KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 27, 2021

Scott Verplank

Quick Quotes

Southern Hills Country Club

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, welcome back to the 2021 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Southern Hills, Tulsa Oklahoma. We're with Scott Verplank. 2-over par, 72, Scott. Maybe one bad, one hole that you would like to take back, but otherwise pretty solid round, is that what you were feeling here.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well the score ended up being solid, but I hit, I drove it terrible and putted not very good and usually those are the two things that I do well. But I hit a lot of good iron shots and I chipped in on 18 and I made a long putt on 7. It could have been better, it could have been a lot worse. So I need to get my driver straightened out on the range today before the storms.

THE MODERATOR: Sound like a little bit of everything. Questions?

Q. Chipped in on 18. Where were you positioned?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Perfect, it was about 30 yards short of the green. Yeah, well, about 20 yards short. Right at the bottom of the hill. And just trying to get it up on the top and it took a couple bounces and I heard the pin clink and it went in. Oh, perfect.

Then I missed a bunch of 6-, 8-footers for birdie too. So it was like, it was what it was, I just didn't feel great but I kind of got through it and if I get to hitting a little bit better tomorrow off the tee then I might have a chance.

Q. When the wind picked up and kind of the sun came out did the course toughen up a little bit compared to when you first teed off?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, it's drying out a little bit, it's still not overly dry. But when the wind starts blowing 15 or 20 around here then it occasionally gusts and stuff like that, it's -- as long as the storms stay away for three, four more hours it's going to be pretty tough this afternoon.

Q. Good to have fans back out there?

SCOTT VERPLANK: It was great. I actually made a nice birdie putt on 7 and they had the whole chalet over there and it was like the first time I heard some like real kind of golf fans and I was like, great, that's awesome.

Q. Not your best stuff you're mentioning there, but shoot 2-over and scores aren't going to be very low, so you're still right in the thick of this.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, if I hit my driver solid and my putter solid the next three days I think I'll be okay.

Q. I was on 18 and there were a lot of OSU fans up there so they're all out there cheering. I mean, kind of to piggyback off that, when you get out here obviously coming back to this place that you know and love, what's it like having fans back here?

SCOTT VERPLANK: It's great, because it feels like a real golf tournament again. When you're out there and there's nobody there and you're just -- and particularly if you're not playing well, it's just like, well, I could be home doing this with nobody watching. So yeah, this is much better, I knew the fans would turn out in Tulsa, I mean, and in Oklahoma, it's a great golf state and a great club here and great fans in Tulsa, so it's really nice to have them out.

Q. The course itself, is it like you remember?

SCOTT VERPLANK: It's difficult. It's in good, it's -- considering the winter we had and the not very good spring, it's really in great shape. They have done a great job to get it where it is today.

Q. You probably played this course in every wind imaginable. How has this course changed since the renovations with the wind we have today?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Most of the tee shots don't change dramatically, but they repositioned bunkers, fairways are sloping different directions, a little bit different direction. So I think this is the wind that is -- this is the wind that you want to play it in. If you want it hard, the wind blowing out of the southwest and getting hot and dry is real championship quality, so this is the way it's supposed to be played.

Q. How did you feel like the greens were running, do you feel like they can get them a little faster if the wind gets up or were they a little slower to protect from the wind?

SCOTT VERPLANK: They're pretty slow uphill, but if you're going downhill the slopes are so severe here that you just can't get them overly fast. I mean, I would like it if they sped them up a little bit, but that's not my department.

Q. You played the last four 1-under par after the adversity on 5. What was your kind of mindset after No. 5 and to get it in, because those four holes aren't a piece of cake.

SCOTT VERPLANK: No, my mindset was, I mean I just made a bad -- I made a couple bad swings -- but then I kind of got unlucky on -- I got a wedge to the green, I mean, I missed the green. So probably should have made bogey, but not double. I don't know, I hit my like middle irons pretty good. I hit a really good 7-iron on the next hole and of course missed the putt and then I hit a pretty nice iron shot on the next hole and made that putt and then hit a really good 5-iron on 8 and missed that putt. And then just kind of one of those deals. So I don't know, it just, just any shot I can hit solid makes me feel a lot better.

Q. How will the course vary tomorrow if we get the heavy rains tomorrow or tonight?

SCOTT VERPLANK: It will play a lot different just because of the -- if the wind switches, then kind of flip-flop the whole golf course and most guys haven't seen it that way. So I wish it would stay like this for four days, but I don't think it's going to.