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NORTHERN TRUST OPEN

February 20, 2009

Scott McCarron

PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA

DOUG MILNE: Scott, thanks for joining us after round two of the Northern Trust Open. Great going today, and you find yourself atop the leaderboard as you head into the weekend. Just a few comments on the round today, and how you are feeling as you head into tomorrow.
SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, I feel real good. Today I thought the golf course played a little bit tougher today, even though we didn't have much wind but the greens were starting to firm up. It was difficult getting the balls close. And this afternoon, the greens were just a little bumpier and tougher to make putts.
I'm very happy. I played real solid today. A couple bogeys I would like to have back, but overall, I'm very, very happy. Plus I'm happy about the Bruins winning last night.

Q. What do you remember about 2002 when you had the lead here and played real well that year?
SCOTT McCARRON: I remember losing, that's what I remember.
You know, I remember a couple things. I remember making a big putt on Saturday on 17 for eagle. I remember making some good birdies on 10. I remember having the lead, a three-shot lead with like 5- to play and I remember Len Mattiace hitting one of the greatest bunker shots I've ever seen to hole it on 12. He made a couple other great putts.
I remember making bogey on 18, which really left a bad taste in my mouth. I'd like to have that over again. I think with some experience that I have now, I might play that shot a little differently. You know, you learn from your mistakes, and I felt like I let that one slip away. But that's in the past, so nothing to do about it now.

Q. In those early years, 2000 two, 2003, you were playing well and reached the finals against Kevin (Sutherland in Match Play at La Costa).
SCOTT McCARRON: Right after I lost this tournament, I lost in the finals, too, yeah.

Q. What's happened since then? It looks like you're back.
SCOTT McCARRON: I went through just some okay years. They were not great, great years. Then I had elbow surgery -- well, I hurt my elbow in 2006, so I played seven months with a torn radial brevis tendon. Even though I may be haven't won a lot of tournaments, I've still put myself in position and had a nice little run. I think that injury certainly interrupted some of my play, but I'm excited to play. And maybe it was a good thing; I got to be home for a year and a half to be with the family, and now I've rededicated myself to getting back and winning golf tournaments.

Q. You played well here, you played here in college, and I guess this is a great place to feel good and play well.
SCOTT McCARRON: I mean, why not. I love this golf course. I love being here in the Pacific Palisades in Westwood, going to a basketball game last night. I have a lot of friends and fraternity brothers following me, and it feels good to play well.

Q. Before you teed off, did you see Phil had eagled 1 to get to 10-under, and did you notice that at all?
SCOTT McCARRON: You know, I really don't watch the board much at all while I'm out there, especially on Friday. I'll watch a little on Sunday coming down the stretch, but I'm not looking at the board much on Friday.
All I noticed about Phil is he's wearing a white belt with black shoes. I mean, somebody, somebody, please, give him a sitation. (Laughter)
Mom always said the belt matched the shoes, that's it, not bad. (Laughter).

Q. After last year at Wyndham, when you look at one tournament kind of changes the tenor of the year, how do you look at that last year?
SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I've hadth tournaments that had changed my career. Finishing third in Vegas in 1995 when Mark O'Meara let me finish third by myself to keep my TOUR card by $2,000; and having a tough year the next year financially, and all of a sudden winning New Orleans.
So I've had -- my back has been against the wall quite a few times, and no exception with Greensboro last year. I didn't make enough money on my major medical in those 13 events, and I did it in my 15th event.
Every time my back gets against the wall like that, for some reason, something good happens. I've learned to kind of accept it and not get too worried about that stuff. And I think that's maybe why I've played pretty well when my back is against the wall like that. Although I'm not going to go out and buy a huge house and cars to put my back against the wall.

Q. Ballpark on how many rounds you've played here over your career?
SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I played 15 years on TOUR here. I've probably played -- I bet I played over 100-something rounds, 150 rounds probably.

