JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Jim Furyk into our interview area, Jim with a 3 under par 69 today, stands at 12 under par through 54 holes. Some birdies early and a couple struggles on some par 3s towards the end of the round. Maybe just talk about the day in general and then we'll get to specifics.

JIM FURYK: Yeah, I got off to a good start today. I birdied I had an eagle putt at 2 and at 5, and made two good birdies there, and a good birdie putt on 4. 3 under through 6, I kind of had it rolling, felt real good about my game.

Birdies at 11, 13, I was rolling pretty good. At that time I think I was three back. Obviously at the end of the day the big swing was on 14, 15. Tiger was in trouble on 14, had a long par putt, he ends up making that, and I doubled the next with a really poor swing on 15. It looked like it could have been a two shot gap and ended up a five shot gap real quick.

Tiger has a way of kind of keeping the pedal down and birdieing 18, and now it's six. I really felt good about the way I played today. I'm a little disappointed in the finish. Really only two loose swings.

I made a very poor swing at 15, didn't hit it solid. I knew pretty much when it left the club it was going to end up short, disappointing. Hit a pretty good 12 footer for bogey that didn't go in. 16, I thought I hit my drive perfect and it ended up trickling through and went through into the rough and settled for par there. But 17 was kind of a great escape. I'm down there trying to figure out a way to not make double, and somehow get away with a six footer for par. I felt like I definitely saved at least one there where I threw a couple away on 15.

Overall I was pretty happy about the way I played. I'm a little disappointed in being six back. But I really only have myself to blame.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You had a ruling there at 17 and you got a drop. Can you explain that?

JIM FURYK: Yeah, there was some new sod laid down in front of my ball. It was probably about eight inches in front of my ball, maybe six to eight. The way I had to make a swing of the club my first question was do you get relief from a sodded area or sod seam from where your ball is laying or intended swing. Because of the severity having to swing down behind that little bush behind my ball I could get a club on it, but I was going to drive the club very far in front of the ball. I was going to hit the sod.

So I was awarded a drop. Still wasn't in the greatest area in the world, but I felt like from there I could kind of just blast it up somewhere on the green and two putt for bogey and get out of there. The second shot turned out pretty miraculous actually, better than I had ever envisioned anyways. It was nice to make 3 there and feel like I stole one.

JOE CHEMYCZ: 16, is that a hard decision what to hit there and where to drive the ball?

JIM FURYK: You know, from that back tee, I knew I could probably get it through the fairway at the left bunker, but the right bunker, I didn't think that would be an issue. What determined the reason I didn't hit 3 wood is I have two 3 woods that I play regularly. One has 15+ degrees of loft, the other one is about 13 and a half, and I've got the higher lofted one in my bag. I don't hit it that far but I can bring it into par 5s really soft, so it really came in handy on I hit three par 5s today in two with that 3 wood and knocked it up there on 13. With that club I made four birdies today from the fairway, but it's not a great tee ball.

Actually it works out perfectly on 9 because the long 3 wood would be bad. It works out good on 9. But for this course the higher lofted works, and I felt like I would have left myself way too far back with that club off the tee.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You were on the walkie talkie on 17. Who were you on with and what were you saying?

JIM FURYK: That was the rules official. He wasn't at the green. I asked one of our security guys if he could call for a ruling on the walkie talkie. They were pretty far away and I wasn't sure if I could get relief and I knew I could ask the question, so I was just kind of giving them an idea of what I was up against, and when he gave me here's the rule, I told him you'd better come take a look. It's a little borderline but I think it's worth taking a look at, and I ended up getting a drop.

JOE CHEMYCZ: What's your thought process when you go into the last day six shots behind, and is it any different when Tiger is the one that's leading?

