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FBR OPEN

February 2, 2008

J.B. Holmes

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

DOUG MILNE: J.B. Holmes, thanks for joining us here after the third round at the FBR Open. Congratulations on a great round today, 5-under-par 55. Just a couple comments on how you felt going into round 3 and looking into round 4.
J.B. HOLMES: I felt real good starting the day. I felt a little disappointed starting with a bogey, but I bounced back and had four in a row. So it was a good day all around. I had maybe a couple more bogeys than I would like, but luckily I was making putts and made a lot of birdies today.

Q. The last time, when you won this tournament two years ago, you were ahead by a stroke, I believe, after three rounds.
J.B. HOLMES: Uh-huh.

Q. And ended up winning by seven. So I was wondering what you did the last time the night before the final round and if you are superstitious and plan to do it again.
J.B. HOLMES: I don't remember. I think I played X-box or something. No, it's completely different circumstances. The same thing is not going to happen to me. Hopefully the same thing will happen to me, but the chances -- I've got a lot of good players behind me.

Q. How about your mindset going into tomorrow?
J.B. HOLMES: It's going to be the same. I'm going to take one shot at a time, don't need to change it from round one to the last round. Go out there, and I'm going to have to make birdies. I can't shoot even and win. I've got to go out there and make birdies. Hopefully I'll go out there and make eight birdies again tomorrow.

Q. What's the secret to generating all your power, because you're not really that big of a guy?
J.B. HOLMES: I have no clue.

Q. Is it all natural?
J.B. HOLMES: It's just natural. I've always swung like that.

Q. Do you get it from your baseball past?
J.B. HOLMES: You'd be better off asking my swing coach Matt Killen. I have big forearms, I have quick hips, quick hands, good timing. I don't know.

Q. Do you hang back a lot?
J.B. HOLMES: I don't know what that means, no. I don't know.

Q. Did you get the crowd behind you? There were so many people out there. Did you really feel the crowd?
J.B. HOLMES: I don't think the crowd was behind anybody today, at least at 16 and 17. Usually if you miss the green they boo you. We were hitting the green and they were booing you. I don't know. When the putt went in they cheered for you, but they're rough on you.

Q. You didn't have Freddie today.
J.B. HOLMES: I didn't have Freddie to take all the heat.

Q. Are you a football fan?
J.B. HOLMES: Yeah.

Q. Talk about winning this thing tomorrow with the Super Bowl, your thoughts on possibly winning this thing tomorrow and the Super Bowl?
J.B. HOLMES: Just a golf tournament. I'm more worried about the golf tournament than I am the Super Bowl. I don't think anything about that.

Q. You talked yesterday about how much you like this course. What is it about it exactly, that it's open?
J.B. HOLMES: It's a little bit open, but there's some tight holes out there. If you miss it it's in the desert and there's cactus. You've still got to hit it straight. I putt well here. I read the greens well. It's always nice to come over here and putt on some flat greens, compared to Torrey Pines and the poa annua and the ball bouncing around and everything. It's always nice to come over here. I like the runoffs and chipping areas around the greens. I just like everything about the golf course. It sets up good for my eye.

Q. How long ago does that win seem?
J.B. HOLMES: Oh, a long time ago. So I'm ready for another one.

Q. Do you remember being nervous that day?
J.B. HOLMES: Of course I was nervous. It was my first tournament. I was very nervous. Actually I was probably more nervous off the golf course than I was on the golf course.

Q. Was that your very first tournament on the PGA TOUR?
J.B. HOLMES: No, it was like my fourth, fifth. First one leading.
You can't really do anything when you're off the golf course, so when you get on the golf course you can do something, and everything went great for me that day. I was nervous. I was nervous over the last shot when I had a seven-shot lead going into the last hole. You've just got to learn to calm your nerves. That's part of golf.

