What they said: David Toms

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LAURY LIVSEY: We are very glad to welcome David Toms into the interview room. David, you are the first round leader at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. You have a habit of starting quickly. You had a 66 at Wells Fargo a few weeks ago. 66 last week at PLAYERS and now a 62. You are playing well right out of the gate.

DAVID TOMS: Getting off to a good start. I just need a fast finish I guess. Yes, it was one of those days today where the hole just looked big, and I putted extremely well. It's the one thing I really haven't been doing. So it was nice to see that. It's just a good start. It helps me. This round certainly helps me get past what happened at the end. I needed to get off to a good start. Because not only to help me get past last week, but also in a tournament that I like a lot here at Colonial, and I know that I can play well here. So just to get off to a good start and get there in contention right off the bat is a good feeling.

LAURY LIVSEY: Let's take some questions.

Q. Can you take more big picture about what it's like after a few years not playing your best with injuries to be back playing David Toms golf for lack of a better word?

DAVID TOMS: I think that's just golf for you. You can't figure it out. You just go and you work. There is not a whole lot of difference between playing a great round of golf and shooting even par and shooting 8 under. It's all about scoring and making that putt to keep your round going. That's what the great players do, they always seem to find a way. On the driving range, the putting green, if you're out there early in the week, and you are a casual fan, and you are like, what's going to separate these guys? What's going to happen for these guys not to be all tied when it comes down to the last hole, the last day?

And just watching it, you can't really tell. So it's all about scoring. I think times when I'm not playing like I'm capable of playing, it can be attitude. It can be just things not going right. It can be a lot of different things. And confidence, obviously. But it is nice to be playing good again.

Certainly I'm not going to try to figure out why. I think if you look at the stats they kind of say I'm playing well across the board. But other than that, I don't try to figure it out. I just go out there and play.

Q. It's sort of an unusual way to get to 62 for you today. The tee ball wasn't working. Talk about the birdies on 12, 18, 7 and 9 where you were in the trees?

DAVID TOMS: I didn't drive the ball that well today. One thing that you can look at is, you could play conservative golf, and you can hit irons or hybrids off the tee, you get the ball in the fairway pretty easily, because if you lay back, they don't pinch in. All of these fairways pinch in where you drive the ball. So you can play conservative but the chances of you trying to make a birdie back there with 5, 6, 7 irons in, it's not very good.

So always take the mindset here of be aggressive off the tee. The rough is not real thick this year. Although it's flier rough. You have to judge it, and just go from there. I did. I birdied 12. I had a wide open shot. I was in the rough in the trees but I hit a wide open shot. No big deal, perfect yardage for it.

18 is really the only one where I escaped there. I was trying to get it up around the green. I was in the left trees on 18, and I hit a great shot to 25 feet and made it.

What are the other ones over there? I made birdie out of the rough on what was it? 7. I hit a 3 wood off the tee which brings the bunker into play on the right. I mean, Mark Wilson hit a driver. I bet there is some guys today that hit irons off that tee.

If you lay it back and hit a 7 iron to that back right pin, it's no bargain. It's a par hole then. I hit a 3 wood and I had a pitching wedge to the hole. I had a wide open shot. I was in the rough. I had a good lie. I hit a pitching wedge up there and made the putt. The 9th hole, I challenged the bunkers again. I hit a 3 wood down there. I hit another wedge. Obviously made a long putt, but I had a wide open shot. I was in the rough.

I've always said, around this golf course, if you can drive it in the fairway 60, 65 percent of the time, it's going to be a pretty good stat at the end of the week. Just because of the cross winds, the down winds, the firm winds, the bunkers, the ball bouncing, it will be tough to keep up the driving stat that most guys that are leading those stats for the year. It would be tough to get there this week.

Q. The wind was blowing out there, some of the guys were saying it didn't make much of a difference; what was it for you?

DAVID TOMS: Is there such a thing as a good wind for the golf course? You know, it seemed to help you shape a lot of your shots to get the ball in play. It never was more than about a club and a half wind where yesterday I had a 2 club wind numerous times.

And then there are other times where it was non existent. So it kind of came and went. It was a good day for scoring. Greens were receptive. A little bit of dew on the ground so the ball was a little bit easier to find fairways. You just saw some good scores as a result of that.

Q. I'm curious, you talked about at the end of the last round at the TPC that if you could get the putter going again that would be kind of where you wanted to be. Did you feel like this round was that kind of round where the putter was going the way you wanted it, especially that last putt on?

DAVID TOMS: The deal is, the greens here are the speed that they are rolling, I don't know what they are, but they don't necessarily get away from you like the ones we had last week. So you could be more aggressive from your 20 to 30 foot range. You kind of roll them up there and they wouldn't go too far by. That has a lot to do with it.

It was one of those days where I saw the lines. I had putts that barely broke right, barely broke left. I could hit them in the hole. I had a lot of, what I would say, uphill type putts where you could be aggressive. It's just one of those days where everything seemed to be right.

Q. David, where would you compare your confidence level now to some of those great stretches that you had earlier in your career?

DAVID TOMS: You know, fairly high. But at the same time I still need to put four rounds together. I was able to do that somewhat last week. I had times back in the early 2000's where I won by a bunch. You know, played with the lead a lot of times and was able to maintain it and increase that. Until I'm able to do that again, I will still have that doubt. But I do feel good about my game certainly. I will just keep plugging along, maybe get one here some time soon.

Q. You touched on this a little bit yesterday, how important is experience in having you made the big birdie putt at 18 last week, and you missed the putt on 17 in the playoff. And for you it seemed like that was a confidence boost more than a kick in the gut where for others it might have been the latter. Is that experience, is that your demeanor? What is it that allows you to come back, forget about it all and do what you did today?

DAVID TOMS: I think it's experience. That's probably what's kept me out here for 20 years. It's really all about the next shot and being able to do the best you can. Whether it's for double bogey or eagle. That's what it's all about.

The guys that do that the best are the ones that perform well week to week. That's what I've always tried to do. I felt like last week was success. I held up well. I played great. Sure, I screwed up on the last hole of the golf tournament. But it's happened to a lot of other guys before me as well.

I feel pretty good about where I am and this round will help me a lot and keep me going. I'm doing a lot of good things. My thoughts are good on the golf course, having fun, picking the right shot. If I continue to keep the putter hot maybe I will have a good stretch here.

LAURY LIVSEY: David, thank for your time. I appreciate it.