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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 14, 2007

Jonathan Byrd

SILVIS, ILLINOIS

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome Jonathan Byrd to the interview room here at the John Deere Classic after a spectacular third round 65. Just looking at your card, 21 putts out there, you absolutely must have been rolling the pill.
JONATHAN BYRD: Yeah (laughing). I've been putting good all week, and my speed has been great every day. And today I just hit it a little bit closer, and made a lot of good putts and they just kept going in.

Q. If there is such a thing as a good bogey, 18 was probably one of them after a little errant tee shot but then getting up-and-down from 80 yards.
JONATHAN BYRD: Yeah, I made two of those today. On 11 I hit it left in the hazard and dropped. I hit a 9-iron on the back fringe about 15 feet, made that for par. A good par, I guess.
And then 18, that was a great bogey.

Q. Today was your best score of the year. Besides the 21 putts, I'm sure that helps, but what else helped you out there?
JONATHAN BYRD: You know, I've been making a lot of birdies lately, the last few tournaments. I'm pretty high up on birdie average this year. I don't know what I am, but the last I'd say two or three months, just my good golf is great and my bad golf is terrible. My misses, especially with my driver and 3-wood off the tee, I pipe it all day and then hit three or four just off the world and making doubles, and doing that week to week. At Congressional last week, tough driving course, I made nine birdies in two days, which I think was third or fourth in the field, and I shot 8-over.
You know, my bad shots aren't that bad this week. It's an easier golf course than last week, but I'm hitting a lot of fairways and I'm hitting a lot of greens. I usually always putt well.

Q. The greens are rolling good today? Did they seem to be spiking up at all? Are they firming up?
JONATHAN BYRD: Well, they've been good every day. The course is in fantastic shape, and this is just a fun golf course to play. You know, there's a lot of birdies and a lot of opportunities and holes you can get aggressive, a par 4 you can drive. So it's a fun golf course.
But, you know, when you've got this much humidity and got guys wearing metal spikes like I do, the greens are going to spike up. It's just inevitable. I thought the last couple days they've been slower than they look, but they're rolling pretty darned good. I just think for some guys they're hard to read for whatever reason.

Q. Still slow today?
JONATHAN BYRD: They were faster than yesterday. I thought yesterday they were a foot slower than Thursday for me.

Q. You mentioned earlier having trouble with off the tee shots, drives, 3-woods straying on you. Is your game normally an adventure like that, like it was on a couple holes today?
JONATHAN BYRD: I guess everybody's game is an adventure like that. I know Tiger's is at times. But that's just golf. You know, you hit it in spots and you try to find a way to get out of them, and you get creative.
You know, with my length I can afford to miss some shots like that and get away with it. But you know, if you're a shorter hitter you can't afford to miss it off line; you've got to be hitting it down the middle all day long. I guess you could say my game is like that. It certainly has been this year.

Q. Good feelings going into tomorrow, or are you -- have you been fighting your swing a little bit? Is it going to be more difficult to play from a few shots back of the lead?
JONATHAN BYRD: Well, I haven't been fighting my swing. Last week I was fighting my golf swing. This week my swing feels good. I feel like it's kind of -- I've tightened it up just a hair. Yes, I've hit a few loose shots, and yes, they've come the last couple holes. Is that nerves, is that me, I don't know, but I tend to hold onto a few and miss some right on the last couple holes. I'll try to do better with that tomorrow.
But my golf swing feels great. I'm hitting my wedges good, I'm hitting the ball the right distance and I'm making birdies on the par 3s, and you've got to hit the ball well to do that. I'm hitting it long. My game is good. I feel great going into tomorrow. I've played well here, I finished second here before, I've had the chance to win. I like my chances.

Q. What do you think it's going to take to win tomorrow?
JONATHAN BYRD: I don't know. It depends what Nathan Green finishes. I think he's still at 16-under maybe with 17 being a very good birdie opportunity with that front pin. It just depends. I'm just hoping I get in that final group. I'd love to be in that final group with Nathan.
There's some other guys at 12-under right now who could knock me out of that position. But I'd just love the challenge to be in that position tomorrow.

Q. Vijay kind of got away from you guys early in the final round and you couldn't run him down in 2003. Is this a good front runner's course or is this a good course for somebody to fire from behind? It's gone both ways.
JONATHAN BYRD: I think it's both. Somebody like Vijay, if he gets ahead -- it's kind of like Tiger, Vijay hits it 10, 15 feet on every hole. I mean, he just does that, just wears you out. It's hard to catch a guy when he's playing that well. If he's putting good, he's hard to catch.
You know, I don't think Nathan has won out here, so that will be -- he'll be fighting some nerves out there, I'm sure. I've won twice out here, so at least I've done it, and I think that experience will pay off. I've just got to go out and be aggressive starting out and try to catch him and pass him and keep going.
STEWART MOORE: Quickly just go through your birdies and bogeys on the card.
JONATHAN BYRD: I birdied 2, I hit a great drive, hit my best shot of the day, hit a cut 5-wood back up into the wind and just flushed it through the wind. The wind died down, hit it over the green, ended up making a great putt on the fringe for birdie.
5, hit it close, maybe three and a half feet, with a wedge.
7, hit a nice 5-iron about 15 feet, made birdie. Once we got to this point, Stankowski and I were both kind of feeding off each other. He teed off first on the 1st hole, and I took the honors from him, and every time he made a birdie, I made a birdie, so he was fighting to get on the tee box for the rest of the day. That was kind of our joke. He never got it all day.
Then 10, we both hit it close with a wedge.
12, I hit a 6-iron 12 feet and made birdie.
14, hit a 3-wood in the greenside bunker, hit it close.
Then 15, hit a great iron shot to about 12 feet there. I worked hard with my caddie yesterday afternoon on my wedges, and it paid off today. I hit a fair amount of close wedge shots.
STEWART MOORE: Jonathan, great playing. Best of luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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