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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 11, 2014Scott DunlapEDMOND, OKLAHOMA THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome Scott Dunlap in here at the media center, a 3-under 68 today, bogey-free, only bogey-free round here at Oak Tree National in the 2014 U.S. Senior Open, 5-under 137. Really good round today, 12 fairways, 14 greens, 29 putts. Seemed really solid out there. SCOTT DUNLAP: Yeah, thanks, Mike. It's really what's called for if you're going to shoot that is to stay out of the rough. There is no chance to hold the greens from the rough. But if you do get the ball in the fairway you've got a chance. A few times I needed to get the ball up and down, which I'm not the world's greatest at. I did some nice pitches and chips, couple bunker shots. Was holding the round together until I do make a birdie. THE MODERATOR: You have been consistent here, just one bogey, par-5 yesterday at the 12th. Today you start out nine straight pars on your first nine, the back nine. Any great par saves you had there that kind of kept your round going? SCOTT DUNLAP: That bogey, that was two balls in the rough. That will lead to a bogey. Right out of the box I drove it in the rough, got it on the green and made a 10-footer down the hill. And then No. 2, pin is up top or -- THE MODERATOR: The 11th hole? SCOTT DUNLAP: 10 and 11, exactly. And then had to two-putt, had to make a nice curling eight-footer on my second hole to start off par/par. I was into the round and got in the greenside bunker on the par-5 at 15. THE MODERATOR: 14 maybe, over the oak tree? SCOTT DUNLAP: The second one then. Yeah, that's 15. 13 and 15 are the par-5s, aren't they? 12 and -- whatever. There was a good chance for birdie there and hit it to four-foot at 18 and missed it. So all pars on the front and then, you know, that was really the only really good chance for birdie. THE MODERATOR: A really solid second nine for you. You go and par your first hole again. You birdied the second hole for the second straight day. SCOTT DUNLAP: Yesterday I hit it to I a foot. Today I'm over there 35, 40 feet away, but Damon Green had just putted. I owe him a dinner, a condo, at least a handshake. I saw what he did and rolled it right in. Then a couple of good par saves after that. Nice little 12-footer at 6. THE MODERATOR: The 5th hole. SCOTT DUNLAP: A wedge from like 134. THE MODERATOR: Nice birdie there. You parred 6 and birdied 7, the par-5, for the second straight day. SCOTT DUNLAP: Played a little easier today. The wind is helping instead of yesterday it was really tough in. I hung my 3-iron out to the right and it ended up -- I mean, it couldn't have been better just off the green, easy two-putt from off the fringe for another easy birdie. THE MODERATOR: A very solid first two rounds. Your round yesterday was your first round here at Oak Tree. You didn't have any practice round. Talk about seeing it for the first time and just one bogey over 36 holes. SCOTT DUNLAP: I was here 30 years ago for the U.S. Amateur. I could remember some of it. I had just gotten back from the UK. I was over trying the British, played some fun golf in Ireland. Got here Tuesday morning hoping for nine and nine. Well, there wasn't really anything that let me get to the World Cup game I wanted to watch at 3:00 on Tuesday. So, okay, I'll play 18 Wednesday. Then we have the two-and-a-half hour rain delay. My 1:10 was going to be 3:40. I didn't really want to wait around for that. Just got my putter, walked around, reacquainted myself with some of the holes I couldn't remember. Okay. Here we go. That will do. THE MODERATOR: So far, so good. A very good start. We will open it up to questions. Q. I have a couple. Colin yesterday was talking about playing in Asia and places like that. He's a little maybe more used to the heat than some guys. I see on your résumé, it has that in your background. Do you think that will help you this weekend when it is 95 to 100 every day? SCOTT DUNLAP: I guess growing up in Florida doesn't hurt. Yesterday was sticky. Today was actually nice. Now, I can't speak for this afternoon. I mean, if it's going to get to the high 90s, seems like it's got a ways to go. I didn't think it was that bad out there today. But, you know, golf is a horrible cold-weather sport. You know, not so bad when it's hot. If I get a choice, I'll go with the hot. Q. The other question is your career overall, 10 years no card. You grind and you grind. You will probably be one of the final two or three groups with only one bogey. Talk about grinding, getting to this point of your game, one of the last groups going off tomorrow. SCOTT DUNLAP: Well, I guess it's kind of nice they have had the Web.com Tour, which was the Nationwide Tour for the guys that aren't quite playing tour caliber golf and another place to play. I was out