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VERIZON HERITAGE

April 17, 2008

Jay Williamson

HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: We'd like to thank Jay Williamson for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center. It's a great start to the week. Talk about the crazy start.
JAY WILLIAMSON: Well, I already know what you guys were saying in here about me. I've already found out that you thought it was a typo. Scorer's error.
I don't know if I was thinking 59, but I don't know if I've ever started out -- I'm not sure I ever started out with three birdies in a row at the start of the tournament. Let alone five. And at 6, I had about a 20-footer, and I thought I made it. The ball went all around the hole.
It was an incredible start. So I'm a little disappointed. It's nice to birdie the last hole, but I'm disappointed in the way I finished. As everyone knows that covers this golf tournament. It's a tough golf course. When you can make birdies, you need to take advantage of it. This golf course will get you at some point.

Q. Joan already asked about the 59. I was sitting here thinking 53, maybe.
JAY WILLIAMSON: Well, Annika talks about birdieing every hole, doesn't she? I wasn't necessarily -- I didn't have that mindset, but I made an adjustment. Not necessarily with my swing, but the way I hold my body through the shot. I think Tiger has actually talked about it before, with my core, really trying to control my body. It really helped me, because I have a tendency, I'm very anxious and I move, I move through the shot.
So this was probably the best round of the year for me. But one of the best rounds of my life, to be honest with you. So something is working.

Q. When you go out there, do you think of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 as birdie holes?
JAY WILLIAMSON: No.

Q. Maybe 2 and 5?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I've made so many different numbers on all these holes, anywhere -- I don't know why people can't build golf courses like this anymore, but it's such a treasure. And we just don't see this anymore. I can't understand how people wouldn't want to play this golf course every day. It's not necessarily the longest golf course, but it can play long. And this is the way golf courses should be built, period. It would save a lot of land. It would save a lot of everything. I just don't understand.
So do I think of 1 through 5 as birdie holes? Absolutely not, because you can have some disasters almost on every one of those holes.

Q. Talking to your caddie through that birdie run, what do you say? Or do you just ignore it?
JAY WILLIAMSON: It's just one of those things where you don't really talk about it. He wasn't saying, well, we've got to birdie the next one. We were just trying to take it, I hate to say it, but one shot at a time. It was fun. I was hitting good shots. It wasn't like I was making long putts. I'm trying to get better every day. And this is certainly a step in the right direction for me.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: How were the conditions?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I would say the wind definitely -- the wind was very difficult today, as it always is here, but it was variable throughout -- not the morning, but the first ten holes in my round. And then in the end it had switched to the south. It was blowing hard on 18. I hit 3-wood off the tee and 7-iron in.
17 is a tough tee shot, because you stand back there on the tee and you can't really feel the wind, then you get out there in the open and it's blowing a little bit. It's certainly not like the conditions I've seen here before, but there was a little bit of wind to contend with. The greens are firming up a little bit. Like I said, and I'll say it 20 more times if you want me to, I just think it's such a great golf course. I just don't understand why we can't do this more often.

Q. Can you take us through those five birdies.
JAY WILLIAMSON: I hit a good drive, tried to be aggressive on 1, hit a driver down there. Had about 127 yards to the hole and hit a good wedge. The wind came up a little bit and the ball spun just off the green, so I made a putt from the fringe there, I don't know, 12, 14-footer.
And then I hit a really good drive on 2. I had a 5-iron in and my ball landed on the green, but kind of missed over there left of the green. I hit a pretty good chip to about six feet and made it.
3, I hit a great drive, a little 8-iron in there, 148 yards. At that point it was a little bit into the wind again and I made about a six-footer, six-, seven-footer.
4 is a tough pin. It's tucked over on the left, I had 185 yards and hit a ball right in the middle of the green, right where I needed to, right at my target. I made about a 18-footer there.
I thought to myself, boy, this is interesting (laughter). Four birdies in a row.
On the par-5 I'm thinking, gosh, another birdie hole. I've had some problems with that hole. I hit a good drive. I was going to play aggressive with my 3-wood, and left it short of the green. And made about a five-, six-footer for another birdie. I'm thinking, here we go.
Then 6, tough hole. I hit 3-wood off the tee, 7-iron to about 18, 20 feet. And I had two good looks at it from the other guys in my group. The ball went all the way around the hole.
I hit a great shot on 7 to get back. I missed about a 10-footer on 7 for birdie.
It was a fun round. It's a great place to come. The family loves it here. The older you get, you appreciate days like this. I wish it was Sunday, but it's not, hopefully the weekend will continue at this pace.

Q. It seemed like there were not only that putt on 6, but there was another putt that you thought you had, I think it was on 15 or 16?
JAY WILLIAMSON: I made a lot of good putts today. This is one of my better putting rounds. It doesn't say anywhere that I'm known for my putting anywhere. I had 26 putts. If I had 26 putts every day, I'll do all right. I have a new putter, Bobby Grace putter, and again the adjustment that I made to keep my body still really helped me.
A lot of putts I thought I made coming down the stretch didn't go in. I finally made one on the last hole, which is a nice way to cap the day.

Q. Have you had rounds on the Tour where you've made seven birdies before?
JAY WILLIAMSON: Is that how many I made? Yeah, I remember I shot 62 in Vegas. I don't know -- that's certainly nothing compared to this golf course. But I've had some good days. I've been out here 11 years now, a long time. I need a win. My wife says it's time. She missed every birdie today. She got there on 7 (laughter). Bless her heart. She says she was in detox from the kids (laughter).

End of FastScripts

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