What they said: David Toms

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JOHN BUSH: David Toms joins us here in the interview room after the third round. David, obviously, excellent play the first two days but this game can be cruel sometimes. Just a tough day overall. Your comments, please.

DAVID TOMS: It's perfect. It's a tough day overall. You know, I told myself just get off to a good start, get out there, get my nerves in check. I had 2 perfect shots at No. 1, a so so chip and a great putt and made birdie and then drove it perfect on No. 2. I had 90 yards to the hole, straight downwind. I'm like all I got to do is just make contact with a lob wedge, just perfect. And I'm imposing on it. It landed over the bunker and backed up into the bunker.

So that's kind of the story of the day to be quite honest.

When something like take happens, you lose momentum. I made bogey there. The only place you can't hit it short. But I wasn't even thinking that, you know, it's not one of those, oh, you should play away from that pin, when you got a lob wedge in your hand and it's perfect, why not?

I thought I stiffed it again and it was going to be off to the races. And then all of a sudden you got to play 3, 4 and 5 which are brutal holes. I got through them okay. I bogeyed 3 but made par at 4 and 5.

And then 6, I thought I hit a pretty good shot there and hit on the green and it sucked back down to the right, and I got a marginal lie over there and then all of a sudden I'm a couple over par after six holes and feel like I'm not playing really bad and the rest of the day it was just kind of a struggle.

Q. How bad of a break was it to hit a bunker shot off the flag stick?

DAVID TOMS: I don't know, if I clipped it pretty good, it probably would have been four or five feet passed the hole, certainly not 20 feet away. It's just kind of the day the day went. I got over to 4, I had a 3 hybrid and I hit it right at it. It's just like this is perfect and it hit in the top lip of the bunker. I wouldn't have done one thing different. I absolutely hit it perfect. It would have been up there ten feet away with a chance for birdie. That's just the way the day went.

I bogeyed 6, after I hit a perfect tee shot, and what I thought was a good iron shot and made bogey there. That's the way the golf course played.

I said, during the interview during the rain delay, I felt like they were protecting the course today. Some of the pins we had for the wind directions that we were playing, you know, it was tough to get the ball close to the pin and then to shoot a low number. That's fine. It should be tough on the weekend. Especially after a guy had already ripped up the golf course.

If I'm Colonial, I want it to play tougher. So I have no problems with the way it played. I just didn't play very well.

Q. What do you expect some self coaching you may give yourself later tonight when you have some quiet time or in the morning when you get up to prepare, what kind of coaching?

DAVID TOMS: You know, for me it will just be you know, I'm right where I set out to be when I started this week. Certainly I would love to be sitting here with a 10 shot lead and trying to break some record or something like that.

But, you know, it's all about getting in position and see how I do. I did well last Sunday with a chance. I didn't quite get there.

But I mean that's really all you can ask for when you show up and you got all of these guys starting from scratch, and to be one shot back with one round to play, I'm happy with that opportunity.

I'm sure I will have plenty of text messages tonight as far as all of that coaching goes, friends and family and coaches, and you name it. I'm sure I will have them. But, you know, maybe I'll sleep better tonight because I don't have the lead anymore. I've been playing with the lead for about two weeks now. It's not always the easiest thing to do. Maybe I will go out there with a little pressure off of me and see if we can do better tomorrow.

Q. David on the back 9, a couple of the irons started to get away from you, and particularly the one after the rain delay, talk about that.

DAVID TOMS: Yes, let's see, I didn't hit a very good one at 12. I hit an 8 iron in the left bunker there. But I came back at 13 and absolutely hit what I thought was a perfect shots. I can't believe it went 25 feet passed the hole. That was a tough pin there today. I guess they were trying to get somebody to do something crazy there with that pin.

14, I was in a bad spot. 15, you know, Charlie just hit 6 iron right next to me right over the green. I was trying to hit it in the middle of the green, for once I hit the smart shot, just hit it in the middle of the green. I hit a 7 iron. I could barely see the pin where we were on the right side. I heard the crowd say ooh. I asked Scott where it was. It was in the bunker. I was shocked. I thought it was right in the middle of the green.

I went out on 16 after the delay, I thought it was a perfect 6, but Charlie hit 6 and was on the back edge of the green, and Scott said I don't think you can get the other one there, meaning the 7 iron.

So I gripped down on a 6, and I just didn't swing at it at all and left it out there in a bad spot to the right.

A bad tee shot on 17 got me in a tough spot but I made par.

I hit two really good shots at 18 and missed the putt.

So it can happen fast on this golf course. You can go either way pretty quickly. There is some birdies holes if you are playing great. And there is a lot of bogeys out there to be had if you're not.

Q. David you raise an interesting question. It's something that we've have be talking about. Do you think it's right that you're basically playing 2 different golf courses, that The TOUR does that, or do you think you should play the same course on Saturday and Sunday that you play on Thursday and Friday?

DAVID TOMS: You know

Q. Not to put you on the spot.

DAVID TOMS: Like I said, I would have done the same thing. If I was the club chairman, and I had any say so whatsoever, I'd go to the TOUR and say, hey, you know, we don't want these guys ripping up our golf course. I'm sure that's not what happened. But I'm sure The TOUR you know, if the pins were where they were, and we weren't battling a 15 or 20 mile an hour wind, no big deal.

But when you have that wind, it just makes it tough. That's always been the defense here at the club is the wind and trying to play in it. Get your tee shots in the fairway first of all, and then trying to hit your second shot, guess where the wind is.

If you are in the rough, guess whether you are going to hit a flier, is the wind going to hold it up, is it not? That's the defense.

I'm fine with it. I like to play like that because you see what it did to the scoring. Not very many guys made a big run at me or Charlie.

If I would have played a great round I would have been right where I want to be with a big lead going into tomorrow. I have no problems with the way I played.

Q. David, you mentioned the pressure. Is it one of those things that when you are ahead by so much basically 100% of the pressure is on your shoulder and everybody can play a little bit looser?

DAVID TOMS: Maybe. Those guys, they might play a little looser. I know Charlie, he putted great today. He kept the pressure on all day. He made everything that seemed to be a makeable putt. He made a lot of good par putts. He made some good birdie putts. He played like you have to play with the conditions that we had today, where they were tough.

I certainly felt like after the first six holes I was just hanging on, you know? I'm like, well, if we could make a couple of birdies we will be black to even, we're okay. Obviously, I'm not going to shoot a hot round.

But it didn't feel like there were that many birdie holes out there. I birdie 11 which was a good birdie hole out there today.

For the most part I felt like I was hanging on all day trying not to make a mistake rather than going out and playing great. That's probably what that big lead does to you.

Q. How was it sleeping last night and how did your emotions and your swing feel differently today than the first two days?

DAVID TOMS: You know, I slept okay. I didn't think about it too much. I've done it enough to where I kind of get past that. This morning, I had a great warm up. I felt like I was going to play well.

And like I said, I came out and hit two perfect shots, made a nice putt for birdie and man here we go. And then a great tee shot at 2. And from then on it got worse. Maybe I started thinking about it. Maybe my nerves I really never felt nervous. I just didn't feel as confident out there today. The conditions had something to do with that. But I just didn't feel like in control. That's a bad feeling when you go from being where I felt like I was in total control of what I was doing to all of a sudden, not that it's slipping away, but I just didn't feel as good. I never had that perfect number with my second shots.

It seems like I kept hitting it three inches in the Bermuda rough and you are having to judge whether or not it's coming out or not. It's not like I was hitting terrible shots off the tee, they just kept getting in these areas where I wasn't sure about my club selection.

JOHN BUSH: David we appreciate your time. Play better tomorrow.