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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

June 5, 2009

Jonathan Byrd

DUBLIN, OHIO

JOHN BUSH: Jonathan Byrd, 4 under par, 68. Great playing out there. If we can get some comments on your day.
JONATHAN BYRD: Just a clean day out there, no bogeys. Some I'm pretty proud of that on this golf course. I played solid all day. I did a good job of staying patient. I didn't take advantage of some opportunities early. Stayed patient. I didn't birdie a par 5 today, which I was a little disappointed with.
But most of all, I kept hitting good shots. When I missed greens, I kept getting the ball up and down. The speed's been great for two days. I putted beautiful. It's been a good start.

Q. And you were in a position now hitting into tomorrow. How does it feel?
JONATHAN BYRD: It feels good to get off to a good start. We're halfway home on this golf tournament. There's a lot left.
Course is going to get more difficult and a lot faster, which I'm prepared for. I feel like my game is sharp enough to suit tougher conditions. I'm just going to enjoy a good start to the tournament and go relax this afternoon and get ready for tomorrow.

Q. Guys said the greens are like lightning, huh?
JONATHAN BYRD: They're quick. When you put holes in the corners and on the edge of slopes, it's very subtle. They're really fast already, but there's a lot of subtle breaks, which makes them even faster.

Q. Fundamentally, Jonathan, what are you most pleased with today?
JONATHAN BYRD: Just my misses. I'm missing the ball on proper spots. I'm not puring it all day. I'm hitting some poor shots, but I'm missing the spots where I can get it up and down or missing it to where I've still got a 20-footer for birdie.
Just kind of picking my opportunities out there, picking my pins, being aggressive where I can and playing it on the green otherwise when it doesn't feel right.

Q. How about the whole package here? A lot of guys said these are the best greens you guys play on all year. The whole course, everything, where would you rate this place?
JONATHAN BYRD: Oh, man, this is definitely one of the top three or four courses we play all year, I would think. We play a lot of good ones.
It's all what you like. There are some guys that don't come to this tournament, and they don't like the golf course. They don't like how it plays or how it suits their eye.
For me, I think -- I love it. It gives you plenty of room off the tee. You don't have to be perfect off the tee. You have to be really precise with your iron shots, which is typically what Jack does with his golf courses.

Q. You sound like you have a lot of confidence in your game right now, just overall. Does that just come from results? Does it come from how you're swinging?
JONATHAN BYRD: Definitely doesn't come from results because every time I've had confidence in my game because of results, I've played poorly after it. Kind of gives you a false sense of where your game is.
My game has been solid for a while now. Just hadn't come together. This week it somewhat has. You know, I've just played two solid rounds. I haven't done anything crazy.
Luke Donald yesterday, that was pretty special, pretty crazy, to shoot 8 under. I haven't done that. I've just played two back to back good rounds.

Q. But that could be good enough to do two more, right?
JONATHAN BYRD: It's good every week if you do that.

Q. Knowing that, if you put it in the wrong spot on the green, it can be a lot of trouble. How does that sort of affect you as you're standing out there on the fairway getting ready to hit to the green? Do you sort of approach things differently?
You talked about how you missed the ball in the right places.
JONATHAN BYRD: You've got to know where you want to hit it. Any time, any golf course, if you're standing back there thinking about where you don't want to hit it, you usually don't hit a good shot.
It's okay to know where the trouble is, and then you think what shot can I hit to get it out of play and stay aggressive? And go with it.

Q. How many times did you have to save yourself if you did get in a bad spot, or did you pretty much avoid the bat spots?
JONATHAN BYRD: I had five or six -- maybe six or seven really good up and downs where I made a three to seven-footer for par, eight-footer. I think my longest par putt was about eight feet. Other than that, it was three to four-footers.

Q. Jonathan, right now, right at this second, you're in the lead right now in this tournament. If that carries over to tomorrow, does that mentally change anything as you approach tomorrow?
JONATHAN BYRD: Does what change? If I'm in the lead?

Q. Yeah. If you're in first going into the third?
JONATHAN BYRD: Yeah, it can. I've had a lot of experience being in the lead. TPC, I was in second place going into Sunday, which was 3 or 4 back, and I didn't do very well. I didn't play well.
But I don't think it matters. You know, we've got two days left. Great field, great players, and you can play well on this golf course and shoot a couple over. I just happened to play well and shoot 7 under for two rounds.

Q. When you think of the Memorial Tournament as a whole, what are some of the things that come to mind, and what does it mean to you to have a performance like you did today?
JONATHAN BYRD: I think of this tournament as a great field. I think of this tournament as a great golf course. And Jack's tournament. You know, Jack's going to do it right, and he always does. He gives us a good test.
I'm glad to see the bunkers are back to normal. But he's always -- it's a great golf course. You don't have to do a whole lot to it. Just let us go play. We've had great weather. Should be a good test this weekend.

Q. You talked about the Players and everything. Is there anything in particular you learned from that?
JONATHAN BYRD: TPC?

Q. Yeah.
JONATHAN BYRD: I think you learn more from, when you get in the hunt or get in a stressful situation, you do poorly usually than you do when it just kind of works out for you and maybe didn't play well. I didn't play that poorly on Sunday. I missed the ball in a couple of wrong spots and got a little tentative with my putter and shot a bad score. But I really didn't play bad.
What I take from that is I just -- when you get in the hunt, you've got to just free things up a little bit more. Stay aggressive. Just you can't control the result.

Q. Is this as healthy as you've been for a sustained period of time?
JONATHAN BYRD: Healthy?

Q. Yeah.
JONATHAN BYRD: Probably.

Q. Going back to last year, right before that, right?
JONATHAN BYRD: I had a small injury at the beginning of last year. Since midseason last year, I've been healthy.

Q. How does that make the game easier, being able to practice and work on the things you need to work on?
JONATHAN BYRD: It just helps you to maintain some consistency longer. Just whatever you're doing, you're not taking steps back. You're always kind of moving forward. You've got to stay healthy out here. It's a hard enough game, and it's hard enough to play out here already. It's much harder if you're fighting injuries.

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