JIM FURYK: No, I don't think you approach the day any different, but you know you're in for a you know you're in for a tough day and you know you really have to fire a good number. He's a great front runner. He's been in this position so many times and you know you're going to have to fire a low number to try and put some heat on him. He's really good at getting the ball in the fairway, getting it up on the green, making his share of birdies, playing I don't know what the word is, conservatively aggressive would probably be the best way I could say it. He knows when to throttle back, put a 2 iron in the fairway. He just knows how to play out of that position, and he's very, very difficult to catch.

I think he's got basically me and Henrik and Zach who just need to do something really super tomorrow to put any heat on him at all.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You had a good look at Tiger's par putt at 14. How hard did that putt look to you from your angle?

JIM FURYK: It wasn't on a much different line than I had. It was slightly downhill, a little quick, and probably breaking I guess it would be about eight inches from right to left. It wasn't a ridiculously hard putt, but I didn't expect him to make a 25 , 30 footer for par, either, maybe a 25 footer. What a way to keep a round going. He hit a bad second shot, wasn't happy with where it ended up, buried it under the bunker. He had to hit a really good third shot in my estimation just to get it where he did, and he ended up knocking the putt in. He's strong willed and finds a way to get the ball in the hole when he's in trouble.

JOE CHEMYCZ: (Inaudible)
JIM FURYK: My hats off to him. Good putt. That's pretty much all you can say.
It's so early in the week at that time and there's still a lot of holes to play, whether you're two down, three down, really doesn't change your thought process. I feel like I'm done with the round and never really thought about how close I was getting. I was just kind of trying to plod along and play my game and make some birdies out there. For the most part I did it other than 15 probably the only hole I'm really disappointed in myself is 15. Just needed to make a better swing than that.

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PADRAIG HARRINGTON (3-over-par 75, -3 overall)

On playing No. 3:
I took a bit too aggressive a club (4-iron) and I didn’t want to hit it up the left-hand side and I hit two in the water, and then I made sure I hit the next one left.

On his recovery to shoot 3-under over the final 11 holes:
I’m actually disappointed. I think I should have got it all the way back to level par. I didn’t putt very well. I took a few three-putts.

On whether it was difficult to forget about playing No. 3:
I think I would have been more affected by the three-putt on the first hole and a three-putt on the fourth hole and a three-putt at the seventh hole. It (No. 3) didn’t bother me as much as the three three-putts, that’s for sure.

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Zach Johnson in. Zach with a 3 under par 69 today. You were saying as you walked in, golfers are never content. No bogeys today, but maybe talk about what could have been.

ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, all in all, really good things. I drove it very good and I hit some good iron shots. If I had a four footer for par I didn't have any issues, but if I had a ten footer for birdie I just couldn't make it, which was fine. I made one putt really, and that on 10, about a 15 footer. Other than that my birdies were a foot and three feet.

Like I said, a lot of positives. I had opportunities. A couple poor wedge shots that maybe could have turned out differently, but all in all good stuff.

JOE CHEMYCZ: How far behind is too far behind?

ZACH JOHNSON: On this golf course? I don't know, that's a good question. I don't know how far behind what is Tiger at? 18 under? What am I, 10, 11? That's too far (laughter). Is that a good answer?

Part of it is who's in front of you. It shouldn't be part of it, but when it comes to one individual, that's part of it. If this was a major, I don't think there's ten shots or less is probably makeable if you play well and things go the right way. On a golf course like this, seven shots is probably too much. But that's okay.

JOE CHEMYCZ: They were saying something on TV that you may have wanted to make that last putt to get into the last pairing. Would you have wanted to?

ZACH JOHNSON: Well, I didn't realize it until after I hit it, but yeah. That means I'm in second, not in third. Absolutely.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Have you viewed this week, last week's Skins Game sort of as the start of next year? Did you get enough break after the TOUR Championship to separate them?

ZACH JOHNSON: Did I get enough break? That's hard to say. I feel like I could always use more time off. I think any player would probably say they could always use more time off.

