BAY HILL INVITATIONAL

March 16, 2001

Scott McCarron

SCOTT McCARRON: Okay. Well, it certainly played a lot harder today, with the wind. The wind was blowing out there pretty good and we got a few really good gusts there on the last nine holes, I thought. I played pretty solid today. 2-under par. Good round. They can always be better. I missed a little putt on the last hole. It's going to make dinner taste pretty bad, but other than that, it was a pretty good day.

SCOTT McCARRON: It sure did. It was sitting in the hole cup and it just bounced up right out of the cup. But, you know, that's just the way it goes.

SCOTT McCARRON: Three feet.

SCOTT McCARRON: You know, I really do like this golf course. I feel like I've got a pretty good game plan here. I hit a lot of 3-woods off some of the tees and some irons. I really enjoy it. I think it is one of the great traditional type golf courses. The finishing holes are two of the toughest finishing holes, 17 and 18, that we play on tour.

SCOTT McCARRON: I hit 5-iron. I think it was playing maybe like 208 -- 195 front and the pin is on 20, I think, or something like that.

SCOTT McCARRON: Oh, did he really? Did he get up to 10 (-under) and make a triple or was it 9 (-under) and make a triple? 9. It's a tough hole. It's playing easier today because it's downwind, but you have to land it on the first five yards of the green or you're going to have to go into the back of the green; and to do that, you're bringing in the right bunker, also bringing in the water a little bit. No matter what, it's one of the toughest par 3's on tour. And when they put the pin on the right, it is the toughest par 3 we play on TOUR.

SCOTT McCARRON: I hit driver probably four times on the front and three times on the back; so seven times.

SCOTT McCARRON: 14. The other times, a 3-wood and sometimes a 2-iron.

SCOTT McCARRON: I've made, you know, since last year, I think Reno-Tahoe when I finished fourth or fifth, I made every cut. I made like ten cuts in a row and won the Shark Shootout with Brad Faxon. So my game has definitely been on the upswing. I'm definitely seeing some of the fruits of my labor over the last year and a half and certainly playing some pretty good golf.

SCOTT McCARRON: Pretty much. I got some better setup positions and posture positions and really not thinking about my swing too much, because I worked on it pretty hard there for about a year and a half and my game really went south. So, for me, being kind of a feel player, it is very difficult to work on your golf swing and play tournament golf, especially out here on tour. So ever since I stopped doing that, and I've been working with Jim Hardy, who works with Peter Jacobsen, Duffy Waldorf and myself, my game has really been on the upswing.

SCOTT McCARRON: Eagle. Yeah, I eagled No. 4. Good drive right down the left side of the fairway. Hit 3-iron up there about ten feet and made it for eagle. 7, bogey. Yeah, I almost fired my caddy there. (Laughs). I didn't make birdie. I made par. So I'm going second and Gary Nicklaus gets up there and hits. Ryan goes over and kind of peeks in his bag and comes back and says he hit 6-iron. Well, he actually hit 4-iron. I hit 6-iron right to the front edge of the green and had about 85 feet for a 3-putt. I wasn't too happy. 8, I hit it straight through the fairway but the wind was kind of into you, but right-to-left. Hit straight through the fairway but over the bunker and I had to chip back out in the fairway. I had a possible shot to chip back out on the green, but that's a hole where the wind is just howling. Hit it on the green and made bogey. Two bogeys in a row. Came to the par 5, good three-shot hole today. Wasn't able to reach it. Wind was really whipping around there. Hit a pitching wedge from about 116 to about two feet. Turned around on 13. Hit 3-wood down there pretty good. Had 199 to the hole and hit pitching wedge that landed about 15 feet short and then sucked back about 60 feet. I think I had 65 feet or something like that and made that. That kind of kept the round going.

SCOTT McCARRON: About 65 feet. I hit it close on the next hole and missed it. Hit it in there close on 16 and missed it. Close on 18 and missed it.

SCOTT McCARRON: If I'd had ShotLink there, I definitely would have been all set. That's why I'm a big proponent for ShotLink.

SCOTT McCARRON: When we were walking down the fairway. His caddy was right there. I said, "Boy you guys hit a pretty big six." He says, "No, that was a four."

SCOTT McCARRON: The wind was swirling big time, but it was a hard left-to-right. You could not tell if it was down or if it was cross, and he just hit a little easy 4-iron there. And Gary and I hit it about the same distance. I wouldn't hit 4-iron. I would probably hit 5(-iron). But, yeah, that happens.

SCOTT McCARRON: I told Ryan, "you're fired." (Laughs). No, I'm just kidding. What did I say? Nothing. I mean, it's my fault. It doesn't matter what the other guys hit. It's all up to me. But you've got a guy that hits it pretty much the same distance and hits what you think is a 6-iron. I wasn't watching really. I just saw where the ball ended up, pin-high. I'm obviously going to my caddy going -- saying, what happened there. He's trying to explain himself. All I want to hear is" "I'm sorry and I don't do it again." Which he said. (Laughs). But again, it's not his fault. I make the final decision on what club I'm going to hit.

SCOTT McCARRON: Ryan Scott. I want everyone to know.

SCOTT McCARRON: He's been with me for a long time. We've been together, oh, five years. We're really good friends. He lives in Sacramento, my hometown. We hunt and fish. We both played mini-tour golf together, when I first started and when he was kind of ending his illustrious career. He has been with me for five years.