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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 26, 2004

Kevin Sutherland

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Leader in the clubhouse, Kevin Sutherland, thanks for joining us. Great first two rounds. Obviously you played well, better than you've ever played before at Sawgrass.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah, I'm putting very well. I made just about all the momentum putts today that I needed to make, and I'm hitting my irons very well. Driver has been -- I think the driver needs to be better. I was hitting the rough a few times and the rough is going to get longer, and it's hard to play out of the rough. And I think if you want to be around late Sunday afternoon, you have to drive the ball in the fairway. That's something I need to work on a little bit.

My iron play has been outstanding. I played the ball beautifully, and I had a great bunker shot on 15. I've hit a lot of good shots, and I've been fortunate at times, too.

Q. How long have you been with the long putter?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: About a year and a half. Starting about October of two years ago, really, about a year and a half.

Q. It was the claw during the match play?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: The claw -- I won with the claw, and the claw lasted about three weeks later, and the claw was out, and I haven't gone back. So maybe -- I don't know, at some point I don't know. I can't rule anything out. The claw was -- is ancient history at this point. And then I went to the long putter. You know, I practiced with the long putter for -- I used to use the long putter for a feeling of giving my short putter swing a little bit. I practiced with it for six years before I used it in a tournament. And so when I went to it in a tournament, it wasn't like it was something that I have never done before. And so -- and then, like I said, I used it for the last year and a half. I haven't used a short putter in a tournament in a year and a half probably.

Q. I was going to ask you, can you tell us how long have you been doing the thing where you carry the towel around everywhere with you?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: How old am I, I guess? Since I played golf.

Q. Did it come out of the crib with you?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I think so.

Q. Like Linus?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Exactly. I have always -- it started off in junior golf, you've got your towel with you, when you were playing the mini-Tours and stuff, which I did. You don't have caddies, so you have the towel with you. When I got on the PGA TOUR, I decided why all of a sudden should I have to change. I've always kept the towel. And it's become something that people recognize me by, I guess. There's the guy with the towel, you know (laughter). So it's just something I've always done. And it makes it harder on John, because he always has to pick up after me.

Q. Is always part of your routine, kind of a comfort for you?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I think it's definitely become part of my routine. It's something that -- it's something that I've gotten used to doing. And it's one thing I like about it, too, I clean my own golf ball. It gives me something to do besides sitting there thinking about my putt. I'm cleaning my ball, you know. It gets my mind off of what I'm actually trying to do.

Q. Have you ever been to a tournament without it?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Have I ever been to a tournament without using it?

Q. Have you been to a tournament at the first tee without it?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: No, it hasn't happened. I don't know what would happen, to be honest with you. I'd quit, I don't know (laughter).

Q. Do you bring them with you or do you take them out of the hotels (laughter)?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: They have Holiday Inn on them. No, the tournaments provide them. I usually throw one towel in the bag. Like if I'm going on a trip. There's not like one big secret towel, like one special towel. Any towel will do. And so I'll just throw a towel -- in your garage everybody has a stack of towels, it seems like. I'll throw a towel in the bag. And when we get to tournaments, tournaments usually provide towels for us. One of those is fine, too. There's no secret there.

Q. Good story, though.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: It is a good story, like a washcloth would be better. It has to be something bigger than that, stick it in my back pocket, I guess.

Q. To win on Sunday, you might be more recognized -- (inaudible).

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: It takes me a while to get motivated. That would be nice, you know, to be known for that, but there's a long ways to go before that. I'm not quite there yet.

Q. What's the golf course looking like there now? The greens are starting -- I think you were going through yesterday in various stages of color stages, browns to blues to greens?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I played in the morning, obviously, and they seemed healthier. They were greener. And I don't know if they watered them. I assume they probably threw a little water on them. But it looked like they were starting to dry out and get that brownish color again. And I'm assuming that this weekend that they're going to start cutting off the water a little bit. So I think they've got the course where they want it.

I'm assuming this weekend the greens are going to get firmer, probably a little bit faster, and it's going to be obviously a bit more difficult this weekend than it was this morning or yesterday afternoon.

Q. On 14 on your drive, did you have a hard time identifying it, was it that deep?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: It was bad. It was a horrible lie. I was actually surprised how well it came out. I was concerned I wasn't going to be able to get it to the fairway and then I hit it into a spot that wasn't very good. It was right behind the tree and I felt very fortunate to get out of there with a bogey. But the lie was awful.

