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BARCLAYS CLASSIC

June 8, 2006

David Howell

HARRISON, NEW YORK

CHRIS REIMER: We'll welcome David, a 5 under par to start off with a few words about your round.

DAVID HOWELL: Well, obviously delighted with the start there. Played really nicely on my front nine, the back nine. Made those four birdies in a row. And then I just let it slip, really. I had a nice chance at the 1st and didn't make that. The 2nd was playing fairly easy, didn't give myself a great birdie chance there. Then I made two bogeys. Both were a lapse in concentration, a bad drive on 3 and a three putt on 5. Delighted to finish with the birdies. All of them were a real bonus.

CHRIS REIMER: Talk about the conditions out there.

DAVID HOWELL: They weren't bad. The rain came and went a couple times but the wind wasn't overly strong. It never really poured down. Obviously with preferred lies, I don't think it makes much difference, but it's always nice to get the ball in your hand. It feels slightly that bit easier. With the course playing soft I haven't played it before. I can imagine this course is unbelievably tricky when it's firm. Obviously when it's softer there's a bit more margin for error.

Q. Were you itching to get back on the course after you had a little stress there, just laughing about some of the shots, where they were ending up? How important was it to get that behind you?

DAVID HOWELL: Obviously you shoot 83 in the third round it's a big blow. That coming off a win, it's all forgotten now. The win is behind me and so is the 83. I was pleased to get out there and put another good score on the board. Obviously I shot 71 in the last round of the Memorial, so that was one step getting over there.

Q. Was it really important with the Open coming up that you have a particularly good week coming up with get your confidence up?

DAVID HOWELL: I think no matter how you prepare for a major, you just want to be playing well, whether you take the week off to practice or whether you play. I'm certainly in the best shape I've ever come into a U.S. Open in, and I've got no excuses next week. If I play poorly, I've only got myself to blame.

Q. Your first time here, what struck you the most about this course compared to like some that you've seen around the world?

DAVID HOWELL: Obviously reminded me very much of an English course, for starters, a nice feel about it. You could easily be in Surrey or somewhere like that, which is where I live now. It's an unusual course for the U.S. Tour. I haven't played a course like it before, very funky greens, and a bit shorter than normal and a slightly different test than what we would see week to week. Obviously I'm enjoying it so far. It's nice to play somewhere different once in a while.

Q. This is a little cart before the horse, but with a good start and thinking about it, what would a win on the U.S. Tour mean? Obviously Padraig broke through a little ways back and he won here, as well, with a second win. I know you've had a win already this year.

DAVID HOWELL: Sure. Well, my career is progressing really well, and a goal I set for myself I keep seeming to achieve, which is lovely. The next natural step for me is to at least give myself a chance over here. It's not easy to win on this Tour, and I haven't got quite as far with having a chance with 18 or 9 to go. That's the next step, along with winning one. If you had asked me after the second round last week, I might well have had a chance with a round to go, and just missed out by about 18 shots (laughter).

You know, that's the next thing on the agenda, whether it's a regular Tour event or obviously the three majors. I wouldn't be fussy if the opportunity came in a major first, then so be it.

Q. If I can follow up, what happened on the third round there?

DAVID HOWELL: I think it was just a number of things. We played 36 in a day. I finally felt exhausted after the week before. I had probably been on a high the whole of the week until that round started. I started with a double bogey from almost nowhere and followed that up with another one, and then all the energy was drained out of me, and any adrenaline I had was gone, and I just couldn't do a thing right.

As you say, a couple of the guys were walking around and I could only laugh. I wasn't going to get upset with myself. I just won the biggest tournament of my life the week before. It was just a bad day at the office, and that's all I can say. The best thing about it, my attitude towards it was good. It hasn't affected me.

Q. Come tomorrow, you're certainly going to be close to the lead if not in the lead. Talk about starting the second round in the position you're in.

DAVID HOWELL: Hopefully I can do better than 83. You know, I'm fairly comfortable with being at the top of the leaderboard, anywhere in the world now. I'm not going to be phased by that. It's very early on. I've got three rounds to go and playing nicely. I'd love to have a chance to win with a round to go, as I said earlier. Tomorrow is just another round of golf. I've got three more to play this week and I'll play them all as well as I can.

Q. What's the worst weather you've ever played in?

DAVID HOWELL: Pro Am yesterday was pretty close (laughter), in fairness. Wentworth when I won was pretty bad on days. I guess if you want to ask the worst I can ever think of was Carnoustie in the Dunhill Links for me about three years ago up in Scotland there. It was particularly bad and I happened to play particularly well, which was a nice memory on a really bad day.

Q. Just blowing, raining, sleeting?

DAVID HOWELL: Coming down sideways, out there for six hours, pretty cold.

Q. A beautiful day in Scotland.

DAVID HOWELL: Pretty nice.

Q. Do you think what happened to you at Memorial was almost part of the process to be able to do what you're doing now?

DAVID HOWELL: In what way, sorry?

Q. You were on a high. I think you said then that you knew at some point you were going to come down, and then I guess you have to come down and turn around and come back up again.

DAVID HOWELL: It's one of those funny things, you don't really realize you're on such a high until you come down and you're just exhausted. Obviously I would rather have it been on a Monday or Tuesday or on a Pro Am day and not the third round playing with Phil while doing well in the Memorial. Like I said, that's behind me now, the win is behind me, so yeah, I feel like I'm back out there and got to prove myself again as we do every week in this game. Can't take anything for granted. Yeah, I certainly was out there today determined to have another good week after the debacle of last week.

Q. Are you at all surprised at the fact of being 5 under after the first round, considering all that?

DAVID HOWELL: No. I wouldn't say I'm surprised. I'm happy.

Q. How many tournaments will you play over here this week, and are you going back after Winged Foot?

DAVID HOWELL: I am. Obviously I have my card here this year. I'm going to play only the minimum this year and we'll see how things go as far as next year.

Q. Do you change your approach at all from last week to this week knowing that you're in kind of a similar position?

DAVID HOWELL: No, I just keep doing the same things. No reason to change anything. My approach on in the third round last week was fine, I just played terrible. No reason to change anything.

Q. Let's go ahead and go through club selection on the bogeys and birdies. You started out on 10, birdied 11.

DAVID HOWELL: One thing about this course is I can't remember where I birdied any of the holes. I have no idea what hole that is. What is it?

Q. 11th hole is the driver and a dogleg left a little bit, a tree short right.

DAVID HOWELL: I'm going to struggle with that, I'm afraid.

CHRIS REIMER: Look it up on ShotLink, guys.

DAVID HOWELL: I hit a 4 iron, a little bit of a fade to a foot.

End of FastScripts.

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