home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

FORD CHAMPIONSHIP AT DORAL

March 7, 2004

Scott Verplank

DORAL, FLORIDA

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Scott Verplank to the interview area. Scott, great final round today. Bogey free 67 for you to get it, forced a playoff with Craig, and I guess maybe just talk about the playoff and that shot that Craig hit to beat you.

SCOTT VERPLANK: It didn't last long. I don't know, I'm not sure I haven't caught my breath yet.

I mean, what do you say? That's an indescribable shot. He's supposed to win. If you do that, you're supposed to win. I hit another bad drive on 18, but then I was just thrilled with where I ended up for my second shot. I'm sitting there kind of feeling good about myself and then he hits this golf shot and it goes in the hole. He was supposed to win. There's nothing that I could really do about that.

JOE CHEMYCZ: You had, what, a chance for a birdie there at 18 at the end of regulation and had a tough six and a half footer coming back. Talk about that.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yes, I did. I thought my second shot was a little better than where it ended up. I was really trying to make it. I was 40 feet away on the back fringe, but I kind of felt like I needed to make it and I was right unfortunately. But I did knock it a little bit past but it's nice to be able to stand up there and knock that putt in, knowing that that's my last breath, last chance to stay in there, as long as he doesn't birdie 18, and I did.

So as far as that goes, I hung in there pretty well. I fought a little bit today, but in general, I came out on top.

Q. Your fairway bunker shot wasn't all that less difficult than Craig's shot or any less spectacular. Talk about that.

SCOTT VERPLANK: That was, obviously, a great shot. I'm really not very good out of fairway bunkers. (Laughs). I don't like being in them that much. I was just caught on the upslope and there was enough wind blowing where it was hitting a hard really 9 iron was the only club I could hit to get it around the home. I felt like I needed to be trying to make birdies.

Q. Any concerns hitting the lip on the way up?

SCOTT VERPLANK: No, I had enough upslope. It was more of a concern that I could get it to the hole.

JOE CHEMYCZ: What was your distance there and what did you hit?

SCOTT VERPLANK: 148. I hit a 9 iron.

Q. Can you speak to the fact that 18 the first two days was just playing like a complete monster and now a guy makes a 2 to win, how the hole changed during the week?

SCOTT VERPLANK: It was blowing 30 miles an hour in your face. Any hole is tough when it's like that.

I made a bogey and a double on it, so I guess maybe that kept me from doing a little bit better. He made a beautiful swing in the playoff off the tee, hit a great shot, and he obviously hit a great shot for the second one.

Q. What kind of emotion went through your head after he hit such a great shot out of the rough to hit it on the green and then he goes and knocks it in from the fairway?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I guess kind of in shock or disbelief. Really, "You've got to be kidding me, " (Laughter.) Maybe not in that nice of terms. (Laughter.)

Gosh, what did you do? Like I said, I had my putter and I'm going, well, maybe I can get out of this hole and get to the next one and win it there, or, you know, maybe make a long one or something. I had my putter in my hand, I'm walking up, watching, it looks good, looks real good looks damn good (Laughter.) And it goes in. I just handed my putter back to my caddie and just said, "Well, I wasn't supposed to win."

Q. What did you say to Craig?

SCOTT VERPLANK: I said, you lucky son of a bitch. (Laughter.) No, I told him, "Unbelievable shot." What else is there to say? He obviously hit a great golf shot, to hit it at the hole, the right distance and all that. Now it's obviously lucky it goes in. That's the way it is.

Great shots sometimes end up being unbelievable shots and that one did.

Q. Your last bunker shot on the last par 3, one foot in, one foot out saved the day to keep you afloat?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yes, unfortunately, amazingly I got up there and saw that I could at least get one foot in the bunker. I felt like, well, I've got a very good chance here. I hit a very nice shot and made a good putt. I don't know, 3 is a good score on that hole any time you play it.

Q. Have you ever experienced anything close to this in a loss?

SCOTT VERPLANK: No. I guess I know what Greg Norman feels like.

I don't know. Like I said, when something like that happens, what am I going to do? Go over there and body block him? (Laughter.) You hit a shot like that, the only thing I could hope for is next time, I'll hit a shot like that.

Q. Yesterday Craig talked about his needing to win to prove that his only other victory wasn't a fluke; is that unfair for people to say that? What kind of respect does he have on TOUR and what respect for his game do you guys have for him?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Hey, the guy has been a good player for a long time. He and I get along pretty well. That tournament he won at Sahalee before the tournament started, I actually was having a beer with him and he told me that this was the last tournament he was playing over here. And he was serious. I said, "Well, what are you going to do, just go retire?" He said, "Well, I'll just play a few in Australia; I'm tired of traveling." So he wins the tournament.

So I keep asking him when he's going to retire. (Laughter.) Sure enough, I run into him again today, and he wouldn't retire. So maybe I'll get another chance and I'll get him next time.

Q. What about 18, it was tough enough on the nerves with the tournament on the line the first time, to play it again in the playoff, how much pressure is that to play that hole twice in a row?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, it's obviously a very difficult finishing hole. Not really any added pressure. If I go up and do what I do best, I'm going to hit a drive in the fairway and I'm probably going to hit a nice iron shot up there and watch him make it. (Laughter.)

It's a good hole. It's a hell of a hole when the wind is blowing in your face 30 miles an hour. Even today, you still have to hit a nice shot. You miss it left of the flag there on your second shot and you can easily go in the water. So it's a pretty dynamic finishing hole.

Q. Have you ever hit a shot like that yourself to win a tournament?

SCOTT VERPLANK: To win a tournament? No, not that I can remember. No. Hey, I'll take one like that any time.

JOE CHEMYCZ: In the playoff, talk about your second shot, if you will, and what iron you hit and what you were trying to do out there.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I had 224 with a little flyer downhill lie. At that point, I probably would have done something different if it wasn't a playoff. But I thought, well, I'm just going to have to really try to hit a solid shot and get it to land on the front right and do as good as it did. I was ecstatic with my shot and saw where he ended up, I was thinking, well, this is definitely as good as I can do. This is a shot I could have easily hit it in the right bunker or easily hit it in the water.

Q. What did you hit?

SCOTT VERPLANK: 4 iron.

Q. Is there an advantage or disadvantage, knowing that Craig is longer off the tee, to have lost the coin flip to him?

SCOTT VERPLANK: One, I didn't know he was longer off the tee. And no, I didn't really care. It doesn't matter. If I hit a good tee shot, I'm going to be right there in the same place he was. He said he hit a 6 iron. I hit a 6 iron the first time around and I didn't hit that drive very good, either.

No, I didn't care. I was just trying to make a good swing, and I did.

Q. Did your caddie say something to you? Did you turn and hand it to him walking up 18?

SCOTT VERPLANK: I think we were both rolling our eyes at the same time and I handed it to him. (Laughing).

JOE CHEMYCZ: Congratulations on a good week.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297