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84 LUMBER CLASSIC

September 17, 2005

Craig Barlow

FARMINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA

DAVE SENKO: Craig, maybe you could just get us started, talk about your day. You finished right now 10 under going into Sunday. Maybe just kind of give us a quick recap of today and we'll get some questions.

CRAIG BARLOW: I started off I think I birdied 2, bogeyed 3, and then played a really nice stretch from birdied 5, birdied 7, 8, 9, birdied 11. So I had a nice little stretch there.

12 is the one of the toughest holes on the course, and I played that hole nice.

I had a birdie chance on 13, and 14 drove it right down the middle and got right in a sand divot, hit a beautiful shot out of the divot, just missed the green left and hit a horrible chip, made bogey and missed about an eight footer for birdie on 15, and 16 unfortunately is where it all started to begin.

But I played it good. I wouldn't play it any differently if I had to do it again. I drove it right down the middle. That's a tough fairway for me to hit. I had 194 to the front, and I was trying to fly it 205, which is only ten paces on, and it was 219 to the hole. I was thinking that's plenty of room for release, and I hit my 4 iron right at my target. It probably flew a couple yards farther than I wanted and it took a huge hard bounce on the green and it went into the nastiest bunker ever. Chris Smith was a foot from my ball down there, and we both made 7s. I'm sure we looked like fools down there, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have aimed at the same target. It happened to be a firmer bounce on the green than I played for.

17, I hit a beautiful little 7 iron and it ended up about a foot from the hole, so that was a nice rebound.

18, that tee shot is tough for me. I haven't been able to get comfortable on that tee. It's a weird looking tee shot. The first two days I hit it in the right bunker, and today I guarded against the right bunker and I came over it, hit it left, which was even worse than being in the right bunker.

You know, it's unfortunate I ended on such a sour note, but the bottom line is I'm playing really good. I had a good week last week until the end, and I'm playing really good this week, and the last six weeks have been really solid. Hopefully I'll take my learning experience from last week, and I get another crack at it tomorrow.

Q. What stays with you more, the nice little stretch like three birdies in a row or does 16 stay with you more?

CRAIG BARLOW: The 16th hole doesn't make me happy, but I've got to look at the big picture here. The big picture is I'm making a lot of birdies and I'm playing good golf. The big picture is I'm playing great golf right now. I have to eliminate a few mistakes, and to win out here, you can't have mistakes. I've had a double bogey every day, and I'm still, what, tied for 2nd.

I'm obviously playing good golf, but this kind of golf course, Pete Dye is famous for making holes that you can throw up on yourself, and I've done it once a day, so that would be a nice goal for tomorrow is to not have that. But I wouldn't change anything. I'm just going to continue to try to play good golf.

Q. Having been in that bunker on 16, do I remember correctly that it's a combination of being like that but the grass is very high, too, and the ball goes right down?

CRAIG BARLOW: It is. It's nasty. I was in the bunker in two, I had one foot in, one foot out of the bunker, the green is running away from me out of the water so I've got a six foot high lip so I have to get it up high and hit it soft. I erred on the short side because I didn't want to hit a steamer out of it, and now I'm in the rough that's eight inches deep, and I almost hit that one in the water. It wasn't a pleasant experience to say the least. But I'll try not to be there tomorrow is the only thing I can say.

Q. Were you watching leaderboards as you came around?

CRAIG BARLOW: I didn't watch the leaderboard much today. I caught a glimpse of it from time to time. I saw Jason was playing well, obviously I was playing well. I mean, Saturday is moving day. You don't win a golf tournament on Saturday, and by all means I'd like to have a few holes over today, but I'm in great position. I didn't take myself out of the tournament. In fact, I put myself in the tournament.

It was unfortunate that it happened, but I got a chance to win tomorrow.

Q. Will you pay a little bit more attention to the leaderboard tomorrow?

CRAIG BARLOW: On the back nine I will. Front nine I won't. I just want to go out and see if I can't get into some kind of rhythm and continue to hit quality golf shots. Definitely on the back nine, I want to know where I'm standing and do I need to take chances, do I need to play a little safer.

I consider the back nine very important to knowing where you're at because there's a few critical holes that you can maybe change your game plan a little bit if you need to be aggressive. Definitely I'll know where I'm at on the back nine.

Q. Was more wind today swirling around?

CRAIG BARLOW: It was tougher wind today. I thought it was windier yesterday, but today definitely it was confused. It didn't know what direction it wanted to come from. I hit a couple shots because of that on the 4th hole I thought the wind was left to right and it was actually down and I hit it on the 3rd hole I think it was, just a few instances like that were tough. It was tough for everybody.

What's the weather supposed to do tomorrow?

Q. Supposed to be sunny and low 70s.

CRAIG BARLOW: Yeah, good.

Q. Go over what your injury things were and how that has progressed for you this year.

CRAIG BARLOW: My injuries are doing good. I had hip surgery in '01 and shoulder surgery in '01. I would like to think that those are behind me. I'm not perfect, but I don't think anybody out here is.

Q. Same side?

CRAIG BARLOW: Right hip, left shoulder. They're not a concern. You know, I'm healthy. It's September, so obviously my body is feeling it right now, but before too long I'll have a nice couple months off.

DAVE SENKO: Thanks, Craig.

End of FastScripts.

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