course helps you or hurts you both in relation to the course and your competitors?

ROCCO MEDIATE: I don't mind hitting long clubs into holes. I never have. Now with a little bit softer greens, they will receive them a little better. They will be a little bit softer tomorrow. Like I said, sub air should do it's job. It will be on all night, I'm sure and take that moisture out, which that's what it's for. But they are not going to dry out like they did yesterday or the day before, I don't mind. It's definitely more difficult.

On these pins, where the pins are going to be today and tomorrow, it's hard to hit balls at the flag with whatever club you're using. You have to be a certain place right or left or long or short and then take whatever putt you have. You don't see a lot of guys go through hitting three feet every other hole. It just doesn't happen here. It's just not allowed. (Laughter).

Q. Do you expect the rain to impact the roll that the average hitters have been talking about?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Maybe a little. Not much. How much rain did we get? Does anybody know? It wasn't that much rain it didn't seem like. It's still moving. Chad had hit a 2 iron into No. 2 today, which I don't even know what that means, hitting a ball two shots that far. So it's still moving. Tomorrow it should be a little drier.

Q. The fact that you guys made four birdies between you, what's that say about the nerves that were out there?

ROCCO MEDIATE: I'm in shock how comfortable I feel. On the first tee, I knew I was only going to play four holes. It wasn't like I was going to play the whole round. But I felt fine. I felt good out there. I know Chad does. He really hit he didn't even hit a bad shot and made two bogeys. Came up a little short on 3 and a little left on 4. That's not an easy shot, it's not like he hit it all over the place. It was just a couple of shots slightly off and he paid, and that's what happens here. A couple feet off here or there and pars are birdies.

Q. If the course is in good conditions tomorrow, is it possible to build momentum?

ROCCO MEDIATE: Oh, yeah, absolutely. If you get going, you know, I just assume not have a break and play all 33 holes without stopping, because if you get on a roll, you just keep going.

The golf course would have something to say about that tomorrow.

Q. Can you tell anything about Chad's demeanor?

ROCCO MEDIATE: An absolutely marvelous golf swing, one of our best by far, and tremendous strike on the golf ball. I like seeing that because it gets me trying to do the same thing. But he's very calm, very calm. He just tapped it, made a beautiful birdie on 1 and 2 putt birdie on 2. Hit a couple shots that were slightly often and got killed for them. But he's definitely going to be around. He's not going any where, that guy. He's really, really, really good.

SCOTT FORD: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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