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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 11, 2004

Scott Verplank

IRVING, TEXAS

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Scott Verplank for joining us at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, a place where you've played very well the last few years, 4th last year and 2nd in 2001. You're also having a pretty good year so far, 15th on the Money List with a runner up and a T3.

SCOTT VERPLANK: A near miss.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's get started first with your season this year. How are you feeling about your game?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, since The Masters -- I didn't play very well at The Masters or Hilton Head and New Orleans, so the last three times I've played were not all that exciting for me, but leading up to that, I have played a lot better than I normally play early in the year, which was a little bit of a change. Normally it takes me a while to get warmed up because the weather is not that great at home and I don't play much over the winter.

It was great to start off playing well in Florida especially. I think I'm doing a lot of things really good. I've just had a couple little minor distractions here in the last month. I mean, you have to be focused 100 percent on how you're playing and what you're playing to get it all to come together.

TODD BUDNICK: Comment about your recent success at this course, and what do you look forward to this week?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I look forward to coming back here to play, especially since in the last few tournaments here, I've played much better and had pretty good chances to win. You know, I mean, to be honest with you, I feel like I'm doing everything I need to do. I'm pretty strong feeling. I'm pretty rested. I haven't really played that much relative to how much other guys have played this year. I've had a little trouble with my feet here in the last month or so, and I think I have that squared away where that shouldn't be a problem. If that's the case, then I'm looking forward to this week and next week.

TODD BUDNICK: Talk a little bit about the strength of the field. We've got five of the top six in the world this week, and we had it last week, as well. That speaks very highly of these tournaments.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Obviously it does. I didn't go last week and I didn't go last year, so I haven't been and I hear it's a wonderful tournament. Obviously this tournament kind of stands by itself with Mr. Nelson, having his name on it and making such a big presence in the world of golf really.

So I think a lot of the players come here because of him. You know, he's a special person, and I've been lucky enough to know him since I was a little kid growing up in Dallas. I would like nothing more than to have another chance to win this tournament because he used to teach me when I was a young teenager. I had lunch with him today. We sit down and we laugh about that all the time.

Q. Are the foot problems the same as last year? Where do you stand on that? How painful is it?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I stand on them (laughter). They're all related. When you get sorry feet, if one part of it doesn't hurt, another part does. Unfortunately for me, it's kind of one of those deals where I kind of go through it a little bit. I think I have a handle on it.

Today is the best I've felt in two or three weeks at least, so I'm looking forward to getting that behind me where I can get back to playing like I was a little earlier this year.

Q. What exactly is it, the foot problem?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, plantar fasciitis. It's just a deal that takes a while to heal.

Q. Have you ever done the boot thing?

SCOTT VERPLANK: You know what? I would be embarrassed to tell you all the stuff I've tried.

Q. I'd like to hear it.

SCOTT VERPLANK: No, actually not the boot. They've got this sock now you can wear when you're sleeping, so I'm like all bound up in this sock deal that looks pretty good laying there in bed with all these things pulling on my toes and on my feet. But I went and got some other arch support stuff. It seems to help. My arch just hurts now but my heel is doing great.

Q. When you talked about minor distractions, is that related to the foot?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, mainly, yeah. I mean, just -- yeah, I mean, it's hard. Being diabetic, I've always said it's hard to have a good attitude or be fired up to do anything if you don't feel good, so that's why me feeling good is much more important to me than how I'm swinging or putting or anything else. Now, you throw your feet in there, and when it's hard to walk like it was in New Orleans, I mean, I felt like I was about crippled Saturday and Sunday at New Orleans. I mean, I could barely -- I was having a hard time taking a step after I would stand over a putt because I didn't want to move my heel.

Like I said, it's pretty hard to be real fired up and real excited and aggressive about playing golf when all your thinking is oh, man, I've got to take another step.

Q. You mentioned Byron and having lunch with him today. Can you just elaborate a little bit more on how far back your relationship goes? You were taught by him. Were you in clinics when you were a kid? Or just talk about your experiences watching the tournament growing up here.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, when I was a little kid, I used to carry the signs in this tournament when I was at Preston Trail, and my mom was like one of the lady scorers or whatever. She got to know Byron through that because obviously Byron is just a generous guy, he'd go talk to all the scorers and all the volunteers. I guess she was dumb enough to say, hey, I've got a 16-year-old son who's a really good player, and he said, oh, yeah, I've read about him in the paper, and he called and said, "hey, would you like me to watch you sit some balls?" I said, "are you kidding?"

