What they said: Bernhard Langer

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MODERATOR: Bernhard, eight birdies scattered throughout the round at 66. You have a four-shot lead heading into tomorrow. You equaled the 36-hole tournament record originally set in 2002 by Tom Watson.

A few general thoughts about the round and then take us through the birdies and the bogeys.

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, I had a wonderful start with three birdies right away and kept playing pretty solid. Then threw in -- had 5 under on the front and threw in two bogeys with a pitching wedge in my hand on both occasions, so that was disappointing, but then I got my game back. I really wasn't lost at that point. I just -- both pitching wedges, if I had pitched just this much further, one would have been stiff for birdie and one would have been 15 feet away, but they both came up a little short and ended up three-putting one of them and the another one backed up off the green and down the bank and I three-putted from off the green.

So anyways, I was pleased with the way I held together then at the end and had actually more opportunities coming home. I had birdie putts on 16, 17 and 18, none further than 16 feet so with a bit of luck, I would have made one or two of those, too.

MODERATOR: Do you want to run through the birdies?

BERNHARD LANGER: First hole was a hybrid and a pitching wedge to about 12 feet. Then a 5-iron and about a 30-foot putt. Then driver, 3-wood about five yard short of the green, chipped it up with a pitching wedge to seven feet.

Then number 7 was a driver and a 5-iron, two putts from 35 feet. And 8 was a driver, pitching wedge to about six feet. 10 was 3-wood, pitching wedge, three putts from 40, 45 feet I guess, something like that. And 11 was 3-wood, pitching wedge, came up short, putted from off the green, left it short about seven feet, six feet, and missed the putt.

MODERATOR: And then 11 was (inaudible.)

BERNHARD LANGER: The second putt? Yeah, more or less, six to eight feet, in that range. And then -- well, 11 was more. 10 might have been about five, six feet. 11 was probably more like nine feet. 14 was a driver, hybrid, two putts.

MODERATOR: Did you tell us about 12?

BERNHARD LANGER: Oh, sorry. Yeah, 12 was driver -- what was that, driver, hybrid, two putts from 40 feet. And then 14 was driver, 6-iron layup, lob wedge to four feet. And 15 was a 5-iron, about a 25-foot putt. Then I missed three opportunities the last three holes.

MODERATOR: Okay. Seth, do you want to start us off?

Q. Is one of the things I think you mentioned you've been working really hard on is practicing on your putting. What are the specifics that you're trying to sharpen with the practicing?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, the length of my putter, to start off with, went from 46-and-a-half inches to 48 inches where I used to be, and I'm using a different grip half of the time, which is the pencil grip. I used to use that for the first seven, eight years when I putted with the long putter and then I went back to the -- or I switched to whatever you called that one, Dandy Lifeline, and now I'm using the pencil grip for short putts mostly and the other ones for long putts.

But to do that, I had to lengthen my putter a little bit, so I did that. It's all down to speed. I would have made probably one or two more putts, especially one on 18, if I had the proper speed, but I left one short and hit the other one four feet by and that's the wrong speed if you have a breaking putt. It's okay if you have a separate putt, but not a breaking putt.

Q. Is Hualalai the first event where you put the longer putter into play?

BERNHARD LANGER: No, I've had the long putter for 13 years. That was two days ago.

Q. That was just this week?

BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah.

Q. Just not happy with the putting the first month of the season?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, just thought, you know, I had one or two putters that are still 46 and I had one putter switched to 48, so I practiced with both of them and I felt I was going to give it a go this week with the 48. That's my thinking, and I can always change. If I wouldn't have putted well on Friday or today, I could always switch back to the 46. They're pretty much identical.

Q. When did you first go to the long putter? Was it after your --

BERNHARD LANGER: '97.

Q. Bernhard, you've had good success when you had the lead going into the final round. Can you talk about why that is, or do you have a different mindset when you have the lead or tied for the lead?

BERNHARD LANGER: No, I don't have a different mindset, but I'd rather be in front than behind. If you're behind and you make a mistake, you can make a mistake or two and still be in front. If you're behind and you make a mistake, you're further behind. So I think it's easier that way, but you can't sit back and say I'm going to play safe. I still have to go out there tomorrow and make birdies. That's my mindset and that's what I'm going to try and do with the same strategy as the first two days; play aggressive and hopefully make a bunch of birdies and ideally increase the lead and not decrease it.

Q. Some of the other guys came in and talked about Tommy's 61 here last year and they're kind of drawing off that, so somebody can go really low out here?

BERNHARD LANGER: It's possible. I mean, Tommy did it in windy conditions, and if it's calm, it's certainly possible. The greens are great, they're firm. Some pins are very difficult to get close to because the ball just is -- it's hard to spin the ball and get it in there, but there's certainly a low score out there, yeah.

Q. Bernhard, how gratifying is it that all the hard work so far for two days, the hard work that you put in this week has paid off so far?

BERNHARD LANGER: It's very gratifying because it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes you feel you're working and you're getting worse, but I just feel I was close. In Boca I had flashes of brilliance, but then I also had too many other stuff and you can't do that if you want to win. You've got to be good all the time.

And yesterday was good. Today, if I had avoided these two bogeys, would have been great. But they were silly bogeys. With a pitching wedge in my hand, I shouldn't make bogey from the middle of the fairway.

Q. Is that why you went right to the range?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, I asked if they need me right away here and they said no, Russ Cochran's in there, so go on. I said is 6:00 okay? They said yeah, it should be fine. So I went to the range real quick and hit a few balls while I was loose, because if you stop for a half hour and then they close down anyways. They close everything down around 6:00. So I apologize to keep you waiting a few minutes here.

Q. The putting issues that you had once upon a time in your career, has it been many years, did the long putter take care of all that for you?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, I've had the yips four times in my career, so it wasn't always the long putter that took care of it. I had to go with different methods, different grips and different styles, but I've been using the long putter since '97 and I've had good weeks with it and I've had bad weeks, too. It comes and goes, but overall it's certainly a little steadier.

Q. How long has it been since the last time that you had the struggles with the putting?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, it was probably '97, otherwise I wouldn't have switched to the long putter. I think it was '97 and then '89, '82 and '76, so somewhere in that range.

Q. Did you figure out what it was that helped you conquer it?

BERNHARD LANGER: Changing grips and a lot of prayer, a lot of perseverance. Those three things that are probably the main ingredients.

MODERATOR: Okay. Anything else? Good luck to you.