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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC


September 15, 2003


Jonathan Byrd


SILVIS, ILLINOIS

TODD BUDNICK: All right, Jonathan, thank you for stopping in. Bogey-free final round, your first runner-up of the season. You have to be at least happy with the finish.

JONATHAN BYRD: Yeah, I'm pretty excited about my game. I wasn't real happy with the way I hit it on the weekend, but it was I good indication of how the week went. I think I made six bogeys this week, and five out of six times I birdied the next hole and bounced back.

My attitude was great. I had a lot of scoring opportunities with wedges in my short game and I failed to get the job done, but I'm just thankful for having a great week, thankful for the weather, great playing partners the last two rounds and just to be in position. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Q. It was a crowded leaderboard at the start of the day, but it looked like Vijay never really gave anybody a chance to get back in the game.

JONATHAN BYRD: He didn't until the end. The game was on early. I mean, up until 16, I think he shut the door on 16 or 17 -- well, 17 he shut the door, but he's so consistent and he just gave himself so many chances that you just couldn't ask for a more precise final round. If he putts well, he shuts the door real early, but he made some putts at the end. I still felt like if I made eagle on 17 with 18 as the finishing hole, I still had a chance, but I made another birdie.

Q. Do you take something from playing with a guy like that in the final round, to watch the way he approached going for the lead and then hanging on?

JONATHAN BYRD: I think you take something away from playing with anybody, just being in position. Whether Vijay won or I won or somebody from behind us came and won, shot 62 and won, I come away with it seeing that -- I'm still kind of trying too hard on the weekends or trying to make things happen when on the first two days, you just let it happen. Trying too hard, you want to err that way because you want that effort, but I still got kind of in my own way this weekend. That's where I come away with what I need to work on is trying to let things go a little more and let my good golf come out.

You watch Vijay and that seems to be the case. His game didn't change too much in the last two rounds, and I suppose it wasn't too much different the first two days.

Q. What's strong about his game? Obviously he hits it a long ways.

JONATHAN BYRD: Well, he doesn't hit it -- we had the same distance. I think all three of us hit it the same distance. I don't think the power these days is Vijay's strong point. He drives the ball phenomenally well. He's starting to fade the ball more off the tee and he hits fairways and he just doesn't hit bad shoots. He's hitting it 15, 20, 10 feet all day. You do that for enough holes, you're going to make something. He started to make a few at the end, but watching him for two days, he missed a bunch from 15 feet. It's ho-hum for him. Some guys it's a little easier to do that.

Q. When you're watching a guy like that over the last two days of a tournament, does it seem like mentally that they're more relaxed and composed than anyone else? Is that what separates those players from the rest?

JONATHAN BYRD: No, I don't think he's got an edge. I've got it in me, I've just got to find it. I've got to work at it and find my state where I need to try to be in. It's not a comfort state, it's just a -- you either need to relax more or concentrate more, whatever it is, and I think he's just been there more.

I think that's probably the biggest thing is Vijay is there a lot and he's got a chance to win more often and he's had more chances to kind of figure it out. I mean, as much as I like to say, I've only been there maybe five times since I've been on Tour, been in the hunt coming down the last nine holes, and I've gotten the job done once. You learn a lot. He was very composed all day and he didn't seem to change. I was composed as well, I just didn't play -- I didn't hit enough good shots.

Q. Is this a tournament you'll come back to, dates notwithstanding?

JONATHAN BYRD: I don't know, I can't say. A year is a long ways away. I'm not in the British Open on what I've done so far, so it's hard to say. I would like very much to come back to this golf course and play it because I feel like I play it very well and I like coming to this town, but it's just a long ways away. The week before a Major, especially when you're flying across the pond, the circumstances are a little different, but I hope to come back here.

TODD BUDNICK: We'll just go through the three birdies. No. 2?

JONATHAN BYRD: 2, that was yesterday. Driver, 5-wood, two-putt.

7, that was today, I hit a nice little -- very smooth drawing 4-iron in there about 15 feet past the hole on the left, which was kind of tough to get there, and just center-cut a putt. That was my second hole of the day.

Then 17, I hit a 3-wood off the tee, just trying to keep the ball in the fairway, hit a 3-wood pin high left in the rough and hit a nice pitch to about 13 feet, made that.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Jonathan.

End of FastScripts.

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