CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 30, 1999

Justin Leonard

JUSTIN LEONARD: Today was a little more interesting than yesterday. Struggled -- I missed the first three greens, and then I hit the ball pretty well, until the last six holes. And then I missed a couple fairways and some greens, but managed to get the ball up-and-down. You know, today I struggled a little bit, but still got a decent score out of it. You know, hopefully I can work a little bit on the range this evening and hit the ball a little more the way I did yesterday.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Parred the first two holes. I hit an 8-iron right of the green and pitched it up to about seven feet and missed that. Birdied 15. I hit driver on about pin-high on the right side of the green and 2-putted for birdie. 17, I hit an 8-iron to about eight feet; made that for birdie. 18, I hit a sand wedge to about two feet; made that. Parred 1 and 2. 3, I hit an 8-iron to about 12 feet. Then I parred my way in.

JUSTIN LEONARD: 4, I took a drop and hit it up in front of the green. Made a good up-and-down. 5, I hit it in the green-side bunker. Blasted out about 25 feet and made that for par. And then I hit a bad lay-up on 6, and I hit a bad tee shot on 7. I played the last two holes pretty solid. But for a while there, it was pretty much Army golf.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I don't know. I think my rhythm got thrown off a little bit. Kind of the tempo with my swing. I don't think it was anything real technical. But you know, I just need to go work on hitting a few different shots. You know, just trying to hit it a little more solid.

JUSTIN LEONARD: It was nice because it cooled things off a little bit. If anything, the golf course played a little harder today. It dried out more. And with the fairways the way they are drying out, especially this afternoon over yesterday morning, I imagine they will continue to do that over the weekend.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I want to be on the team. That's a goal of mine every year, or every two years, I should say, because I think it's a wonderful event. It's very unique. It's just a special thing to be a part of. My schedule is tailored around my standings and things like that. Right now, I've been playing a lot and feel like my game is in pretty good shape. But first and foremost this week, I want to try to win this tournament, because it's always -- winning is a goal. And when you get yourself in position, you know -- or when I get myself in position, I want to take advantage of that. And I haven't been able to do that this year. Winning is the most important thing to me, and I'm approaching this with the attitude that if I come out and play well, and give myself chances, then making the team will take care of itself.

JUSTIN LEONARD: In this tournament?

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah. Being a couple shots back with two days left, that's -- it's a good spot to be in. Hopefully, I can go and play well tomorrow and give myself a chance to win on Sunday.

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, everybody has to play in the same conditions; so, I think we'll all make the adjustments. But, you know, I've had fun the last two days making some birdies, because a couple weeks ago, they were too hard to find. But it's -- I wouldn't say any wind conditions are going to favor myself or other players here. You know, it's -- I don't want to try to predict the weather and be disappointed.

JUSTIN LEONARD: He did great. He's a lot of fun out there. Yesterday was pretty easy. Today, with me struggling a little bit with my swing, he always had something positive to say. He's great. And my regular caddie does the same kind of things. Sometimes it's good to have a little -- a little change in there, but it's no wonder that Bruce has been so successful for so long. And caddying for Tom Watson doesn't hurt, either.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I hit a 5-iron yesterday. I didn't hit a great drive yesterday. Today I hit a really good drive and hit sand wedge in. It's playing a lot different.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I'm a little surprised. But I don't know that the amount of tournaments that they might have played in the past two months. It's hard to criticize somebody on that. But knowing my situation, I like it here, and I like the golf course. But that's a big reason why I'm here is to give myself another opportunity to get some points.

JUSTIN LEONARD: It's pretty amazing. I mean, with all the -- as big as this tournament is, it still has kind of a community, almost a small-town feel to it. The only difference is there's three or four times the number of people that you normally have in small-town events. But the people are great. They are very supportive. And, you know, they like to hear themselves talk, and they like to interact with the players a little bit. But usually they are saying good things. So as long as they keep doing that, then we're not going to have any problems.