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FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

May 27, 2005

Justin Leonard

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Justin Leonard in. Another great round today, 65. 13 under par at the halfway point. Obviously something is clicking for you from the first couple of days. Talk about your play.

JUSTIN LEONARD: It has been a lot of fun. The last two weeks I haven't driven the ball as well as I really need to. That has been key for me this week.

I missed a couple of fairways today. Had a lot of good tee shots, that is setting up the rest of the golf course for me.

Q. Talk about what it is that you are doing so well on the greens. You had 25 putts today; do you find them to your liking?

JUSTIN LEONARD: You could say that. And did a little work on Tuesday and Wednesday with Gio on my putting and moving the ball closer. I have a tendency to get the ball too far out. I kind of bring it back inside and go back through inside. The closer I bring it the longer the putter stays square. It is that one thing that helped me a lot this week.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Questions?

Q. Talk a little bit about the psychology of following a low round with a really solid round?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, I was aware of that today. And I felt like it is difficult to come back after shooting a low round and the next day your expectations are so high that sometimes a round can get away from you. I think today I really did a very good job of not worrying so much about the score but hitting the shots that I needed to hit. So most of the day I hit those shots.

That is the thing I have to continue to do this weekend, is not worry so much about score or what I am shooting; just hitting the shots.

Q. With all the changes to the course what were your realistic expectations starting Thursday; how did that hit you?

JUSTIN LEONARD: It was a little beyond my expectations. You know, I really like the changes. I think they did a wonderful job here in making this golf course more difficult. There is more strategy involved as far as where you have to land the ball and trying to get it to feed back to certain places. I enjoy that.

We have 143, you know, you have got to fly it 143. There is no creativity in that. They give you some areas where you can bounce the ball into some greens. I feel like they did a really good job on this course.

Q. Historically, how have you done from the past with leads like this after two rounds?

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, it is a pretty small area that you are talking about. I don't think I have ever had a lead like this. So, I don't have a lot of experience to draw upon. I think I need to do kind of what I did today in following up yesterday's round. I have to stay in the present, not worrying about scoring or what is going on, just trying to execute the golf shots. I did it very well today. I see no reason not to continue with that this weekend.

Q. How much was it a factor playing with Hal as far as Ryder Cup memories?

JUSTIN LEONARD: He is quite a character. We have a lot of fun out there. He is very easy to talk to. You know, if you want to light him up, just ask him about the Boot Ranch and what is going on down in Fredericksburg. He went on four holes about that. We had a good time.

Q. You mentioned stay focussed on the shots. Was that the key? You get the birdie on 11, come back with one bogey from two rounds; how key was that for you to settle back down and put it in the rear view mirror?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Very important. That second shot at 11 was kind of lazy actually. I think if anything it really kind of brought my focus back. I didn't give myself many opportunities the next three holes. I just made two nice solid birdies at 16 and 17 to kind of get back to that mindset.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Take us through the birdies starting at eleven on the par 3.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Hit a wedge to ten feet. Bogey at 12, hit a 9 iron in the left bunker. Left it in the bunker and then got that up and down. 16, hit a 4 iron from the green side bunker and blasted it out to a foot. 17, hit a 7 iron to 20 feet. 3, hit a sand wedge to eight feet. 6, hit an 8 iron, eight feet. And 7 hit an 8 iron 30 feet. I missed 10 footer at 9.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Anything else? Thank you, Justin.

End of FastScripts.

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