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THE SENIOR OPEN PRESENTED BY ROLEX

July 26, 2019

Scott Dunlap

Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, United Kingdom

https://as

Q. You haven't played much due to injury. Third tournament of the year, 67, 68; what does that do with your expectations?
SCOTT DUNLAP: Still trying to minimise them the best I can. Obviously the better you play, the more expectations you're likely to get. But I'm just having fun. You know me; I love it over here, the golf's great, and just looking forward to see what the weekend brings.

Q. You're a renowned good ball-striker, straight hitter, and this golf course really fits in there. Did you have this marked on your schedule; that this is one you wanted to peak for?
SCOTT DUNLAP: Yeah, and I never played any of the regular Opens here, but played the golf course and loved it probably a half a dozen times. So really wanted to be here and see what it was like in tournament competition, and so far, so good.

Q. Kind of a tough start, 2-over through your first few holes, but how were you able to flip the script and put up that impressive number in the second round?
SCOTT DUNLAP: Wasn't quite as tidy overall as yesterday, but luckily after the double -- should have been but no reason to make more than five but I just messed around. I birdied the next two holes and that kind of quieted things. Other than the bogey at the par 5, which is almost kind of a sin, but there were a few more short putts and a couple of birdies to right the ship.

Q. Late last year, you had a left scope on your wrist, but many people think that's what's kept you off the course this year, but it's something you and I were talking about that you developed a very rare disorder, Parsonage-Turner Syndrome. Give us the symptoms, and exactly what is that?
SCOTT DUNLAP: Yeah, two days after I got the stitches out and got the okay to start hitting balls from the wrist surgery, which was successful, chest, shoulder, arm pain, real annoying and then really within a day, just the muscle in my forearm had completely atrophied.

Q. So paralysis, generally?
SCOTT DUNLAP: It's what they used to call "dead arm" before they figured out what this was, and the surgery was the triggering event, but it's so rare. Most of the doctors I talk to don't even know what it is; that's how rare it is.

Unfortunate, but you know, seven months, I'm okay. I've been pretty charmed in my career. I haven't been on the shelf or anything for any long period of time. All said, you know, I can't complain.

Q. Well played today, and by the way, 1 in 100,000 develop that Parsonage-Turner Syndrome.
Six birdies today. Your assessment of your round today?

SCOTT DUNLAP: A few more birdies and a few more -- which still added up to still okay. In four days, there's no way you're going to go around here without getting into some bunkers, and the double-bogey should have only been a bogey but that's neither here nor there but it was brought on by hitting into the bunker.

All in all, over two days, I couldn't be happier with how I played and where I stand.

Q. Were conditions different this morning to yesterday?
SCOTT DUNLAP: I mean, yesterday, we were kind of all over the place, weren't we. Cooled off a bit. I think the wind is kind of out of the same direction, but I mean, that's the beauty of being here, when you're here for a week, you're probably going to see it all and we've probably seen seven out of the ten options we're going to get between here and Sunday.

Q. Nice to finish on 18 with a nice birdie.
SCOTT DUNLAP: Knock it in close enough where you could shake it in. Can't complain. Especially after the three-putt on 17. Once again drove it up the bunker and couldn't quite get up the length and had probably a 100-footer, which you're not going to get close to the hole.

Q. Happy with your position going into the weekend?
SCOTT DUNLAP: Absolutely. I came in with no expectations, but love the golf over here. The few tournaments I've played of recent and there's been some good stuff and with this thing, I don't really know where I'm at. You always want to believe that, hey, you're okay, you should do okay. And so far, so good this week.

Q. When you were diagnosed with the syndrome, how much did that put in your mind your career maybe in jeopardy?
SCOTT DUNLAP: Well, on the way out the door, my neurologist said, one, you will get over this, and two, is may take a long time. Now, what's a long time? When you read about Parsonage-Turner, it says most people find use in three years. Well, whoopty-do. Let's hope it's not that long.

It wasn't, I wouldn't say depressing, but you go in for hernia surgery, you're out for a month or six weeks. Tear an ACL, a year. This, the open-ended nature of it, I didn't know what to prepare myself for. I know I'm not going to be playing now or the next few months, but how long is this going to take.

Like I said by April, I knew it was improving enough that, okay, you know, mood is starting to brighten a little bit, and by tax day, I was playing a round of golf and shooting par. It was like, okay, from where I was when this first happened, I can hit three grounders with a lob-wedge, so okay, we're on the right trajectory here hopefully by the end of the summer it will be an afterthought, and touch wood, it looks like that's kind of the case.

Q. You say you come in with no expectations, but given what you've been through, is this a surprise that you've been at the top of the leaderboard right now and how you've been playing?
SCOTT DUNLAP: Yes. Yeah, being at the top of the leaderboard, because I've been over playing in Scotland last week and I was playing okay but usually you're shooting kind of in the mid 60s when your game is really on, for one, but I was shooting par. That's okay, but not the kind of golf where you think, I'm going to go lead the British Senior Open after two rounds. I was playing all right.

Like I said, I just don't know where I'm at with my game, with my arm. You hit enough good shots, you think, okay, well, I can do that all the case. That's always the case, isn't it; 10-handicapper says, I can be a pro. But you don't do it enough.

Well, that's kind of been where I am with my arm. I have not been consistent. Maybe a couple shots a round, that wasn't very good. Could have been the arm, maybe it wasn't, who knows. So that's kind of where I'm at.

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