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BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 19, 2004

Scott Verplank

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Scott Verplank, back-to-back rounds of 68. Great playing today and you had a great Florida Swing so far. Just talk about the first couple of days here at the Bay Hill Invitational.

SCOTT VERPLANK: You know, I'm playing about like I did at Doral, really. I haven't been all that impressed with how I'm hitting but I'm scoring pretty good. I'm hitting enough good iron shots and putting pretty decent. Although today, I had three-foot birdie putts, which, you know, just kind of shocking to me most of the time. Just playing pretty good. Hitting the ball where it needs to be and going from there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: What did you do during the week off after Doral? Obviously you were disappointed not winning there, but that was some unusual circumstances. What did you do during your week off?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Nothing. (Laughs). Went home. We have our newborn child, so it's not really a going home and relaxing; going home and being a dad.

Q. Just looking at you and Shigeki, since this is purported to be a ball-masher's course, is it playing a little bit softer, a little more forgiving than the last couple of years, anything that you can put your finger on?

SCOTT VERPLANK: You know, to be honest with you, last year is the first year I played here in about eight or ten years, and then the only thing I remember from last year is how hard it rained on Sunday. So it was obviously playing soft and very long. I don't know if they are watering fairways or what they are doing. For myself, I hope that it will dry up where it makes it tougher to hit in fairways and tougher to keep it around the hole.

Q. How many drivers do you not hit on everything but the par 3s?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I hit driver on the par 3s -- no. Today I hit, the one little 13th hole was a 3-wood. I hit 3-woods on 13 and 15. Then the fifth hole and that's it. I hit driver an the other ones. Usually I hit it as straight as any other club in my bag.

Q. Can you talk a little about Doral, coming off that, and the last week, were you itching to come back out here, were you wishing you had not taken a week off prior to that?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, I don't know. I watched two or three holes on TV last week and I didn't -- after I watched the golf course, I didn't miss it any. (Laughter.) After I watched a couple shots, it looked like they were pretty good and ended up going off.

No, I didn't. Really, Doral was obviously a unique deal, a unique way to end the tournament. I played well there, but like I said, I didn't really feel like I was doing physically all of the things that I was hoping to be doing. But I snuck into a playoff and had one hand on that steering wheel of that car and then I got my other hand slapped in the door.

Q. That's John Daly.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, yeah. (Laughter.)

Q. Are you doing the things that you weren't doing physically at Doral this week?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Close. Not really. I mean, I'm hitting okay, but not as solid as I have come to expect. I enjoy, really, but I started hitting a little bit better after the end of the round today and got it worked out a little bit.

For me that's not an uncommon thing because I go home, I don't practice any, if at all, very little. I usually have to come back out here in kind of live conditions to see what I need to work on.

Q. Having played on the last Ryder Cup team, do you burn to make this year's team more than you would have before The Belfry Matches? Those are your captain's words, "burn."

SCOTT VERPLANK: I have a tremendous desire to make the Ryder Cup team. Yeah, I wanted to make it then, and then after getting to play in it, yeah, it was a great experience. It was the best experience that I've had in golf as far as get going to play. It was fun and it was emotional and it was just a great -- it was like playing in the Super Bowl. It's a completely different atmosphere than any other golf tournament that I've ever played in.

I enjoyed it. I played very well over there. My biggest beef was not getting to play another match or two because I was playing good and I really, you know, played, three, one two and lost the other one on the last hole. I seem to thrive in that environment. I enjoy it a lot.

Q. How much is it on the front part of your head this early in the year, or is it not? Do you think about it?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, yeah. Yeah, when the captain is leaving notes in your locker and stuff -- (Laughter.) Yeah, I've thought about it. You can't dwell on that. If I go out and play like I know how to play, then that will be one of the benefits or one of the rewards of playing well.

Q. What kind of note did he leave you?

SCOTT VERPLANK: It just said "make the team," really. It just said make the team. I don't think he wants to have to pick me.

Q. Does your drive to make the team increase knowing that you guys are trying to win it back?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, to a certain degree. I think just being on the team is a tremendous honor. I was so lucky that Curtis saw something in me that he wanted on the team. So I would like to make it on my own at least once or a few times, actually.

But, yeah, it would be great and that would be the next step for me would be to get on the next Ryder Cup team and be on the winning side. It was still a great experience even though we last because kind of the flavor of The Matches was to -- the reason it was postponed, the year, and just likes I said, the flavor of The Matches was to get back and kind of showcase what a great game golf is and not be so much a life-and-death, tooth-and-nail struggle.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go through your card, starting on the back side two, birdies starting on 11 and 12.

SCOTT VERPLANK: 11, I hit a 6-iron about six feet.

12, I hit a wedge about 15 feet.

14, I hit kind of a poor tee shot in the left bunker and missed about a 10-footer for par.

16, I had to lay-up and I hit an L-wedge about six feet.

4, I hit a sand wedge about probably 15 feet and made that.

Then 6 was about the same. I hit an L-wedge on 6 about 15 feet.

I had a few close ones and I hit it about three feet on No. 13 for a turkey, three in a row, missed it.

Then I hit it about 30 feet on No. 3 and missed that. Other than that, I made a couple of nice 15-footers, so I guess it kind of evens out.

Q. Can you reach any of the par 5s in two?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, I can reach 16. I can't reach 4 anymore. We play it into the wind and then I was the first group off today. Although that was our back nine, but it's still kind of soft.

Yeah, I can reach 6, but not a totally high percentage shot for me.

Q. You seem to be a good wedge player; is that fair enough, from u80 yards in?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Thank you very much.

Q. I'm going somewhere with this.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Is this compared to you or to who? (Laughter.) Yeah, I'm pretty good.

Q. Do you feel at a supreme disadvantage when you can't reach some of the par 5s in two; or not, just because you know you're generally going to be ten feet or in for birdie anyway?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, you would think, in theory it would be a disadvantage. But if I wedge the ball, I'm pretty good. I try to get to a number I like, 85 or 95 yards where I have a comfortable kind of driving range shot.

I birdied all four today. I don't know whether I did yesterday. I birdied a couple of them. I think I lead the Tour in par 5 birdies, I know I've only played all the easy tournaments, but that's fine. I guess to be honest with you, at this point in time, the way I'm playing right now, I don't feel the great need to try to push it to get to a green that's a tough shot or over the water or something like that because I'm doing a pretty good job of laying it up to a good yardage and getting myself a real good look at it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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