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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPMay 5, 2012Webb SimpsonCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA MARK STEVENS: We'd like to welcome Webb Simpson. You got it to 14‑under and will go into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship with a one‑stroke lead. Want to take us through the round today? WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, it was a good day. The wind blew a little harder for us, and so Nick and I both got off to good starts. I was playing great golf on the front. Unfortunately I bogeyed 9 for the second day in a row. The back was a little more up and down. We had some tough pins, and I think kind of the turning point of my round was 15. I hit a bad drive and had a bad lie in the rough and we actually considered laying it up, but it was one of those moments where you've got to take a chance, and it came out perfect and capitalized on the par‑5 there and made birdie. To get one in the last three holes is always a bonus, so it was a great way to end the day. Q. Any thoughts of sending the Watneys to the Marriott or something? WEBB SIMPSON: No, we had a good laugh about it at the house. He's a good friend apart from golf, and I knew it would be a fun time. We always have fun out there together. His caddie and my caddie are best friends. We had a lot of good laughs. Q. Do you feel like the signs are kind of pointing‑‑ the fan support and everything, your putting, does it feel like this is the moment tomorrow? WEBB SIMPSON: You know, I don't want to get ahead of myself. I look at the leaderboard and there's so many great players within a shot or two. So I know it's going to be a tough day. I know I can go out and shoot 4‑under and get beat by two or three. This is one of those golf courses where if conditions are right you can get a string of birdies going. You saw McIlroy a few years ago shoot 10‑under. Knowing that my expectations aren't too high. Obviously I want to go out there and try to win, but all I can do is kind of control what we're doing. Q. With regard to Rory, for example, you've got to do your own thing tomorrow, but given what he did a couple years ago and how he played, obviously running up the board today, how much of an eye do you have on a guy like that? WEBB SIMPSON: I'm not going to do a whole lot of leaderboard watching on the front because we've got to go out and try to turn under par, try to make a few birdies on the front. I think you start looking at the board on the back nine because you saw the pins today, and they're tough. A hole like 12, if I'm three back, I've got to make something happen to that tough pin. But if we're tied for the lead, just get a 4 and get out of there. So there will be a lot of strategy talk for me and my caddie on the back nine tomorrow, I'm sure. Q. What have you done best this week? WEBB SIMPSON: I think a combination of putting and just mental mistakes. I haven't made one what I consider a mental mistake, and I made 10 last week in New Orleans, or maybe more than that. So that's been kind of my strong suit, and I think that's where the local knowledge has helped me, especially around the greens, knowing where to miss certain shots. You've just got to kind of plod around this course. That's why you've seen guys like Furyk play really well here. You just got to think really well and I've been able to do that fortunately. Q. Considering what you said earlier, you're not really looking for a number, you're looking to go as low as you can? WEBB SIMPSON: Exactly. I mean, I think this is‑‑ we love this course because there's so many birdie holes, but at the same time you can shoot 2, 3‑over if you're not careful. It's kind of one of those rounds where you've got to go out and kind of take care of business on the front and then on the back maybe start trying to figure out how things are going for the other guys and assess from there. Q. What's the lowest score you've shot here? WEBB SIMPSON: I've got 62, but that was from the two birds, which is the tee ahead, but from the back tees I think 7‑under maybe. Q. After all your success last year, do you start to feel more comfortable in this position when the nerves get going and such like that? WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, I've been nervous all week every day, but I've just had a little story from the Bible I read this week from Judges chapter 6 and 7 that really calmed me down. I've really thought about that, meditated on it. If I didn't read that story, I don't think I would have played that well the first two rounds because I was super nervous playing with Tiger. But I think every time I'm in this situation, it does help. I know what to expect tomorrow, which is‑‑ which will help, that in itself. Q. What's the message you got out of that chapter? WEBB SIMPSON: Well, Gideon is a man who is part of the Israelites, they're suffering, so God calls him out to use him. And he's the youngest of his family and his family is the least in his tribe and the tribe is the least in the people of Israel. The picture I look at is that God uses the weak to make his name look great. Again, I felt pretty weak and helpless the other day with that tee time, being my home crowd, my home course, all the pressure was kind of mounting, and a buddy of mine texted me that story, and truthfully it really calmed me down. Q. Sometimes when you play a home game it can back fire. How have you been able to stay kind of fresh because you've got to entertain and do everything else? WEBB SIMPSON: You know, my wife and I, I think we kind of tackled that a couple weeks prior. We just kind of set up the week, expectations. I knocked out all my requirements Monday and Tuesday and I took Wednesday off. I didn't even come out here, which I think was a really good thing for me to do, just stayed at home, worked out and hung with my family. I think that's just coming from a couple years of doing it the wrong way and trying to entertain too many people and see too many people. This year it's worked out really well, and we're going to try to do that in the future. Q. How many times have you actually played out here? WEBB SIMPSON: Well, we've only lived here a year and a half, so I probably haven't even hit 100 rounds yet. Q. How big was Paul again today as an assist? WEBB SIMPSON: He was great. You know, he's been great all week. This is one of the top few courses on TOUR, I think, where you really need to talk out each shot. There's so many different variables out there right now. He was on top of his game, and he did great. Q. How much confidence did you take from‑‑ you beat Tiger by 11 shots, you handled your nerves tremendously. Did that give you a boost of confidence walking away Friday from those two rounds? WEBB SIMPSON: It did. I've only played with him one time at Doral, and so I think having played with him once at least, it helped me know, kind of understand the crowds and people moving and all that. But it definitely did give me confidence walking away one shot out of the lead after playing with him. Q. You talked earlier in the week that‑‑ when you talk about Tiger, the crowds, the nervousness was kind of a good thing because it helped you focus. Has it almost been a perfect scenario for you with Tiger, with taking the lead going into the final round as opposed to if you were second or third or a stroke or two off? WEBB SIMPSON: I think so.  I mean, it seems like when guys on this level do get nervous, it seems like every time they focus a little better, they just tighten up their thoughts a lot better. For me, four years on TOUR now, seems like when I'm more nervous, for the most part, I play better. It's not a good thing when we get comfortable out here because you start just getting lazy and losing focus on your target, and so, like you said, it is a good thing at times. MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Webb. Good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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