CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

June 20, 2002

Scott Verplank

JOHN BUSH: Okay, Scott, we'd like to thank you for coming by the interview room. You really got it going on the back 9. General thoughts on your round? Can we get you to take us through it?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I played very well actually. I made one kind of silly mistake, and other than that, I don't think I missed a fairway. I only missed 1 or 2 greens, and I finally started rolling a few putts in, so I haven't been doing much of that lately and for some reason I got a little better feel today and made a few.

JOHN BUSH: Can you take us through your birdies starting on the 10th hole, your 1st?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Sure. Number 10, I made about a 35-footer there to start the day, so that's always a nice way to start, especially, you know, when it was kind of foggy and playing to the east and you couldn't see the fairway or the green when you were hitting your 2nd shot. So, I hit it on the middle of the green and made a nice putt.

On 13, the par-5, I had it on the right fringe in 2. I didn't hit a very good chip. Made about a 10-footer for birdie there and then parred the next couple.

And then I hit probably as nice a shot as I hit all day on 16, and it landed up right in line with the flag, landed on the lip of the bunker and went down into the flat and there was pretty much no sand in the bottom of the bunker, and I knew it was going to come out a little hot, but it went over the green and then I chipped it up start and missed it so, I made a double. And I was a little disappointed at that point because I had been hitting some pretty good shots.

Just parred 17, parred 18.

On 1 I hit an 8-iron about 10 feet, made that.

4, 4 is kind of where I -- I should have made bogey on 4 and I made birdie. I missed the green to the right and it's down in one of the little swales and I go the side hill, you know, over the waterfall and the windmill (smile), going up, and I hit a 7-iron, just pitched-and-ran it and it went all the way up the hole. I was hoping just to get up and down and actually made it.

The next one is the longer par 3. I hit a 5-wood to like 20 feet there and made that. I parred the par 5. And 8, I hit a 4-iron about 15 feet and made it. 9, I hit a pitching wedge about 6 feet, 8 feet.

JOHN BUSH: How far was the shot on No. 4 that you made, the pitch-and-run 7?

SCOTT VERPLANK: I was probably only 35, 40 feet from the hole, but it was just -- I'm on a downslope and I got to run it up the side of the hill and up on the green. I was pretty lucky.

JOHN BUSH: Questions?

Q. Scott, can you talk a little about the insulin pump and how it's affected your career?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, it's made all the difference in the world, to be honest with you. I'm so much more consistent feeling and it's made a huge difference. I mean, all you have to do is look at how I played up until I started with it and how I've played since. I've definitely been able to take it to another level, feeling a little bit better.

Q. How about as far as last year making the Ryder Cup Team and all that. Is that like given you extra -- I don't know what the word is, inspiration, or how did that affect you game-wise?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, right at the time it was great. I won 2 weeks after I got picked for the team.

Q. Yeah. That's what I meant.

SCOTT VERPLANK: It's still a ways off and I have a little of -- you know, I have a lot of other things -- or golf tournaments between now and then. I have really not thought about that much. My -- you know, my concern is to get back to playing like I did today. I haven't played that well for the last month, and today I got kind of back to what's normal for me, driving it straight and hitting the greens, and if I can make a putt, that's the way I've been playing the past couple years.

Q. You played well yesterday. Do you think it carried over from yesterday? I know you had a good round yesterday?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, you know, I don't know. Pro Ams, you don't care so --

Q. Oh, okay.

SCOTT VERPLANK: You don't care what you shoot. Yeah, for some reason -- I made a bunch of birdies for my team. Yeah, I shot 61 here last year. Obviously, if I'm playing well, if I'm hitting it straight and doing the things I do best, then the golf course obviously sets up well for me.

Q. Has everything just been a little off?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, no. I was playing very nice up until Dallas, and then I got injured, a real freak accident. I got a deep bone bruise on my thumb and that just set me -- I mean, it took me from hitting it really good to just chopping it around, so I think this week, yesterday and today actually felt better.

I've been kind of struggling with that for a while and haven't been making very many putts, so today I got back to a better swing and rolling the ball better.

Q. Was that from playing --

SCOTT VERPLANK: No, no. It was a freak accident. It was a guy jacking around with me and he accidentally hit my hand with a full chop with the elbow and my hand -- my thumb has been swollen up for a month.

Q. So you were just horsing around with a buddy or something?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, yeah, you could call him a buddy.

Q. He used to be?

SCOTT VERPLANK: He used to be. (Laughter.) It was a bad timing deal because I think I finished 5th at Hilton Head. I played a nice last round in New Orleans, I think I finished in the top 10, and it was in the locker room after New Orleans. And next I'm going to Dallas and play good generally in both tournaments, and I really should not have played, but I played there and struggled there, struggled at Fort Worth and struggled up until today really.

Q. Scott, how easy is the course playing now with the no wind out there?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I never say a course is playing easy; however, you couldn't get any better than it was today. The only thing today that was any nuisance at all was the wind was light and variable. And it was literally light and variable. It would keep blowing, but it would change directions.

I think that's what happened on 16. I played 15 against the wind, and you get up on 16 and it should be just a hair downwind, and I hit and we're walking down and the wind is blowing back and that cost me the -- that was the difference between a 2 and a 5. But if it was blowing out there like that every day, you would be crazy to complain about it.

Q. (Inaudible.) Is it a harder adjustment to pick yourself up or what's it like?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I played so bad there, really, I did. The golf course was -- I didn't play well. I've still been struggling with this other deal, so I missed the cut, which fortunately I don't do much of that. I got 4 days off before I came here, so that was probably what I needed, to keep resting. I didn't hit any golf balls until late Tuesday, so like I said, that was probably just what I needed.

JOHN BUSH: Anything else?

SCOTT VERPLANK: Good.

JOHN BUSH: Scott, thanks for coming by and good luck the rest of the week.

SCOTT VERPLANK: Thank you.

End of FastScripts....