But I had a purpose in my off season, just like my on season. I took the bulk of latter part of October off and the bulk of November off to practice a little bit here and there and prepare for these events, but more so to kind of give me some momentum going into '08, and I'm very, very pleased with where my game is at right now. I'm scoring okay, I'm not scoring fantastic. But I'm certainly doing the right things. It's just a matter of polishing it.

I've got two weeks off after this, a week and a half, two weeks two weeks off after this, so I think we're going the right direction for '08.

JOE CHEMYCZ: When you were talking a minute ago about seven shots behind and it matters who's leading, is it okay to say that, or do you still think guys will be in denial because they don't want to sound like any player is different than someone else?

ZACH JOHNSON: No, my purpose in saying that is just due to one person. I mean, seven shots is too much behind Tiger Woods, just because of what he's done. Freakish things can happen. Anything is possible. But the guy, if he's in the lead, the gap seems to go the other way. That's just the way it's been. Is it a fact? Is that the way it always is? No, but it's awfully close. It's just difficult.

You know, anybody else, seven shots, it's very, very difficult because they're all very, very good. I would be very comfortable with seven shots myself. However, if I was Tiger Woods I'd be more comfortable (laughter).

JOE CHEMYCZ: Has anything changed over the last couple years because there was a thought when he had a pretty sizable lead on Chris and had to get into a playoff in '05.

ZACH JOHNSON: Here?

JOE CHEMYCZ: No, Augusta, when he had a three or four shot lead going into the last round, and then the two majors this year were early on and there was this expectation where he's tied or he may have been one shot in front at The Masters and it didn't happen. Did any of that mystique taper at all?

ZACH JOHNSON: No, I mean, I don't think so. I'm just saying if you look at his career as a whole, the chances of coming back from those deficits with Tiger Woods in the lead is just difficult. I'm sure it's the same way with Jack Nicklaus. I don't know specifically, but I'd be willing to bet a lot of money it was the same way.
Everybody is very good. You get some momentum I'm sure Tiger feels pressure. He is human, I think, partially anyway (laughter). You know, that's one example. There's a couple other examples. But majors are majors. There's more pressure involved, there certainly is more at stake.

Maybe it does get to him a little bit. I don't have any idea. You know, I just feel very fortunate to have won a major in his era.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You see a guy 17 under. You were saying obviously everybody out here is a tremendous golfer, but do you look up there and say "wow," or anything like that?

ZACH JOHNSON: No, not anymore. Once again, the name. I mean, he never ceases to amaze me. That's the way I put it. It doesn't surprise me. Yeah, your mouth goes ajar, but that's just the way it is. That's just what happens with him.
You know, there's six shots right there seven shots, right? I mean, I could think of seven putts I could have made, but I can also think of seven putts I could have missed. He's very, very good.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Having such a great year this year, is there any part of you that is reluctant to say goodbye to this season and have it part of the past?

ZACH JOHNSON: That's a great question. I haven't had that one yet. Yeah, I'm very excited about '08, especially considering the last two weeks I've been away from my family and that's been difficult. Flying from Orlando to the West Coast, I wasn't ecstatic about coming here. My game was not very good leaving the Shark Shootout. However, getting out here this week I've become more comfortable and certainly more excited about my game as a whole, thus excited about '08.

I think as golfers we're pretty resilient and we have to take the good with the bad. When the good is good like it was at Augusta, you have to put it behind you. I mean, you have to, because there's a lot of things left to go, a lot of goals that I have to go on to accomplish. I hope I haven't hit my prime yet. I hope '08 will be better. It seems like Tiger is getting back on that I don't know what, that momentum train that he certainly derails very little. You know, that's good. That just makes us work harder.

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HENRIK STENSON (7-under-par 65 , 10-under overall)

On his round in general:
I’m obviously very happy with that score. I watched Tiger shoot 62 yesterday, so I thought I’d try to go out and do something similar, and shooting 7-under was a very good round of golf. I made some really good putts and hit some really good shots, so I’m very happy with that. Whenever you make eight birdies, you’re playing pretty good.

