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VALERO TEXAS OPENOctober 8, 2008Justin LeonardSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Justin Leonard into our interview room. Justin a 3-time winner of this event, defending champion, and I know this was a tournament that sort of sparked your Fall Series last year and turned some things around for you. I know it's got some special, special feelings for you. JUSTIN LEONARD: It does. You know, I've had some good -- some great tournaments here in the past and starting out my first year down here, played well and finished in the Top 20, got my card and next year got into the Tour Championship by finishing 2nd to Duffy here and then last year after coming off a tough stretch and my game was starting to come around and to come in here and win, you know, was a springboard to some good things. JOE CHEMYCZ: Now as the defending champion and fresh off some good experiences as well. Talk a little bit about your expectations for this week. JUSTIN LEONARD: I feel very comfortable with my game right now and what I'm trying to do on the golf course, and the biggest thing is just trying to get some rest, and I had last week off and didn't practice so I feel pretty good coming in this week and, you know, just focusing on getting ready to play tomorrow and take it one day at a time. Q. Justin, with all that's happened in your career, the Ryder Cups, the Presidents Cups, the Majors, winning a fourth Texas Open is probably the caveat to all that. Can you talk if you were able to win a fourth Championship this week, surpass Arnold Palmer in the pantheon of this tournament in particular, can you talk about the impact of that on your career? JUSTIN LEONARD: It would be very special, I can't lie about that, but I'm not thinking too much about trying to win the golf tournament on Wednesday. Just trying to feel where my game is and the things I need to do this afternoon to get ready. And, you know, just go from there. So, it would be very special but I'm going to try to stay away from those thoughts and just, you know, focusing in on trying to play well. Q. This tournament, I know has kind of a lot of little backdrops to this. This tournament moves to May next year. This tournament is special for you. How about the idea of this tournament is about to be hyped up in the profile with the FedExCup and what's about to happen to it? JUSTIN LEONARD: I think it's a huge achievement for this event, for Tony Piazza, and for Valero, to, you know, have such a great event here in the fall and I think a lot of it has to do with the money that they raise for charity and what they do in the community here really stepping up -- the whole area, not just, you know, San Antonio but the surrounding areas to step up and support this event the way they have I think it's -- it's kind of a salute to that, if you will, being able to move to the spring and, you know, it's just going to make this an even better event. Q. I was talking to Omar Uresti and some of the Longhorn guys on the driving range yesterday. There's a game Saturday I understand, Oklahoma and Texas. Do you care what's happening during the game as you're playing, are you able to separate it? He said if they're losing he didn't want to hear about it, if they're winning, I do. JUSTIN LEONARD: I probably won't pay too much attention to the game and, you know, hopefully get to watch a little of it either before or after I play but -- Q. Someone is going to yell it out, I'm sure. JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah. I'm sure if I'm getting updates from the crowd, that's probably a good sign. If it's fairly quiet, then I'll know things aren't maybe going our way, but, you know, it's always an exciting weekend. It's a game I always try to go to when I'm in town and it's a great rivalry. This is a fun time of year because of -- you know, in the world of sports with college football and professional football going on, the playoffs in Major League Baseball, you know, and then you can mix in a golf tournament here or there. This is a fun time of year. Q. Davis said you guys went out yesterday, the wind, the course was heading in opposite directions the way it normally does. He said he could feel your enthusiasm for the course because you've had such success here. He said it was kind of rubbing off on him a little bit. Does the course look any different this year? Do you think it will play any different than that you've seen over the last years? JUSTIN LEONARD: The course is good. The greens are probably aren't quite as good as they've been in the past but I mean it's been awfully dry down here so but everything else is in good shape and, you know, you can only -- you can't control the weather and so I know it's been a little rough down here, but I'd say, all in all, the golf course is in good shape and, you know, I've got a lot of fond memories around it. It's always fun to get down here and play that first practice round. JOE CHEMYCZ: Anything else? Okay. JUSTIN LEONARD: Thanks. End of FastScripts |
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