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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 23, 2016

Stateline, Nevada

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, Mike Modano, 24 points today. You followed up a good round with another good round. And Jeremy, about 20 points today as well. Good playing.

Take us through your round, Mike, first, if you would.

MIKE MODANO: Boy, I guess it was a lot like yesterday, just kind of hodgepodge around and made some putts and made a couple of birdies.

But nothing was too consistent. But the putter's been really good for me. I kind of -- the greens are great. Kind of seeing good lines and trusting it. The speed's tough, but you get that true roll, which is all you want. So at least you can trust your line if you do pick a good one.

But other than that, it was just we both kind of felt like we were all over the place. We made some birdies, made some bogeys, and some shots we'd like to have back, of course, obviously.

Q. Jeremy, take us through your round today, what worked, what didn't today?
JEREMY ROENICK: It was a good round for me today. But I got to 15 and made a terrible double, and I don't know how it happened. But it was really my only bad hole of the day.

I was pretty consistent all the way around, whether it was wedges, drivers, whatever the case may be. But that double on 15, it really has me kind of perplexed.

Again, I shot 20 points. Even par with a double. You're 2 or 3-under at one point and next thing you know you're at even par.

And you look back on it and you are going to kick yourself a little bit. But, still, you're throwing 20 points, 20 points. And I just said to Mike, you know, that allows us to go pin-seeking tomorrow and really go after something and not be -- like today you're a little bit -- you're conservative.

Tomorrow, you gotta go right after the pins tomorrow. And without question. Both of us the way we hit the ball, like this guy is an amazing golfer, an amazing golfer.

He's not so much of a good guy, but he's an amazing golfer. And I hope I play with him tomorrow, because I feel really comfortable playing with Mike. And we can go pin-seeking tomorrow.

Q. You mentioned yesterday that you were being fairly conservative in the opening round. Did you feel that way today a little bit or what were you thinking?
JEREMY ROENICK: I tried to be conservative, yes, and I was going along really well until I hit 15. And 15, I blew one in the right trees, and chipped one out. And just had one of those -- I think everybody's going to have a hole where they're going to look back and say, you know, what was I thinking; that was my hole right now.

But 20 points, two days; 40 points is okay for me right now. But I have a chance -- I can throw 27, 28, 29. I know it. After today, after what I saw today. I had a double and three bogeys.

So you look at that. It has to be a flawless round for me tomorrow in order for me to move up the ladder tomorrow.

Q. Going to throw a little caution to the wind and go for the pins, go for the par-5s in two? What's your strategy? You're a few points behind a little bit, what are you thinking?
JEREMY ROENICK: Are we going to be cautious tomorrow?

MIKE MODANO: There's no nuther day after tomorrow. So, hey, we've got another year to let it fester. So we might as well go after it and have fun and let it loose. You have another 364 days before you're here again.

So let loose, don't think too much about it. And when you start grinding and thinking about it and then bad things happen.

Q. Jeremy, I noticed on the first tee today, when the announcer was introducing Mike, that you ran up to him and said something. What did you tell the announcer at that point?
JEREMY ROENICK: I think -- I don't think it's any secret who I think is the best American hockey player that's ever been born. I've said it many, many times.

And I think anytime that Mike Modano is introduced, no matter where it is, he's got to be recognized as the best American hockey player ever born.

And I'll believe that now and I'll say it and I'll be his biggest advocate. But, you know, he's done a lot for American hockey. I battled with him for many years and tried to -- I've tried to emulate him in a lot of ways.

And I'm very fortunate to be his friend, but I also know that he's the best hockey player that's ever been born in the United States. And it's going to be really tough to try to duplicate him. And I think everybody should know that.

Q. Mike, nice compliment.
MIKE MODANO: I know we had some long hard nights against each other for many years. And I think we knew each other before. It goes back to the draft, the whole thing. But I think always J.R. has always brought the best out in me.

I knew every night when I had to play J.R. I had to be on my best game and have my head up and be smart and be skating, because I knew he was going to be right on me.

JEREMY ROENICK: I was going to knock his head off.

MIKE MODANO: I knew I had to be at my best, but I think that's what makes us kind of really have a unique relationship is that we were good for each other throughout our career.

We played a long time, a lot of games, a lot of U.S.A. stuff together. And so it's very rare that a couple of guys, we spent a whole year, our whole career going at each other. But I think that's what really pushed us to a level that we never thought we could get to.

I'm grateful for him and the way he played hard against me and made me probably a better player for sure.

Q. I thought I heard something today that one of your two concussions, one of those was courtesy of J.R.
JEREMY ROENICK: Three. Three.

MIKE MODANO: Second or third one.

JEREMY ROENICK: Three concussions, no question. But I'm going to reiterate what he said, and it's really important to understand that when you're a professional athlete you battle against the people that you try to strive to.

And Mike was always that guy. But I will tell you, now that we've been retired for a few years and been able to be on a different level in terms of our personal lives, his family, my family, we live in the same area, it's really nice.

And you take that battle and you take that battle and you leave that battle on the battlefield. And he knows how much I love him, and I think that's what's most important.

He made me better and I made him better. And that's what pro sports is all about. But now that we're in our secondary lives, it's nice to that we can do this together.

And when I go back to Scottsdale, Arizona I hope I have a Nassau that can kick his ass and we can make a couple hundred bucks on the flip side.

Q. Mike, how do you feel about that?
MIKE MODANO: It's a major bromance going on. There's a lot of mutual respect for each other. (Laughter). And it's perfect what he said. Our lives have changed as we've gotten older and hockey is hockey and real life is real life.

Can't add too much to what he said.

Q. What would this mean to both of you to win this event? Jeremy, you've been close a number of times, and what does it mean to you?
JEREMY ROENICK: It would mean a lot, no question. I like being competitive. I'm not happy with my 20 points today. I can honestly tell you that double bogey on 15 really is steaming in my gut right now.

But I like the fact that if I'm on that leaderboard it's good. And I know Mike, it's the same way. And we talk about it coming into the week. There's no question about it.

But I like the fact that I can compete and I can go out tomorrow and try to throw a big number. And both myself and Mike have the capabilities of throwing a big number and hopefully it happens tomorrow.

Q. Mike, how about you as far as winning this?
MIKE MODANO: It's like we are -- it's in our blood, that competitive level. And we all just want to do well and compete and kind of somehow master the game of golf in some sense.

But it's never going to happen but it's just being fun and having a good time, but it would be -- it would be fun to have obviously us out in the last group again and kind of finish it off. But I mean it's in our blood. We all want to do well. We want to be perfectionists. And this game is not about perfection, it's just about getting around and having a good score and getting the ball in.

So just let loose tomorrow. No saving it.

Q. Urlacher mentioned that he's got so many bets out, that he's going to be busy keeping track of other players tomorrow because he's bet on the championship. You guys have any -- did you bet on yourselves? Got any money out there?
MIKE MODANO: I didn't, but the slam dunk bet was Rice against Harbaugh. I wish I would have jumped on that one when it was at about 130. Then it jumped to 230. It was an automatic one head-to-head. But I didn't get involved in any other ones.

It's just hard to say. It's hard to put money on anybody, because it's a matter of luck at some sense.

JEREMY ROENICK: I put a thousand dollars on Mardy Fish to win.

Q. He's my pick in the pool.
JEREMY ROENICK: I put $100 on me. I put a thousand dollars on Mardy Fish. That tells you I think where we're all at. So we understand each other.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 23, 2016

Mike Modano

Jeremy Roenick