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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 1, 2007Scott VerplankCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Scott, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Wachovia Championship. Congratulations again on your win at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. You've had a couple days to reflect. I know how exciting it was for you not only to win again but to win that tournament. Just talk about the last couple of days and then we'll go into questions. SCOTT VERPLANK: It's very exciting that I won another TOUR event, but yeah, that was totally different, a totally different experience for me than anything I had done before just because it had a lot of outside things going on and affecting me and my emotions and all that. It was a pretty special experience for me. Q. How did the emotions compare winning there to some of the other things you've won, maybe winning as an amateur or actually winning Reno after that long health drought and whatnot? SCOTT VERPLANK: It was different because it was -- I don't know, I've never been choked up winning a golf tournament in my life, from junior golf or amateur golf or winning on the TOUR when I was an amateur. I couldn't hardly talk, honestly. Q. Right now you are. SCOTT VERPLANK: I know. Hey, I was -- I don't know, there's no crying in golf (laughing), but I was -- apparently, but I'm telling you, I couldn't hardly speak. I think just because it -- I'm really lucky, I actually fulfilled one of my childhood dreams, and I don't know how many people get to do that. Q. What have you found to be in the two days it's been the best perk about winning? What was the reminder, since it had been five or six years for you? SCOTT VERPLANK: You know what, like I said, winning the tournament, winning another TOUR event hasn't really -- I guess it hasn't really even sunk in to me because that was almost the further thing from my mind. I think it was just accomplishing a goal that was so personal to me. You know, it's different than when I've won other tournaments and thought, all right, another tournament win or whatever. It's not like that at all. It's just -- I don't know, I've been on the phone for two days. I've had more people call and text message me than I ever have in my life. Q. You broke two phones? SCOTT VERPLANK: I broke two phones already. I'm on my third in two days. I don't know, just, like I said, the Byron Nelson connection, and Peggy is such a wonderful lady. You know, last week my grandfather was in the hospital in Dallas, and he's very -- he and my grandmother were really the ones that started me playing golf a long time ago, and then along with my parents were my biggest supporters. My grandmother passed away four years ago. Actually she passed away on Saturday afternoon of Disney when I was leading going to Sunday, and I found out walking to the pressroom that my grandmother had just passed away. She was really my rock as a kid, in golf. I thought it might come out in the next day -- one of those classic stories, you win one for your loved one who passed away, and I was just a zombie the next day. I think I shot like even par or 1-under and finished about fifth or sixth or something. So she passed away. And my grandfather was in the hospital last week in Dallas, and I went to visit him after I played Thursday. He was really happy to see me. You know, and that, too. I didn't mention that in the -- to all the people around there because it's not that -- I knew it wasn't a Byron Nelson connection. But that's important, and I called him right when I got done and asked him if he was feeling better. He's 87 years old, and he said, "you betcha." Q. What's his name? SCOTT VERPLANK: Bob Bybee. To me he's a guy a lot like Byron Nelson. He's been a great influence, my mother's dad. He's been a tremendous influence in my life. He's a real gentleman and he was a pretty fair golfer in his day. So that meant a lot to me, too. And you know what, having my mom and dad there. My mom and dad live and die with every shot, like I would if it was my child. And my brother was there and a lot of family and stuff. I'm sure they were a heck of a lot more nervous than I was, although on that last shot, I don't know how -- that last little putt, I'm sure they were. Q. You've been on the TOUR for a while and have been very successful. There's a lot of young guys I think you've seen come and go on this TOUR who have a lot of talent who for some reason it doesn't work out. If you were going to advise a 19-, 20-year-old who thinks he's a good golfer how to survive out here, what would you tell them? SCOTT VERPLANK: It's kind of a hot topic here recently, but the first thing I'd tell him to do is stay in school and finish because if you're really good you're going to be out here 25, 30 years and I don't see what the hurry is. If you can really play -- there's only one Tiger Woods every 20 or 30 or 40 years, and I think it's a mistake, a lot of the guys that come out early thinking they're going to come out here and beat everybody's butt because that's one of the first things you learn as a young guy when guys you've never even heard of are just beating you up and down like a paper sack. College is the best time to learn how to play golf. You've got to learn how to score, you've got to learn how to shoot 72 when it should have been 75 or 76 and maybe shoot 69 when it should have been 72. That's what the best player in the world today does better than anybody else, and that's what most of the best players in the world today do. You have to learn how to do that. Most kids at a young age don't necessarily know how to do that. Q. When you talk about the connection and the win last week, how does it compare to that win that you had at the Western as an amateur? SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, obviously that was a different set of circumstances. You know, honestly, as far as to me personally, inside and what it means, I mean, that's a highlight, what happened last week. That means more to me and meant more to me at the time -- I think I was probably just young enough and just brash enough as a 21-year-old that I figure, aw, no