So that's how it started. We went out to Preston Trail when I was 17, which is a taboo, it's a men's club, sorry, and you also had to be 21, and Byron is a member there, was a member there, and he took me out -- he said meet me out there, so I met him on the range. Sure enough, it was like the calvary came charging, I'm 17. Get out of here. I'm with Mr. Nelson. It doesn't matter.

So we actually went over to Northwood and played that day. So I've played with him out here on this golf course two or three different times, and that was a long time ago when he was in his 70s, and he's told me -- we'd play 18 holes and he'd tell me all his stories about his streak and things he thought about and things he did. It's pretty incredible. I still have all the little -- when I was a kid I wrote down all the little things he told me, like he'd give me a lesson and I'd go home and write them all down on a piece of paper and I still have that in my office.

Q. With that kind of a history do you allow yourself to think about how special it would be to win here on this course at home, your first win here?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, you know, that would just be added, kind of icing on the cake. I came very close to winning a couple years ago, three years ago, I guess, and that would have just made it extra special to go out there and shake his hand when the tournament was over and get a trophy that had his name on it.

Q. During the Nelson and Colonial do you bring family down? Do you guys stay here with your family or anything like that?

SCOTT VERPLANK: No, my wife and my newborn are coming today, so that's it. My other three are still in school. They're staying home. Next week on the weekend I think everybody will come down. You know, school is trying to wind up for the summer. They're ready to get out.

Q. Is this a week most of the guys on Tour look forward to, especially with ties to this area or at least the southwest region when it's back to back, 20 miles apart? You can kind of relax a little bit and not worry about hopping on a jet and going to the next stop?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I think it's probably even better -- either, one, you live here like Justin and -- there's a number of guys that live here now. You know, you live here so it's got to be great to stay at your own house for this week and maybe even next week, and actually for guys that are out of -- that are from somewhere else it's pretty easy. You play this tournament and you actually get a day off on Monday and you take all day to make a one-hour drive, so you get to relax a little bit. I think that's probably helpful. It's nice to have a little bit of downtime in between tournaments.

Q. Did you play Shinnecock in either 86 or 95?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Both.

Q. Any general thoughts, A, on the course?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Best one they've ever played in the U.S. Open. Best one I've ever played in the U.S. Open.

Q. Why?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Have you ever been there?

Q. No, I haven't actually.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I can't explain it to you, how good it is. It is just a remarkable place. I'm looking forward to it because I know what kind of golf course it is, and it's the kind I like to play. It's not a total power golf course, it is an every-shot, every-club-in-the-bag, different conditions every day. I mean, it's a terrific golf course, and weather permitting, it should be an unbelievable tournament.

Q. What if the weather is not permitting?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, that one year we played --

Q. 86?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, I guess it was 86 first round, and one guy shot par or -- I think Bob Tway shot 70 and he had a two- or three-shot lead, and that was an unbelievable day. But then I remember the next year, it was just the opposite, it was hot and windy and it played just as hard if not harder because it got really dried out. It's difficult. I mean, they set it up where it's hard.

Q. One thing that's kind of interesting about this year is when we were last there in 95, that was kind of right on the cusp of a lot of big bursts in technology. I think titanium, if it wasn't there, it was coming within the next year. Now we're nine years later. Can you get a grasp on how much golf has changed from the aspect of clubs, balls, fitness trailers, swing mechanics?

SCOTT VERPLANK: You might be able to around there, but from what I remember about the golf course, even back then it wasn't -- you didn't bomb driver on every hole. It was much more of a -- you needed to hit it a certain trajectory a certain distance off the tees, into the greens. They have a Redan hole and they have little postage stamp par 3s, they have greens, everything. You've got to hit all your clubs, and then there are several par 4s and I know they built two or three new tees so you're going to still have to hit driver on some of the holes and you're going to have to hit it straight.

Q. Do you think it's largely unaffected by advances in technology?

SCOTT VERPLANK: I think a place like that will if the weather conditions are right. If it's hard and fast, it won't matter what kind of equipment you're playing with. It's going to be plenty difficult.

