BUICK OPEN

August 11, 2001

Justin Leonard

JUSTIN LEONARD: It does feel good. I don't think I am going to be the leader for too long, if I even am at this point. But great to shoot a good round today and you know, hopefully by the end of the day put myself back in the golf tournament.

JUSTIN LEONARD: A lot of hard work.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I started to get comfortable back in April and had a good stretch of tournaments through the Houston Byron Nelson Colonial and even the following two weeks I played okay. And then I started to struggle a little bit. Struggled at the U.S. Open. And then had a couple of decent weeks and then struggled again at the British Open. So I think the thing -- the reason I struggled those two weeks -- I think -- I felt good going in and I was probably just thinking too much. I think I really got in my own way in those two events. That's probably been the most disappointing thing this year. Came back after the British Open, took some time off, and played okay last week and I felt a lot more comfortable this week and you know, the changes -- I think -- I feel like I have put the work in and I have hit the ball and I got the blisters and all that. Now I need to get out of my own way and just go play golf.

JUSTIN LEONARD: No, I just think it is whatever it takes. I would love to have had a two-month timeframe, but I knew that was pretty much out of the, you know, the realm of possibilities. So I think it's a change for the long run and so short-term I wasn't as concerned about my performance. I just want to put the work in and, you know, instruct it. And back in February and March it was getting harder and harder to do that and about the time, you know, I started to get down, I started to see some improvement. So I think I have been improving steadily since then and just, I think a real key for me is to just go play and get out of my own way.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I haven't. Today we had literally no wind. The fairways are firm with the lack of rain that you have had up here, but the greens are still receptive. Because the golf course isn't playing very long with the firm fairways, the rough isn't too bad, you know, all those things add up to very low scores.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, I think having such a great experience here in 1996, you know, I look forward to coming to this week, and it is a place I have played well in the past. I certainly feel like I can play well in the future. I think those kind of experiences just breed confidence. I am not the only one that feels that way when I am here. Every other past champion and guys who have played well here that enjoy this part of the country, you know, all feel the same way I do.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I enjoy it when I am playing well and putting well, it is a lot of fun. But you know, if you are struggling a little bit, you can lose ground in a hurry much the way I did the first two days. Hopefully by the end of today I will have made a lot of that up. You know, it is fun. Next week is going to be a grind and you know, so I think it's kind of nice to come here and being able to shoot at the flags and try to make a bunch of birdies.

JUSTIN LEONARD: A lot of the time players out here are playing well, but they are not getting the result. They are not shooting the great scores. A top-30 or 40 finish, a lot of times is not very different from a Top 5 or 10 finish. A couple of putts here, maybe one bad tee shot that kind of loses some momentum, so there's a very fine line between, you know, what you read in the papers being a mediocre result and what you read as being a very good result.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, really, I didn't go in trying to find extra length. I went in because I felt kind of lost with my swing and what I was trying to do. I felt like I had become strong enough to make some changes to make my swing more compact and you know, easier for me to manage. I think -- I need to learn some things and so that's the reason why effectively what I have done is shortened my swing and removed a lot of the excess movement that I had. I had a very pronounced lateral shift. I took the club back well past parallel. So I have eliminated those things and I think just made the game and made my swing a little simpler.

JUSTIN LEONARD: It is something that I think about. But I don't go out there, you know, standing 150 yards from the hole saying I need to hit this 8-iron close so I can make the Ryder Cup team. I think there's, you know, sure, we all want to play well for this week. I want to shoot a great round for today and for this Championship. Does that help my Ryder Cup chances? Absolutely. Did I think about the Ryder Cup out there during the round? Absolutely. It's a big motivating tool right now is to try to make that team. I am sure I will think about it tonight. But you know, the round I shot today helped, you know, the way I look at it, I took care of today. That helps my Ryder Cup chances. If I go out and take care of tomorrow, that's all I can control. I can't control anything beyond that: How anybody else plays, so I will focus on tomorrow. But, yeah, I think the Ryder Cup is in the back of everyone's mind.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I think really the last two holes. I had let a great chance at 16 slip through. I hit a bad chip, was really perturbed about that. To hit a good shot at 17 and make a nice 10-footer and then hit that shot in there on 18, yeah, I mean, that -- it's great to finish off a round and any round, really. But to finish up a really good round like that, you know, I think for me personally it kind of drives, you know, drives the idea home that I did some good things today and that I need to just stay aggressive.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Nothing that I'd really take back. I think probably the best chance I had was at the Byron Nelson. I think at one point during the day maybe around the turn somewhere I might have had tied the lead at some point and wasn't able to keep making birdies. I think that's really the one missed opportunity. Colonial I didn't really have a chance to win; played a good round on Sunday to finish well. The Houston Open, I might have had a chance, if Hal Sutton wouldn't have been the one leading the golf tournament because he doesn't give much away and he wasn't about to there. I feel like the Byron Nelson I had a good chance. But no real -- no huge, you know, disappointments there because I was kind of trying to find my game and it was starting to come around so I was excited about all those three weeks.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I think you know, it worked well at times. Last year was very disappointing from the fact that, you know, I played 28 tournaments and I felt like I made majority of the money that I won last year in maybe four, five of those weeks. I was able to win a tournament, so there were times when it was good, but there was a lot of times in between when I got around because of my short game, you know, really wasn't putting myself in position to try to win golf tournaments. That is the main reason I changed, you know, from over a year's period yes, I would have my weeks, but the goal out here, I want to win more tournaments and give myself opportunities too to. I felt like in order to do that I needed to make a change.

JUSTIN LEONARD: In November after the season was over.