big deal, I can whip these guys. Sure enough, I can play great, and I did. After that I probably put more pressure on myself and started trying to live up to what everybody else thought I should do. And you know what, like I said, this is totally different. I don't feel any kind of different self-expectations or anything. You know what, it's just a great feeling to be honest with you. Honestly, I'm looking forward to playing this week and seeing if I can kind of build on what I did last week. Q. That was going to be the next question. Can you roll the momentum into this week? SCOTT VERPLANK: You know, I switched shafts in my irons last week and went back to steel shafts for the first time in 15 years, and it was almost a desperation move because I've used graphite to kind of protect my body because I've had so many little nagging injuries, elbows and shoulders and wrists and all that, and I finally got -- had gotten fed up with how I was hitting the golf ball, particularly with my irons, so I said, well, what the heck. I took a couple of Bob Tway's irons at Hilton Head and just hit them on the range and went, you know, that feels pretty good. So I got Taylor Made to whip me up a set of irons, and I hit them two or three days in the week off and said, well, let's give it a shot. And I hit the ball -- I hit my irons better last week than I probably have in ten years, and I hit the ball at the hole for four days, which I have not been doing that much recently. So I'm kind of excited to see if it'll -- hopefully it wasn't just the one-week-wonder deal. Hopefully it will actually be meaningful for a few years to come. Q. Be sure you play in the Pro-Am tomorrow first. SCOTT VERPLANK: That's right. If I can get out for my 1:39 Pro-Am tee time, I'll get out there and get that taken care of. I'm looking forward to it. Q. What are your thoughts on what happened last week with Phil? SCOTT VERPLANK: You know, I'm a big Phil Mickelson fan. Honestly, he's never been anything but a real gentleman to me. I admire the way he plays, and I admire the way he conducts himself. I think last week was a really touchy situation. I think with the history that the TOUR has displayed with this rule that it's open for interpretation, which it probably shouldn't be. But I think they opened it up for a lot of interpretation. At least that's what I heard in the locker room. I heard a lot of interpretations (laughter). I actually sent a text message last week on Wednesday to one of the TOUR staff guys, and I said, "war paint on sale in locker room. Scalps wanted." I heard a lot of guys complaining last week about that deal, and I don't think any of it was directed at Phil. I think it was directed at the application of our rule. I'm sure they'll be working to clean that up. Q. What would you do, Commissioner -- I mean, Scott? What do you think would be the best solution to this? SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, if it was me I'd scrap the rule and I'd take it on a case-by-case basis. If a guy skips a Pro-Am -- I mean, they're very important. Everybody out here knows that, and you have a commitment to the sponsor. That's one of the major things that makes these tournaments go. I think that it should be a pretty heavy monetary fine on the individual if he misses the Pro-Am and wants to play in the tournament, maybe $50,000 or $100,000 entry fee that week for that guy. If he wants to play that bad that week and skip the Pro-Am, then write a check for $100,000 to the tournament charity. I don't know how the tournament could be too upset if you write a bottom line check like that to their charity. I think it might cure some guys of not wanting to make their Pro-Am time. But I think it's a little bit more applicable than a guy missing his Pro-Am time by five minutes and then not getting to play at all. Q. It sounds like -- the first thing you said is it sounds like guys were saying that the rule wasn't uniformly applied and he was given special dispensation, and now you're saying judge them on a case-by-case basis, which is going even in a further direction -- SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, they put a rule in and they grouped us all as first-graders in a class because of a small number of guys that were abusing the Pro-Am situation, so then they punished a lot of people that didn't need to be punished along the way, and then they came up to a situation that by precedent had been pretty cut and dried, and they changed it. Yeah, I mean, I like our TOUR, I like our TOUR staff and I like the commissioner, but we're paying him a lot of money, so I think that's part of his job. If he's got to make a tough call, that's what he gets paid a pretty nice salary for. Q. Would you be in favor of fines being made public? You mentioned fine the snot out of a guy. It seems like every other sport -- SCOTT VERPLANK: I guess. I don't really care. Q. It tends to modify behavior. SCOTT VERPLANK: If that's what it takes. I'm not smart enough to know the solution to that. If that's what it would take -- you'd have to ask the commissioner or the staff on that. They have their reasons. Hey, if I worried about all that stuff, I wouldn't be sitting here playing with you guys. I don't know where I'd be, probably at the daily fee course in Oklahoma city. Not to downgrade anybody at the daily fee course. Q. Is there a double standard out here, different rules for different players? SCOTT VERPLANK: I didn't say that (smiling). Q. Do you think there is? Or B, do you think there is at least the perception that there is? SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, I think there's a perception, but, you know -- everybody -- you and I can look at the same picture and see a different thing. It's real simple. And perception is reality to most individuals on this planet. I don't know. I mean, I'm more of a cut-and-dried guy. If I say I'm going to do something, I pretty much make sure I do it. At least that's what I believe. I'm not perfect, but that's what I believe in. Q. Under either system, either your system or another system, which is what we've got now, is there a legitimate reason for missing a Pro-Am? SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, yeah, I