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ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 28, 2011

Joe Durant

AVONDALE, LOUISIANA

DOUG MILNE: Joe, thank you for joining us for a few minutes after a very successful first round. 5-under 67 today, six birdies and just one bogey after the first round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Just a few comments on what's going right?
JOE DURANT: I think I just stayed very patient today. Some of the pins were in some difficult spots so you had to kind of shoot away from them.
I just took what the course gave me today. I had a couple of good opportunities that I was able to capitalize on. Like I said earlier, the wind was in a total different direction, so it was almost like a new golf course today.
But I played well. I played around here enough to know what it's going to do with different winds, and I just had a game plan for the north wind, so it worked out pretty well.

Q. Did you see this round coming? You've struggled a little bit this season. Did you come out expecting to be able to play so well?
JOE DURANT: Actually, believe it or not, yeah, I did. I hit some good shots last week at Hilton Head. I didn't play particularly poorly; I just didn't score very well. Made a couple of equipment changes earlier this week, too, that kind of tidied things up a little bit as well.
I'm using the same iron head. I just changed shafts this week, because I was having trouble this year flighting the ball down. I've been hitting a lot of up-shooting-type shots, which is not normal for me.
So the shaft change has helped me tremendously. I can see the ball coming out with the proper trajectory now. Made a big difference, especially when it's windy like here.

Q. The six birdies, I think you only took advantage of one par-5 for today; is that correct?
JOE DURANT: I didn't birdie number 2. I didn't birdie 7. I birdied 11. 11 was the only one I did birdie. So, yeah, that's encouraging that I didn't really attack the fives that great and still shot 5-under. Maybe I can get them tomorrow.

Q. Talk a little bit about the difference in the course from yesterday to today?
JOE DURANT: They almost had to name the storm yesterday they had so much wind out there. I don't know what the gusts got up to out there. It had to be close to 40.
DOUG MILNE: 35.
JOE DURANT: Right. It was tough yesterday. Today was a much drier wind, totally different direction.
When you get out on a day like yesterday you can do harm to your game. You start swinging hard, start trapping the ball and getting it way back in your stance to keep the ball down. So you have to be careful when you play in that much wind. Fortunately didn't have too much residue from yesterday, and I played well today.

Q. How did you play 15? Can you just talk about the difficulty of that hole?
JOE DURANT: Today it was dead into the wind. I hit a really good drive there and still had 225 which was playing almost 250. It was into the teeth of the wind. I hit a really good 5-wood to the back left corner of the green, made my two-putt and got out of there. I knew 4 there was going to be a good score.
The hole before, the par-3 was 220 into the wind also. I didn't have a club for that one. I tried to hit a 3-iron and missed the green short but was fortunate to get up and down. Those were probably the two hardest holes back-to-back today.
DOUG MILNE: David Toms mentioned out there, he's like, Does it count as a missed green if you can't get there?
JOE DURANT: That's kind of how we felt, yeah. You've got to be able to reach it to count it.

Q. How do you expect the rest of the day to go with the weather conditions? Has the wind lied down or laid down a little bit from earlier?
JOE DURANT: It has a little bit. I think that's what they're calling for. There will be some good numbers this afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised. I don't think 5-under will be leading at the end of the day. I think somebody can shoot 6 or 7. But they're just drying out, too, so it will be tough to tell.

Q. The first two days, today and tomorrow, will probably be really nice, perfect conditions for you guys if the wind dies down. If it gets more humid is that going to affect the way you hit the ball or does that have any affect on you?
JOE DURANT: For me that's the conditions that I love the most because I grew up two and a half hours from here. So I'm used to the heat and humidity, so I welcome that. Hopefully, it will get there.

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