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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 14, 2018

Ray Allen

Stateline, Nevada

THE MODERATOR: Take us through your round today. Pretty good score.

RAY ALLEN: Yeah, compared to how I played yesterday, I was thinking about settled in early, just making sure that my driver came to play today. Yesterday I was hitting the ball a little bit to the right.

So I did a better job today of getting the ball in the fairway and really getting those wedges somewhere close where at least I had a putt. I had a lot of putts today that just -- I was like an inch or two away from making it.

So we always obsess over what got away from us. So that's -- hopefully I'll have a better day tomorrow.

Q. How many birdies did you have today? Take us through your round as far as birdies, bogeys.
RAY ALLEN: On the front nine, I took advantage of the par-5s. No. 4 -- actually No. 3, I hit a 3-iron into the green and I had a putt for eagle downhill. And strangely enough, I left it short. And so I had a tap-in birdie from up top.

On No. 5, I hit a great drive. And I had a wedge in. And I left a wedge short, chipped up, and I made a six-footer for birdie.

Q. No. 4, the par-5?
RAY ALLEN: Yeah, No. 3 and 4, though. But that was my second birdie was No. 4. And then for the rest of the front nine, I just parred out. Just couldn't get it close enough where I made something happen putt-wise.

And then I got to the back nine is where I made a couple of bogeys. And birdied or actually had a shot on 16, like yesterday, to put it on the green and I kind of hit a bad shot. Still got up-and-down for a birdie. And I bogeyed 17 and I bogeyed 15, actually. And other than those two blemishes -- and then 18, I 3-putted. So I look at my round and I think about all the mistakes I made, and it could have been so much better.

Q. How many points did you end up -- you got a total of 38 after two rounds.
RAY ALLEN: I think 24 today.

Q. Great turnaround. Last few years, you've been working on your game, had a little bit more time to do that, and your game has improved dramatically. Is it because of the practice? Is it because of the amount of times you're playing? I mean, you're in the hunt in these celebrity tournaments now where we have you here in the media room after round two. I mean, you're looking at a shot at winning this thing.
RAY ALLEN: It's great to be able to take what you work on into tournament play. It's great to be able to play the type of golf that you know you're capable of playing.

In the many years I've played here, you kind of get here and there's so much going on, you know, from being in the hotel to the different events and to then settle in to play golf and getting used to the spectators on the course.

This year I thought about it and I said to myself, I have to make a serious commitment to being ready to play in this tournament because I play golf too well when I'm at home. The shots I hit and the scores that I put up, to at least feel comfortable doing it out here.

And the years -- over the past, I've come out here and you just don't know who you are on the golf course. So I just made sure I practiced and kind of drilled my swing, find my tempo, and, you know, get to the range early and find it when you're out there.

When you get here, you have to settle your nerves and just really go after the ball.

Q. Looks like someone tugged on Superman's cape today. Mulder threw up serious numbers. 44 points going into tomorrow. Three-time champion, obviously. What do you need to do besides outscore him to win? What do you think it's going to take for you to catch Mulder and win this thing?
RAY ALLEN: Unfortunately, for me, I've been on the losing end of that battle with Mulder down in Orlando two years ago.

The difference I notice, when you play in that final round, is you have to still be aggressive. You still have to take those shots. You can't play okay. You have to play pretty well.

And he played well in that final round. We played in the Diamond Resorts Invitational.

Really, for me it's just settling in, start making some putts. Get comfortable around your ball and start making some putts.

Q. You're playing golf here at a beautiful golf course. And you're going into The Hall of Fame before long. Tell us what you're thinking there. You've got to be just pumped.
RAY ALLEN: First, when you get to Lake Tahoe, you just feel like you're privileged to be able to be here. It's a great privilege. The setting is beautiful. It almost feels like to me everybody gets to be here and see this and experience the weather and this city, we're lucky individuals.

And I think about half my life everything that I've been through, good and bad, and it's brought me to this moment. And I don't have any regrets.

To be able to say -- I've had so many people that I've come in contact with that have improved who I am as a person, as a basketball player, as a golfer. I'm a man made up of many different ideas and people who have supported me.

So when I talk about all the fame, I have so many people to credit, so many people to be thankful for in my life because without those people I wouldn't be where I am today. So any opportunity I get I try to make sure I show my thanks for those people in my life.

Q. You look like you enjoyed yourself out there on hole 16, shooting with Steph, dunking the basketball, are those just some of the things that makes you come back to Lake Tahoe year after year?
RAY ALLEN: Well, before I came here, I watched this event on TV a lot. And before I came here, I might have been somewhere around 8 or 9 handicap. And I didn't think that was good enough, because watching this event on TV, it looks very intimidating when you see the cameras and you see so many people out there on that 17th hole.

So once you get to a level of where your handicap is pretty good and you can compete, this is where you want to be. When you get to that 17th hole, you switch hats a little bit. We're competing. We're focused.

I apologize to all the people that I ignored today. Just because you have to stay in that zone when you're out there playing. And you want to interact with people as much as you can but the minute you do that you lose a little focus. But 17 allows you to do that. You can let go a little bit because you know there's a group in front of you already that hasn't hit yet. So you can have a little more fun and interact with the crowd and just kind of fall back and just enjoy this moment, because we don't get this too often. And the interesting part is the minute that group walks off the tee box, you have to kind of lock it back in again.

So that could cause for some bad shots on 17.

Q. You obviously have an illustrious basketball career, do you use some of those tactics used over your career and apply them to golf in any sort of way?
RAY ALLEN: Yeah, I believe to be good on any level, it requires intense amount of focus, preparation, commitment. Coming to this tournament, I try to play golf every day. If I didn't play golf, I practiced.

You know, you try to think about every possible scenario that you put yourself in in a golf situation. You try to simulate that when you practice.

So when you get out into a real situation on the golf course, you can actually kind of feel comfortable in that moment when your heart starts to race. And that's what we do every day in basketball.

You go to the free throw line and people ask me, how do you manage to calm down you get knocked on the floor two free throws to win the game or tie the game, and I said, that's why we practice. That's why we put ourselves in those situations in practice so we can rehearse what we may feel, what we may see.

So golf is the exact same thing, even though it's a different tool, swinging the club or lining your putt up or whatever it may be, hitting it in the fairway. It's the exact same idea, because a lot of times battles are lost, balls are hit in the water or out of bounds because already in your mind you've -- you know, saw what's in front of you and it intimidates you.

But what I know about golf is the ball doesn't go anywhere until you touch it. So I want to make sure I put something good in that ball.

Q. With the threesome you had today you, Steph, Aaron, I call it the glamour group today. What was it like for you guys, you had a big crowd following you out there today. You seemed to get along pretty well, seemed to be encouraging each other, any gamesmanship or just all fun with you guys?
RAY ALLEN: It's certainly all fun. We always have a banter about the things that we do and how we compete.

I told the guys early in the round, I said the three of us have -- we have ties to Wisconsin and northern California. Steph -- Dell Curry, I played with Dell Curry in Milwaukee. So Steph was in town quite a bit and he would come to practice and shoot with us.

And obviously Aaron is with the Green Bay Packers. And then Aaron's from northern California and Steph obviously plays in Oakland and I was born in Merced.

So that's just an interesting similarity that the three of us shared. But anytime you can play with a group of guys like that, for me, I actually felt bad for Steph more because the crowd is there for him because he's basically in his backyard.

So he had to play a little more up to the crowd. I kind of could go under the radar a little bit because it was Aaron and Steph's crowd today. So as much as people know me, they were certainly fans of those guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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