Q. Do you know the course? Every time you play, you still learn a little bit.
SCOTT McCARRON: Again, this is one of the all-time great golf courses. We don't get many tree-lined golf courses on the PGA TOUR anymore, unfortunately, because they are building new golf courses and they are not really cut out of trees. But these holes here, the shots are prescribed for you.
The sloping of the fairways, the draws around the trees, the cuts around the trees, you get up there and you just see your shot before you even walk to the tee. You know what you're going to hit, and for me, I've always been kind of a creative player and it just helps me be more creative when the shots are prescribed like that.

Q. Having not won since 2001, I think --
SCOTT McCARRON: I've won the Shark Shootout and a Fred Meyer Challenge, doesn't that count? And I won the club championship at Montreaux last year, member-member.

Q. Do you have to re-teach yourself?
SCOTT McCARRON: Once you win, you know how to win. I feel more comfortable near the lead or in the lead than I do trying to make a cut. That's where -- trying to make a cut, when you're not playing well, is probably the most pressure we feel all the time, for me. I have not had the lead in a major, yet.
I've been pretty close a couple of times but to win a PGA TOUR event, usually you're playing well and feeling good and thinking good, and that's usually where most of us feel the most comfortable.

Q. It seems like you've had really inconsistent times here. You've had a lot of low rounds here, 64s,65s and then followed up but a 73,74.
SCOTT McCARRON: It's not that bad sometimes. (Laughter).

Q. How reflective of that is your game and how reflective of it is Riviera?
SCOTT McCARRON: I think, reflective of, hey, I am playing some good rounds. When I'm not playing well, maybe I'm pressing a little too hard to try to get back those good rounds. I learn from good rounds and I learn even more from poor rounds.
Most of us on the PGA TOUR play really well four, maybe five times a year, really well, and most of the time, you have a low score here, 72, 73, that type of stuff. I'm not much different than most of the guys.
There's a handful of guys that play well all the time: Phil and Tiger, Goose, and some of these other guys, but I haven't been one of those guys yet. I don't let those bad rounds bother me. I try to learn from them and move on.

Q. You mentioned yesterday you were heading out to dinner with the Beta guys; do you have to curtail that, or will you be able to sleep it off?
SCOTT McCARRON: I'm always pretty good during game day. I'm sure those guys will be celebrating pretty hard, but I'll go have a nice dinner.

Q. Is there a special feeling to it that you are here and you're with all these guys, and maybe that takes a little bit away from your grinding too hard in the tournament or whatever? Not that you're slacking, but just that there's this distraction that you may not always have?
SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I don't know. Yesterday it was nice, we got to go to the UCLA basketball game, and that was fun. But most of the time on the road I'm doing something to get out of there and not just sit in the hotel room. I'm always trying to find some type of distraction to take it away from golf and whatever pressure we might put on ourselves at the golf course. Being here with friends and fraternity bothers and some family it makes it go even easier.

Q. Did you get introduced at the game last night?
SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, they did. They introduced Kevin Chappell, who won NCAAs a year and a half ago, who is playing this week; myself, Tom Pernice, Parker McLachlin and Brandt Jobe. They brought us out at halftime and announced us, which was kind of fun.
No. 1 hit a nice drive down there and a 5-iron right to about 20-something feet and 2-putted, almost made that. Made birdie.
3, hit it in the right rough. Had to go to the left of the green and chipped in for birdie. Hit a real nice chip there.
Bogeyed No. 5. I drove it down the left side, which I thought was going to be fine and I carried it, went all the way down in the high rough in that ravine and had to chip out and hit an 8-iron to about five feet behind the hole and missed the putt.
7, hit a beautiful 3-wood right down there. What did I hit, wedge in there, probably about five feet and made that for birdie.
9, missed the green just to the right and didn't get up-and-down.
Made a bunch of pars.
Then 14, the par 3, hit a nice 6-iron in there to about 3 1/2 feet and made that for birdie.
18, hit a drive down the right side, hit a slicing 5-wood up there to about nine feet and made it in the dark. That felt good. That's going to make dinner taste a lot better.
DOUG MILNE: Thanks for coming in and best of luck on the weekend.

End of FastScripts

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