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KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 27, 2017

Vijay Singh

Washington, D.C.

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon, everybody, welcome back to the 78th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Happy to be joined by our leader, Vijay Singh, who put up a 5-under 67 today. He's leading the championship by one shot at 15-under. Vijay, maybe you could start off by maybe talking about how the course played, the weather conditions, how the course played compared to the first two days.

VIJAY SINGH: Kind of played a little, I think it played a little longer today. The conditions were perfect, except for a little rain that I don't think bothered anybody. It was concern about mud, but only a couple of shots that were affected. Maybe tomorrow there's going to be more, because once it drys out it gets more mud.

So, but the course is playing well, they had some tougher pin placements today, some of them were pretty hard to get to. Apart from that it played okay, it was a good match with Bernard and Scott, so hopefully tomorrow it's going to be the same.

JOHN DEVER: Questions?

Q. Have you ever played in a final round with Bernhard before and how would you assess the way your games matchup?
VIJAY SINGH: I can't remember if I played with Bernhard. I must have played somewhere in the final round with him, but offhand I just cannot remember.

He's got a little different game. He hits the ball very straight, he, it seems like he doesn't make a mistake. He's got a game plan and he's a pretty hard competitor to break.

So, but I'm playing well and I'm hitting my ball pretty good. I had a couple of hiccups with my putter today but I came back strong. I think it's going to be a good match.

Q. You mentioned match twice. Do you enjoy the match play component of this? It's really close, you're sort of shot for shot. Do you enjoy that and it looks like it will be like that again tomorrow.
VIJAY SINGH: I don't consider it a match play. Match play's a totally different game. People say they get two guys and it will be like a match play but it's still a stroke play, you want to go out there and just fight it out. Obviously, I'm a little longer than him off the tee, but he's pretty straight and he hits his irons very good and he's really confident right now. Every part of his game is confident. I don't have to worry about Bernhard so much, although I'll be seeing him all day. If I can just go and focus on what I'm doing and how I'm playing and what my shot is going to be, I think it will be okay.

Q. You're routinely driving it 20 or 30 yards past Langer. Do you think you can use your power to put some pressure on him and maybe force him into a mistake or does he just not make mistakes?
VIJAY SINGH: Well, he does, I mean everybody makes mistakes. I don't think that's a concern, hitting it long or whatever, it's not super long, the golf course, I mean if I'm hitting a wedge, he's going to be hitting a 9-iron or 8-iron. And he's pretty good with those clubs. He's pretty good with every club. So the greens are very receptive so whatever you're going in with it's going to stop. So I just think that I can, the only advantage I may have is maybe some of the par-5s where I'm going to be hitting a long iron or getting on to it and he has to go with a wood or lay up. But like I said, I'm going to try not to worry about him, but I will, because he's going to be with me. If I just, like I said, I'm playing well and if I play well it's going to be hard for him to beat me.

Q. Do you and Bernhard ever sit together at the Masters dinners and if so, what is that like?
VIJAY SINGH: We're in the same room.

(Laughter.)

It's a big table, so, yeah, we're in the same table. It's just one long table. We talk. Bernhard's a nice guy, I like Bernhard. I get along very well with Bernhard. I call him my friend, we're not best of friends, he lives in West Palm and I live in Jacksonville, but I've seen him occasionally in Ponte Vedra.

So I like Bernhard. I think he's very focused, put it this way, everybody is, and I'm very focused, and he -- I don't like to talk to anybody when I'm playing golf and I think he's the same. So there you go.

Q. You say you're playing well at the moment is there a particular aspect of your game that you're most pleased with? You mentioned yesterday you're happy with your driving and your putting but your recovery shots today I thought were quite good.
VIJAY SINGH: Yeah, I got up-and-down a couple of times. My whole game is good. I'm driving it, like I said, I had a little swing change, not a swing change, but a little -- yeah, you can say it was a swing change -- but it clicked and I'm hitting the ball a lot longer and I'm hitting my irons pretty strong and I just feel -- I have a good feeling with my game right now. Hopefully I can go out there and it's a different set of circumstances tomorrow and see how it holds up.

It's going to be -- it's probably a good thing I'm leading and going into the last day with this swing thought, so I have to take it out there and see how it reacts. It reacted okay today, so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Q. Have you planned out your schedule long enough to know how much you may play senior golf versus go back to the Regular Tour and would having success here tomorrow impact that at all?
VIJAY SINGH: I have thought about it. I had a horrible start to the season this year. I missed some six or seven cuts in a row, which I hadn't done in a long time, but that had a lot to do with weather and my foot and just cold, really cold, I hit a cold weather and I was stuck in 40, 50 degree weather, which I don't do very well in.

But I wanted to make up my mind after TPC and for some reason I played really good at TPC.

(Laughter.)

But my schedule, I'm still going to play a few, I'm playing next week at Memorial and a couple more after that. But it's difficult for me to move from the Regular Tour and come and feel the same excitement on the Senior Tour. For some reason I have not got adjusted to that yet. This is a good week for me, it's going to get my blood flowing again and hopefully it's going to make up my mind.

I'm going to play a lot more Majors over here and I'm playing the U.S. Open and I'm playing THE PLAYERS Championship? The Senior PLAYERS? I'm playing those events. And then see if I can, if I'm good enough to get into FedExCup, if I play well enough to get into FedExCup I'll play that, otherwise I'll just continue playing over here.

So we'll see what happens.

Q. Do you recall visiting with Mr. Trump once when one of his courses was under construction and giving him maybe some suggestions on the course? I think I heard this maybe about the Bedminster course, I'm not sure I heard that correctly.
VIJAY SINGH: I think I was, it was the one in New Jersey, I attended Apprentice, it was one of his TV programs that the bonus was to play a couple of holes with me. So that's the only time I've ever visited his golf course. But this is a good one.

JOHN DEVER: Okay, our leader, Vijay Singh. Thank you, sir.

VIJAY SINGH: All right.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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