Q. You couldn't -- I couldn't see, but did you fat the bunker shot or was that the only play you had because of the tree?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Well, I hit it solid, I just didn't hit it hard enough. I had to hit a low hook and pitching wedge around the tree out of the bunker. I just didn't hit it hard enough. The shot actually came out kind of the way I wanted it to, I just needed to give it a little bit more -- I actually was probably fortunate that it didn't stay in the bunker.

Q. When you, as you say, were fortunate to walk off there with bogey, what's going through your mind on the bunker on 15, and how big of a turnaround was that?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: You know, that was huge.

Q. Shot of the day?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Shot of the day for me. I think the putt on 14 was almost as big from a mental standpoint than it was the bunker shot going in, because there's bad bogeys and good bogeys and that was a great bogey. For me, making that putt was like making a birdie putt as far as momentum goes. When I walked off that green I felt great. I felt like I made a bogey on -- I didn't really hit very many good shots.

So then I when hit it in the left bunker on 15, you know, I felt -- I had a good feel about that shot. I obviously didn't think it was going to go in, but I felt like I could get it close. Because if I could just get it there, it would run down to the hole, and then the hole got in the way. So that was -- and after that I really played pretty well; I made a lot of good shots coming in. I just felt like I was very relaxed and was playing golf again. I felt for a while in the middle of that backside, I got out of what I was doing in the early part of the round. I was thinking too much.

I don't know, sometimes it's good to be kind of dumb, you know. So you don't think too much. And after that I just played. And I hit a lot of good shots. I didn't hit a good chip shot on 16. I had kind of a -- one of the lies where the grass is growing into you, and it was a pretty difficult chip, I should have hit a better shot than I did. I felt like if I landed it four or five feet onto the green, and there was no way it was going to stay. I landed it right on top of the slope or maybe just barely on the green -- because there was maybe five or six feet past the pin before it went down the slope into the bottom part of the green, and it was a tough shot. If I had a little bit better lie, I would bump it up the hill, I maybe should have tried that shot anyways. The shot I was trying was awfully difficult, and I didn't pull it off.

Q. Did you make any great bogeys today ?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: 14 was a great bogey.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go through the round. Came out of the gate with a birdie.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I hit a 3-wood and 5-wood on the green and two-putted from 35 feet, I would guess, in that neighborhood.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: No. 5.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: 5, I hit a 5-iron from, I don't know, 198, if I remember right. And I made probably about a 12-footer there. That was obviously a nice birdie.

10, I hit a wedge in there from about 120 yards and made maybe three- or four-footer.

14, I hit my drive right, and the lie was very bad. I was just trying basically to get it back in the fairway. I was concerned -- my first thought was I want to make sure I get it over the rough to the fairway. So I took a pretty good swing at it. So it came out pretty good, and it went all the way across the fairway, and it was in the bunker, but there's those trees are kind of in your way. It was a bad spot. I was just -- I hit actually a pretty good shot from there, I just didn't hit it hard enough. I made a 15-footer for bogey, which when I look back on the round, I think that was probably the biggest putt I hit all day. If I made double there, you kind of feel like, God, that wasn't very good, obviously. Making a bogey, hey, I walked off that green feeling great.

And then to turn around on the next hole and make it from out of the bunker, it just -- everything seemed to be just kind of rolling.

I played the last three holes very well. I didn't make a birdie on 16. But I played two very good shots. I was struggling in the middle of that backside, but the last three holes I hit just about every shot the way I wanted to.

Q. You alluded to this yesterday, about recharging the batteries, but did you expect to be scoring this well coming off that break? Does this surprise you at all?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: A little bit I would say. I wasn't coming here expecting to have the lead after two rounds, but I did come here expecting to play well. Like I said, when I was home, I practiced and I was practicing very well. I felt really good about coming here. On the West Coast I drove the ball very well, I hit my iron shots very well, and I just putted terrible. I came here feeling really good about my long game, but I just needed to make some putts. The first two rounds I've pretty much made just about everything I've looked at. I've just got to keep that going. That's what you've got to do, you've got to make a lot of putts.

Q. What's usually the difference for you, from the top-25, 30 finishes, and a couple of weeks you're usually in contention? Is it usually the putting?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Obviously if you're going to be in contention, you're going to have to make some putts. I think that goes for just about everybody. But for me it seems like when I'm really playing well and maybe have a chance to win, I'm driving the ball better than I do when I'm finishing 30th. For me it seems like the key ingredient for me -- I usually hit my irons pretty well, and I always chip the ball fairly decent, and I've always been a pretty good bunker player. For me the variable has always been pretty much the driver. So when I'm driving the ball well, I usually play pretty well.

This week I've driven the ball well enough, but like I said, I think I need to drive a little better.

Q. Do you think Tiger makes the cut today?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I have no idea.

End of FastScripts.

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