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BUICK OPEN

June 24, 2008

Scott Hebert

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

STEWART MOORE: We welcome Scott Hebert to the interview room here after quite an up-and-down two weeks. Obviously going back a few weeks, a little premature birth of your child, who I believe now is doing fine, and you go down to Georgia and you win the PGA's Club Professional National Championship. Certainly a wave of emotions, why don't you just take us through those two weeks from there.
SCOTT HEBERT: You know, a little bit surprising, the birth of my second child, but she's home doing well. That makes winning the Professional National Championship seem like not very much. I finally got to hold her last night outside of the hospital no, wires and nothing beeping on her, so that was good. Got to sleep in my own bed and got to see my own wife.
After all of the craziness that happened last week, it was nice to get a little bit of that home, shut the cell phone off and just kick it with my family.
STEWART MOORE: Something like that, obviously you get in pressure situations in a tournament and you get over each shot and at the end of the day it's really not that big of a deal when you think about what was going on back home; right?
SCOTT HEBERT: Yeah, she got released from the hospital on Thursday and my mom came up, I think I was on the third hole and just 3-putted for par on 2 and she said, "I just talked to Laurie; the baby is coming home today."
I looked at the two guys I was playing with, and I said, "Nothing could make this day bad now."

Q. You don't win the Michigan Open, just the National Club Pro; is there a connection there?
SCOTT HEBERT: It just seems like June has always been a good month for me. You know, with the Nicklaus course, which I'm always a fan of, and it seems like a good fit any time I get on one of his tracks.

Q. Tell us how you played and what you did especially well that week.
SCOTT HEBERT: You know, I probably hit it the best I've ever hit it. Tom Ross caddies for me, and he caddied for four of those Michigan Opens, TOUR School, more times than I can count. I had not seen him in a couple years and he was nice enough to fly out.
After the first day on the range, he said, you know, I've never seen you hit it so good and I kind of carried it through. I drove it real well. Would have liked to have putt a little better and obviously have to putt a little better this week.
If I can continue to hit the ball the way that I have been, you know, who knows. I switched to that Titleist AP2 Iron, and it may sound corny or a shameless plug, but from a blade, it's a little bit like cheating.

Q. When did you switch?
SCOTT HEBERT: About a month ago.

Q. What about you're playing here, you have a lot on the line to try to qualify and play in the State PGA, we won't have a major for a while again, how hard is it to focus knowing that your wife and your family, your daughter is at home, and was it hard to keep it together on the course at all?
SCOTT HEBERT: You know, in a strange way, I think it might have made it easier. I'm not just going down this golf tunnel where golf is just something to do and it actually kind of eases things up a little bit. Having played as much as I have, you know, didn't get real nervy, especially down there at the end.
It was kind of a nice distraction. You don't really start thinking about the PGA and the six events that you can get in if you win this or anything like that. Just playing golf and you know, at the end, you're just watching the leaderboard. Sonny and I had a little bit of a match-play the last four or five holes, and so all of that extra stuff just kind of comes afterwards.

Q. Now that your family is fine and your family is qualified, what does it mean to be able to play in your home state?
SCOTT HEBERT: That's great to have one I can drive to, and who knows when it will be back or if I'll ever play in another one again. I played in one last year and thought, man, if I could ever do this again, that would be great. And here we are a year later and qualified again.

Q. What kind of reception did you get when you got home, and did many people come up to you today to congratulate you?
SCOTT HEBERT: Yeah, it's been crazy. I've been turning my phone off, like I said earlier; I think by the time the awards ceremony had gotten over, my voicemail was full. I had more missed calls than my phone could count. Just a lot of people I had not heard from and a lot of close friends saying congratulations and love to see you.

Q. What expectations did you have going into that tournament and what kind of expectations do you have going into this tournament?
SCOTT HEBERT: After I left there last year, I really went down there with the mind-set to try and win. I don't see any reason why I can't shoot 20-under here. Obviously I'd have to play way over my head, but I'm going to come in here with the same expectations. Right now, I'm tied for the lead, or tied for last, whichever way you look at it.