Q. What happened? You pulled away at the end today. You had more holes to play, but what happened there down the stretch for you to keep it going instead of just settling for pars?
J.B. HOLMES: Well, I didn't look at the scoreboard a whole lot. I knew I was up there close, but I got to 12 early and bogeyed a hole, and I got to 12 again and I bogeyed a hole, so I was trying hard to get over that.
And then I hit a great shot on 13, the par 5, off the tee, and I only had about a 6-iron in and I hit a bad 6-iron, pushed it, went in the bunker, and I made a great up-and-down. I made about a five-footer and that kind of got me going.
The next hole, I hit a wedge in there about four feet and made that one. So it got me going.
Then I hit a good shot on 17. I hit a 3-wood up there 30 feet. It would have been nice to make that, but I'll take birdie on that hole every day. Don't want to get greedy.

Q. What's it like going through the gauntlet, 16, 17, 170,000 plus out here today?
J.B. HOLMES: It's just crazy. It's nerve-wracking. Every shot, if you do good you're going to get cheered and if you do bad you're going to get booed. It's nerve-wracking.

Q. What happened on No. 1 today?
J.B. HOLMES: I just hit a bad shot off the tee. Something was going on in the background. I hit a bad shot, and then I thought I hit a pretty good shot out of the rough and it just rolled to the back, and didn't hit a very good chip and didn't hit a very good putt.

Q. How boring will it be to play in another tournament with not this atmosphere?
J.B. HOLMES: This is my living, so none of them are boring. The pressure is still the same. I take it back, there's probably a little more pressure just with this many people around. But leading any golf tournament from when you're an amateur to a professional, it's the same feeling. You've just got to get yourself in the mindset it's just a golf tournament. You've just got to go out there and take one shot at a time. I play golf every day of my life, so just go out and play golf.

Q. Did you drive the green Thursday and Friday on 17, too?
J.B. HOLMES: I hit it in the water the first day. The second day I was a little short.

Q. Is it harder to focus at this tournament than any other tournament?
J.B. HOLMES: Yes and no. I mean, kind of. There's so much going around. Sometimes you've got to back off a little bit more. But it's the individuals that do loud noises and not just the whole crowd kind of talking, that type of stuff. If it's just a -- if everybody is talking, it's not that bad. When people are being quiet and you get one person yelling, stuff like that will bother you.

Q. What's the number tomorrow do you think?
J.B. HOLMES: I have no clue. I'm going to go out and try to shoot 5-, 6-under. I'm going to try to go as low as I can. Hopefully whatever I shoot will be the number.
DOUG MILNE: If we can, just run through your bogeys and birdies real quick. You touched on you were reading the greens really well today. You made some great putts on I think 4, 5 and 6 with an average of about 15 feet. Maybe if you could just run through and give us some clubs and yardage.
J.B. HOLMES: Okay, started on 3, I hit a great tee shot, hit a 6-iron on the green and two-putted up the hill, made birdie.
The next hole, I hit -- I had 152 or something like that, hit a little knock-down 9-iron in there to about 12 feet, hit a good putt right in the center.
5, hit it in the middle of the fairway, ball ended up being in a divot, and I hit a 9-iron out of the divot left, really tough putt, just trying to two-putt, broke a lot quick, and it trickled in.
6, hit a great drive, hit a pretty good wedge shot, and then made about a 19-footer curling left diving in there. It was a good putt.
7, probably tried to hit -- I hit a 6-iron, probably tried to hit it a little too hard, pulled it, hit a great chip shot from where I was and had about eight feet and I just missed it.
Then 10, really close to the green and hit just a very poor pitch shot, but my putter saved me and I made a good putt there and rolled in the edge.
11, some guy yelled right in the middle of my backswing and I sliced it over in the trees and chipped out and made bogey.
13, like I said, I hit a good drive, hit it in the bunker and got up and down, hit wedge in there to about four feet.
And then 17, I hit it on the green and two-putted.

Q. Can you reach 10 with maybe the wind helping you just a little bit?
J.B. HOLMES: Probably. I can probably get close to it.

Q. Because you weren't that far away today.
J.B. HOLMES: No, I wasn't that far away today. I think I hit one just up the fringe and it rolled back down the hill. If you give me a bucket of balls and some wind out here, yeah, I can probably hit one on.
DOUG MILNE: Best of thanks for coming in today and good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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