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CROWNE PLAZA INVITATIONAL AT COLONIALMay 24, 2014David TomsFORT WORTH, TEXAS JOHN BUSH: David Toms joins us here in the interview room at the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial after a 5‑under par 65. David, welcome back to a room you know well. Just comment how much it means to be back in contention at Colonial? DAVID TOMS: It looks the same in here, just haven't been here in a few years. You know, it's always a great tournament. It's something I look forward to every year to play this. I have a great sponsor in Crowne Plaza, a great golf course, history, tradition a good group of plaid jackets running the show around here, and I'm fortunate to have one of those. Enjoy it. We had a great dinner the other night with Boo who kept us entertained. It seemed like a pretty laid back week for me. I got out there on Thursday and didn't have a very good round, so I was disappointed. My wife was driving over yesterday for our anniversary, and I certainly didn't want to turn around and leave and go straight home when she got here, so I needed to play a pretty good round to make the cut. I got out there on the golf course and felt really comfortable and shot a nice round. I got out there again today and just got off to a good start and felt really good. I played with Brendon Todd. It seems like every time we're paired together, we both look pretty solid. I know he was coming off a pretty good high last week. It was just a good, positive day, and I needed a good round to get into contention, and that's what I've done, so I look forward to tomorrow. Q. Still a lot of golf out there left to be played, but talk about moving day. You're not the only one. There is a lot going on. Is there something out there with the course? DAVID TOMS: I think a little bit of cloud cover made everything pretty receptive. Not a whole lot of wind blowing out there. The fairways are easier to hit. The greens were easier to hit, even though the pins were in the corners, it didn't seem like too much of a problem if you were in a good shape off the tee to attack. That's kind of what I did. At times when I didn't feel that great about it, I would play away from the pin. Other times I felt good about the number that I had, I was able to hit some good shots. I hit a couple really close in the middle of my round and kind of got me going for the day. Q. Talk about coming down the stretch, and Peter Kostis shows up, the cameras show up. It's been a while. What goes through your head? DAVID TOMS: You know, it was a little bit different. I really started over there on 16. I hit a great shot and I could tell people were starting to come around with cameras and stuff. I hadn't looked at the leaderboard all day. I didn't feel like I was really relevant at the time to even look at it, so I didn't look. I knew something was going on, and I had kind of a real makeable putt there and I hit it through the break. That was kind of the first signs of maybe a little bit of nerves. And I hit a really good tee shot on 17, but I was in a real thin area, and I had to hit a knockdown pitching wedge from about 112, a shot that I really like. I practice it all the time at home, and just came off a little hot, so I'm not sure that was nerves or just a lie that I had. Then 18 I thought I had hit a great shot. I had 128 and hit a pitching wedge, and the thing flew almost 140 yards, so I guess I was pumped up a little bit. But I had a great putt, finished with a nice par at 18 and got in the clubhouse. Q. All in all the course has been pretty stingy this week. Usually we're in double digits under par by now. What's been the difference? DAVID TOMS: You know, I think the fairways are firm enough where the ball's chasing into the rough a little bit, and there is just enough rough in places where you can't control the distance with your iron shots, so I think that's the biggest factor. And we've had a little bit of wind, a crosswind on a lot of holes. Very few holes where it seems like it's straight in‑your‑face or straight downwind. So you're always trying to figure out is it a little at me, down and across? So it's just a little bit of that going on the golf course. Q. People always say horses for courses, but do you think Colonial may be more than anywhere else on the TOUR brings out a certain style of player, the Corey Pavins, the Davis Loves, people like that, just back and back and back over again? DAVID TOMS: I just think it's a traditional golf course that just evens everything out, whether you're a bomber that can hit irons off the tee all day or you're a guy like myself that is a shorter hitter that can try to hit driver on a lot of holes to get down there where you can attack some of the holes. I just think it just brings all of us together, and I wish we played more of these golf courses to where no one player has an advantage. Certainly, it's an advantage to be accurate around here, but I think if you're a longer power player you can always hit a club that you can get on the fairway and still be able to play the holes. Just we don't get to do this very often. Q. Can you talk about the birdie holes, 9, 10, and 11, getting in the zone there and the one bogey today? DAVID TOMS: 9, I'd been hitting driver off that tee and squeezing it down in between the bunkers and hitting short shots. Today I just decided to play conservative off the tee, and I hit a 3‑wood. I had 150 yards left into the wind. I hit a nice little punt 7‑iron in there about a foot and a half from the hole. Same thing over on number 10. I kind of played pretty far back, and ended up having to hit 6‑iron into the 10th hole, which is a long club to hit into that little green. Hit it real close again, just a couple feet away. Number 11 I played like you're supposed to. I laid my shot up there at 85 yards, hit a good wedge and made the putt. So kind of a routine birdie there. Q. Talk about how the up‑and‑downs at 7 and 8 sort of got you going? DAVID TOMS: That was big. Playing number 7 aggressive all week. I really haven't hit very good tee shots there, but I've been trying to hit driver down there so I could have a shorter shot. I pulled it, and I was in a bad spot over there. Had to get up and down from 75 yards, which was a great little wedge shot I hit in. Then 8, just a bad iron. I was trying to hit a 5‑iron almost 200 yards to that pin, and just came out of it and was in a bad spot, but hit a great chip. I was worried about that chip because there were a couple sprinkler heads there short of the green, and it came out perfect, just like you would draw it up. So those were two definitely big up‑and‑downs, and I followed up with that three birdies in a row, so that was the key to the round. Q. After you won here in 2011, you missed the cut the next two years. What was your mindset coming into this week? Is this one of those courses that no matter what the state of your game is, you're going to play well out here? DAVID TOMS: Yeah, as far as the missed cuts, I think it was just one of those expectations were too high. It seems like anytime in golf whether you put it on yourself or the media puts it on you or whatever, it's tough to say, hey, I'm going to play great that week because you just never know. I was disappointed. So I came here this week just a little more relaxed, and just wanted to enjoy the experience, and I've done that so far. It's certainly reflective in the way I've played the golf course. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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