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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

October 2, 2008

Steve Allan

VERONA, NEW YORK

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome out leader at 4-under par, 68, Steve Allan into the interview room. Thank you for coming by and spending a few minutes with us. Just get some comments on what was a very interesting day out there, I'm sure.
STEVE ALLAN: Yeah, it was obviously pretty tough out there. Just tough to get a feel for anything, I think. I think the guys setting up the course did a decent job. Moved a few of the tee markers up, so the holes -- there were no holes that were really silly. It was just genuinely difficult to hit any shot really.
JOHN BUSH: And other than a bogey on No. 7, seems like a pretty stress-free day for you.
STEVE ALLAN: Yeah, I mean, I was pretty lucky. One of my birdies on 15 I was actually in the trees. Had a go at getting it through the tree, which got it on the green, and then holed a really long -- like probably a 60- or 70-footer or something, which was the first birdie of day. Kind of got me going.
Overall I played really well.
JOHN BUSH: Take us through the other birdies if you can on your front nine, and also No. 18.
STEVE ALLAN: 18, I hit a really good driver that was downwind. It went a lot further than I thought. Obviously it was a bit of help with how cold and thick the air is with the wind.
Then I was trying to run the ball up the middle of the green. I blocked a 3-wood which actually carried just over the bunker and got a soft enough bounce to stay on the green. So it ended up being an easy two-putt birdie.
JOHN BUSH: Birdies on 3 and 5.
STEVE ALLAN: 3, I hit a really nice 7-iron to about five feet.
5 was a driver, 3-wood out a little bit to the right, but it avoided the bunker so I had a pitch up to the green. Pitched to about five feet and made it.
7 was the bogey. I hit a big pull with a 6-iron.
And 8, it was about 40 yards short for two and hit a -- actually not a really good pitch at all to probably about 25 feet and made another good putt.
JOHN BUSH: All right. Questions.

Q. The players are all talking about the conditions. Has the fact that the greens are holding pretty well, does that negate the difficulties on the golf course?
STEVE ALLAN: Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, the wind is pretty constant, too. It's not like one of those winds that changing direction all the time. So it's -- just the fact that it's cold, it's hard to get a feel for what's going on. Even the easier shots it can be hard to get a feel for.
Obviously the wind increases the difficulty. But definitely the softness of the greens. They are rolling really well, so a lot of the shots you can pull off if you strike the ball well.

Q. I talked to Peter Lonard, and he said the type of grass that you're playing on, it reminded him of the courses back in Australia.
STEVE ALLAN: Yeah, I think we get a good mix in Australia. We got a bit of everything, and this is more the grasses that I would have grown up on than, you know, Florida. The Florida grasses are like the Queenslanders and, you know, Jason Day would be used to those. But I like this grass.

Q. The long birdie putt was on which hole?
STEVE ALLAN: 15.

Q. What can you say about the putt?
STEVE ALLAN: It was over -- I got --from out of the right trees I got my ball on the front part of the green, and so I had to putt up over the tier. It was sort of up and over and then breaking right and downhill at the end. It was a good putt. It looked good all the way, and got a little fast but went right in the middle, so...

Q. You played in any worse conditions this year?
STEVE ALLAN: No. I don't think I've played in colder and windier conditions on the PGA Tour since I have been here. I mean, I played a few years in Europe and we had some tough conditions.
Playing back home in Australia, especially Melbourne, is a lot more changeable, so we can get this sort of thing. But it's been a while since it's been this cold and windy and wet.

Q. What do you tell yourself before you go out? You know it's going to be nasty and the ball is going to get blown and you may have trouble holding on to the club.
STEVE ALLAN: You really just have to be patient. It sounds cliche, but you really have to take it one stroke at a time and be patient and not try and force the issue. You know, realize that if you are a couple over it can be not that bad. You can hit a lot shots that aren't bad and end up not so good because of the wind.
You kind of got to chip away at it. Just keep making pars, and hopefully you'll get one close and hopefully a putt'll go in. You really just to have hang in there.
JOHN BUSH: Anything else? All right. Short and sweet. Thanks guys.

End of FastScripts

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