Q. What round was it and what position were you on at the Michigan Open? Did you get a call or a beep or how did that work?
SCOTT HEBERT: No, we played the first round. I had an up-and-down and I made nine birdies and shot 68, but really started bringing it together and had not played a whole lot in preparation for it. Painting the baby's room and trying to get the house ready. My wife was nesting so she knew it was coming.
At one o'clock that night, the water broke, and she's putting her bag together and she said, "Don't forget to pack your clothes for tomorrow." I had not told her I was not going to play then. I had an 8:00 tee time the next day, and there was no way I was going to play.

Q. Where were you on the leaderboard?
SCOTT HEBERT: I think I was third. We were split over two courses, I was 63 at the other course, 8-under, so I was four.

Q. Obviously there's bigger issues at stake -- chances to win it on your home track there?
SCOTT HEBERT: Yeah, obviously it's nice to any time you can play in a tournament to sleep in your own bed. We are disappointed it's not going to be at the resort. I know a lot of players echo those remarks saying it's a nice place to go in the summertime up there, but you know, PGA had their reasons; we had our reasons, and you know, who knows if it's maybe back there in two years.

Q. Have you played at Oakland Hills recently, and have you had a chance to even think much about it?
SCOTT HEBERT: I've never been there. I know it's really hard, and probably doesn't suit my game very well, needing to hit it a little further. But hopefully I'll be able to reach the start of the fairways and go from there.

Q. When do you plan to go up there for a practice round?
SCOTT HEBERT: You know, I'll see what my schedule -- I'll see if I can sneak away early. I know Steve Brady pretty well down there, and maybe he can help me out a little bit with the golf course.
Right now, I don't plan on going there prior to the week but if I can get a day where I can get over there, I've got my ladies invitational the end of this month and right after that the men's invitational. So my work schedule after missing a couple weeks, it's probably going to be pretty big.

Q. Will you have time this week?
SCOTT HEBERT: That's a good idea, I never thought of it.

Q. After going through what you've gone through with your family and winning the National Championship and now you have your sights on Oakland Hills coming up in August, have you been able to exhale? How do you go about not having, as strange as it may sound, a letdown going into this week considering what just happened to you?
SCOTT HEBERT: You know, if I could have dreamed up two perfect weeks that, would be it; having a healthy baby and winning the national club pro.
You know, who knows if the bubbles are going to burst and I'll finally start to feel it, but right now probably still running on adrenaline.

Q. What is it about this course in particular that you have played before this makes you feel confident that you could maybe post a red 20?
SCOTT HEBERT: You know, it's a good could have course for me. You need to hit it straight and that's what I feel I do pretty well, and hit pretty good short to mid-irons.
If I can just keep my wits about me and take up my space out there and not get overwhelmed, I think I can contend.

Q. Are you going to be surprised at all if you are in contention on Sunday?
SCOTT HEBERT: I'll be nervous, I can tell you that. I'd like to think that I wouldn't be, but obviously I'm a million to one shot, but why not.

Q. Can you explain a little bit more about the cheating with that blade, because it sounds like it's illegal.
SCOTT HEBERT: I gave my old clubs to my superintendent, and I was down at the golf school showing him what I was doing. I was working on not moving my right leg so I can get a little bit more power and he was there hitting balls and I picked up that 6-iron and I hit them straight and I thought, wow, is that ever small and hard to hit. But that new technology, there's a lot to it. As I get older, I'm probably going to be switching to even bigger.

Q. When exactly was your daughter born?
SCOTT HEBERT: She was born June 13 at five-something PM.

Q. And how much did she weigh?
SCOTT HEBERT: She weighed six pounds, nine ounces. So she was decent size. Her health wasn't really at risk, but one of the last things that develops is their suck, swallow and breathe, so we wanted her to have that straightened out before she got home.

Q. When was the due date?
SCOTT HEBERT: It was July 12th, so we were hoping to get through all of these prior to.

Q. What's her name?
SCOTT HEBERT: Suzie Kate.
STEWART MOORE: Scott, thanks so much. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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