On the best part of his game today:
My putting was a bit better, but I was also hitting my iron shots a bit better than yesterday. It was a combination of the putting and that. I had a couple wayward tee shots, but other than that, it was pretty good.

On what it will take to catch Tiger Woods:
He’s 17 under (when Stenson finished), so it’s not going to happen, is it? I’m afraid to say, I would have to shoot another 65 to get to where he’s at now, and I don’t see him shooting over par. It feels like at the moment I’m in the race for second place, unless something really out of the blue happens. But things do happen, so you can only try to post a good number and see what happens.

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome our leader Tiger Woods into the interview room, Tiger with a 5 under par 67 today, some birdies, a couple bogeys, a couple par saves. Just talk about your day if you would.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I didn't hit the golf ball quite as well as I did yesterday but made some nice putts and up and downs and just missed a little short one there at 8, just pulled it, but overall it was a nice day to kind of get through it and actually increase the lead.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Jim was here and was talking about 14, that kind of a swing hole in momentum. Talk about the lie you had there in the bunker and your par save.

TIGER WOODS: Well, when I drove it off the tee I thought I was in the fairway there, and I kind of was but I had a big clump of mud on my golf ball, and it took off left, buried, blasted out and just made a huge putt and stole a 4 there. Then Jim made a mistake on the very next hole. Those two holes, 14 and 15, were big momentum switches.

JOE CHEMYCZ: When you see that ball sitting where it was in an area that by all rights should have been painted white, there's no question it's in the fairway but just a complete dirt spot, can you go to a rules official in that situation, or because it's not painted there's no chance of getting a call?

TIGER WOODS: There wasn't any sod, wasn't any fresh sod, there was nothing there and there was no white line. You could have asked for possibly an unusual unusual tire damage, but there was no tire damage, but it was just a burnt out area and I just happened to get some mud on the ball. Tried to deal with it and it came out left, but I made 4.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You like going into Sundays with the lead obviously. Do you play this any different with a big lead than you might with one shot?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I know that I still need to go out there and make a couple birdies and stay away from any mistakes. Jim is capable of shooting a great round, and obviously Zach is there as well. Zach can go low, as well, obviously proved that at the TOUR Championship this year. I still need to go out there and take care of the par 5s and not make too many mistakes.

JOE CHEMYCZ: The last par 5, about 270 to the front, what was the reason you laid up there?

TIGER WOODS: Well, one, if I was going to go for it, I probably would have hit 3 wood off the tee but I hit 5 wood. I just felt that I'm not really swinging all that great, and if I hit it if I happen to catch a bomb 5 wood down there where I had a perfect number to go with that 5 wood again and I felt comfortable with it, I'd go. I got down there, and I think it was 245 to carry the hazard, and I said I'm not swinging good enough to feel I can place the golf ball there because if you miss it, you want to miss it just right of the flag. Well, also the hazard over there, too. So just laid up, the worst I can make is five. I had a five shot lead at the time, so just keep that in mind.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Is there something about the way the 8th hole sets up that doesn't suit your eye? On your tee shots this week it's been...

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, you just can't miss it left. You don't want to hit the spinner to the right, either, like I did the last two days. I have to make a better swing there. You have to keep the ball just slightly right of the hole but not where I've been hitting it.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Was yesterday the first day that you felt like you were swinging well?

TIGER WOODS: Not really. I hit a good drive off of 10 I mean it didn't really feel that solid today.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Did you know it early?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah. I didn't warm up well and tried to fix it. I felt pretty good about the fix, it's just a matter of going out there and trusting the fix. I had a hard time trusting it today, I really did.

JOE CHEMYCZ: The pride you feel over what did you shoot today, 67, not feeling very good about it, and a 62 yesterday?