think there's been some legitimate reasons that have been punished. Yeah, you know what, if my grandfather was a little worse off than he was last week and I called up and I said, I can't get there because I've got to stay here at the hospital, to me that's a legitimate reason. I mean, I don't know. I got into Dallas at 9:30 last week on Tuesday night, and I drove -- I haven't listened to AM radio in I can't tell you how long, and for the last hour of driving from Denton to Irving I'm switching through every AM station and calling guys -- I'm calling Bob Tway to watch the weather channel and tell me where the tornadoes are because I can't see the front of my car. So I'm coming in in that stuff. I guess I could have called the TOUR and said, hey, guys, I'm tired of this; I'm pulling off, and I'll see you Thursday morning. I don't know, I don't have a system. But it is what it is, and I think there's -- you know, the one truth, you can't attribute it to me, but guys are going to bitch regardless of what the rule is. That's just the way the world is. Q. Why can't we attribute that to you? SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I don't know. Did I say that out loud (laughter)? Q. This is the first year of this tournament, and I guess judging by the number of guys in the Top 30 who are in the field, it's become a pretty popular stop quickly. I'm just wondering why. SCOTT VERPLANK: I think the quality of the golf course, the quality of the organization that's running it. I think Kym Hougham is an excellent tournament director. They obviously have bent over backwards to make it a real first-class event. You know, starting with the Pro-Am tomorrow, they really went overboard; they've only got two amateurs and a pro. I just think they're doing everything the first-class way. Obviously Wachovia stepped up and wanted it done in a first-class manner, and I think they've done a nice job of achieving it. Q. Is there a better regular TOUR event than this one? SCOTT VERPLANK: Just Dallas. That's the only one that I know is better (smiling). You know what, it's a great event. Obviously even before last week I was partial to Dallas because those guys have raised more money than anybody for charity and those guys have worked as hard as anybody to make that a great event, and when Byron was alive he did the same thing. But there's no question this is a very upper echelon event. You just look at the field, and the golf course says a lot about why the field is so good. Q. Is it hard to believe THE PLAYERS is next week? Has it kind of snuck up on us? SCOTT VERPLANK: I don't know, I thought it was last month (smiling). Q. You're going to get fined for that. SCOTT VERPLANK: That's fine. Will they make it public (laughter)? Yeah, it's different. I've struggled with the new schedule from a personal standpoint. I haven't -- I've struggled with where I'm going to play and not going to play because they've changed it. This is my 21st year and they've changed the schedule significantly, so I have been kind of trying to figure out a new schedule. I think it'll be great, to be honest with you. I played the golf course about a month ago. I think it's going to be pretty good, pretty tough. Q. What was the occasion a month ago, just in the area? SCOTT VERPLANK: Honestly? I couldn't get in the Doral tournament somehow. I'm in all the majors, but I couldn't qualify for the Doral tournament, and that was two weeks before The Masters. I didn't get to play, so I went to Jacksonville the week before The Masters to practice, and I figured I'll check out the new golf course. Q. That was normal TPC week anyway. SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, it was the week of Houston I went to Jacksonville and practiced just because I didn't want to go to Augusta that early and stay -- I can't stay in one place unless it's home for more than a week. Q. What did you think of the clubhouse? SCOTT VERPLANK: Spectacular. Q. Wasn't quite finished, was it? SCOTT VERPLANK: No, it wasn't quite finished. I went through it, had a hardhat. I'm hoping they'll let me have that next week. It's spectacular. It looks like it's going to be A-1. Q. What do you think of its spot on the schedule in terms of what they're promoting or thinking about in terms of April, May, June, one significant event a month? Will that raise the prestige or will it be a bridge between The Masters and the U.S. Open? SCOTT VERPLANK: You know, I guess that's a nice question. I'll have to let you determine that. Q. Sounds like you're going to defer. SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I don't know. After next week you'll probably have an idea of -- a better idea of what it is. It's a great tournament. It's the best tournament that the PGA TOUR runs. It's the best field of the year. It's a great golf course. It's not one of the four majors, but it's an exceptional golf tournament. Q. Just because I don't want to let you off the hook that easy, it seems like when we get to this time of the year, no matter what month it is, we spend all this time talking about what it's not instead of talking about what it is. If you were commissioner for the second time today -- SCOTT VERPLANK: I don't want the job. Q. -- how would you promote it for what it is, just that it's a great tournament? SCOTT VERPLANK: I guess you do it like they're doing it. It's our showcase event run by the PGA TOUR. PGA TOUR does not run The Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open or the PGA. Those are historically the four majors according to you guys apparently. Isn't that right? Isn't that how it got started? Q. Palmer, too. SCOTT VERPLANK: Who am I to argue with Arnie? It is the premier event on this TOUR. And it is, it's the best field of the year and it's one of the best golf courses. I will say this, it's a better golf course than some of the ones we play in those other four tournaments, so it's got that going for it. Q. What was your grandfather in the hospital for? SCOTT VERPLANK: Congenital heart failure. He's out now. He's doing better. He's 87 years old. He's pretty ornery. JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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