INTERVIEW OF TOM LEHMAN

DAVE SENKO:   Tom, thanks for joining us, 65 and right now you're one back going into tomorrow.

Maybe just talk about your day. It looks like all most of your activity was on the back 9

TOM LEHMAN:   Back 9, yes.

It was a tough day.  It was a tough day to score, although I did get a good score out of it.  The gusty wind made the par‑5s play long on the back 9.  A couple of tricky shots on the par‑3s.

Obviously some holes played short and some easier.

When the wind kind of gives the wind takes away.  But I played very well.

I managed to keep myself in the game on the front 9.

I scrambled a bit

I hit some good shots that were just off the edge of the greens and made some nice up and downs and on the back 9 just kind of got the putter working, made 6 birdies and one mistake on the 16th.

Q.            Maybe just get your shot sequence on birdies starting at No. 11?

TOM LEHMAN:    No. 11, that's the short hole, just laid up off the tee with a rescue and hit a nice little 60 degree wedge in there about 15 feet. 

And then 12th hole hit a 3‑wood off the tee, another lob wedge to about ten feet, made that. 

13, a really nice little 5‑iron to about 15 feet and made that.

15, the par‑5 I hit a great drive and a nice 3‑wood onto the green and 2‑putted from 30 feet.

16, made a bad decision, wrong club on the second, I made bogey.

17 I hit a beautiful 5‑iron that kind of caught the slope and got it in there about 9 feet away and made that.

And then 18: beautiful drive and a good 3‑wood just off the right edge of the green and a good chip to maybe about 8 feet, 6 feet, something like that and hit a good putt.

Q.            What was your club on 16?

TOM LEHMAN:   You know, I hit a sand wedge and I should have hit a pitching wedge.

Q.            Was the wind kind of swirling a little bit on 16?

TOM LEHMAN:   I thought at first it was straight down. 117 yards and straight down, sand wedge, it was right at the limit.  But as it turns out, the wind was from the left a little bit as well so it didn't carry it and ended up hitting in the middle of the green and sucking all the way back to the front and I 3‑putted.  That was a frustrating thing. 

I was telling my caddy, we made a lot of really good decisions over the last three weeks, pulling good clubs, and sometimes when you get something like that and you are all ticked off at yourself, maybe you don't make a birdie on the next hole.

The birdie on 17 was a little bit, I could bite the head of a nail, I was so upset and made a 2.

So sometimes you can't really say if you would have made a birdie there, if I would have made a par on 16. 

Q.            The conditions were tough, how much did it help that the rains softened the greens before you teed off?

TOM LEHMAN:   I think it definitely helped, the biggest help for me was playing with Loren.  No. 1, I like him a lot, he is a great friend.  But more importantly he has such a great competitive spirit. 

A really, really gutty player, never ever gives up.  And you know he is always going to be in the game. So playing with him, and kind of feeling his competitive nature, I think helped me. It was a fun day.

Q.            You and Couples were T‑14 in Phoenix last week on the PGA TOUR event; you almost would expect you guys would be at the top where you are?

TOM LEHMAN:   Yes he is playing extremely well. Every time he tees it up he is playing well.

Last year he played well on the PGA TOUR, and he had a couple of chances to win.

This year he has come right out here and he has won and finished second.  I'm not sure what else he has done.  Every time he tees it up he plays extremely well.  I'm sure he will tomorrow as well.

Q.            The bogey on 16 is your only bogey for the whole week, that's got to feel pretty good?

TOM LEHMAN:  I am playing pretty pretty well. I'm driving the ball extremely well, rolling the ball nicely

Yesterday was a really frustrating day.  18 incredible holes of golf yesterday and I missed so many putts misreading them. If somebody asked me, the real challenge of these greens is not so much getting the speed right, is reading them.  I find them incredibly difficult to read.  You are not really sure if it's going to break a little bit, or a lot or if it's going to be straight.

So yesterday I ended up misreading nearly every putt I hit all day long and I shot 4‑under, and I walked off the golf course really unhappy.

Q.            Is that lack of experience?

TOM LEHMAN:  Experience on the greens, I think that's it.  Making sure you are always aware, the poa annua greens, with the ocean nearby, the ball does go that way.  So I'm trying to always be aware of how much it is going affect it, whether it's going to make it break more or break less to me.  Today was great, I read the greens better today, so it just takes me a little more awareness.

Q.            Before this week had you played here before?

TOM LEHMAN: A long time ago.

Q.            Taco Bell, Little Crosby?

TOM LEHMAN:   '83 or '84, something like that, the Little Crosby. 

Q.            So you were disappointed with your 4‑under par yesterday, do you realistically feel you can shoot 63's out here every time you tee it off?

TOM LEHMAN:  No, I wouldn't say that.

No, but yesterday I hit it really well.  I hit it 12 feet or less 11 times yesterday and then I made 4.  So any time you do that you always walk away from there like you left a few out there. 

But today was a tough day, I probably made more than I should have. So I made more than my share today, so that's good. 

Q.            Do you remember being in a final group with Couples in the past, the last day?

TOM LEHMAN:  Last group, last day with Freddie, I don't think I can remember that.  I played a lot of golf with him.  I know he is going to be 20 or 30 yards passed me on every tee shot.

It's good to see him play well. He brings a lot to this Tour. He's always been a fan favorite.  He has a great way of playing golf, a real casual approach.  But he is a very competitive person, the fans love him.  I think he adds a lot of great things to the Champions Tour.  It will be fun tomorrow.

Q.            As a playing partner, he is pretty easy to play with?

TOM LEHMAN:  Well, you know, he is just like a normal guy. He wants to talk about college basketball or pro football, or whatever is going on.  He is the kind of guy that every guy likes to hang out with just because he is such a normal kind of person, a guy's kind of guy

Q.            Do you think that since Freddie is going to be so ahead of you, he will be hitting off the tees first, will that be an advantage for you?

TOM LEHMAN: Yes, if I hit them close.

Q.            Do you get a chance to go down to Arroyo Trabuco?

TOM LEHMAN:  No, I haven't been there.

Q.            When was the last time you were there?

TOM LEHMAN:  Opening day.  I take it back. I went out there and drove around last year one day.  I spent about 4 hours and drove around the course and see how it's looking.

But I haven't played there since the day it opened.  And I made a hole‑in‑one there.