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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 12, 2008

Steve Flesch

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

RONALD TOWNSEND: Good evening. We'd like to welcome Steve Flesch back to the press room. Great round of golf today. Would you like to make a few comments and maybe you all wanted him to talk about birdies or club selection on all the holes? Birdies, and maybe some comments, if you can give us the distances, please?
STEVE FLESCH: I drove it as well today, maybe even better than I have the past two days, which as I was talking about yesterday, sets up my iron game. And I had a lot of good numbers today to keep the ball below the hole, which was one of my big goals out here. Even on 15 and 16, I hit two good shots into those holes but I was above the hole where I couldn't be aggressive. But you know, hit a lot of greens today. Putted very well on the front nine, and you know, was just very comfortable. Got nothing to lose. That's kind of the attitude I'm taking.
I've got four victories in 11 years out here, and, you know, if you're going to make a run at one, you might as well make a run at one this week.

Q. You had two wins in the second half of last year, and I can't remember how far down you were, I don't remember you really sniffing the Top-50 or whatever it was to get into this; you had to rally just to get your foot in the door, didn't you?
STEVE FLESCH: My previous two years were pretty miserable, and I think I was ranked as high as 23 at one time after I won Colonial a few years ago, and then I kind of went on a slide for about two years -- actually, it was a really steep slide.
You know, I wasn't playing that badly. I just wasn't, you know, I just wasn't getting that much out of my game.
Then I won Reno and five weeks later I won Turning Stone, the first Fall event, I think my ranking was 160-something, and I think I gain the about four spots in Reno and about 40 or 50 in Turning Stone, so in the top hundred, but the wins got me high enough on the Money List where I got in this year.

Q. So those were not automatics?
STEVE FLESCH: No, they were not automatic entries. You know, the Money List is how I got in, because I finished 71 in the FedExCup, too. We all know how that is.

Q. Were Phil's travails today, did you find it anyway difficult to concentrate on your game with everything going on with Phil's game?
STEVE FLESCH: You know, it's one of those things where I think people who watch TV think, oh, I can't believe Phil is hitting bad shots. But it's one of those things where I feel his pain because we have all gone through it; unfortunately it's on a stage where it's across the world. Everybody is seeing it.
But I knew what he was going through, and Augusta National really makes your mistakes -- magnifies your mistakes. To be honest with you, while it was all going on, I was just kind of soaking it up because I had not been in this position of the penultimate group in a major, ever.
I was just soaking it up and the fact that I was playing well just made it even better. I wasn't enjoying Phil playing poorly. I was just, you know, just enjoying being out there. And I was really curious to see the fact that he's won, he's obviously won a ton of tournaments, a few majors; how he conducts himself and what he does. I was kind of looking at it as a learning experience to kind of see.
He didn't play well, but he handled himself great out there. You know, grinded it out. Unfortunately just was a bad day for him.

Q. When Phil was over doing his thing on the 18th, you turned your back and looked at the scoreboard for quite a while there; had you looked before today and what was going through your mind seeing your name up there?
STEVE FLESCH: I was keeping an eye on it. I don't look much. I figure, you know, what the heck, I'm on 18, I have some time, I might as well look. (Laughter).
But I can't really pay that much attention to it. You know, you can't get too caught up in it out here. You know, there's that Woods guy, everybody is always looking. I was looking because I was curious like everyone else, what did Tiger shoot today. That's what I was looking at. I was just trying to keep my attention off the 4-footer I had for birdie to be honest with you. If somebody had a coke and a pizza I might have had a slice of that, too.
I figured he was going to need a ruling and everything, so I figured I had ten minutes before I was going to hit my putt but I guess he had a clear shot. I was just trying to keep my mind off staring at that four feet. And actually once he hit his shot on the green, boom, he knocked his putt in and I'm like, oh, okay, now I have to get ready again.
That's kind of all I was doing.

Q. You were playing pretty relaxed, talking to guys while you were walking; did that kind of help you today just staying relaxed in that respect?
STEVE FLESCH: Very much. Like I said, you know, I'm just enjoying being out here. I know I'm behind by three going into tomorrow so I have nothing to lose.
I'm just enjoying it. I've got a bunch of family and friends down, so we are just having a good time and it's making it way more exciting the fact that I'm playing well.
RONALD TOWNSEND: Thank you, Steve, and good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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