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U.S. BANK CHAMPIONSHIP IN MILWAUKEE

July 15, 2009

Mike Van Sickle

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome Mike Van Sickle to the interview room. Recent graduate of Marquette and is playing in his second PGA Tour event in kind of his home state.
Mike, if you would start off and just tell us a little bit about your thoughts on coming back to your home and playing in this event.
MIKE VAN SICKLE: Well, this is kind of a great opportunity for me to come back to a course that I actually know pretty well. Last week I was put behind the eight ball a little bit in regards to the fact that I had never played that course.
You got a lot of pros that have played at John Deere from year to year. This week I'm almost ahead of the game out here. I've played out here about 30 times probably. I have good course knowledge. It's a course where I feel very comfortable.
And the opportunity to come back to Milwaukee to play in front of friends and family and the whole Marquette community is gonna be pretty exciting. I think we're gonna have a pretty good turn out from the Marquette side. Wearing my blue and gold and ring out Ahoya this week.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Questions.

Q. The rough has always been the defense of this course. There's been not much rain lately. What is the rough like right now, and what was it like in the spring? Is it as thick or not as thick? Do you think that's gonna be a big problem this week?
MIKE VAN SICKLE: I was actually surprised. The rough out here is actually kind of deep, but it's not terribly thick. Because of that the ball is going straight to the ground. Even though the lies don't look a bad, it's tough to see the ball at times. It's difficult to judge how the ball is going to come out.
That's one of the defenses, I would think. It's deep but it's thin, and the ball is going straight down. In spots it's actually pretty thick. Steve Lowrey, I was playing with him in the Pro-Am, he hit one right on 9, and the stuff he hit it into was kind of an anomaly out there today. It was some really, really thick stuff.
There are spots on the course out there. One other one I can think of is just left of the fourth green. There's some thick stuff over there, too. There are some areas where the rough can still jump up and get you.

Q. What did you learn from last week?
MIKE VAN SICKLE: Well, there was a couple things that I was able to learn. One thing is that I need to scale back a little bit when I'm out on the course. I was hitting it well, and because I was hitting it well and I also had all the adrenaline and nerves going, I was kind of swinging 100% at every shot, every club. Oh, you got 205. Give me the 6-iron. I'm gonna blast it up there.
And then you see Davis Love and some of these other guys, and they're swinging 85% nice and smooth. Watching Steve Stricker come in, they swing smooth and it's consistent. That's one thing I've been working on on the range this week. A, stay a little bit more relaxed. And B, gear back a little bit. I think gearing back I'm gonna be much more consistent with my distances.

Q. How do the nerves compare from last week to this week playing in front of a crowd that's been watching you for the past few years?
MIKE VAN SICKLE: The crowd hasn't been out here yet this week, so I'm not quite sure how playing in front of friends as opposed to strangers, if it's gonna be any different. You just kind of put blinders on and focus at game that you have to play.
So I don't think it's gonna be too bad for me this week just for the simple fact that the crowd is gonna be a little bit bigger and people I know. I think last week was a big help for this week.
The first round, my first two holes, I really had some jitters. I wound up making a 30-footer and a 10-footer to save par on the first two holes. The shots I was hitting, I just had a lot of adrenaline going.
Last week definitely put me in a comfort zone for this week. I played some good golf. Ran out of mental gas the first day because I had so much adrenaline pumping; second day didn't make any putts and still managed to shoot 1-under.
So I feel pretty confident in my ability to compete out here. That put my mind at ease realizing that I'm not out of place here. I shouldn't feel awkward or anything. Just kind of getting those first time jitters out of the way. Those are gone now.
Feeling much more comfortable. Again, being in Milwaukee playing a course I know also puts me in a much better comfort zone. I'm feeling good about this week.

Q. One Walker Cup question. Looks like Daniel Woltman is gonna make the Walker Cup team. Won the Northeast. You're a strong contender. Have you talked at all to Buddy? And, B, is that still your plan to make the Walker Cup? How could making the cut and having a good showing here sway Buddy one way or the other?
MIKE VAN SICKLE: I haven't talked to Buddy much lately. When I have seen him over the course of the summer it's just been kind of chit-chatting, just kind of friendly talk. Not really talking about the Walker Cup.
From my understanding, he doesn't have a whole a lot of say in how it's picked. It's the USGA that picks the team. It's still my plan and my goal to make the Walker Cup. I'm just gonna go out here this week and play the best golf that I can.
I would hope making a cut in a PGA Tour event would be some help. Just to kind of continue to play consistently. I think last week, even though I missed the cut, I feel that had to be a help somewhat, going out there and shooting under par in a PGA event after having bad tournaments at Sunny Hanna and the Northeast.
I've been following golf this week a little bit, and they've been talking about the Walker Cup. In seems in their opinion I've fallen out of the top 10. They may feel that way, but I still have some confidence in my game. It's really coming around. Had some struggles kind of late spring, early summer, but I have those all ironed out and I feel confident in my abilities to crawl my way back up there on that list.

Q. Have you upgraded a caddie this week?
MIKE VAN SICKLE: Oh, huge upgrade. No, I actually have my teammate, Mike McDonald, on the bag this week. He's played out here a lot. My dad has played out here a lot, too, over the last 30 years. The greens have changed a bit from time to time. Some of his knowledge might not be good anymore.
I'm gonna have mike McDonald on the bag. This will be a great experience for him, as well. We get a long really well. We've become good friends over the last two years. We have a lot have inside jokes with each other.
I'll tell you the Peaches story here. It's one of our favorites. There's this lady that walks her two dogs around Milwaukee. Kind of around the Marquette campus. She has a black dog named Jazzy and this little white dog named Peaches.
Apparently the black doing is the nicest dog ever, but this white dog, she must be the spawn of Satan, because she is constantly yelling at her. Damn it to hell, Peaches. Get out of the garbage. Get that out of your mouth. She's out there walking the dog six times a day.
That's kind of our new word in lieu of any sorts of swearing. If something is going wrong, it's ah, Peaches. You're angry, but you get over it really quick and you start to laugh. That is one of our inside jokes. We'll joke about Peaches to keep things light.
I think having him on the bag, being able to share some banter back and forth, is gonna help this week.

Q. What do the spectators say when say, oh, Peaches, after a bad shot?
MIKE VAN SICKLE: I think they just kind of look at me weird, like what is he doing? Like why is he talking about fruit?

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