TIGER WOODS: Well, the rounds like yesterday are so much easier on you. Today I had to focus, had to make sure I missed it in the correct spots. I got away with a couple today. The shot today at 9 should have been in a hazard, but it wasn't in the hazard. I made 4 there. You just have to grind so much harder and look at where you need to miss the golf ball instead of looking up at the flags all the time.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Did you take more satisfaction out of today's round?

TIGER WOODS: There's no doubt. When you turn rounds potentially that feel even par or maybe 1 over par to under par and you're actually able to increase your lead, those feel great.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Talk about the second shot on 10 if you would. I'm not sure most guys would try the shot, let alone even think about hitting that shot, just conceiving the shot?

TIGER WOODS: Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, it was kind of a low hook spinner in there, and I wanted to make sure that I hit it with hook spin just in case I wanted the first hop to hit short, second hop to hit up on top, but if it didn't hit up on top, the second one, at least I had enough hook spin to penetrate and get up and over. It would still be short of the flag but at least it wouldn't roll back down the hill and in the bunker. But it came out just perfect, landed up there, and I went up there and tapped it.
I thought that was just an easier shot because it was more conservative. I could be more aggressive, hit harder, drive it through the hill.

JOE CHEMYCZ: A scheduling question about this tournament. Is there a chance of a date change in this tournament at some point, and if so, would you like to see that?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think one thing we're going to do is maybe move it one week later in the year, closer to Christmas, and I think that I think potentially is going to should make a better field because obviously we have a bigger off season now, and the guys from Australia and South Africa aren't playing, and hopefully the guys from South Africa will come over and play on their way over to Hawaii, and the guys from Oz have already played the Aussie Open and the PGA and will come over to play.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Is that for '09?

TIGER WOODS: That's what we're looking at, yeah. It would be great if those guys could play. You try and do your best, try and get the best field you possibly can.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You say you were struggling warming up. You opened birdie birdie. That must at least relax you a little bit.

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's kind of smoke and mirrors at the start because I hit a big old cut over in the right rough and hit a nice little sand wedge and made the putt. Second shot I hit it and smoked some kid on the elbow, laid up and hit a nice little wedge shot in there. But two not very good tee shots to start out, but somehow sneak out of there 2 under through two. It couldn't have been more ideal than that.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Zach said seven shots was too much, maybe not for anybody else, but for you it's too much to overcome. How much of an edge do you think you have going into Sunday with that type of lead like that?

TIGER WOODS: Well, we've still got one more day to go. I can only take care of my responsibility, go out there and play, hopefully, a clean round of golf and not give any shots back and not let these guys back in the tournament.

At this golf course you can make some mistakes out there pretty quickly and pay a price for it. Jim hit a good shot there at 15 that was just one yard short and makes 5. But it was a good shot. Those are the things can happen here pretty quickly, and you have to be aware of that.

JOE CHEMYCZ: What sort of advice would you give to someone if you saw someone behind six going into the final round, what would you tell someone. You're down six to Tiger Woods going into the final round. What advice would you give them?

TIGER WOODS: Make a lot of birdies (laughter).

JOE CHEMYCZ: I think it was Bobby Jones who once said that some of the most spectacular shots in golf usually follow some of the worst. Your thoughts on that?

TIGER WOODS: Some of the most spectacular shots are followed by the worst? Yeah, I think that they're just kind of recovery shots, aren't they? You hit a terrible tee shot and you hit some kind of bearable shot up on the green, but nobody really remembers those shots unless you make the putt. You can hit a great shot but you've still got to make the putt. I think that's what makes it a great shot, as well.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You haven’t had to make those recovery shots much?

TIGER WOODS: Kind of a nice problem to have. Well, you watched all you guys watched me in college golf and after golf and even early TOUR days, and I'm up for any shot really. I believe I can pull off any shot. But there's also being smart about it, as well. If I don't pull it off I can make 6, 7, 8, and those were the scores I was making instead of being a little more conservative, and the worst I can make is 5. Learning how to play over a 72 hole period, not just one hole.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Tiger, thank you.

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