BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 2002

Scott McCarron

STEWART McDOUGAL: Scott McCarron, thank you for coming across on a terrible day. A 72, you must be very pleased with that.

SCOTT McCARRON: I thought it was a great day. I am very pleased. When we teed off we weren't sure how the weather was going to be, but you can see that big black cloud moving in. I had like four different jackets in the bag and my caddy thought we were going to have to take a trolly just to carry my extra clothing. I think I went through about all of it by about the fourth hole. I was completely drenched by the 3rd hole. It really started blowing sideways and raining hard. To shoot one over on a day like today, I'm very happy obviously. This is the British Open; this is the way the weather was supposed to be, so we were kind of out there having fun.

Q. Where was the horror the worse, Scotty, can you describe a hole?

SCOTTY McCARRON: No. 4, we were standing on the tee at the Par 3 and it's blowing so hard. It's maybe 179, something like that distance, and Maggert had a 2-iron out and it started blowing even harder and our umbrellas almost went inside outside and then he pulled out a driver. It's a par 3 and hits a driver. It goes 190 yards with a driver. At that point, I thought oh, game on, I ended up hitting a 2-iron as good as I could hit it just short of the green and chipped up and made par.

Q. Is there anything you can compare this to?

SCOTT McCARRON: We get some wind over in the United States but we don't get rain that continually rains like this. Any time it rains over there, especially on the east coast, we get thunder and lightning and they'll suspend play a lot of times. So we don't get this drenching cold rain, maybe at the AT&T, but they're so wet anyway, they're going to suspend play because it's puddling up everywhere. I don't think we get the opportunity to play in weather when it's this windy and rainy.

Q. How do you go about playing so well?

SCOTT McCARRON: You really just have to stay one shot at a time and really stay in the moment and try to keep everything dry and hit the ball this high off the ground. I practice a lot hit drivers 200 yards, full released, 220 yards full released, just full swings. It's just part of my routine I work on. Today it actually came into play. There were many times I pulled out driver and just tried to hit it 200 yards this high off the ground. You don't see tour pros doing that often in the States.

Q. Why do you do that? For this?

SCOTT McCARRON: If I can swing 50 percent, 65 percent full release, full thrusting, then I know my swing is on. If I can hit the ball straight, and really only swinging 65 percent, I do that for that, and full releasing it.

Q. Have you played in conditions this severe before during competition?

SCOTT McCARRON: Yes, I've played in some tough weather, some tough conditions at BellSouth last year, we played 36 holes in 30 mile-an-hour weather where it was 30 degrees when we teed off. Certainly we've played in some conditions like this, but not when it's raining the whole time.

Q. What does the 72 feel like? Does it feel like --

SCOTT McCARRON: 65, I don't know. 72 feels like a good score. That's for sure.

Q. Were you watching the leader board quite a bit to see how people were doing?

SCOTT McCARRON: I didn't watch it at all until I got to the last hole. I hit my first putt up there about six inches, seven inches from the hole, and I saw at the time we were one shot back, and I was a little surprised. The conditions are so tough out there right now, and unfortunately my group, it seemed like we had to play the whole time in those conditions.

Obviously some guys that teed off early in the morning shot some good scores, not taking anything away from them, but shooting par when we teed off, that's a great score.

Q. Were you thinking wow, now I have a chance?

SCOTT McCARRON: No, I was thinking just stay dry, hit the ball low, keep it in play, those type of things. I wasn't thinking if I had a chance to win the British Open, it's only the third day. I've got to get out there tomorrow and play well again.

Q. Tiger is on his way to an 82. Does that surprise you?

SCOTT McCARRON: Any time Tiger shoots over par is surprising. These conditions are so tough, you're seeing the best player in the world, possibly the best player to play the game have a very difficult day. It can make anybody look silly out there. It's so hard. I mean, when you've got 159 and you're hitting a two-iron on holes, you have got a Par 4 381, and you're thinking I might be able to drive this green.

Q. Downwind?

SCOTT McCARRON: Yes.

Q. During your practice and play time at Ireland last week, Tiger was there and I guess David came back, did you get a close look at the Claret jug at all?

SCOTT McCARRON: As a matter of fact, I did, my birthday was last week and David showed up with the Claret jug, so we had a few drinks out of the Claret jug and after having a few drinks, I thought this would be great, if I had this trophy I think I would have every drink for a year out of it.

Q. Did you think coming over you would be this close?

SCOTT McCARRON: I had taken a little bit of time off here in the last couple of months. I've been fishing with O'Meara up in Alaska for six days. The Ireland trip with Tiger and Mark. I did a lot of fishing with Mark, and golf, and getting ready for this. I hadn't been playing all that well. Up to this point, so I really wasn't thinking today is my opportunity, but I really started striking the better ball better on Tuesday. At that point, I said, I really feel this would be a good tournament for me. I love this golf course. It's a fantastic golf course, so I was excited to play the Championship.

Q. You've had Riviera, La Costa and now this, both of those ended not the way you wanted. Are you a different man mentally because of that?

SCOTT McCARRON: I think anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger, obviously. Nissan Open, Len Mattiace played really well and I certainly had a chance. I felt I should have won that tournament and didn't. To come back the following week in the World Match Play and go all the way to the finals and it comes down again to the last hole and put yourself out there, I thought that really meant a lot to me, even though I didn't win. Just to come back again and play well that next week mentally meant a lot to me. So I think all that makes you stronger without a doubt.

Q. Would you like to see this tomorrow?

SCOTT McCARRON: Without a doubt, yes, the tougher the better. Bring it on. This is the British Open. It's supposed to be like this.

STEWART McDOUGAL: Scott, thank you.

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