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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 23, 2008

Scott Verplank

IRVING, TEXAS

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome our defending champion this week Scott Verplank to the interview room here at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. What a dramatic victory last year, and it really spurred some great play for you, which was capped off with a victorious week on the U.S. Presidents Cup team. You had a fantastic year in 2007. Let's go back 12 months to your win and the scope of your career in the 12 months since then.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, you're right. I had not been playing that well coming in here last year and obviously got inspired and got lucky enough to win last year.
Yeah, after that I played pretty solid the rest of the year. Obviously it did a lot for my confidence, had a lot of top 10s and ended up, not the highest year I had on the Money List, but the most money. That's kind of here nor there.
But yeah, the FedExCup, whatever. Yeah, that thing (laughter).
The best thing I did last year other than winning was I had ten top 10s, which was the most I had ever had in a year. Obviously it spurred me on to playing better.
STEWART MOORE: You were out on the golf course this morning, a lot of great reviews about D.A. Weibring's redesign. What's your take on the course?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, coming back as defending champion, you really hate to see them change anything. But it's good. You know, it's in really good shape. You can tell it's new because it's very firm in spots, so that's going to be a little -- that will change over time. Actually the golf course will kind of settle in and it will probably get even better.
But you know, it's good. It's generally the same sight lines off the tees, which I like. It's just going to be a matter of figuring out where to -- how to play around some of the greens. It's just different green complexes. You miss some greens, you're going to have different shots than you've had in the past around here. I think it'll be similar to every other year. The weather will dictate scoring.
STEWART MOORE: One more thing. Just assess your game so far this year through three and a half months of play.
SCOTT VERPLANK: It's pretty similar to how it was last year at this time (laughing). I haven't played very well in the last month or six weeks, or I haven't gotten very good results, put it that way. Like last week I didn't play that bad, but I just -- kind of there's always a shot or two in each round that determines whether you play really well or you just kind of hang around par and don't beat anybody. I've been on the wrong side of the ball here for a couple months, really, as far as that goes.
But I'm close. I mean, I'm probably better physically than I was last year at this time. I hit the ball pretty nice today in the Pro-Am. Obviously it's nice to come back around here and feel more comfortable. So just -- I'm not that panicked about it, to be honest with you. I mean, I'd like to be leading the Money List and all that stuff right now, but I'm fine. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.

Q. Can you talk about being inspired last year, and I know it's a different scenario this year, but can you find inspiration here still?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Yes, because I've played this tournament since 1986, and it's always been a special tournament to me. You know what, I always look forward to coming to play here. I've played well here -- before last year I had a great chance to win in like '01, I think, and I've had a few other pretty good finishes.
I'm just pretty comfortable around here. When you go to a place that you're pretty comfortable, it always pumps you up a little bit, makes you feel a little bit better about what's going on.
Yeah, this tournament is always going to be special to me. And yeah, I mean, the only thing better than winning last year would be to win this year.

Q. Besides the fact that it kick-started your year, what was the personal -- the aftermath? Was there anything personally that stood out that happened with you just from the win? I noticed you were pretty emotional getting the small trophy replica earlier this week.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, yeah. Just thinking back about the whole thing is really -- I mean, it's really almost still kind of surreal to me because like I said, I was a 12- or 13-year-old kid and I would somehow talk my parents into letting my skip school that day and go out to Preston Trail and watch these guys that are pro golfers, and I was a little kid dumb enough to think that I was going to do that one day, too, because that's what I liked.
And then the way I've had lots of ups and downs and health issues and this, that and the other, and when you overcome a lot of things and you actually do something that was a childhood dream, yeah, you know, it's pretty -- it's still pretty cool to me, to be quite honest with you. It still makes me think how awesome that was. That's why this tournament will always be -- I'm always going to be excited. Nothing would be better than to continue to play well at this tournament.

Q. You had an interesting Pro-Am round today?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, it was great. We had a great time. Yeah, it was pretty -- Tony is a pretty good player, you know?
STEWART MOORE: Who all did you play with?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Tony Romo and Kyle, one of the BentleyForbes people, and then EDS and someone from American Airlines, but Romo obviously was the big man on campus. We made sure he always got to sign all the autographs. He kept trying to sneak out. No, he didn't really.
We had a great time, actually. He was a very nice guy. I had never met him. I knew who he was and watched him and all that. But he's a good player. Obviously when he's not playing football, he spends a little bit of time playing golf, which is probably good. Better than doing some of the other things a lot of those guys do (laughing).
STEWART MOORE: Who hits it farther?
SCOTT VERPLANK: You know what, he probably hits it just barely farther than me. He smoked it out there a couple times, but then a couple times I went ahead and hit one -- with these fairways I can get it out there okay, and he was kind of looking at me funny. Hey, I'm a professional, man.

Q. You beat him by a shot on the front?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, he played good. He wanted to play me. I shot 3-under on the front and he shot 2, and then came -- he had to fire his caddie (laughter). His game fell apart once he fired his caddie, and then he actually went through two or three other caddies. We both got a little tired. These rounds drag out over five hours plus, it's a little hard to be in the deal mentally all that time.
But he played good. I was impressed with him. If I'm around and he wants to play again, I'll go and play with him. He won't hold me up too much.

Q. When you say he wanted to play --
SCOTT VERPLANK: Apparently he likes to always test himself when he's playing, so he wanted to play me for money or whatever. I warned him against it, but -- we had a good time, put it that way.

Q. Can you tell us what the wager was?
SCOTT VERPLANK: No, because that's illegal. That's illegal here at Bushwood. Gambling is illegal at Bushwood, sir. I will say he didn't pay off, okay? Put it that way. But I did get -- I got all his pertinent information, so I'll get it.

Q. Did you give them the hat back yet or are you still holding on as best you can?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I actually still have that hat, but I'll give it to Peggy. I really don't know who to give it to other than Peggy, and I haven't seen her today.

Q. You aren't trying to avoid her?
SCOTT VERPLANK: No, absolutely not. I just didn't know when I was going to run into her. I kind of begged her yesterday about keeping it and she didn't bite on that. I'll give it to her as soon as I see her, but I don't want to leave it sitting around anywhere. I've got it in safekeeping right now, but I'll get it to her as soon as I get the opportunity to.

Q. Have you ridden the motorcycle?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, one time, burned my leg on it. The very first time I hopped on it, I burned my leg. I went, well, that's the end of my motorcycle career. But it's a pretty cool trophy, I can tell you that. But it's not real -- I'm not a motorcycle rider.

Q. So it is now just a trophy?
SCOTT VERPLANK: It is a trophy, yeah. It's got a beautiful spot in one of my garages, and it's all taken care of, get it cleaned up all the time. It's a pretty cool deal.

Q. Speaking of that, who wants to win more this week, you or your caddie?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I don't know, I would think me, but I would think that they would probably have some extra incentive. You might see a caddie choking on the last hole. If a caddie passes out walking up the last hole, it may be that car over there on the left (laughter).
STEWART MOORE: Scott, thanks so much for coming in. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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