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HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 6, 2011

Jonathan Byrd

KAPALUA, HAWAII

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Jonathan Byrd into the interview room here at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, first round 7-under par 66. Just a tremendous start to your season. If we can get some comments on your day.
JONATHAN BYRD: Well, I felt pretty good out there. You know, I was a little nervous starting the year. You never really know what to expect. You get excited to come here and have a little extra room off the tees and little bigger greens, kind of makes it a little easier to start. But I got off to a good start, hit a good tee shot off 1 and then made a good par and hit a great iron shot into 2, made a good birdie there and just had a great front nine, you know. I think I hit every green, hit both par-5s in two, hit one wedge shot real close, and just kind of had an easy 5-under start.
Then went to the back nine and holed out a wedge for a 2, 7-under through 10, here we go.
And then from there on got a little shaky. I didn't play great for about a three- or four-hole stretch and then made a good birdie at 15 and played solid coming in, didn't make any more.

Q. What was your distance on the hole-out?
JONATHAN BYRD: I think I had about 111. I think, yeah, 111. So we were trying to hit it a little past the hole into the wind, so it was about a 120 shot, and we just -- we picked out one of the fans back there, and I hit it right on top of him, and it spun right in the hole.

Q. Did it remind you a little bit of Vegas there?
JONATHAN BYRD: No, we were laughing because it was just like, all right, another hole-out, we can get used to this. My caddie and I were talking yesterday, Ben Crane and his caddie last year had a bet for like 500 push-ups all year how many hole-outs they could have, and he had like seven last year with wedges, so we had talked about that, and boom, first hole-out of the year.

Q. With the weather today, the rain this morning, what did that do to the course today?
JONATHAN BYRD: It just made it a little softer. I was surprised that it wasn't softer than it was. I guess we didn't get too much rain. Biggest thing is the wind. You know, the wind is a little bit different, and it was so calm starting out. It just is quite an adjustment going out there with no wind.
But the biggest thing, you've got to be a little more aggressive with your iron shots; they're not going to skip as much going down the mountain or things like that. They're going to spin back a little more with wedges. It was a pretty minor adjustment. All in all you could just be a little more aggressive.

Q. After today, thinking towards Sunday, what's it going to take to win here?
JONATHAN BYRD: I have no idea. It depends on the weather. I mean, I don't know if it's going to get like a heavy tradewind or what, but if it stays calm, you've got to shoot some pretty low scores here. But the course lends itself to a lot of wedges and a lot of opportunities. So you just keep making birdies, who knows.

Q. Not too many first-timers have won here. You came pretty close your first year; I think you tied for 6th. Was this a course you just liked from the word go?
JONATHAN BYRD: It is a course I like. I think it sets up really good for me. I wasn't -- the first year, not to be nit-picky, I wasn't really in contention. I shot 63 the final day, 10-under, to kind of move into 6th. But I've been here, this is my fourth time. I had one year I was in pretty good shape, the year Daniel Chopra won. I played with him on Sunday and didn't get anything going.
I think it sets up real good for me. You can't be too particular on how you play the golf course because there's so many uneven lies and the wind. You've got to be a pretty good feel player to adapt to the conditions, and I draw the ball, and I hit it far enough to be competitive on these par-5s. So I think it sets up good for me.

Q. Do you think the 66 is going to hold up with conditions like this?
JONATHAN BYRD: Today, probably not.

Q. What do you think is possible out there?
JONATHAN BYRD: Today? I was 7-under through 10, so if I played a little sharper on the rest of the nine, you know, I don't know, I think somebody will shoot 8 or 9 today.
JOHN BUSH: Let's go through the card real quick. Birdie on No. 2?
JONATHAN BYRD: I think it was 228, a little help off the left, I just ripped a 4-iron right at it, had about a seven-, eight-footer, made that.
3, I think I had 93 yards, and I hit a little sand wedge, spun it off the slope down to about two and a half feet.
5, driver, 6-iron, middle of the green, two-putt.
6, driver, pitching wedge from I think about 110, and I hit a good shot right of the flag about 12 feet, made that.
And then 9, I hit a great drive and a great hybrid right up the middle of the green, had about 35 feet, two-putted.
Bogey on 13, I hit a great tee shot up there and just came out of an iron shot and left it on the top right slope on 13 with the pin down, and it was just a tough two-putt. I hit it down there about eight feet and missed it.
15, driver, not a real good tee shot, kind of squirted a 3-wood up the right and hit a good pitch from pin high right, which is a tough shot up there probably 12 feet, made that.

Q. 18, is that the only one you left out there?
JONATHAN BYRD: 18? Well, I left a couple. I had a couple difficult putts that I missed, like the pin on 16 is kind of tough, breaks a lot from behind the hole. But I had a pretty easy putt on the last hole, I just kind of pushed it. I think I wanted to make it too bad.

Q. There hasn't been an American winner here since 2001 when Furyk did it.
JONATHAN BYRD: About time, isn't it?

Q. Any rhyme or reason to that in your mind?
JONATHAN BYRD: Well, I just think it's the schedule. I think the Australian guys maybe come off a little sharper. We kind get of comfortable around home at Christmas time and enjoying our families, and we're very excited to come to this tournament, but maybe it's our first tournament out of the gates and probably not quite as sharp. The Australians are coming off similar golf courses to this and their games are a little sharper. You know, that's my best explanation.
JOHN BUSH: Jonathan, great start. Keep it going this week.

End of FastScripts

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