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AT&T CLASSIC

May 15, 2008

Jonathan Byrd

DULUTH, GEORGIA

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Jonathan Byrd into the interview room. You had a good day today. You're coming off two top-tens here the last two years you played and you shot 66 double-bogey. Let's hear about your round.
JONATHAN BYRD: I played really solid today. The course played pretty easy today, you know, with the greens being a little softer and there not being as much wind. But you still had to hit good shots and you still had to read the greens well and get it on the right speed. I feel like I putted really well today. I made some key putts. And really just hit the ball the right distance. I gave myself a lot of chances on the greens. I don't know how many greens I hit but I had to hit 16 or so. Just one hiccup, eight birdies. Doing a lot of things well.
THE MODERATOR: You guys have any questions?

Q. The last few years, what appeals to you about it?
JONATHAN BYRD: It just fits me off the tee. It's not terribly demanding off the tee. Unless you -- you don't have to be that aggressive or hit a certain shot off the tee, just have to get the ball to the fairway. I just have a good eye for these greens, where to hit, how to hit the right distance. Then they give you four Par 5s that are really fun. I think everybody would enjoy these Par 5s. If you hit a good tee shot you can go for all of them in two, except for 10.
10 was playing pretty long today. But you can get about as aggressive as you want on those holes. And you have one drivable Par 4. And I always seem to read the greens well. They're really easy to read. And I had about four putts today were dead in the heart, about four inches short, you know. So as much as I made, I had all the other ones that were pretty much dead on line.

Q. You had the big win last summer at the John Deere. Is there any similarity, other than the rolling hills they have here, any similarity to the way they set up for you?
JONATHAN BYRD: Yeah, these golf courses-- I never thought of that -- are a lot alike with the Par 5s the way they are. You can be aggressive on those and they're exciting. One drivable Par 4.
But, you know, I tend to play well on courses where they give you a little, a little room off the tee but then the greens have a lot of slope to them and you got to be real precise. Your short game's got to be good. You got to have a good imagination around them. I think these courses are a lot alike.

Q. This is kind of an obvious question but for the general public that doesn't follow the nuances of golf, why do kind of gray, miserable damp days -- but you said the course plays easy. For the general public, why does the course play easier when it's this kind of weather?
JONATHAN BYRD: Soft greens, no wind. I don't care how hard a course is, if the greens are soft, guys are going to shoot low. Just, you can get flags pretty easy. You know your shots don't have to be as precise because they're hitting and they're stopping.

Q. Kind of like throwing darts?
JONATHAN BYRD: Yeah. I mean, you can give us a really tough hole location and it's pretty easy to hit it up there 15 feet away or 10 feet away if you are hitting it remotely solid.

Q. (No microphone.)
JONATHAN BYRD: I hit a decent drive. I didn't lit it really solid. Thought I was going to get to the front and it came up about 15 yards short. Slapped it up there about ten feet and made it.

Q. (No microphone.)
JONATHAN BYRD: I love that hole.

Q. Challenge you from a decision making process though? Is it pretty much anybody can -- are going for the pin?
JONATHAN BYRD: I think most guys -- I've only seen one guy lay up and there and I was blown away. I was playing with him and he got up there with a 2-iron and I'm thinking what is he doing? I can't think of any circumstance where you wouldn't want to hit a driver or hit something way up there. I think it's a fun hole. There's a lot of luck involved on that hole. You know you hit it up there there's kind of a slope in front of the green and it can kick left, you can get a bad bounce and some guys might get a straight bounce.
I watched Mickelson the year he blew us all away, I was playing with him in the final group and he hit it back there about two feet and that was pretty fun; more fun for him.

Q. Do you look -- a lot of the top guys taking this week off. Do you look at this as a chance or do you think a lot of guys look at it as a chance to make some hay and maybe not have some of those guys you would have lurk on the weekend?
JONATHAN BYRD: I heard Boo's comment last week about Tiger not being there, you know, give us all a chance. I think there's probably about 140 guys thinking that but not saying it. But, yeah, I mean, when the top, a lot of the top, you know, 20 guys or 30 guys in the world aren't here, yeah, it gives other guys more of a chance.
But to win a golf tournament on the PGA Tour, I mean you got to play some great golf. I don't care who's in the field. There's a lot of great golfers here this week. And with no rough, you know, this essentially comes kind of a putting contest this week. And I think you're going to see a pretty tight leader board going into the weekend and throughout the week.

Q. You just mentioned a couple years ago when Mickelson won by like, I don't know, umpteen dozen strokes. That was the last time it was played in early April. What kind of differences would you describe the course is playing now in mid-May as compared to early April?
JONATHAN BYRD: Well, I mean, you can't really go off this year just because they've had this amazing drought and they certainly don't have the golf course in the shape they want it. But you can maybe go off last year's, the way the course played last year compared to previous years.
You know, it was completely over seeded and dry. I think the course played a lot like it has in the past last year but we just didn't have snow or sleet on the golf course that week we did four years back.
I like the new date. It's just unfortunate the weather they've had here. They haven't been able to get the course in a little bit better shape.

Q. (Question about being a walking course.)
JONATHAN BYRD: It's not that bad for me. But my caddie's struggling a little bit. He's got a little hip problem and he is struggling to get around. Think about the amount of land you cover. We are out on, what is it, 12, 11 green today, I was thinking about how far away we were on, say, the 6 tee. You cover a lot of ground out here. I don't know what the mileage is. I heard somebody say it a couple years back. This is a long golf course.

Q. Can we talk about your birdies. You had eight of them today?
JONATHAN BYRD: I hit it close a lot today which was fun. Haven't done that a whole lot lately. I hit it about two feet on the first hole, par 2, but hit it about 12 feet right behind it. The 4th hole, made about, probably a 15-footer from right of the hole. The 5th hole I made a great par putt from the back left fringe, got a bad break and hit the tree on my second shot and made about a 20-footer for par. 6, I hit a 3-wood on the green 30 feet, almost made eagle. 7, a great double. I hit it right in the hay, took an unplayable, shorter green, bad chip, ended up making about an 8-footer for double. And then the back 9 I just hit some good shots. At 10 I wedged it up there about a foot. 11, I almost made it on the Par 3, it hit it about a foot. 13, I got up and down as I was telling you about a 10-footer. 16, the Par 3 almost made it, ran about 11 feet past the hole and made that. Then 18 a 2-putter for birdie.

Q. Did you see this round coming? Could you feel that you were going to shoot a good round today?
JONATHAN BYRD: I don't know. I felt like my game was good. I played really well last week. More so on the weekend. You know, I birdied 16, 17, 18 at TPC on Friday to make the cut on the number. And that was, that was a lot of fun. Obviously, I would have like to have been a few shots more clear of the cut, but to go out there and do it like I did and I had to birdie the last three and I did it, that was pretty special.
I went on the weekend and I played great. I didn't finish well either day. I played the last five holes four over, or six holes four over both days on the weekend and shot three over on the weekend. So I played some really good golf. I felt like coming to a course where it wasn't gusting 30 miles an hour and no rough, I felt like I was going to play pretty good.

Q. You got in a little bit before this rain hit. You talked about the greens being soft, but it's got to be nice to be done with the bad weather on its way?
JONATHAN BYRD: Absolutely. It was just like last week. I finished on Friday at 3-over I thought I was going to make the cut easy and that wind was pumping. I told the media, I was like, man, I'm glad to be done. I don't like playing in the rain. I can't think of anybody who does. It's just not a whole lot of fun. It's a lot of work. So I'll be glad to be sitting in my hotel room this afternoon.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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