|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 11, 2008Justin LeonardAUGUSTA, GEORGIA Q. Tough start. JUSTIN LEONARD: Do you think? Yeah. Q. Talk about it. JUSTIN LEONARD: 1, hit a good drive, just missed the green just in front. It was an easy up-and-down. I hit my chip too hard and I had a hard putt coming back. 3, I hit it about 20 feet right of the hole and thought I made the first putt, but the wind picked up a little bit and it went about 10 feet by, I missed that. 4, hit it kind of middle left of the green. 3-putted there. I had my first 4-putt in awhile at No. 6. Hit it about 30 feet below the hole and hit it about four feet past and then hit it about five feet past and, you know, that's Augusta. But I played pretty solid after that. Q. Obviously you didn't get discouraged by your score, but it's got to get a little to bit to where you're like, what's going on? JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah, I just kept making the 8-ball bigger. It was right in front of me. And but, you know, those things happen. And so I tried to just, I told myself rather than spreading it over the course of a 72 hole event, I did all that stuff in my first six holes. So you know, just try to -- I knew I was hitting the ball okay and it got a little sharper as the day went on. And somehow I was able to kind of forget about all that stuff. Q. Was that approach that you would have had maybe a couple years ago that you could say that to yourself? JUSTIN LEONARD: No, I think that after what I went through with my game the last couple years I think that it's a lot easier for me to put those little things behind and kind of get back to doing what I know how to do. Yeah, I think a couple years ago I probably would be on the way to the locker room packing up golf shoes right now. Q. You're obviously in. But you got a ways to go to get to where you want to get. How do you approach tomorrow? JUSTIN LEONARD: You want to try and play aggressive. I think I did a good job of it the last 11 holes today. Kind of be selective and other times you just got to, even if it means missing a green, put it in the right spot. And I did that the last few holes and try and stay in that mindset and I don't know what the weather's supposed to do, but 3 or 4-under on this golf course is a very good score and you can make up, you can pass some guys. So I'm really not thinking about winning the Tournament right now, but just want to go out and have a good weekend and get a good round under my belt tomorrow. Q. Can you tell me what your birdies on, what you did? JUSTIN LEONARD: I would love to. 8, I hit, I drove it in the bunker and hit it out, hit a wedge to about three feet. 12, I hit an 8-iron to 8 feet. 13, I laid it up. Hit a wedge to about 15 feet. 15, I laid it up and hit a wedge to about four feet. Q. The Zach Johnson formula on the par-5s? JUSTIN LEONARD: No, well, not by design. Actually, I hit a really good drive at 13 and I was down, I was too low, actually. And I only had 190 to the front, but it's pretty severe down there and you got this tree that kind of hangs over. It's so perfectly placed it's scary. It may be artificial, I don't know, because it's so perfect right there. And just the way these two limbs come out and I just, I couldn't get comfortable. It probably took me a minute and a half to hit the shot. And I couldn't get comfortable with it. Sitting there with a 3-iron, the toe is sticking straight up in the air, the ball is knee high, and I'm trying to hit a 3-iron off of that. And I said I was feeling pretty good with my wedges, let's just -- and that was hard, it's hard to pull an 8-iron out and lay it up from 190 front. But the good thing is I made the putt and I didn't look so stupid because of that. Q. You have no way of knowing this, but Michael Thompson the kid from Alabama, the U.S. Amateur runner-up, he was right on the cut line on 15 and he addressed his putt and the ball moved. He called it on himself immediately. Called a rules official and bent over. And it looks like it's going to cost him a cut in the Masters. Any particular comment on, and it was immediate, he did not hesitate. JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, it's happened to me here before, it's happened to me other places before. When the greens get, they're getting really dried out and fast and firm. And when that happens, it, when you get these little gusts like you get today, it can happen anywhere. It's unfortunate that if it does cost him the cut. So hopefully he'll make a birdie here and end up being able to play. Q. But fact that there was no hesitation in him doing what he did or do most of the guys think that that should be routine? JUSTIN LEONARD: There shouldn't be any hesitation. If there is, then you got some issues. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|