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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM

February 10, 2019

Scott Stallings

Pebble Beach, California

Q. What a great day it was for you. You beat the weather, you beat the golf course, and you beat the clock. You actually got to finish your round. Tell me about the day.
SCOTT STALLINGS: It was a wild day for sure. First time in my career I can ever imagine seeing hail. We played a lot of weird conditions in college, but today was definitely a college golf day. I mean, we kind of had all four seasons at one time. I remember telling John, I was warm -- telling my caddie, John, I was warm on the 6th hole. We got to the 7th tee and he said, how's that warmth feeling? I was freezing. But obviously I didn't look at any leaderboard. I tried to keep my head down, and I mean, the golf course is hard enough. And whatever happens. Obviously Phil's playing great, but it was exciting to see, stick to a game plan, and no matter what the situation, I was able to go out there and execute. And but truly I never thought about winning the tournament, never thought about anything. I was just trying to put one foot forward and hopefully get the round in before something else showed up.

Q. And what a great finish. Not just the birdie on 18, but to have the kids there to greet you as you come off the green, that has to be really special.
SCOTT STALLINGS: Yeah, it's pretty exciting to have them out. This is our last kind of full season of us being together as a family. Both kids have traveled since they were four weeks old. And my son's going to start real school next year. He's home-schooled for kindergarten. And we're looking forward to being out there. And his birthday is tomorrow and he said he wanted me to go out there and make a bunch of birdies for his birthday. And so we're excited to be able to do that, especially hitting it close on 18 and seeing him in there and he gave me a thumbs up when I walked up on the green. So it was exciting to have him out there. Obviously she's short of figuring out what I do for a living. But at the end of the day I'm still dad and they could care less 66 or 86, and they're a strong dose of reality sometimes.

Q. You'll make a major move in FedExCup points and getting closer to that Wyndham rewards top-10.
SCOTT STALLINGS: Absolutely. I mean obviously I get a lot of questions about the start to my season and it's been slow and I'm not like oblivious to that, but I'm also understanding that I'm doing the things I need to do on and off the golf course and I feel good mentally, physically and excited to get a good run here going. And my team and I have been working really hard and feel like we're definitely taking steps in the right direction.

Q. You'll show up tomorrow morning, just in case?
SCOTT STALLINGS: Yes. We'll figure that out.

Q. Two straight years now you've played well here. You obviously figured something out at this event.
SCOTT STALLINGS: I actually played well two years ago, too. I finished 14th. And I hit a rake on the 18th in the fairway bunker. Like, obviously, you can hit it anywhere but the ocean off the tee, and I hit it, tried to just hit it in the bunker and it landed in the fairway and hit the rake and kicked dead right, rolled down the cart path, and went out of bounds. So just kind of a freak shot. So thus, everyone asks, why did you lay up on 18? It's like, man, I've seen a bunch of weird stuff happen on this hole. I feel good with my irons. I'm going to play it the way that -- it's different when you know you can get there in two with an iron and kind of take the first part of the water out of play. But that was kind of the game plan for all along, if we didn't know. And but a lot of that is kind of figuring this place out. Some people play holes super aggressive, some people play them super conservative. And there's other holes where I was super aggressive. And I think whatever you're comfortable with, you need to go out there and stick to it and I've been fortunate enough to be able to do that the last few years here.

Q. Kind of a weird spot you're in because you're finished, but they're not going to finish, obviously. You're close enough to like, you know, you never know what's going to happen?
SCOTT STALLINGS: Absolutely. Obviously there's a lot of weird things that can take place. And my family and I, I think my wife's changed our flight 37 times today. We have gone planes, trains, and automobiles and that's kind of life on the road out here on TOUR. And we'll kind of figure it out and kind of get a what's best case scenario. It's a little bit different, it is my son's birthday tomorrow, so obviously, anything can happen over these next 24 hours, but it would be a pretty cool way if I had the opportunity to win for the first time in a long time. But very happy with the step I made in the right direction.

Q. Curious, 21 years ago when Phil won here, that was like the event where it took six and a half months to finish. Do you recall, you were just a kid?
SCOTT STALLINGS: I was just a kid, but we talked about that today. It's like, man, I wonder if this is going to be -- that was 54 holes, right? Yeah. Is this going to be the event that we come back and in, I don't know, June and play. We play the U.S. Open and then, oh, by the way, we're going to play the final round of the AT&T during it. So that would be crazy. But I mean hats off to the grounds crew and everyone in the tournament. The fact that we played 72 holes with all the stuff, especially Monday, when we got here Sunday night for the Super Bowl and didn't have power for, I mean, almost 36 hours. And the fact that we played all that golf and especially with all the crazy stuff we saw today, pretty fortunate.

Q. Talk a little bit about how much work you've put into your game to get back to this point?
SCOTT STALLINGS: I mean, I work hard. I try to be a good example for these guys and show them every single day. And to them it's a little bit weird that my job is to play golf for a living. But I think seeing, in the gym, on the course, off the course, just being trying to be a good steward of what you have and the opportunities we have out here. And I definitely was at a point in my life where I didn't feel like I took advantage of it, I didn't appreciate it, and it was kind of a foregone conclusion. And now kind of feeling like that got taken away from me for a little while with some of my health stuff and really excited to see where my game's going and hopefully be able to do this for a long time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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