Q. For a number of years now they've been playing both courses here because of the weather or whatever reason. Is it to the point now where it doesn't matter which one you play, or are there still distinct differences in how you approach the first two rounds?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I think typically the scores are a little bit lower across the street, so I think that a lot of guys probably feel like that is the place that's a little bit more there for the taking. But they've toughened that one up, they've lengthened it out and made some changes, so they are getting more similar. Really it just depends on how hard the wind blows. If the wind doesn't below, guys shoot very low scores on the TPC course. If the wind does blow hard, guys shoot high scores on both courses.

Q. With Phil Mickelson winning at The Masters, so many have been saying that with as consistently good as you've been playing the last couple of years, you very well could be the next to break through. Do you feel like you are on the verge?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, my game is -- to a certain degree, yes. I mean, I feel like I'm stronger now. I've been working out harder. I feel better everywhere except my feet, so I just want to get my foot thing straightened out here before this next stretch of Shinnecock and Troon and then Whistling Straits. From what I know about all three golf courses, they're all the kind of places I like to play. Hopefully one of those weeks will be a week where I have a legitimate chance.

Q. Not to belabor the foot issue, but how long has it been an issue?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, about six weeks, but it just got really bad.

Q. It's not something you've been dealing with since --

SCOTT VERPLANK: No, it just kind of gets worse. It's one of those deals that's really --

Q. I'm done talking about it.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Good.

Q. Is your diabetes easier to live with now than five years ago say, the pump or whatever?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, it is. The technology, just like any -- it's really almost any field and any area, but the medical technology is -- it's like when I was a kid 30 years ago when I became diabetic, it was like living in the stone age compared to now. Now it's like we're going to Mars and landing compared to what it was like then. Technology has made it much easier.

It's still a very difficult thing to live with and it doesn't take care of itself, you have to take care of it, but it is much easier. I mean, there's just a lot -- you have more advantages now. You just have a lot more insight and better education and it's easier to deal with now.

Q. Do you still do the shots and stuff?

SCOTT VERPLANK: No, because I have this insulin pump, which has just turned my life around.

Q. How long have you had the pump?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Almost five years.

Q. Which playoff loss was harder for you to deal with, the one here with Damron or the one at Doral with Parry?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I hardly remember the one at Doral it happened so fast. As far as not winning the tournament, it was here, because I had -- you know, when I lost to Damron here, I birdied the last hole to get into a playoff knowing I had to birdie it, so that was pretty good. Then I hit a couple of really nice shots and did not make the putts. He made a 30-footer on me and I had a 25-footer and I didn't make it, so he ended up winning.

Doral, I felt like I wasn't playing all that well. I guess I kind of did the same thing. I made kind of a miraculous birdie on 17 there and then made a good par for me on 18. It felt to me like after I hit my shot on the green, which was really -- I was just thrilled with getting it on the green from where I was. I had about a 10 percent chance to get on the green and about 70 percent chance of going in the river over there, so I was thrilled. I was kind of thinking, "if I can get out of this hole, then I've got a chance." But as soon as he hit it, I was watching it, going, "I may not get it out of this hole," and then I knew I wasn't going to get out of this hole (laughter). That made for great TV, I guess.

Q. I guess they're putting a plaque there.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, they should. That's a pretty good way to win a golf tournament in a playoff. Pretty impressive.

Q. I know the talent out here is incredible, but when teams play the Lakers, they kind of get up a little bit extra when they play the Lakers. Out here on Tour when you know Tiger is in the field, Ernie, Phil, as you mentioned, the Top 5 or whatever it may be, as a player, do you tell yourself I'm going to kick it up more often? Does it motivate you more knowing that the caliber of the field is way up?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, to be honest with you, it doesn't matter what week it is out here, you're going to have to kick it up if you're going to win. You're going to have to play at a high level regardless of the field. I kind of look at it like if I was going to win the tournament I would like to have all those guys in the field. Who would you rather play coming down the stretch than Tiger or Ernie or Phil or whatever because that's kind of right there at the top of the heap. To me that's as good as it gets coming down the stretch with the guys that are right there at the top because that's where you'd like to be.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Scott.

End of FastScripts.

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