there and got my card back for 2012. For those two years, to stay active, still playing, still playing against -- that's the toughest dollar to play for in professional golf is on that tour. So at least, you know, playing 20-some if not 30-some events a year, that leads me to here. It would have been nice if those were on the PGA TOUR. They weren't. At least I have still been playing and playing in a really good place to play. Q. You mentioned the wind earlier. What are the most significant differences in terms of playing the course today versus yesterday? SCOTT DUNLAP: Well, the wind yesterday I think was more out of the east, and I think it's starting to work its way around to more of the prevailing wind. So about the same velocity, but it's come around about 90 degrees. So, you know, you just take that and run with it. I mean, you'd rather have that than the swirling wind trying to figure out. At least you know where the wind is, and you can, you know, go with it. Q. Your trip over to Britain, what was that again? To qualify for the Senior Open? SCOTT DUNLAP: No, the regular Open Championship was last Tuesday, local final qualifying. I have made an event out of it every year. Either there's the week leading into it or usually the week after where there are five days and we'll go to Scotland, England, Ireland. This year was Northern Ireland. One group or two. We had two groups this year. I mean, it's great. I love the golf over there and it's fun. As busy as the summer has been, that worked out. Amazingly there was no tournament to come back to. It was fun. Q. Where did you play in Northern Ireland? SCOTT DUNLAP: We did Portmarnock in the south and Portrush, Portstewart, Ballyliffin and Ballycastle. Q. This group might like to hear about what you talked about yesterday about how you think preparation, the Monday through Wednesday part of it, might be a little bit overrated for championships. SCOTT DUNLAP: Yeah. I have long since gotten rid of the Puritan, well, not necessarily work ethic but the idea -- well, I have never understood how golf was something you were innately going to unlearn if you didn't continue to do it every day. I never got that. Then at this age, you know, the more I hit balls, the more my left thumb or left wrist I feel. I mean, to me, for a long time now it's been about come Thursday morning wanting to be there. The more I do leading into that, the less chance I might want to be there. You know, being fresh and not beaten down is the first and foremost thing for me. Now, I have got friends that are the golf equivalent of basketball gym rats. They want to be at the golf course all day every day. That's great. That works for them. It doesn't work for me. I mean, I love it while I'm here, but I will put in my five or six hours, and then it's time to go to the movies, go home, watch soccer, do whatever, but not be at the golf course. THE MODERATOR: Do you feel like you have a little bit of advantage having played on Web.com, Nationwide Tour, PGA TOUR, playing in 72-hole events for so long, and you play in these majors and the Champions Tour, 72 holes, where a lot of these guys might be used to playing just three days. SCOTT DUNLAP: Yeah. Obviously at 50, this is the last time I will be a rookie, you know, in my life. Hopefully still in reasonable shape. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly right. For me, that three-day week seems a bit truncated where, you know, I'm used to the four. Wait a minute, we don't start till Friday? So, yeah, this is a little bit more usual for me of late. Q. Now that you've toured the course twice, for the weekend, is there any particular key for you, do you think, to stay in contention? Any particular part of your game that you really feel needs to shine this weekend for you to contend? SCOTT DUNLAP: Well, I have been particularly good with the putter this week. Been tidy, I have made a couple, made all my short ones. You know, those will be, for anyone in a big -- in any tournament, for sure, but especially a major, you know, there's going to be some times where you need to make an ugly par. You might have to hole a putt to do it. If you don't, someone else will. That's what a guy does to win something like this. So hopefully when that opportunity presents itself, it will keep the round going and then get going again. Q. You were off to the races in your first round of the year down at Allianz, 63. How would you appraise your play out here on the Champions Tour this year? SCOTT DUNLAP: C-plus. Because that was a 63, and then Sunday was 76. Yeah, it's been some and some. It's been new, fun, different. Yeah, hopefully the second half of the year will be just a little tidier than the first half. I have shown glimpses, but it's been a little bit inconsistent. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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