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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 9, 2005

Richard S. Johnson

SILVIS, ILLINOIS

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay, Richard, while we were in here talking to Hank, I guess you finished up and posted minus 12, so you're in good position going into tomorrow. A couple thoughts about how you played today.

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yeah. I had a really nice start to the round, holing my second shot on 1. That was I got really surprised. It wasn't really what I thought. It wasn't one of those that was just staring at the flag, just go in, go in. It was sort of coming in there from the right and spun in the hole and got me a little confused.

Q. You hit what

RICHARD JOHNSON: I had 137 into a breeze and hit a wedge. It took a while for that club selection because it was looking like a 9, but I just wanted to hit a hard wedge and get it going.

After that I hit a couple loose shots on a couple holes, made a couple stupid bogeys, but overall it could have been a lot worse from some of the spots that I was in.

Coming down the stretch, I made a nice birdie on 17, really looking good to be a 3, but overall I'm pretty satisfied with 3 under.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Your thoughts on this golf course. You're in good position going into tomorrow.

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, the golf course is firming up a little bit, which was one. You've got to drive it in the fairway. Even though the fairways are generous, you've got to keep it in the short stuff, otherwise, as firm as it is, it likes to bounce off towards the hazard. You've got to put it in the fairway and give yourself a chance to go for all the pins.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your year thus far?

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yeah, it's been a different year for me. I lost my playing privileges last year. I finished 148, so I'm in that 126 to 150 category, and I missed Tour school by one, so it was just one of those years that was just a lot of missing the cut by one, and it wasn't really going like I wanted, got a little frustrated.

I got a really long time off during the winter because I couldn't really play. I didn't have anywhere to play. Nationwide didn't start up and the few starts I got on the main Tour was just AT & T and Tucson, so I got a really long rest and gathered my thoughts about my game and just thought that whatever happened was the best thing that ever could have happened for me. So I'm just trying to see I mean, it was not fun to do whatever I did last year, but as life goes on, I think that was the best that could have happened for me is to realize what I need to get better at.

Q. The look on your face when that eagle putt didn't go in, kind of incredulous and shock and everything else, it looked like it was going right in, it just somehow got around the hole?

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yeah, it was downhill, down grain, so I hit it so soft, and it was just falling, falling, falling, and Craig said with like a couple inches to go, "Good 3." I was just expecting it to go to the middle of the hole, and then all of a sudden, for some reason it just broke a little right and it just hung out on the right lip. I couldn't believe it. I got a good bounce on 1, so it probably evened out.

Q. What happened, on 1 it kicked a different direction?

RICHARD JOHNSON: No, it just I hit a high draw in there and you just hit pin high and it spun back to the left, so I mean, if it wouldn't have gone in, it would have been a couple inches. It was just one of those that happened to go in.

Q. A non golfing question, what's your perception of the Quad Cities? Have you had a chance to get out much or have you been spending all your time practicing?

RICHARD JOHNSON: We haven't been out all that much. We've been up to Davenport a couple times and been up to the airport. As a golfer, we don't really see that much. They've got a nice river walk we've been running on and they have really nice restaurants here. They've got a good selection, and I like this town. It's a nice little town next to the Mississippi or at least seems to be a lot of things to do. I saw people out jetskiing here on the river, and it looks nice.

Q. You talked about 1, the eagle on 1. Did it jump start your round or did it kind of take you a minute the or a couple holes to settle back into a groove when that happens on the 1st hole?

RICHARD JOHNSON: It's hard to say really. It's one of those that was just it wasn't because I didn't have the perfect club I thought, I wasn't really expecting to hit it that stiff. 9 was kind of long I thought and wedge might get up to the pin. If I nail it I thought I might get it close. So I was kind of surprised to see it go in. I wouldn't say it jump started my round. I probably got more shock than I did anything else.

Q. Tomorrow with the chance to win, what are your thoughts? How do you manage yourself, and have you been in this position on the Tour?

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yeah, not on this Tour, but yeah, I've been in the position to win on this Tour, but I haven't won. I've played a couple times, FedEx two years ago, I played in the final group all week pretty much, and David shot an unbelievable David Toms just an unbelievable 63 to win.

I've been up there before. I've won in Europe a couple times, and you've just got to go out there and play your own game and see where it goes. If you've got a good chance with a couple holes to go, that's where you need to be.

You can't start worrying about winning a tournament with six holes to go. You've got to have those two holes to go to see if you've got a good chance.

Q. Maybe one thing, the difference between a European tournament and say this tournament? Is there anything that jumps out at you?

RICHARD JOHNSON: No, I mean, a win is always a win. There are always going to be good players in the field. It doesn't matter if you win on the Nationwide of course, if you win a major you've got everybody there so you beat the whole field, but a win is always a win to me. I don't care if it's The International, the Honda Classic, whatever. It's always going to be good players. Everybody on this Tour is good enough to beat anybody pretty much any given day. But then you have somebody that beats more often, and those are the guys that are Top 10 in the world.

But I think that overall, players are very good over here. They're probably a little better competition over here than it is in Europe. But it's just hard to say, a win is a win, you've just got to play good golf.

Q. The structure of a tournament, how it's organized, is it any different?

RICHARD JOHNSON: This week?

Q. Here at this tournament versus Europe.

RICHARD JOHNSON: It's just Europe is a little you know, the good tournaments in Europe are really good. They're more like the ones over here. We don't get cars and stuff like that, but they have drivers that drive us around in courtesy cars. You have 15, 20 good tournaments in Europe which are really nice, and then you have a couple ones that are not that good, and the average over here is very good, even on the Nationwide, they do a great job of taking care of us and the courses we're playing are fantastic and usually the weather is pretty good when it's not raining. We've been pretty fortunate here.

I would say that this Tour is a little more competitive and they take care of us a little better than average, yes.

Q. Does this tournament take on a different complexion the way the leaderboard looks like it's going to be shaped up with J.L. a couple shots up and then a bunch of guys right there on his heels?

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yeah, I guess. It's really up to him, as well. I don't know what he's at, if he's 16 or whatever he is. But if he goes out and posts 5 under tomorrow, it's pretty much all over. Then somebody has to go out and shoot 8, 9 under, which is on a Sunday with the pins is going to be pretty tough. But it's his tournament to win or lose pretty much if he leads by a lot. I haven't seen a leaderboard lately.

I don't know, it's just hard to say. But in golf everything changes fast. I made an eagle on 1. Say we play together tomorrow and I eagle the 1st and he bogeys the 1st, that's three shots. Things go fast.

It's just a matter of going out there and pacing yourself and hopefully you're in the hunt with a couple to go.

Q. Have you played golf with John E. Morgan?

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yes, plenty.

Q. He used some energy last year in his enthusiasm to kind of get him into the playoff. Do you ever feel tempted to borrow that approach?

RICHARD JOHNSON: Yeah, when you get in that position that he was in, you're going to get pumped. When you start throwing in a couple putts from everywhere and crowds are screaming at you, you get pretty pumped. It's still Saturday. If you go pumping right now, you might run out of steam tomorrow, who knows.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Continued good luck.

RICHARD JOHNSON: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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