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FORD CHAMPIONSHIP AT DORAL

March 6, 2004

Scott Verplank

DORAL, FLORIDA

JOHN BUSH: Scott, thanks for coming by. 12 under for the tournament. There were a lot of different conditions out there obviously with the weather; can you comment on that compared to the first two days?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Yes, at least the first 10 or 12 holes today, it was a lot more docile, I would guess. It was definitely scorable. You could hit some regular shots and get the ball to do what you wanted it to do, whereas the first couple of days, it was really blowing hard. It was difficult to keep your ball on a string. Today it was better. Although the last three or four holes, it's actually picked up pretty good. 18 is pretty similar to like it did yesterday when I played.

JOHN BUSH: Tremendous front nine and solid back nine. Comment on your round.

SCOTT VERPLANK: I played very well. I 3 putted the 4th hole for my only bogey and I got on a nice little I came right back and birdied the 5th hole and got a nice little stretch and made three very nice putts on 7, 8 and 9 for birdies and then I kind of messed up the 10th hole and then I birdied 11. Then I missed about, gosh, a three or four footer on 12 for birdie and after that, I was just it didn't have as many good chances and I made a nice, probably 20 footer on 17.

JOHN BUSH: Any other putts of note, long birdies?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I made a couple of the one on 7 was probably 25, at least 25 feet. That was a very nice it was a nice gift to go in the hole.

The rest of them were all in the I don't know 8 to 15 foot range or shorter.

Q. How much of the nature of the course changes when it's not blowing?

SCOTT VERPLANK: If it's not blowing, like it wasn't at least like the front nine today, like I said, the golf course is in great shape. The greens were holding today. You could just go ahead and fire away, whereas the first couple of days, you had to play a lot of different kinds of shots and a lot of cross winds and stuff like that. So at least going out, the wind didn't really blow much until somewhere around the turn.

Q. Is there a sense when it isn't blowing that it's going to be a shootout; make as many birdies as you can?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, that's kind of the motto every day out here: "You'd better make a lot of birdies."

You know, when it's playing if you're hitting good shots and conditions aren't as difficult, then if you're playing well, you're going to make more birdies.

Q. Were you looking at the leaderboard and was there anyone's name up there you didn't see?

SCOTT VERPLANK: I didn't see Tiger's name.

Q. There were so many people in the hunt; did you notice?

SCOTT VERPLANK: I did. I looked a little bit but I didn't study it. I was more concerned with negotiating my way up the 18th hole than looking at the leaderboard. That's plenty of trouble in it's own right there.

I mean, going into today it was pretty tightly bunched, so you've got to figure that it's going to stay that way. I didn't see unless somebody pops way out in front, I don't know if anybody has or not.

Q. What would a win mean to you right now?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, it would mean this unbelievable sports car out there in the middle of the lake. That would be pretty cool.

It would be great. I mean, that's what you play for. That's why I spend the time do I and spend the time away from my family, my wife and kids to come out here. You know, that's the one thing that makes it worthwhile, and then all of the other getting closer to Ryder Cup and all that kind of stuff is kind of the benefits of playing well. But it really makes it worthwhile to be away from home if you perform good out here.

Q. Are you a car lover? Does that car

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, I would be if I won tomorrow. (Laughter.) Yeah, any kind of car like that, yeah, that's a pretty cool prize right there.

Q. Talk about the difficulty of balancing family with trying to be supercompetitive out here week in and week out.

SCOTT VERPLANK: In one way, it's a great advantage, because I have a much better perspective. Golf is definitely not my life like it is when you're growing up or in college or something like that. I have four kids; a newborn for my fourth. You know, to be honest with you, I want to play good out here so that I can spend more time at home. That's kind of the goal. The better I play, the more time I can spend at home.

JOHN BUSH: Okay, Scott, thanks for coming by. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

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