BELLSOUTH CLASSIC

March 31, 2001

Scott McCarron

SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, played pretty good today. Nice to get out there before the weather comes in. Looks like it starting to rain a little bit now. Happy to be done.

SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I think it plays to anyone's advantage who is in pretty good shape. It's going to be a tough walk for guys like Gary would have a really tough time tomorrow (laughter). You have to be in pretty good shape to walk this golf course. To play 36, I think it certainly favors a guy like myself, who can do that. Not like an Eco-Challenge or anything. It's just walking (laughter).

SCOTT McCARRON: Well, you know, a lot of things. When you are trying to get better, a lot of times you take a couple steps backwards. That the certainly what happened to me. It happens to a lot of guys. I was trying to make some adjustments to get better and it kind of backfired. But I'm with a guy right now, Jim Hardy (phonetic), who is fantastic. I started working with him last year right before MCI. Really kind of got my game back to where it was before. I feel like I'm a lot better player now than I was back in '97. It's a continuing learning process. You just try to get better.

SCOTT McCARRON: I feel pretty good about my game. I think I made 15 of the last 16 cuts. Last year was kind of a continuation, I wasn't playing that well, was kind of searching for some things. Got together with Jim Hardy (phonetic), like I talked about earlier, at MCI, about this time last year. That's what really started turning my game around. Ever since then, I've been playing some pretty good golf.

SCOTT McCARRON: No magic bullet. It was more of getting me away from thinking about my golf swing and getting out there and playing golf. I play better without swing (inaudible), totally clear mind. Line up the target, let it go. Kind of like Gary (laughter).

SCOTT McCARRON: A lot more exciting. I think you would have a lot more people tuned in in the end, a lot more exciting for the players, fans, everybody. I said it before, I think it's a mistakes they've made by eliminating the winner getting in The Masters. It's been like that for years. Also to have them change it and go to the world rankings, which I really don't think mean anything, and most of the players feel the same way. I think it's a disappointment. Even if I was in, I'm not going to play anyway. I have to move next week.

SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, I think I've been in the Top 5 or something like that in putting the last couple years. I wasn't hitting the ball very good, so when I actually did hit the green, I had to make a putt. My putting has come full circle. I think I'm one of the best putters on TOUR, and I certainly feel like I'm one of the best putters in the world with a long putter, maybe because I've been putting with it so long, since '91. I started using the Sticks putter about two and a half years ago at The PPC. Ever since then, my putting has been fantastic.

SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I had actually quit golf in '88 after UCLA. For about four years wasn't playing at all. I didn't putt very good. That was one of the reasons. I just wasn't having fun playing golf. Some of the cagey veterans of The Senior TOUR came through my golf course at Rancho Marietta, saw a lot of guys using it. Never really seen a long putter used before. I figured they probably knew something I didn't know. Went home that night and made one. I've been putting with it ever since.

SCOTT McCARRON: Made my own first. It was an old (inaudible). I broke off the head of a 3-wood, stuck the shaft down there with a little gum, sand to weight it. Putted with that for about a year and a half.

SCOTT McCARRON: The Hooter's Tour. I played the Hooter's Tour, I'm not sure when, in '94. Yeah, course record at White Water Creek. I played pretty well out there for about ten events.

SCOTT McCARRON: '94.

SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, I think that was '94.

SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, you know, that is a little different where the guys are sticking it in their bellies and putting. I haven't tried that yet, so I don't even know. Out here, you're going to do whatever it takes to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes. Whether it's going with the long putter, cross-hand, stick it in your belly, putting left-handed like Blaine McCallister does. You're going to do it. Guys aren't afraid to try it. I think more guys will probably try it because a lot of guys are having success with it.

SCOTT McCARRON: It's really one of the one of my favorite golf courses to play. '97, it played fast and firm. I loved the golf course. This year it's playing a little wet. They've done a tremendous job, greenskeepers have done a tremendous job getting this course ready to play. I can't believe how much rain we had. Yesterday the course played pretty well. They made a few changes since then. Tree died there on No. 4, which they added some bunkers down there, which again I hit in the bunker and had to chip out and had 3-iron in for my third shot. I don't particularly like that change. If they're going to put bunkers there, I think they need to be a little flat. It is one of the most difficult layup shots on TOUR. Try to keep it out of the creek instead of hitting a sand wedge out. It's a great golf course.

SCOTT McCARRON: Moving to Reno, going to be playing out of Montreux where we had the Reno-Tahoe Open.

SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I think it's very difficult to compare how someone plays on the PGA TOUR, how someone plays on the Australasia TOUR, how someone plays on the Japanese and European TOUR. I think it's very difficult to combine all those tours and try to get some form of world rankings. I don't think you'll ever have a fair system. I think they should take it off who you're playing against, take it off the Money List. If they want to have a World Tour event, take the Top 30 from our TOUR, take the Top 10 from -- 15 from the European, 20 from the European Tour, Top 5 from the Australasian. You can't compare different tours and guys playing different courses against different competition.

SCOTT McCARRON: Just hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens. I had a lot of putts for birdie, and I didn't make very many coming in. Made a few on the front. I birdied 5, 7, 8 and 9. That's a big key. Those are some of the toughest holes out here. To get those holes and play them 4-under, that's pretty good.

SCOTT McCARRON: No. I only had 227 front, 250 to the back of the hole. A very difficult shot with that lie and the fact that if you hit it right on the green, you're going to have a very difficult 2-putt. If you hit it in the back bunker, you almost can't get up and down. Left is where I hit it today. It's just a tough shot. If I was out there again, I'd do the same thing. I feel I can pull that shot off. Just one of those I didn't. I'm not going to lay up on 226. Gary would (laughter).

SCOTT McCARRON: I have been playing for 32 years. I'm 35. Tomorrow is my wife's birthday on April Fool's Day. She's going to be upset. She was here all week and left. When she saw the weather forecast, she ended up taking the girls back home on Wednesday night.

SCOTT McCARRON: Sure. No. 5, hit a good drive down the (inaudible), hit 7-iron on there 15 feet, made that for birdie. No. 7, hit driver left, over the left bunker, into the pine needles. Had a very difficult shot under the tree. Hit it about eight feet, made that for birdie. 8, hit a good 2-iron in there about ten feet, made that for birdie. 9, I hit driver down the left side. Was kind of blocked out a little bit. 7-iron, front of the green, 35-footer for birdie. 10, hit driver, 3-wood, front bunker there. Knocked it out about a foot. Made that for birdie. 13, I hit 2-iron off the tee, had 70 yards to the pin. Hit it about ten feet, made it for birdie. Then bogeyed 18. Almost all those holes coming in, I had it 10, 15 feet. I had four feet on 11, ten feet on 12, 16 I had it about 12 feet, 17 I had 15 feet. I mean, I had a lot of opportunities and didn't capitalize coming in.

SCOTT McCARRON: Great. Thanks, guys.