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AT&T NATIONAL

July 7, 2007

Steve Stricker

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

NELSON SILVERIO: Steve, thanks for coming in and spending a couple minutes with us. We know you want to go out and hit some practice balls before heading home to the day so try to make it as quick as we can. Again, thank you.
67 today, how about a quick assessment on your round.
STEVE STRICKER: It was a good round today. It was filled with a lot of opportunities. I didn't take advantage of some on the back nine there, but tough putting around here, so I didn't feel bad that I wasn't making birdies. But I kept giving myself a lot of opportunities and finally was able to sneak one in there on 18.
So it was a good finish and good all-around day. I hit the ball solid. I kept it in play, which is what you need it do around here, and got them on the greens. It was a good day.

Q. It seems like you've been pretty steady for the most part this week. Just how much patience goes into that, just waiting for the opportunities to come up?
STEVE STRICKER: You know, you don't get an opportunity a lot out here, and when you do, you feel like you need to take advantage of it. There's been a couple of times this year where, you know, I've gotten in contention and really didn't take advantage of it. But I keep putting myself back there. That's the one good thing.
But you're right, you need to be patient. Somebody could, you know, go real low in a tournament and you could finish second and you really didn't have any chance to win at all. Or, you could throw it away coming down the last few holes.
But whatever the case may be, in this game and on TOUR, just need to be patient and keep plugging away, and one day, hopefully things will go your way and maybe make a couple of putts down the stretch or whatever.
But you need to stay patient and just keep plugging away.

Q. You kind of alluded to this earlier, maybe because they didn't show every shot you hit on the back nine; we didn't see a lot of shots, but did you have eight putts, eight birdie putts inside of 16 feet on the back nine?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I think -- I don't know if they are all within 16 feet. They were all real makeable. I missed one green on the bake side and that was No. 14. I got that up-and-down. But every other green, I really had legitimate birdie putts. I birdied 10 and then missed maybe about a 15-footer at 11.
But anyways, we don't need to go through them all. But I did have a lot of opportunities. And I hit good putts, too. They weren't bad putts or anything like that, but I got on the wrong side of a couple of them, which made it a little more difficult to make. But I did have some opportunity.
But I didn't feel like I was throwing it away. Again, it's kind of like that U.S. Open mentality here; you know, pars are good. And as long as I was knocking them on the greens and getting good chances at making birdies, I was okay with that and not beating myself up. Normally in a regular TOUR event, you would be kicking yourself left and right for not making them, but it's different here.

Q. If there's any negative guys have mentioned about the golf course is the greens are bumpy and hard to putt on. As good a putter as you are, it's unusual for you to have a stretch where you convert only one.
STEVE STRICKER: That's a fair assessment. They are difficult.
I was in the first group the first two days -- well, first group in the afternoon on the first day and first group off in the morning on Friday. Yesterday morning, they were pure. For nine holes, we didn't have anybody in front of us, and even the second nine, they were as good as it gets.
But today they were a little suspect. They were bouncy and they were marked up, and that's just the way these types of surfaces are. You know, they are poa annua; they are easy to get marked up and they get bumpy, and that's the way it is.
Like I say, which makes it even more important to hit it on the green and give yourself chances at them, and you don't want to be chipping and trying to make a lot of 5-footers around here, because that even makes it more difficult.

Q. The Tiger hoopla, if anything, seems to be even bigger around this tournament than it usually is, mainly because he's the host. When you're out there and he's a few groups ahead of you and there's a huge gallery, does that help that you're in a lower-key gallery, is it more relaxing?
STEVE STRICKER: Sure, it is. To be part of his circus, and that's kind of what it is, you know, when you get thrown into his group, it's very distracting and it's very difficult to play with.
He's a great guy. He's very easy to play with, but it's the whole hoopla around it that's difficult to play with. So it's always good to be a few holes -- a few holes away.
But again, if you're playing with him, you know you're right up there around the lead or in contention, so -- you know, there's still a lot of people out there. It's a great atmosphere. The course is great. It's got a different feel than a regular PGA TOUR event, and it would be a good one to win. I tell you, it being Tiger's first as host and being Tiger's tournament here at Congressional, it just has a special feel about it.

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