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MISSISSIPPI GULF RESORT CLASSIC

April 30, 2010

Leonard Thompson

BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Leonard, 33, 34, and 67, 5-under par. Your low rounds on the Champions Tour since the last day of the 3M championship in '08.
Nice playing. Four birdies in the row on the front and three in a row on the back. Seven overall.
Just talk about your round a little bit, and then maybe run through your holes.
LEONARD THOMPSON: Good, solid round. Hit a lot of good shots. Got a couple good breaks. Putted very well. I grew up on greens like this, you know, with grain going everywhere. That's a big advantage.
Guys that grew up on bentgrass don't have nearly that advantage out here. Not that they can't do it; they learn how to do it. But it's kind of second nature to those of us who grew up in the South.
Made a pretty good par on the first hole. Hit two terrible shots, first two shots out of the box, and then put it up there just right of the green from a 120 yards in the right rough, and pitched it about five feet and made that.
Bogeyed the next hole with two terrible shots again. Pitched it about eight, ten feet and missed that.
Then I had a really good shot on the 3rd hole. A little 5-iron about I guess maybe ten feet right of the hole. That's pretty close there. If you get it ten feet from the hole on that hole you've hit a pretty good shot. I made that, that started four in a row.
Hit a driver and 6-iron next hole about 15 feet I guess and made that.
Let's see, next hole, par-4, down the hill. Made about a 20-footer there after driving a 5-iron into that hole.
Then the par-5, I think it was about ten or twelve feet there, too. Pitch hit it right up in front of the green in two; pitched it left. Ball was kind of hung up in the fringe, and went down about ten feet and I made that.
Then two normal pars at the next two holes. Just two-putt pars.
No. 10 was pretty good birdie chance that I missed about 15 feet, I guess. Then I hit a -- pulled a drive on the next hole and had to pitch out. I could have tried a crazy shot, but I pitched it all out and then wedged it up there about ten feet and missed it.
Made a regulation par on the next hole.
Let's see, the par-4, at 13, I can't remember what the hole looks like. Or is that a par-5?
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Yeah, par-5.
LEONARD THOMPSON: Yeah, par-5. Put it right on the left fringe of the green. Pitched it -- is that right? That was No. 6.

Q. 13 is that one that goes up the hill. Goes downhill and then it's really uphill up to the green.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Goes around to the left?

Q. Uh-huh.
LEONARD THOMPSON: Yeah, I hit it on the left fringe and pitched it about six or eight feet and made that.
Next hole is a par-3. I hit one of the best shots of the day there: 7-iron about three feet. And.
The next par-5 hit a 56 degree wedge ten feet and made that.
Then two regulation pars.
Actually tried to hit it about 15 feet left of the hole at 17 and pushed it about 15 feet right of the hole with the pin in the right front. You don't want to miss that green on the right either. Had a really good birdie chance there and did not make it.
I hit a pretty good shot the last hole. I had about 15, 20 feet and didn't make that.
Very pleased. I took retirement a few years ago and I only play 11 a year now. This is my third tournament this year, one of which was last week.
Good solid round. Like to have a lot those.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Couple questions.

Q. You mentioned at the very beginning about a couple good breaks, like they really kept the round going. Talk about those.
LEONARD THOMPSON: Just a bounce here or there. A bounce could have gone one way and went other way. At 16, drive the ball down the right side. Hit it the fairway right by the bunkers, and it can kick either way. It kicked left and went on past the bunkers. If it kicks right and goes in those bunkers, there's not much fun out here in these fairway bunkers to be had.
You hit a shot like I hit at No. 3 where the ball kind of hits in the slope and then kind of starts dying and dies down ten feet from the hole, eight feet from the hole, stuff like that that gets your round going.
Didn't really have any big up-and-downs or anything. Couple places like that, if the ball goes the other way, it gets on the other side of the slope, it stays up and I got a 40-footer coming down. You don't know what's gonna happen after that.
That's what I meant. Nothing -- I didn't fly it up any trees and it come back out.

Q. Was the wind fairly calm?
LEONARD THOMPSON: No. It was up and down all day.

Q. (No microphone.)
LEONARD THOMPSON: It's dead into the -- well, I congratulate our field staff. They moved the tee up. I hit one of my best drives and had a full 5-iron in with the tee moved up. That hole from back -- I mean, we were 30 yards up. I would have had full bore 2-iron in there from there, and a lot other guys, too.
You know, 5-iron to that green is pretty -- that's quite a bit of club. I mean, there are some greens out here you have to hit shots into with clubs that they're just not designed to hit at.
I mean, that's what makes it so difficult sometimes on some of the holes here. Some of the holes it looks like you ought to be hitting a wedge to that green, and the length of the hole dictates that you're hitting 6-iron and 5-iron.

Q. With only playing 11 tournaments a year, how do you stay tournament ready?
LEONARD THOMPSON: I play golf all the time when I'm home. I play -- I just joined -- changed clubs. I joined Sawgrass Country Club at home and play the old course where we used to play the TPC Championship on, which is probably one of the 20 hardest courses in this country. We play it.

Q. (No microphone.)
LEONARD THOMPSON: Oh, my God. Rick Rhoden, who used to play. Baseball player, Jim Furyk, Fred Funk, we all joined over there. The last two weeks I was home the wind blew about 30 miles an hour; we played every day. I think I broke par one time. Shot 74, 75.
Man, does it get you ready to play golf. It is a really hard golf course.

Q. Sawgrass?
LEONARD THOMPSON: And the Players Club, which we play there a lot, too. I don't know why we beat ourselves up like that. Seems to be fun when you don't have to carry it with you every day.

Q. (No microphone.)
LEONARD THOMPSON: I think it had something to do with it. Yes, I do. I really do. Of course we play the Players Club, and that has a lot -- I mean, you can't find too many plays that you go from one to the other that are as difficult as those two on a daily basis. That's where we been playing.
I'm not saying that that was the be all, end all, but it certainly helps.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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