An interview with:
DON POOLEY

DON POOLEY: Hello, hello. Oh, my goodness. I'm very pleased with today's round. It was the best I played all year. I drove it well, hit the irons well, putted well, chipped well. 17 pars and a bogey. I didn't make any birdies but I had a few opportunities. My close opportunities unfortunately were on the wrong side of the hole. I had two six-footers that were straight downhill; I didn't make those. But I'm very pleased with today's round.

Q. What is your mindset out there?

DON POOLEY: You know, I was working so good swinging out there the last few days. My back kind of hurt on Tuesday so I didn't get to do it Tuesday. But I felt like things were starting to click a little bit, but I was pleasantly surprised that they worked so well today.

Q. How is your shoulder?

DON POOLEY: Shoulder is good, back is good, I felt great today. I'm very, very pleased with today's round.

Q. Were you pretty apprehensive when you were out there?

DON POOLEY: I didn't know what to expect. Things were a little sore and I wasn't sure I how I was going to react. It actually loosened up and got better the more I played. So it was a very good sign.

Q. (Inaudible)?

DON POOLEY: No, I didn't. There were times  -- no, I went after it with a swing. But there were times that I played cautiously to the pin. There were a few pin placements that I didn't feel like I should shoot at. Most of the time I went right at it and played very well. Except for one guy, I'm right there.

Q. Other than Tom Watson you are right there.

DON POOLEY: That's a fantastic round that he played.

Q. He said he made a lot of long putts; it wasn't like he was making a bunch of three-footers for par?

DON POOLEY: I didn't make any long ones but I putted well.

Q. Was there any more events, (Inaudible)?

DON POOLEY: It didn't play as tough as it did Monday in the practice round; the greens were softer and slower. I felt in the practice round they were close to 13 on the stimp meter and very firm and that would have been much more difficult today if they stayed that way. I think they were more in the 11 or 12 range, a little bit softer. They must have put a little water on there for us. So it was a very fair test, but a very difficult test. Just as it should be.

Q. I know you don't want to make any course sound easy; how does Inverness compare to last year? Is this more difficult?

DON POOLEY: Which course?

Q. Caves Valley?

DON POOLEY: It's a completely different golf course than Caves Valley. Caves was longer course, more forgiving off the tee, but very, very difficult in its own right.

This course is short, very tight and the greens are  -- you really have to control your ball on the greens here or you don't a chance.

At Caves Valley you can hit it above the hole and still possibly have a putt you can make. But here it's pretty dicey to have a putt above the hole.

Q. Did you gain confidence today?

DON POOLEY: Yes, I actually gained confidence during the round. I started hitting a lot of quality shots early. I just got confident that I could do that and I played well the whole day. I'm really pleased with my round. Thank you.

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