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"Did I feel I was in the driver's seat? Not really. I just felt like I needed to keep playing aggressively where I could and hope the putts fall in."
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Justin Leonard
Valero Texas Open
Post-Round Media Interview
October 7, 2007
San Antonio, Texas
Let's welcome Justin Leonard, 2007 Valero Texas Open Champion.
Justin, this is your 11th win, only the second player to win this tournament three times. You join Arnold Palmer on that list. Why don't you just talk about your win today and the playoff and just your general thoughts on the day.
JUSTIN LEONARD: I played pretty solid today. Made a really nice putt at 4 and then hit it close at 6. A little disappointed to par 7 and 8, had two good looks there. Actually 9, 10, 11 I hit all three iron shots kind of poorly and then hit a good shot into 12 and made a putt after Jesper had just made birdie. Two good birdies at the next two holes and then, you know, 16 I felt like I had a good chance to kind of put the tournament away and I pulled my putt there a little bit. Then 17, Jesper came back and made birdie. Had a chance there at 18 but didn't hit a great putt.
At that point the nerves kind of started kicking in a little bit and then the playoff. Looked like Jesper, when we played 18, looked like the best he was probably going to make was 5. He hit probably a wedge to three feet and all of a sudden I've got to get up and down to continue on.
On 16 I had a good putt at it. Hit an okay putt. Just broke a little more than I thought and then finally got one to fall at 17. I had straight downgrain; there was nothing really to worry about. I just needed to get it started on a decent line and I was able to do that.
Q. Justin, there were a couple of occasions there late in the round and the playoff where it looked like Jesper was pretty much out of it, yanked a couple drives way left and somehow got out of it. Did you admire the way that he scrapped and kept coming up with those shots?
JUSTIN LEONARD: It's kind of the way Jesper plays. He's not going to hit every fairway or every green. But he's very creative and he hit some gutsy shots. The drive he hit on 15 to make birdie from there was incredible. That's a two shot swing. He made a good up and down save at 16 for bogey and then hit a beautiful shot into 17, a pin that I've never even thought about going for and, you know, he hit it in there four feet. So he played some good golf. Probably not as well as he played early in the week. But, you know, when you've been leading for that long and you've got a cushion like that, it's hard to really stay aggressive and fortunately I was able to be the chaser and I had to continue. I didn't really deviate from my game plan that much.
Q. Talk a little bit about what this means coming back from the changes that you made early in the year with coaching changes, caddie changes. Is this kind of a validation of everything for you at this point this season?
JUSTIN LEONARD: That's exactly what it is. You know, you don't always see the fruits of hard work out here. Sometimes you do but not always. And so you find -- you have to find your own way to measure progress outside of results and – but there's no better way to validate it than to come out and win a golf tournament like this.
Q. Justin, talk about the company of Arnold Palmer winning this event three times.
JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, it's pretty special. When I came back in 2002 to try and win for the third straight time, I remember a lot of the talk was trying to join Arnold Palmer and since then I haven't really had a chance to win down here and I didn't think about it today, which is probably a good thing, but it's great company to be in.
Q. You were able to track down Jesper in six holes -- did you think it would happen that quick? At that point, did you think, "I've got him on the ropes, I think I can take this thing"?
JUSTIN LEONARD: I didn't think I'd be able to catch him quite that early but I certainly didn't think I had him on the ropes at that point. We still had 12, 13 holes to play, and he was hitting the ball pretty well. He wasn't hitting it very close. Seemed like he had a lot of 20, 25-footers today and had a lot of good putts that could have gone in. Then on the back-9 he started to hit it a little bit closer and we both made a couple birdies. Did I feel I was in the driver's seat? Not really. I just felt like I needed to keep playing aggressively where I could and hope the putts fall in.
Q. How did that putt not go in on 16, the 2nd playoff hole, the one that went in and out?
JUSTIN LEONARD: It was kind of down and crossgrain and it caught the low side. Not a putt I could give a lot because if I hit it too hard it could go another three, four feet. So one of those where it had to be just right and I had a good line. If I hit it a little bit harder it could have gone in or that same speed just a little higher. I'm not sure exactly where the ball started out. I think it started out on a pretty good line. I wasn't real disappointed with that putt. I was definitely nervous over it but felt like I hit a pretty good putt there and, you know, was a little disappointed because it was kind of two different times on that green I felt like I could have put the tournament away and -- nice that it didn't come back to bite me in the end.
Q. Is that green in particular a hard one to putt? I know there's a lot of downhill, up into the grain putts and always some kind of things going on on that green.
JUSTIN LEONARD: I don't think I've ever really seen the flag there. I've seen it closer to the bunker but I've never seen it that far left. I had two different putts from different sides of the hole and the first one I pulled and the playoff I hit a pretty good putt.
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