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THE GREENBRIER CLASSIC

July 30, 2010

Jeff Overton

WHITE SULPHUR SRPINGS, WEST VIRGINIA

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome our 36-hole leader, Jeff Overton, into the interview room after a career-best 8-under par, 62.
Jeff, talk a little bit about your round today.
JEFF OVERTON: Um, it was a lot like yesterday. I hit a lot of fairways, and I really hit the driver well. Hit it down the middle, and left me a lot of shots inside 100 yards.
That enabled me to hit a whole a lot of wedge shots really close.
JOHN BUSH: Four top 3 finishes in your last nine starts. Just talk a little bit about the roll that you're on right now and your confidence level.
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, I'm playing well. Don't really know when the last time I was playing with this much confidence, I guess you could say. I'm also feeling very comfortable.
I've always been a pretty confident golfer - you have to be to get to this level - but I just feel more and more comfortable the more and more I'm out here and seeing and getting to know these players and seeing your name on the leaderboard and just kind of getting used to the whole PGA Tour lifestyle.
JOHN BUSH: Okay. We'll go into questions.

Q. 64, 62; how strong is that?
JEFF OVERTON: Gotta love it. If I could shoot that every day, I would take it, I think.

Q. Jim Furyk was talking about him playing well last year but not getting very many wins; not playing as well this year but getting some wins. You're playing really well, but the wins aren't coming. What is your take on that? Consistency and Top 10s, or miss a couple cuts but win?
JEFF OVERTON: I mean, obviously I would take a win over a second any day of the week. I would take a win over 100 seconds. That's what it's all about. It's about coming out here and playing, and for that given week, you know, being able to say you were the best in the world at something.
That's pretty cool.

Q. I think I saw on the telecast today that you always thought about it and always wanted to play basketball in Indiana, but it didn't quite work out.
JEFF OVERTON: Oh, I -- I did what? No, I played a lot of rec ball. I never played like college ball or anything like that. (Laughing.) I wasn't never quite good enough to be that good.

Q. Did you find any holes out there that you really like?
JEFF OVERTON: Um, you know, there's a lot really great holes. It's really one of those things that, like I said, if you can put the ball in the fairway, with my length, I can have shots inside 100 yards.
Which I feel like the percentage of making birdies when you're inside 100 versus outside of 100, your percentage just goes way up.
That's kind of been my whole scheme playing golf out here on the Tour over the last five years , is I want to hit my driver as far as I can. Because if I get in range, per se, with my driver and I can get shots inside 100 yards, I can really make a lot birdies.
So far, the golf course is kind of set up for me to be able to do that.

Q. Through 15 holes you were 8-under for your round. Did you thinking, anything creeping into your head at that point?
JEFF OVERTON: Not really, because there was a couple times earlier this year I like, you know, start just thinking away in advance. I think I holed out on the first hole at the Travelers, and then I had like birdie putt on the next hole and I was like, Man, I cold birdie, make eagle on every hole; might shoot 59 today. Next I knew I missed the cut by a shot.
Same things happened a few weeks before. I birdied the first three holes, where was that, in Charlotte, and I was like, Well, I might shoot 59, and next thing I knew I missed the cut there, too. (Laughing.)
It's one of those things, you live and you learn. I didn't think that. I knew that I wanted to shoot the best round I possibly could, and I knew there was maybe a chance I could shoot -- to be honest, as soon as I hit my driver on the first hole and I hit a good wedge shot in there, I knew that I was gonna have a good round.
I was very confident with the way I was swinging my driver, and I knew if I could continue just to put the ball in in play and to keep balls in fairways, I knew I was gonna have a good shot at a low number today.

Q. Can you take us through your string of four consecutive birdies, starting at No. 16?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, 16 I hit a drive. Wind kind of switched. It was kind of funky down there. You know, I hit a drive and probably barely carried the water by about six or seven yards. I had 108 yards to the hole, and hit a little chip gap wedge in there and almost made it. Had about three feet.
And then next hole I knew I needed to keep my driver to the right of that bunker line up on the -- actually over the water and try to draw it back. The wind kind of caught it, then wound up just barely in the rough. Thought I had a flyer. Tried a 5-iron in there and didn't jump. Came up short in the bunker. Hit a bunker shot to about five feet, and put a really good stroke on it.
Then No. 18, you know, it was straight downwind, 152 yards I think, or something like that. I just felt real comfortable in hitting a nice, full pitching wedge. I knew if I hit it real well, it would probably get all the way back there. If not, you know, you can't go long there. Hit it perfect. Thought I made, that too, but it came about four feet shirt, spun back; made a really good four-footer.
Then No. 1, I hit a drive down the middle. Hit a flip little wedge to like three feet, and tapped that in, too.

Q. How anxious are you to get a win?
JEFF OVERTON: You know, I would love to. You know, I would love to win a golf tournament, especially out here. It's been a while. You know, you just never know when it's your time. You just got to continue to play every shot, take it for what its worth, and live in the moment.

Q. How many times did you have short irons into the greens, wedges into the green? Sounds like virtually every par-4 that you were hitting it in the middle and short to the green.
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, I think on the par-3s, probably every hole. I had 9-iron in on one of the holes. Went a little long.

Q. You know, usually when you get a later tee time the greens have been traveled on, a lot of footprints. These are soft as it is. How did you overcome that just to putt the way you did?
JEFF OVERTON: You know, luckily enough I didn't really to have make any putts. (Laughing.) I think I made a really good solid 8-footer there on 17 for par. That was huge.
But pretty much I think other than the second hole today, I made about a 15-footer, I don't think I really made a putt outside of six feet all day.

Q. Now since you've been playing so well, obviously you've putted really well in recent tournaments. As far as the greens being soft, have you played on as soft as this where you could just go out like target practice?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, it reminds me a lot of -- it actually reminds me a whole lot of the practice facility at IU. They just built about a half million, $600,000 practice facility at Indiana. That's kind of why I went there initially.
I've spent hours and hours and hours and hours hitting wedge shots into greens just like this off turf just like this. Just loved every bit of it.

Q. You've had two strong rounds in a row. A lot of people say that's tough to do. A third and fourth time, how did you keep mashing the gas down?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, that's the thing. Tomorrow is gonna be the key round. If we can go out and have another good, solid round, I think we could really -- like you said, it's hard. It's hard to do.
I'm hitting it well. If I can continue to drive it well, drive it down the middle of the fairways, I feel like I'm pretty confident with my game.

Q. With all the red scoreboard when you go out - and some of the guys have been talking -- you gotta have a mindset from the first tee on, you've got to be thinking about going low. It's not as though par is a good score. You have got to be in the mindset from the getgo, We got to go down. Do you feel that way as soon you look up even before you tee off? Are you going, My gosh?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, the golf course is great. It's not really like it's that easy. It's just the fact that the fairways are fairly firm, so it's playing a little short. Then they're not able to let the greens gets burned out and get firm. So even if you miss the fairway, you know you can stop some wedge shots.
It's just too hot. They can't stop watering the greens, otherwise they would kill the place. So, I mean, if they got it all firm and everything, it wouldn't be like it's that easy. It's just unfortunately the greens are fairly soft, and you can really take some good target practice, especially when you hit the fairways.
JOHN BUSH: Jeff, thanks for coming by. Play well this weekend.
JEFF OVERTON: All right. Thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts

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