What they said: Charlie Wi

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LAURY LIVSEY: We would like to welcome Charlie Wi into the interview room. Five birdies, one bogey, 4 under 66. And you find yourself in the lead going into the final round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Your thoughts on your day.

CHARLIE WI: Well starting the day I was hoping that maybe I might be 3 to four shots near David. But to be one in front of him I'm very pleasantly surprised. I played really well today and David didn't. I know that tomorrow, you know, he is going to be geared up to play, so it will come down to the end and hopefully I'm the one finishing on top.

LAURY LIVSEY: Let's take some questions.

Q. David mentioned that you were making the putts that you needed to make. Was that the best thing that was working for you today, or what did you feel the most confident about today?

CHARLIE WI: Well, I think that any time you are near the lead and your putting really well, and I know David didn't putt it as well as he has been the last few days, so I have been putting really well the last couple of days, so my momentum, I kept riding that momentum today. It's such a crazy game. I don't know what to say. I know I made some good par putts out there. I don't want to say too much because golf is such a fickle game. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow, so I don't want to say too much.

Q. I guess if a 7 shot lead isn't insurmountable one day, then what does a one shot lead feel like for you going into Sunday?

CHARLIE WI: It feels great. I know I had many 36 hole leads out here. I don't think I had a 54 hole lead. To get yourself in contention to win, that's what we practice so hard for.

I'm really excited about being on top, and I remember last year when I was playing really well through the FedExCup, and I was leading a couple of times, I didn't really enjoy the moment at the time.

And I went through a stretch where it was kind of blasé, and I told myself when I get myself on top this time I'm going to really enjoy it.

Q. Charlie, was it one of those things that he was leading by so much that he had to endure all of the pressure and maybe everybody else could play a little bit looser?

CHARLIE WI: That I can't really answer for David because I never had a 7 shot lead on the PGA TOUR. But he started off, he hit a great drive on 1. He made an easy birdie on 1, and I know he hit a pretty poor second shot to his standards and made a bogey on 2.

So from there he kind of lost his momentum a little bit. But I didn't think that I was going to be able to close the gap like I did today.

Q. Charlie, you talk about this is your first 54 hole lead, how do you feel like you will sleep tonight? What will you try to do to get ready for round 4 tomorrow?

CHARLIE WI: I don't know. I've been pretty when I got near the lead yesterday I was really pretty I was really at ease with myself, and I was pretty calm because before that, I used to get a little anxious and a little nervous, but I didn't have that feeling today or yesterday. I will let you know tomorrow how I slept tonight. Or we are lucky to be alive today, aren't we?

Q. Charlie, did the rain delay help you, hurt you, whatever? You came back out and you drained a big putt and you had a 2 stroke lead at 16. And secondarily, at what point did you feel like, hey, momentum is really kind of come over to my side? Was that 14, before that, when did that maybe click in for you?

CHARLIE WI: Probably on 14 when David 3 putted from about ten feet. I felt like he kind of rushed his second putt because there was a lot of wind blowing when he was hitting that second putt, and I feel like he rushed that a little bit. Until then I was still three behind him. So I wasn't even thinking about the lead or anything. It was only then when I said, wow, I'm only one shot behind him, and I knew that it was getting a lot more interesting than how I envisioned when I started the day.

Q. Charlie, do you remember the last 54 hole lead you had?

CHARLIE WI: Probably in Asia or Japan or somewhere. But it has been a while.

Q. I don't know if there is a short answer to this. Basically five or six years ago when you played yourself from Nationwide onto this TOUR, what was the difference for you? Was it some part of your game that got better, was it experience, did you drive it better, did something change that got you from that Tour to this TOUR?

CHARLIE WI: I didn't get on the TOUR until I was 32. And I didn't get my card through Nationwide Tour. I got my card through Q School. And I remember my first year out here, I was good enough player to make cuts. But I wasn't good enough player to contend on the weekend, because I didn't have the control over the ball.

And I use to play a lot of practice rounds with Steve Elkington, and that's when he finished second at the PGA Championship in '05. He told me, mate, you got to go see these guys. They are the stack and tilt guys, Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, they know what they are talking about.

Because Steve Elkington, he is a historian of golf swing and of golf, so I took his advice.

And I remember August of '05 at Hartford, Andy Plummer, I met him for the first time, Andy, I'm emptying my cup, tell me everything, because are my last stop. Stack and tilt is about staying center over the ball, and I use to really move off the ball and then try to move back to hit the ball. So that wasn't consistent enough.

So when I started with him I felt like I was moving eight inches to the left on my back swing, so it was a really difficult transition. So I told him, if it doesn't work with you guys I'm going to be looking for a job. So they helped me out a lot, and they really helped me understand how a golf swing works and they've been very inspirational to me.

Q. Were you swinging off the ball before you saw those guys?

CHARLIE WI: Yes, I was working with one of those guys, Leadbetter over in Europe. I was playing the European Tour then.

What I wanted to know was moment of truth which was impact, and he couldn't really explain that. He kept saying if you improve your back swing, you are going to improve your down swing, meaning he thought the golf swing was almost symmetry, and you hear that a lot. It's not true, and he wasn't able to explain the impact so I really struggled.

Q. How different were the conditions today compared to Thursday, Friday for you? I think of the last 6 pairings there were only two guys under par coming in?

CHARLIE WI: I think the conditions were the same as it was on Thursday and Friday. I know it rained a lot yesterday. The course dried out well. The balls were still rolling on the fairways. And the greens were quite receptive, but they were have receptive before it rained. So the course really hadn't changed that much.

Q. Did you think the pins were significantly tougher today?

CHARLIE WI: I thought they were tough yesterday. Of course, as the week progresses the pins get tougher and tougher and that's the theme of the PGA TOUR. As a player, we just expect that.

Q. Is there anything you would be willing to share as far as communication between you and your caddy when momentum changed?

Does he have a sense of humor? Does he keep you in check or does he do anything that you really like or don't like?

CHARLIE WI: No. We still have 20 more holes to go. That's a lot of golf left. We've doing really well. We're doing a good job saying it's a marathon, not a sprint. It's not my last tournament of the year, or last tournament of my career. So we try not to put too much pressure on ourselves, because I feel like if you put so much pressure on just one thing, I feel like you can't achieve bigger things. So, you know, we didn't even say anything. We just kept on doing what we always do.

LAURY LIVSEY: I think we are good. Charlie, thank for very much

CHARLIE WI: Thanks, guys.