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THE McGLADREY CLASSIC

October 8, 2010

Joe Durant

SEA ISLAND, GEORGIA

Q. Joe, I'm going to give you the choice. Do you want to start with some of the birdie putts that didn't go in or some of those par putts that did?
JOE DURANT: I'll start with the par putts. There were a couple -- especially at 18, I made a really good par putt there, and you know, those are the things that keep you going. And I was fortunate to make a couple of those and there were some other good putts, too, that didn't quite go, but I'm very thankful for the pars.

Q. You had some great par saves. I didn't think there was about a 50/50 chance you'd get it up-and-down from behind the fourth green. You hit a nice pitch there, managed to get it up by the hole and then you make a 10 footer?
JOE DURANT: Yeah. It's one of those things where I'm seeing the line really well for some reason and you still gotta put it on the line once you see and fortunately I've been able to do that so far, but very pleased with two days and I've got two days to go.

Q. What is it about this golf course? We didn't know a whole lot about it, but seems like the over-40 set have taken a liking to it.
JOE DURANT: Well, there's short walks from green to tee. (Laughs).
For me, honestly, though, it reminds me of some of our courses in the Pensacola area. You know, lengthy sides, kind of rolling greens, that kind of thing, so I felt real comfortable, plus Bermudagrass I'm real comfortable on, too.

Q. How hard is it to not look at this week as being an important week and just go out and play? And once you're on the golf course, can you separate yourself from all the other things or does it start to get to you?
JOE DURANT: You know, I've done a pretty good job so far. And you know, I've been doing this a long time, and I just know you just gotta go out and do the best you can do and let the chips fall where they fall.
I'm playing good. My stats are good this year. You know, from the tournaments I've played, I've done okay. I just gotta keep going, just keep playing, and we'll see what happens.

Q. I remember that guy when I watched play golf out there today.
JOE DURANT: (Laughs).

Q. I do. You reminded me very much of a guy I followed in '06 at Disney World. Does it feel about the same as that?
JOE DURANT: Maybe not quite that good, but I'm sure trying to think those type of thoughts. If you can bring back memories like that, can't do anything but help you.

Q. Joe, comments on the day.
JOE DURANT: You know, I'm very pleased with the day, obviously. I didn't have a bogey on the card. I made a couple of really good par saves. 18 was probably the best one. I had to make about a 15, 20-footer for par there.
But I played solid. Didn't have a bogey, like I said, and the conditions were perfect. We had very little wind. The greens were still in some really tricky spots on some of the holes, so you had to be very careful on some of your approach shots, but with no wind, it's yielding some very good scores today, obviously.

Q. Joe, was that 18 --
JOE DURANT: My No. 9 hole, which was No. 18.

Q. Okay.
JOE DURANT: I pulled it in the left bunker, and I splashed it out, but I left myself quite a long putt.

Q. Hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens this week. When you're playing well, that's what you do?
JOE DURANT: Well, yeah, and take advantage of the opportunities to make some birdies and that's what I'm doing, and I've only had one bogey in two rounds, and feel pretty good about that.

Q. Joe, what's the short answer for between your last victory and now as to why things haven't gone as well as you would have liked it to? Is there any one thing or is it just hard to play out here?
JOE DURANT: Well, it's just hard, you know. It is. The guys get better every year, and as you get older, it gets tougher to elevate your game to that level, and I probably took some things for granted.
Life. I mean I have fun. I've got kids growing up, and I've got a great wife for me at home. It's hard to leave home sometimes, and when I'm home, sometimes I don't practice like I should. It's only me. It's my fault. I mean I can't say -- I wish I could blame it on injuries or something else. No, it's just the nature of the game.

Q. The year you won Doral, I remember talking to Vijay, and I think he was defending champion. I asked him about some of the guys. And he said, Joe Durant is the best player out here from tee to green.
JOE DURANT: Wow.

Q. Do you still feel like that's in your game, that it's still in you to play that way?
JOE DURANT: Yeah. I mean at times I still feel like I'm really pretty rock solid tee to green. You know, you go through periods -- I did go through a period last year where I was swinging horribly, and my short game has never been the level that it could carry me through, so consequently I made 250,000 year and went back to Second Stage of Q-School, but worked real hard over the winter, worked on some things and got my swing back where it is. Where it works for me, not necessarily what works for some of the others.

Q. Is there any big earth-shattering adjustment you had to make?
JOE DURANT: I got in the real bad habit of getting underneath. I was getting the club stuck behind me underneath, and I've always been a cutter, and it's really hard to cut it from a blocked right position. So I had to go back to thinking about cutting the ball and almost swinging over the top and left, and that's what works.

Q. Is it hard not to think about -- obviously this is an important time for you in terms of money position and all that stuff. Is it hard to not think about that with a few weeks left?
JOE DURANT: I'd like to, except I don't think about it. I'm kind of in the stage in my career where I'd love to be in the 125 and I'd love to win again -- I want to win again. That's why I'm out here. I want to win tournaments and contend, but the days of me playing 28 tournaments a year are gone.

End of FastScripts

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