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AT&T NATIONALJuly 4, 2008Steve StrickerBETHESDA, MARYLAND STEVE STRICKER: It was one of those rounds where a lot of good things happened. Got off to a great start. Hit 4-iron on 10 that just rolled through the green and ended up in the bunker. And when you can break 10 and 11 with birdies your first two holes of the day, it's a good start and sets up rest of the day. Q. Talk about being at 5-under on the leaderboard. STEVE STRICKER: I told my wife this week, that it's possible to shoot a good number here this week. The greens are a little soft. The course is in great shape. The rough is down a little bit from last year I think, so if you do hit it in the rough, you're able to hit it on the greens for the most part, and I feel good on these greens. I've putted them well in the past, and so I thought a good one was out there. I just tried to be patient today after that start and tried to continue with what I was doing. Q. Did you think something this low was out there? STEVE STRICKER: You know, I never really try to put a number on anything, and after birdieing 1 and 2, it's easy to let up and just play conservatively and maybe make a bogey or whatever. But I tried to keep the momentum going and tried to stay patient, like I said, and tried to get a lot of birdie opportunities, which I could. I hit a lot of greens today and gave myself a lot of looks at it. Q. Your results last year does that give you confidence for the weekend? STEVE STRICKER: It does. Obviously I've played well here before and I enjoy coming here to the area. The course, I enjoy. You need to hit it well. There's a lot of tee balls that looks like it fits your eye. There's a lot of fairways where you have to work the ball. That's the part that I've been struggling with the most lately but today I did a little bit better job with that and gave myself some looks at birdies. Q. At what point did you feel it sort of shifting? STEVE STRICKER: You know, I guess making the turn, I drove it to the right. Didn't have a very good lie in the rough and hit it onto about probably 35, 40 feet and caught the lip on my putt. It rolled by maybe about ten feet because it kind of rolls away and gets away and ended up making that. I thought that was a big turnaround then, instead of making the turn at 3 and then making a bogey at 1 and obviously I'm 2-under, I saved par there, and then made a one putt at two for birdie. So that stretch of 1 and 2 along with 10 and 11 were pretty key to the round. Q. Have you been to the White House before? STEVE STRICKER: No, I haven't. Obviously driving by on the street looking at it but yeah, tonight, I get to go inside and get to attend President Bush's birthday party along with fireworks after the dinner, so I'm really looking forward to that. Wish my family was here to take advantage of that, too. Almost thought about flying them out. Yeah, it should be a great night. Q. Who else is going? STEVE STRICKER: Davis Love is invited, I'm not sure, you guys may know who was invited. Mike Weir was invited. I know Davis Love has been to this function, birthday party/bash fireworks before. This is my first time. Q. You've been struggling, can this really turn things around? STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I held it together and got off to a good tart and continued through all 18 holes. So I can go off of this, and I worked on many things on the range last night and kind of held up today so that gives me some confidence of going into the weekend. Q. What did you do specifically? STEVE STRICKER: Tried to slow down a little bit. My tempo was quick and that was my main focus, was trying to slow down and just try to take my time a little more instead of rushing my swing. There was a couple times where I lost some shots but for the most part it was pretty good. Q. Having a shot at 63 -- STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, that's an opportunity but I made two bombs today and holed out of the bunker on 10. It seems to find a way to even itself out in the end. Obviously when you get an opportunity to make it, you want to, but still all in all a good round. Q. Just talk about your view of the sixth hole. It's playing as a long par 4, what do you think of that hole? STEVE STRICKER: Today they had a separate tee, downwind and I hit 7-iron into it. It played like a good par 4. I don't like when they put us back another tee and hitting 4-irons in there. It's really not a 4-iron-type shot or green. I'd like to play it as a par 5 in the Open when they come here in 2011. I just think that what they did with the open this year at Torrey Pines, they made a lot of excitement out of changing some of those holes. You know, there's nothing wrong with making birdies, and the course is hard enough as it is, and especially for an Open it will be very difficult. So giving an opportunities with risk/reward shots, that's okay. Q. When you come out here with not a lot of top players in the field, do you look at it as an opportunity? STEVE STRICKER: Not at all. There's so many good players out here, it doesn't matter what your ranking is. Everybody here can win your tournament. You get off to a good start or hot start, it's doable. So the ranking really means nothing. I just try to play as best as I can. Q. When you get a phone call and they say it's the White House -- STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, it was kind of a weird call. And then you give them all your vital information, you know, so it's pretty interesting. Q. What's the atmosphere been like? Any change from last year in terms of the ambiance or the crowd, enthusiasm? STEVE STRICKER: I think the enthusiasm might be down a touch from last year. It's still a great tournament. We're at a great venue here at Congressional and the course is in good shape. I think coming here for the first time last year with Tiger's name on it and being the Fourth of July and he's here, I think it was just the excitement level was a little higher than this year. Not that it's not high this year but last year was pretty special with it being the first year and everything that was going on with it. Q. Easier time in the morning than in the afternoon? STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, it is. The greens have maintained softness pretty much both days but the greens were a little bit better today. They are a little bit smoother, so it probably is. End of FastScripts |
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